This practice leads to what Senge identifies as the third step in the process, personal investment and an upward spiral of results, which naturally leads to the subsequent steps of an enthusiasm and willingness to commit, an institutionalization of change practices, and measured results. Making a difference in the lives of our students is the outcome we seek in any reform. Joseph Johnson at The University of Texas at Austin s STAR Center highlights three factors or practices regarding the change process. He states that the manner in which principals, teachers, parents and other school leaders address these factors may substantially influence whether their schoolwide programs will bring focus and power to academic reform efforts or bring another mirage of change in a desert of educational stagnation. If this sounds overly simplistic it is not meant to be.
Real change comes hard.
Indeed, as individuals we call for change in all aspects of our society. We do not want to bring our car to a mechanic who does not have the latest computer diagnostic equipment, entrust ourselves to a medical practice that does not have access to the latest information and techniques in health care, or even return to conventional over microwave ovens. However, when it comes to changing the way we operate in our own professional lives we do not see the need for it. In fact, most of us react, according to Price Pritchett in his Executive Library on Organizational Change , by engaging in the old fight or flight phenomena. We disengage from the process or undermine it.