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Leading Change for AI Facilitator's Web Guide
One-Day Workshop Guide for School Leaders

Leading Change for Artificial Intelligence in Education

A comprehensive workshop for primary school senior leadership teams to move beyond technical tasks to the deep, multi-layered organisational reality.

Running Time 9:00 am – 5:05 pm (approx. 8 hours with breaks)
Target Audience Primary School Senior Leaders
Explore Workshop Sessions View Full Agenda

Senge’s 3 Tiers of Visibility

Core Diagnostic
~~~~ Waterline of Visibility ~~~~
1. Explicit Structural Tier Above Waterline

Resource flows, policies, practices, and hardware allocation.

2. Semi-Explicit Relational Tier Relational Layer

Relationships, power dynamics, voice, and collaborative trust.

3. Invisible Mental Models Deepest Layer

Deeply embedded assumptions about pedagogy, risk, and technology.

💡 Workshop Goal: Produce a Primary School Systems Diagnostic Map mapping across all three tiers.

Navigation Model

Integrated Change Leadership Frameworks

Grounded in system dynamics, bicultural navigation, complexity theory, and organizational psychology.

Senge’s Systems Thinking

6 Conditions of System Change (1990)

Maps structural, relational, and mental model layers to diagnose how explicit and hidden forces impact AI adoption in primary schools.

Used in Session 1 & 3

Hautū Waka Framework

Indigenous Bicultural Navigation (2025)

Guides leadership through collective preparation (Whakariterite), adaptive steering (Whakatere), community context (Whakawhānui), and well-being (Whakatoiora).

Integrated Across Sessions

Cynefin Framework

Complexity Theory (Snowden, 2010)

Contrasts rigid "ordered traps" with adaptive complex systems. Encourages establishing safe-to-fail probes rather than micro-managing compliance.

Used in Session 2

Gary Klein’s Premortem

Prospective Hindsight (Klein, 2007)

Assuming a catastrophic 12-month failure before launch increases risk identification capability by 30% and breaks defensive silence.

Used in Session 2 (Demo & Groups)

Fullan’s Six Secrets of Change

Relational Leadership & Implementation Dip (Fullan, 2008)

Addresses the natural "Implementation Dip" through connecting peers with purpose, non-judgemental capacity building, de-privatising practice, and day-to-day on-the-job learning.

Used in Relational Tier & Session 3
Schedule

Agenda at a Glance

Full day schedule running from 9:00 am to 5:05 pm.

9:00 AM SESSION 1
Goal: Produce Systems Diagnostic Map

SESSION 1 · Seeing the Water & Grounding the Waka

Moving beyond technical tasks to the deep, multi-layered organisational reality.

9:00 - 9:30

Introduction to Senge’s 6 Conditions of Change

Frameworks: Senge’s 3 Tiers of Visibility
30 min
9:30 - 10:30

Senge’s 6 Conditions of Change — mapping activity

Systemic diagnosis across explicit, semi-explicit, and mental model layers
1 hr
☕ Morning Tea Break 10:30 am – 10:50 am
20 min
10:50 AM SESSION 2
Goal: +30% Risk Detection & Coalition Plan

SESSION 2 · Whakariterite — Preparation & Project Premortem

Strategic preparation, coalition building, and collective risk safeguarding.

10:50 - 11:35

Complexity Theory & the Cynefin Framework (intro)

Video: Dave Snowden’s Children’s Party Analogy
45 min
11:35 - 12:40

Reflection Activity: Snowden’s Children’s Party Analogy

Ordered Trap vs. Complex Approach & Amplification / Dampening
1 hr 5 min
12:40 - 13:25

Gary Klein’s Project Premortem — Part 1, whole-group demo

Live school change project exercise
45 min
🍴 Lunch Break 1:25 pm – 2:05 pm
40 min
14:05 - 14:55

Gary Klein’s Project Premortem — Part 2, small groups

Peer facilitation with AI change projects
50 min
☕ Afternoon Break 2:55 pm – 3:05 pm
