Connecting Judges with Strategies to Jumpstart Change
On February 11, IAALS and the Berkeley Judicial Institute (BJI) hosted Staying the Course: Strategies for Sustaining Change, a webinar designed to provide concrete strategies for judges and court leaders to overcome obstacles and opposition, maintain commitment, and celebrate milestones to ensure the long-term success of legal innovations. Dr. Lana Cook, Associate Director of the MIT Systems Awareness Lab, led participants through guided exercises, breakout discussions, and large-group discussions focused on creating an environment and mindset that leads to effective change.
Dr. Cook began by talking about how most efforts to implement change fail because people are focused on fixing problems as they arise rather than being proactive about change. “Today’s session is really about how do we shift our thinking from what are we trying to change or react against to what are we trying to grow.”
Participants in the webinar were asked to come prepared with an innovation or change they wanted to see in their court. Using the Dance of Change model, Dr. Cook gave participants concrete steps to begin the process of working through that change. Each participant was asked to list what they wanted to grow, what were the limiting constraints of that growth, and what they do when they encounter those constraints. From there, participants broke out into smaller groups to exchange insights with peers, share projects they are trying to grow in their courts, and brainstorm strategies to overcome limiting constraints.
Many judicial leaders in attendance had similar experiences and shared constraints they often face in their individual courts. One participant described the struggle to get buy-in for a change from the people who would need to carry out that change. Dr. Cook, with contributions from the group, encouraged them to understand what was interfering with the chance for buy-in. Instead of treating that change like a command they needed to blindly follow, Dr. Cook framed the change as a chance to further the court’s mission of serving people and enacting justice, connecting with the people who made that goal their life’s mission.
“The more that we can anchor around shared purpose, shared vision, the more we can see where and how particular actions are not just compliance, but contributions towards that bigger vision.”
View and download the webinar slides
This webinar is the fourth of six in this series focused on judicial leadership.
- Click here to register for the next two upcoming free webinars.
- To learn more about the steps judicial leaders can take now to bring innovation to their courts, read our Blueprint for Judicial Innovation.
