My presentation at the NAIS Summer Diversity Institute (SDI) on leading and managing change for diversity and inclusion in independent schools. This presentation's theories and strategies are applicable beyond its chosen topic of diversity and inclusion, and would benefit leaders in any area.

1. Leading and Managing Change for
Diversity and Inclusion
Nishant Mehta!
Summer Diversity Institute 2012!
Watertown, CT

2. Contact Information
Nishant N. Mehta
Assistant Head, Alexandria Country Day School
Trustee, Lowell School
I live on the web at:
nmehta@acdsnet.org
Twitter: @NishantMehta
Blog: www.edu21k12.net
FB: www.fb.com/NishantNMehta

3. Sharks & Turtles: Playing The Game

4. School Culture: What is it?
"The way we do things around here."
M. Bower

5. Levels of School Culture and
Change
Invisible ! Harder to Change
Shared Values
Group Behavioral Norms
Espoused Values
Artifacts!
Visible Easier to Change

6. School Culture & Change: Macro
View
Exclusive Community Passive Symbolic Change
Inclusive Community Structural Change Analytic Change

7. School Culture & Change: Micro
View
Definition Apex
Start-up 7-9 Years Apathy
Renewal Adaptation
Life Cycle of Diversity Initiatives

8. Making Change Happen
Signaling Change: When, How, Why?
© Michelle Cummings, Training-Wheels

9. Managing Up: Relationships & Trust
© Michelle Cummings, Training-Wheels

10. When Withdrawals Are High…
© The Speed of Trust !
by Stephen M.R. Covey

11. When Deposits Are High…
© The Speed of Trust !
by Stephen M.R. Covey

12. Advocates, Resistors, and the Lingering Middle
Advocates:
Your strongest
supporters for
change &
diversity
Fill these
boxes with
the positions
Lingering
at your
Middle: school that
Unsure of meet the
which team descriptions
they support
of each box
in the left
column
Resistors of
change/
diversity for
any # of
reasons

13. Leading From The Middle
Your Head/Division Head’s Reality
• "Reach and realism" - Rob Evans
• Responsibility
ch
Re
ea
al
R
Responsibility ism

14. Role of the Diversity Practitioner
Individual Change Institutional Change
Student recruiter Hiring team
! !
Faculty recruiter School ownership
! !
S.O.C. advisor Faculty resource!
!
Resident expert Program manager"
! !
Event planner Community advisor!
! !
Fire extinguisher Admissions committee"
! !
Individual ownership Systems analyst

15. Success vs. Failure of Initiatives
------ + Consensus + Skills + Incentive + Resources + Action Plan = Confusion
Vision + ------ + Skills + Incentive + Resources + Action Plan = Sabotage
Vision + Consensus + ------ + Incentive + Resources + Action Plan = Anxiety
Vision + Consensus + Skills + ------ + Resources + Action Plan = Resistance
Vision + Consensus + Skills + Incentive + ------ + Action Plan = Frustration
Vision + Consensus + Skills + Incentive + Resources + ------ = Treadmill
Vision + Consensus + Skills + Incentive + Resources + Action Plan = Change
*Adapted from T. Krosier’s “Managing Complex Change.”

16. Additional Information & Resources

17. Elements of Change:The Matrix

18. School Culture: Change Agents
Connectors: the people who "link us up with the world ...
people with a special gift for bringing the world together."!
!
Mavens: "information specialists", or "people we rely upon
to connect us with new information.”!
!
Salesmen: "persuaders", charismatic people with powerful
negotiation skills. They tend to have an indefinable trait
that goes beyond what they say, that makes others want to
agree with them. !
The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell

19. Making Change Happen
Task Goal Key Factors
Disconfirmation!
Increase of the fear of not
Appropriate anxiety and
Unfreezing trying!
guilt!
Reduce the fear of trying
Psychological safety
Continuity!
Moving from loss to
Make change meaningful Time!
commitment
Personal contact
Moving from old Develop new behaviors
Training that is coherent,
competence to new (skills), beliefs, and ways
continuous, and personal
competence of thinking
Clarity regarding
Moving from confusion ! Realign structures,
responsibility, authority,
to coherence functions, and roles
and decision-making
Moving from conflict ! Generate broad support for A critical mass, pressure,
to consensus change and positive use of power
©Rob Evans, The Human Side of School Change, 2001, p.56

