Topic: Chapter ten takes the discussion of change management into the beginnings of the action stages.

Effective Change Management is the new discussion into leading and managing change through both a micro and macro level in the organization and the steps that must be taken to begin and sustain the change process. Reasons this Topic Interests Me: 18 months ago I began a new position in my career as the CIO of a new company. No effort towards the development of a multi-year strategic plan for the use of technology had ever been developed and systems have gone relatively stagnant since 2002. This chapter directly describes my charge as the new leader of a department and executive of a large organization that had not seen a change in technical administration in ten years. My Position: As I began my new position I realized that the organization was moving with the new demands and expectations of the 21st century. It is a goal of this company that all students are prepared to develop critical skills necessary to be college or career ready. Unfortunately the technology infrastructure and support systems were not conducive to a dynamic and changing environment. Extreme lack of communication between teams was evident as support staffs concerns would go unheard by systems administrators who were focused on maintaining the technical status quo. In order to lead local department and organization-wide change the following steps were taken: Created a state of readiness through department focus groups. Support and systems teams were given opportunities to describe their ideal technical and support environment. New proposed systems were compared to existing systems from an industry and financial standpoint. Solicited stakeholder feedback to aid in creating a vision for technologys role in enhancing instruction and operational processes. Creating a new Technology Advisory Committee to voice ideas, feedback, concerns, and goals in order to develop a new comprehensive three-year strategic plan for technology generated political support. The committee is comprised of 50 people ranging in position level and a series of meetings was held over a period of 4 months. Transitioning to new systems is enforced by a 12-month system and computer upgrade migration project. Small measurable milestones were created so that staff would not be overwhelmed (i.e. Upgrade Servers, then upgrade one department, then the next, etc.). Momentum is currently being sustained by releasing new features in a timely manner (i.e. October 2011 school upgrades, March 2012 new email system announcement, etc.)

The overall change is currently underway and is being received with overwhelming success and acceptance. As with any change, a majority of the team members were either resistant or indifferent. Difficult changes to the department had to be made in order to both implement and sustain the organizational change all of which have been welcomed both locally and system-wide.