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Managing change – getting started and keeping going

You want to make things better – and this means making things different. Changing things means:

• people talking about things in new ways
• people thinking about things in new ways
• people doing things in new ways.

You need to help people change by talking about your ideas. You need to get your new ideas across to everyone who will be involved. Make sure they understand what you want to change and why.

But talking and thinking will not make things better on their own. You need to get people doing things in new ways.

To get change started, you should:

• explain why the change is important
• explain your plan to people
• get your ideas across to people in as many powerful ways as possible
• get things happening quickly.

To keep change going, you should:

• work as a team to put your plan into action – and get more people to join in
• help people, encourage people – and push people when they need it
• help people see the good side of getting involved – make it fun, offer prizes and rewards, let people share the work
• tell people more about your ideas as things change.

To make sure things stay changed, you should:

• aim for the new things to become part of normal everyday life
• make sure the new ways fit with how people want things to be
• make changes for the whole school or college
• keep explaining your new ideas to people.

Remember – change will not happen all in one go. People have to learn new ways to think and new ways to do things. Change takes time – plan for the long term.