10 min
3:05 PM SESSION 3
Goal: On-the-Job Learning & Short-Term Wins Plan

SESSION 3 · System Learning & Shifting Mental Models

Staff well-being, day-to-day learning, and celebrating incremental wins.

15:05 - 16:05

Reflection: Shifting School Mental Models

Appreciative Inquiry 4-Question Framework
1 hr
16:05 - 16:35

Te Kete Matu — Curated Change Leadership Checklist

Final reflection on collective, bicultural navigation
30 min
4:35 PM ADDITIONAL SESSION
Goal: Relational Coordination Plan

ADDITIONAL SESSION · Navigating the Relational Tier

Fullan’s Secrets 1–3: Peers, Purpose & Capacity Building (30 min)

Facilitator Instructions

Detailed Session Modules & Steps

Select a session below to view step-by-step facilitation guidance and key exercises.

Session 1

Seeing the Water & Grounding the Waka

Moving beyond technical tasks to the deep, multi-layered organisational reality.

Goal: Produce a Primary School Systems Diagnostic Map
Frameworks: Senge’s 3 Tiers of Visibility & 6 Conditions
1 9:00 – 9:30 am (30 min) · Introduction

FACILITATOR STEPS

Guide leaders through an introduction to, and analysis of, all three tiers of organisational visibility:

  • Explicit Structural Tier: Resource flows, policies, and formal practices.
  • Semi-Explicit Relational Tier: Relationships, informal networks, & power dynamics.
  • Invisible Mental Models: Deeply embedded assumptions about teaching and learning.
2 9:30 – 10:30 am (1 hr) · Mapping Activity

This activity leverages Senge’s 6 Conditions of System Change to help school leaders diagnose their current school reality across the three tiers.

FACILITATOR STEPS

  1. Set up the iceberg template: the explicit structural tier sits above the waterline; the semi-explicit relational and invisible mental-model tiers sit below it.
  2. Have leaders and peers map their school’s current use of generative AI against all six conditions, surfacing the specifics in play at each level.
Reference: Senge’s 6 Conditions of System Change (Senge, 1990)
Appendix A Takeaway

Te Kete Matu

Curated Change Leadership Checklist — A one-page takeaway for the guiding coalition.

Senge’s System Diagnostic Mapping

Senge (1990)

Diagnostic Question: Have we mapped our project across Senge’s visibility framework?

Explicit Structural PLD, budgets, hardware allocation, and operational policies.
Semi-Explicit Relational Trust, power dynamics, voice, and staff collaboration channels.
Invisible Mental Models Fundamental staff assumptions about teaching, risk, and technology.

Hautū Waka Bicultural Navigation

Taniwha-Paoo & Hoeta (2025)

Diagnostic Question: Are we utilising the ‘pipi dive’ to align core navigation dimensions?

Whakariterite Collective preparation
Whakatere Adaptive steering
Whakawhānui Local context & iwi orientation
Whakatoiora Staff well-being & manaakitanga

Gary Klein’s Project Premortem

Klein (2007)

Diagnostic Question: Have we engaged our Guiding Coalition and staff in a structured prospective-hindsight exercise — assuming a spectacular 12-month failure — to independently brainstorm and address ‘impolitic’ risks, increasing risk detection by 30%?

Fullan’s Relational Coordination & Purpose

Fullan (2008)

Diagnostic Question: Are we supporting staff through the normal ‘Implementation Dip’?

Secret 5 De-privatised practice
Secret 4 Day-to-day, on-the-job learning
Secret 2 Peers connected with shared purpose
Secret 3 Non-judgemental capacity building

Dave Snowden’s Cynefin Framework

Snowden (2010)

Diagnostic Question: Are we treating this change as an ecological, adaptive system rather than a linear engineering project? Have we established flexible boundary constraints and launched safe-to-fail probes to let beneficial practice emerge?