Leading organizational change: cultivating sustainability in the continuous sustainability approach

Abstract

The Delaware Institute for Excellence in Early Childhood (DIEEC) is an organization dedicated to supporting early childhood professionals working in ever-evolving early childhood systems. One strategy that DIEEC uses to support this work is through technical assistance offered by the DIEEC technical assistant (TA) team. Based on new research conducted in the last 15 years, the approach used by the TA team has changed from a more directive approach to one I term the continuous quality improvement (CQI) approach. The CQI approach entails TAs using data and reflection to guide quality improvement planning for early childhood professionals in their growth (Garet et al., 2021; Hatcher et al., 2020; Yurkofsky, 2022). ☐ In this work, I consider the DIEEC TA team to be change agents. Changing a change agent’s approach can be difficult, and the sustained use of the CQI approach by the TA team and DIEEC as a whole has yet to be achieved. This problem, which is that there is too little sustained practice of the CQI approach, is the focus of this Education Leadership Portfolio (ELP). In this ELP, I sought to attain a better understanding of the leader’s role in supporting change at both the individual level (e.g., TA) and the team level (e.g., the TA team). Leaders must understand and apply leadership practices recommended by change management research to guide sustainable organizational change, meaning the change is implemented and sustained over a longer period of time (Gilley et al., 2008). In order to support individuals in aligning with a new organizational change, leaders must be intentional in their plans to support the individuals undergoing such change (Banerjee, 2015; Hao & Yazdanifard, 2015; Thompson, 2019). ☐ To consider this literature with respect to this ELP, I worked to gain deeper insight into how leaders can support an individual during various stages of change while maintaining a strong organizational culture in a dynamic work environment shaped by stakeholders like the Delaware Department of Education (DDOE). I developed this deeper understanding by implementing three improvement strategies: (a) understanding DIEEC staff member’s CQI use and alignment with DIEEC’s mission and vision, (b) exploring the leadership and administration (L&A) TA identities regarding the CQI approach, and (c) fostering alignment between L&A TAs’ identities and CQI-related work. I developed nine artifacts to implement these strategies, including a literature review and original data collection via a survey and a focus group. My culminating artifact used all data from the first eight artifacts to formulate an action plan for the ongoing improvement of the organizational problem after this ELP’s completion.