Why Is Change So Difficult?

Meghan Retallick contributed today's post.

In response to the ever-present question on all our minds, “Why is change so difficult?”, I found new learning and understanding to share from reading chapter two of The Literacy Coach’s Survival Guide by Cathy A. Toll.

First, reading this chapter was transformative for more than just my ideas about change in schools, but it helped me be more grounded about change in life!  There is such deep reflection and insight here shared by Toll that I changed from reading this chapter.  

I believe that change is so hard because many of us feel isolated and alone in the change process.  We feel solely responsible for good outcomes and fear the unknown of what will happen if the outcomes aren’t good.  But, with her chapter, Toll offers us a different perspective on change.  I love how she categorizes the response toward change in schools: “In schools we conceptualize change as an event, a one-time thing...Then we feel like failures if one change takes place and it leads to the need for another and another and another.”  I think she has hit the nail on the head and this is what is making educational change so hard.  We feel like failures if we have to keep responding to change and when we feel like failures, we get worn down and forget to celebrate the changes we’ve made.  Yet as Toll suggests, if we think of change as constant, there are no “starts and stops to change,” and then “it becomes a normal part of everyday life in school” (21).  

If we all embraced the idea that change is constant, it wouldn’t be as difficult because we’d shift our focus to notice our progress toward goals.  If we weren’t meeting a goal by the time we wanted, we’d problem solve to figure out a new plan to create progress.  If we met one goal, then we’d make a new goal.  The pressure for one individual to be responsible for the change or for ensuring that everyone meets their goals (being known as a change agent), is also not an issue with this mindset.  Toll states that with this mindset we all know that “change is already happening and will continue without assistance.  Rather we may serve to direct, focus, speed up, or even slow down changes that are occurring” (22).  And, we don’t do this work alone.  We support each other through the process knowing that if something comes up and we aren’t sure how to respond, we have others that will help us come up with a next step.  We will not be angry when something changes because as Toll says, “You’re doomed to frustration and failure if you hold too tightly to that vision.  Change is ongoing in schools, and you can’t rein it in to make it yours.  Even if you accomplish what you aimed for, the constancy of change means that it, too, will pass” (23).  

When something is working, we want it to keep working, but we need to remember that it will change, too, so instead of feeling angry about a loss of control over that, we can only respond with deep reflection and collaboration to plan actions that will help us feel connected and that there is a purpose to the change.  Letting go of the need to control change will make our paths toward change easier.  Celebrating the success we’ve had will continually renew us to keep moving on the path.  Collaboration, reflection, and re-evaluation when we meet a barrier will help us join together to overcome problems instead of dwelling on them.  

How does your district determine goals?  Celebrate achieved goals?  Re-evaluate and adjust when goals aren’t met?  If you are finding change difficult, your answers to these questions could help determine where you’re getting stuck.

Toll, C. A. (2014). The literacy coach’s survival guide: Essential questions and practical answers.(2nd ed.)  Newark, DE: International Reading Association.