20. 13 Behaviors of High Trust Leaders
“Our distrust is very
expensive.”!
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
© The Speed of Trust !
by Stephen M.R. Covey

21. Leading vs. Managing Diversity
Initiatives
Leading
Leading Managing
•Assess your school’s history! •Divide responsibilities!
•Assess your school’s mission! •Determine assessment!
•Evaluate key issues! •Collect data, identify trends!
•Determine key trends! •Benchmark and network!
•Identify progress of life-cycle! •Nurture constituencies
•Identify sources of support!
•Identify sources of resistance!
•Develop an action plan!
•Develop a strategic plan!
•Share ownership

22. Origins of Diversity Initiatives
• School history and/or mission
!
• Board or head mandate
!
• Re-accreditation
!
• Changing educational philosophies
!
• Changing demographics and new constituents
!
• Recent trends in competitive markets
!
• Climate evaluation and assessment
!
• Incident response

23. Types of Initiatives
• Admissions and financial aid – recruitment, evaluation,
selection, and transition
!
• Student and family support – academics, social-emotional
health, and networking
!
• Faculty issues – recruitment, retention, and diversity-specific
professional development
!
• Curriculum – mapping, evaluation, and coordination
!
• Programming – celebratory and educational events
!
• External advocacy – the public purpose of private schools

24. Diversity Advocates & Allies
!
• Advocates…!
o Publicly raise issues!
o Challenge peers to address issues!
o Hold others accountable for skill development!
o Broaden ownership of initiatives
!
• Allies…!
o Privately raise issues!
o Support the raising of issues with others!
o Seek professional development opportunities!
o Rely on practitioners for resources, not solutions

25. Key Attributes of Leaders &
Managers
• Creativity (independent schools; independent
solutions)!
!
• Commitment (belief in the school and the
initiative)!
!
• Patience (change is slow and sometimes invisible)!
!
• Resiliency (setbacks are inevitable)!
!
• Humor (necessary for survival)!

26. Key Knowledge for Leaders &
Managers
• Bias & Anti-Bias
!
• Core Cultural Identifiers and the “isms”
!
• Power and power structures
!
• School culture, mission, and history
!
• Organizational development

27. Key Skills for Leading & Managing
• Facilitation (not a hands-off process)!
!
• Selectivity (the ability to say no)!
!
• Program implementation (details, details)!
!
• Tracking (thorough record keeping)!
!
• Strategic planning (big picture thinking)

28. Sharks & Turtles: Instructions
•Divide the groups into two teams and explain that they are going to participate in a game.!
•Ask each group to choose a spokesperson.!
•Read the following instructions:!
1. The goal of the game is to choose the most points.!
2. Each team will choose either shark or turtle, not letting the other team know what is
being chosen. There will be no communicating between the two teams.!
3. Teams write their chosen animal on a piece of paper, and the spokespeople then
meet in the middle of the room.!
4. The two spokespeople, at the facilitator’s signal, show their drawings to their
counterpart.!
5. If both teams chose turtle, then both get 50 points. If one team chooses shark and
the other turtle, then the team that chose shark gets 100 points and the turtle team
gets negative 50 points. If both teams choose shark, both teams get negative 50
points.!
•Next, instruct teams to choose shark or turtle, and then write their choice on a piece of
paper.!
•The spokespeople then meet in the middle of the room to reveal their team’s choices.!
•Tally the points on the board.!
•Repeat the process 5 times.

29. Selected Resources
• Cornell University ILR Management Programs
(www.ilr.cornell.edu)!
• National Training Lab (www.ntl.org)!
• Robert Evans, The Human Side of School Change!
• Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point!
• Jim Collins, Good To Great!
• Stephen R. Covey’s Coveylink!
• Stephen M. R. Covey, The Speed of Trust!
• Michelle Cummings, Training-Wheels.com!
• Terrence Deal and Kent Peterson, Shaping School
Culture: The Heart of Leadership

30. Ducks & Cows: Playing The Game

31. Goats & Sheep: Playing The Game

32. Cats & Rabbits: Playing the Game

33. Chickens & Pigs: Playing The Game