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    The Six Secrets of Change: What the Best Leaders Do to Help Their Organizations Survive and Thrive
    The Six Secrets of Change: What the Best Leaders Do to Help Their Organizations Survive and Thrive
    The Six Secrets of Change: What the Best Leaders Do to Help Their Organizations Survive and Thrive
    Ebook176 pages2 hours

    The Six Secrets of Change: What the Best Leaders Do to Help Their Organizations Survive and Thrive

    By Michael Fullan

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    About this ebook

    From bestselling author Michael Fullan, wisdom for thriving in today's complex environment

    Successful organizations adjust quickly and intelligently to shifts in consumer tastes, political climate, and economic opportunity. How do they do it? The Six Secrets of Change explores essential lessons for business and public sector leaders for thriving in today's complex environment. Fullan draws on his acclaimed work in bringing about large-scale and substantial change in education reform in both public school systems and universities, as well as engaging in major change initiatives internationally. This book is filled with lessons that are insightful, actionable, and concisely communicable.

    "Fullan has an uncanny ability to produce what is needed at the time it is needed. The six secrets are based in theory, grounded in practice, powerful in their relationship to each other, and described in ways that enable deep understanding. It is a refreshing change from the surface lists of leadership and change ideas that all too often permeate education and business literature." —Vicki Phillips, director of education, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

    • Includes so-called leadership "secrets" that are decoded to be accessible and useful
    • Offers illustrative examples from a variety of businesses, health organizations, and public education systems
    • Lays out the six factors to organizational success: collegiality, long-range plans allow for the unknown, nurture employees, learning, leadership at all levels, and positive pressure must be inescapable
    • Michael Fullan is the author of the acclaimed best-seller Leading in a Culture of Change

    Fullan convinces us that a leader who attends to all six key factors will have an organization that is constantly learning, growing, and thriving.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWiley
    Release dateNov 29, 2011
    ISBN9781118115268
    Author

    Michael Fullan

    Michael Fullan est officier de l’Ordre du Canada, ancien doyen de l’Institut d’études pédagogiques de l’Ontario et professeur émérite à l’Université de Toronto. Il est coresponsable de l’initiative New Pedagogies for Deep Learning (npdl.global). Reconnu comme une sommité mondiale en matière de réforme pédagogique, il offre ses conseils aux décideurs et aux leaders locaux pour les aider à concrétiser l’objectif moral d’assurer l’apprentissage à tous les enfants.

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    • 5/5
      This is quite simply the best book on organizational / systemic change that I have read. By virtue of being fairly simple, yet heavily nuanced, Fullan's theory provokes you to assess your own experience and assumptions. I very much recommend this to anyone interested in how change happens in the business / education / social organizations.

    Book preview

    The Six Secrets of Change - Michael Fullan

    Table of Contents

    Cover

    Title

    Copyright

    Preface

    Acknowledgements

    About the Author

    Introduction: Have Theory, Will Travel

    Neither Theory nor Action

    One Big Caution

    Theories That Travel

    Using a Good Theory

    Secret One: Love Your Employees

    Secret One in Action

    Secret One in Perspective

    Secret Two: Connect Peers with Purpose

    The Conditions and Value of Peer Interaction

    The We-We Solution

    Secret Three: Capacity Building Prevails

    Capacity Building Trumps Judgmentalism

    Hire and Cultivate Talented People

    Secret Four: Learning Is the Work

    What Consistency and Innovation Look Like

    Learn in Context or Learn Superficially

    Secret Five: Transparency Rules

    What Transparency Is Not

    What Effective Transparency Is

    Why Transparency Rules

    Secret Six: Systems Learn

    Focus on Many Leaders

    Navigating Complex Terrain

    Conclusion: Keeping the Secrets

    Seize the Synergy

    Define Your Own Traveling Theory

    Share a Secret, Keep a Secret

    The World Is the Only Oyster You Have

    Stay on the Far Side of Complexity

    Happiness Is Not What Some of Us Think

    References

    Index

    End User License Agreement

    List of Illustrations

    Introduction: Have Theory, Will Travel

    Figure I.1 The Six Secrets

    Secret Three: Capacity Building Prevails

    Exhibit 3.1: Singapore: Selection of Teachers

    Exhibit 3.2: Finland: Selection of Teachers

    Exhibit 3.3: Boston: Developing Principals

    Exhibit 3.4: Singapore: Beyond Best Practice

    THE SIX SECRETS OF CHANGE

    THE SIX SECRETS OF CHANGE

    What the Best Leaders Do to Help Their Organizations Survive and Thrive

    Michael Fullan

    jwsinctitlepage.eps

    Copyright © 2008 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

    Published by Jossey-Bass

    A Wiley Imprint

    989 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103-1741—www.josseybass.com

    No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600, or on the Web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201-748-6011, fax 201-748-6008, or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

    Readers should be aware that Internet Web sites offered as citations and/or sources for further information may have changed or disappeared between the time this was written and when it is read.

    Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

    Jossey-Bass books and products are available through most bookstores. To contact Jossey-Bass directly call our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 800-956-7739, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3986, or fax 317-572-4002.

    Jossey-Bass also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.

    Credits appear on p. 153.

    Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

    Fullan, Michael.

    The six secrets of change : what the best leaders do to help their organizations survive

    and thrive / Michael Fullan. — 1st ed.

    p. cm.

    Includes bibliographical references and index.

