LeMonaid

Change Management

Dr. Cal LeMon | Contributing Editor

Your staff has been complaining about the arrival of “Big Brother.” Your announcement about the GPS on the buses this year was not met with technological enthusiasm.

The route changes for some of your historic drivers were a quantifiable disaster.
And, the required quarterly “town hall meetings” with the assistant superintendent was akin to putting itching powder on the gear shift.

There is not one card-carrying human being reading this article who is excited about change. Psychologically, we all have a preference for tradition over change.
“Let sleeping dogs lie,” “Don’t rock the boat,” and “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” are the aphorisms that grease our resistance to change.

But, as you know, change is a familiar face in pupil transportation. If it is not a new mandate from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, or a new technology to instantly locate every rider or a new maintenance requirement, the one “sure thing” at work is change.

If you bring your fear, resistance or anger about change to your bus operation, be prepared to get the same attitudes back from you staff… in spades.

Here are seven leadership skills to bring to your pupil transportation workplace that is convulsing with change.

First, make your own decision about the impending change. If you walk into the driver’s lounge or the maintenance bay without cementing your own opinion, you will vacillate up and down like a pre-1977 bus that desperately needs a new set of shocks.

You will create havoc among your staff if they sniff any lack of “buy-in” from you. Remember, whatever you are thinking and feeling about this change is non-verbally telegraphed to everyone.

Second, if the change is inevitable, you have to use resolute language when you “roll out” expectations.

The last thing you want to do is say, “Well, it looks like we have no choice here and the handwriting is on the wall so… so… suck it up and move on. I don’t want to hear any bellyaching from anyone.”

That statement is reverse psychology. Guess what you will start to hear?
Instead, make a statement like this, “Change is difficult for all of us and we will make a shift to increase our safe transportation of these children. I am expecting all of you will be on board between your ears before your children get on board your bus.”

Third, give reasons for the change. In spite of your appraisal of your staff’s intelligence, the vast majority of your crew can reason and can accurately spot reality. If you pitch a significant change because “I said so,” the wheels will quickly come off your new direction.

Fourth, build into the change … accountability. The one way to guarantee non-compliance is to announce, “We will be expecting everyone will perform a pre- and post-inspection of his or her bus this year. And, people, we are serious about this.”
Basic human psychology will dictate that a driver will say to colleagues over a cup of coffee, “There is no way I am doing this extra work without getting extra pay.”

What will be the actions you will take when someone decides not to comply with the new change? Will you be consistent a year from now? Are you prepared to terminate staff who choose not to be compliant with the change? Those are questions that require an answer — the same answer — a year from now.

Fifth, make mid-course corrections. Normally a significant process or procedural change will require modifications. For example, if every bus will be equipped with an instant voice communication link to the dispatcher, under what conditions can the driver use the device to report traffic conditions or weather delays? The inevitability of “tweaking” should accompany the initial announcement of a new process.

Sixth, reward your staff. When people actively comply with a new direction bring in pizza, decorate the lounge, hand out coupons for ice cream cones or send a personal, hand-written note. If tangible “rewards” do not accompany change, the new behavior will have the shelf-life of lettuce.

Finally, start talking now about the next change. Your staff needs to mentally and emotionally adapt to the reality of continuous change.

An important message of your leadership should be CHANGE has become the “new normal” in pupil transportation.

LeMon is president and CEO of Executive Enrichment and a frequent keynote speaker for the school bus industry. He can be contacted at execenrichment@aol.com.

Source: School Transportation News, October 2006. All rights reserved.