In preparation of sharing my innovative change for my organization, student EPortfolios, I must stop and consider first how my idea and my desires for change will come across to my targeted audience.  It’s very important to understand how change can occur and fail and the ways in which to insure to the best of my ability that this change can and will take place in my school.  Research has shown that it’s not facts and figures that make people willing participants of change in organizations, but instead it is understanding the why that makes people jump on board and embrace change (Sinek).  In thinking about why, how, and what I’m proposing, I’ve come up with the following statements:  

 

Why - We believe we can make a lifelong and positive difference in students' lives through providing tools and experiences that teach them how to learn.

 

How - This is achieved through offering a meaningful learning environment in which students have choice and ownership over their learning.

 

What - Learners can achieve this through the creation and on-going use of EPortfolios that reveal to one’s audience their learning, character, and mindset.

 

I’ve started with the why because this is the most important part of the three statements I’ve listed when trying to get others to believe as I believe.  I want members of my organization to feel drawn and supportive of the change and to be emotionally connected to the concept (Sinek). It’s the why that will keep my colleagues and administrators working toward the development, support, and use of student EPortfolios. I want stakeholders to focus on why the change needs to occur and to want to genuinely be part of the change.

 

In, “The Heart of Change”, John Kotter points out that the most crucial thing to remember when trying to bring about change is that we need to win over hearts and minds of people.  Kotter explains that one needs to focus on changing the way people feel and then this in turn will help change their behavior because it is our emotions that ultimately regulate our behaviors.  So, I need to carefully consider how I will share my why with my audience and reach their hearts.  I will need to show them, not through facts and information, but feeling.

 

It will be equally important in this venture that I create a sense of urgency in my organization to garner the involvement and support that will be needed for change to occur.  Kotter explains that in order for people to change they have to “the basis to hear it, want to hear it, and understand it”. Stakeholders in my organization will need to understand what the urgency is all about for our students when it comes to my EPortfolio innovation plan.  If I want the change to happen, I’ll need to share the urgency of the situation and this will help to lower complacency as well as anxiety, anger, and other negative feelings that could arise (Kotter).

 

A crucial key to success will be the igniting of an emotional fire within the needed agents of change so that the behavior I’m hoping to take hold will indeed occur.