    ISBN 978-0-7879-8882-1 (cloth); ISBN 978-1-1181-5260-7 (paper); ISBN 978-1-1181-1526-8 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-1181-1525-1 (ebk);

    ISBN 978-1-1181-1524-4 (ebk)

    1. Organizational change. 2. Communication in organizations. 3. Interpersonal communication. 4. Employee empowerment. 5. Employee motivation. I. Title.

    HD58.8.F84 2008

    658.406—dc22

    2008000879

    PREFACE

    I HAVE WRITTEN ONE OTHER BOOK IN WHICH I DELIBERATELY examined an equal number of cases in the business and in the education literature to see what could be learned. What I found in 2001 was five powerful interrelated themes related to organizational ­success: moral purpose, understanding change, relationships, knowledge use, and coherence (Fullan, 2001).

    Seven years and a million change stories later, I address this same question: What do we know about successful organizational change under complex conditions? Now we more urgently need answers to the change question, and there is a lot to sort through. Just to name a few of the books on my desk: The Eight Skills That Separate People Who Perform from Those Who Don’t; The Three Tensions; The Five Minds of the Future; The Four Secrets of Long-Term Business Success and Failure; Seven Self-Destructive Habits; The Eight Essentials to Emotionally Connect Your Employees to Your Business; Twelve Elements of Great Managing. Holy numerology!

    My own six secrets have been gleaned from my work in understanding and bringing about large-scale, substantial change through education reform in England and Ontario (in both the public school system and in universities), as well as in engaging in major change initiatives around the world. The secrets have been tested in relation to the business literature, especially those studies that furnish data and name companies. The secrets enable us to view the lessons in the literature with a critical eye; they equip us with the capacity to discern what advice is likely to be on the right track and what advice is downright dangerous.

    The six secrets are not secret in the sense that there is a conspiracy to hide them from public view; they are secrets because they are hard to grasp in their deep meaning and are extremely difficult to appreciate and act on in combination. The purpose of this book is to make the secrets accessible. I always strive in my writing to take critical change ideas of the day and make them (1) insightful, (2) actionable, and (3) concisely communicable. Moreover, the secrets travel well in both the private and the public sectors, as we will see in examples from a variety of businesses and from health and public education systems. Finally, they are ­especially apropos in the face of the complexities of the flat world characterized by Thomas Friedman (2005) and the even more complex semiglobal conditions detailed by Ghemawat (2007).

    If you master the six secrets, you will approach change with newfound confidence reflecting Pfeffer and Sutton’s elegant definition of wisdom: the ability to act with knowledge, while doubting what you know (2006, p. 174).

    I will reveal what it takes to increase the chances of bringing about deep and lasting change. I will also show, as a few recent writers have, how misleading and dangerous it is to take the advice arising from seemingly successful organizations. Above all, the secrets guide you through the endemic uncertainties of change situations. If there were an answer to how to handle change, we would have found it long ago, and there wouldn’t be a billion-dollar industry devoted to its pursuit. But there are approximations, and they are getting pretty damn good.

    It is time to spread the secrets for everyone’s good. Nothing is more important in the twenty-first century than learning to manage change. This book will help you do just that.

    ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

    THE IDEAS BEHIND THE SIX SECRETS ARISE FROM MY WORK around the world in Australia, Chile, England, Hong Kong, Ireland, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Scandinavia, Scotland, South Korea, Thailand, the United States, Wales, and, of course, Canada. And the strategies are engaging all key players—politicians, government bureaucrats, members of the business community, parents, community leaders, students, teachers, administrative staff, and administrators. The ideas apply to the public and private sectors alike. I want to thank the numerous colleagues and friends who are working with me on this global agenda that is critical to our survival in the twenty-first century. I learn so much from them and from our work together.

    A very special thanks to Premier Dalton McGuinty in Ontario. I have the privilege to serve as his special policy adviser, and we have had the opportunity to apply the secrets and learn from them in action in the public school system in Ontario from 2003 to 2007. Further, we have just been handed an ­overwhelming mandate from the electorate to go deeper in the next four years. When leaders do the right things, society benefits, and the strategy employing the Six Secrets works politically!

    At home, Wendy and Conor provide a wonderful environment for living the good life. Not many people are as fortunate as I am, and I feel privileged on all fronts.

    My thanks to Claudia Cuttress, who supported and shaped all the projects that fed into the secrets, and who helped produce this book—she is always a source of great ideas and invaluable support. I cannot thank her enough.

    Finally, Jossey-Bass is the perfect publisher. Leslie Iura had the idea for this book and spurred me to write it. Matt Hoover and other editors were superb through the editing process to make the book stronger and better.

    I thank all for allowing me to share our secrets. I hope you relish them.

    ABOUT THE AUTHOR

    MICHAEL FULLAN IS PROFESSOR EMERITUS AT THE ONTARIO Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, and is special adviser on education to Dalton McGuinty, the premier of Ontario.

    Fullan is a doer and thinker. He served as dean of the faculty of education at the University of Toronto from 1988 to 2003, leading two major organizational transformations, including a merger of two large schools of education. He is currently working as adviser and consultant on several major education reform initiatives around the world.

    Fullan bases his work on research drawn from both the public and private sectors, finding an increasing convergence in the best of this literature. He has written several best-sellers that have been translated into many languages.

    Visit his Web site at www.michaelfullan.ca.

    Reactions to The Six Secrets of Change are welcome at changeforces@oise.utoronto.ca.

    Introduction

    Have Theory, Will Travel

    GIVE ME A GOOD THEORY OVER A STRATEGIC PLAN ANY DAY of the week. A plan is a tool—a piece of technology only

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