Stage 5: Sustaining Results – Consolidating Change
The consolidation phase is essential to ensure that change is sustained over the long term. According to Kotter (1996), change becomes consolidated when it is permanently embedded in the culture and daily practices of the organization. In the educational context, new literacy practices must become part of teachers' and students’ everyday habits, supported by new structures and a collective commitment to continuous improvement. As Lewin (1951) proposed, change is stabilized when new behaviors are reinforced, ensuring they are not temporary. This stage requires the renewal of goals and the emergence of new leaders within the team, so that change is not dependent on a few individuals but is distributed and sustained over time.
What to Expect:
Changes achieved are expected to be permanently integrated into the school culture, essential to the educational team’s daily routines. This is a time to celebrate progress.
In this final stage, the changes achieved are expected to be permanently integrated into the school culture, becoming essential to the educational team’s daily routines. This is a time to celebrate progress while looking toward the future to ensure that changes remain sustainable.
As the educational team prepares to face new challenges, the key will be maintaining a long-term commitment to continuous improvement. In this phase, results are consolidated, and a cycle of ongoing enhancement is established. This ensures that the efforts made during execution remain integral to teaching and learning, driving a culture of disciplined execution and forward momentum toward new goals.
Key Actions in 4DX:
Renew the WIG and Establish New Goals
The consolidation stage, also known as the sustainability phase, is crucial to ensure that the results achieved are not temporary but are maintained over the long term. Within the framework of the 4 Disciplines of Execution (4DX), this stage is based on the continuous renewal of the WIG and the stabilization of new practices within the organizational or educational culture.
According to McChesney, Covey, and Huling (2012), Discipline 1, which focuses all efforts on the WIG, must be continually renewed so the team stays centered on new goals that drive continuous improvement. In Discipline 2, predictive measures play a vital role in ensuring that daily actions remain aligned with updated goals and that the effectiveness of change is preserved.
In addition, Discipline 3, maintaining a visible scoreboard, remains essential to consistently visible progress in academic achievement and the consolidation of habits and processes. By keeping a visual and accessible tracking system, all team members can stay engaged in the improvement process and continue reaching new milestones.
Finally, Discipline 4, through a cadence of accountability, ensures that the team remains committed and focused in the long term by holding regular review meetings to evaluate progress toward the new WIG and adjust actions to keep moving forward. This ongoing cycle of shared responsibility and dynamic adjustments allows change to become embedded and continuously evolve within the educational culture, ensuring that transformation is not fleeting but becomes a foundational part of the school environment.
How It Is Applied in the Hybrid Literacy Innovation Plan:
Review progress toward the current WIG: Each quarter, the team will evaluate progress toward the current WIG: improving reading comprehension through a blended learning model. This includes analyzing student data from adaptive platforms and reviewing classroom implementation of literacy stations. This process will help determine whether the current WIG continues to drive growth or needs to be refined.
Set new WIGs aligned with continuous improvement in hybrid learning: Once the initial goal is reached, new WIGs will be established to further develop students’ skills in guided reading, creative writing, and digital fluency through adaptive tools. These objectives will reflect deeper integration of blended strategies that personalize learning and reinforce literacy outcomes.
Engage the teaching team in defining the new WIG: Teachers will be invited to participate in collaborative planning sessions to reflect on outcomes, share insights, and co-define new targets. This will ensure collective ownership and alignment with the evolving goals of the hybrid literacy model.
Update the scoreboards with new hybrid goals: Class and team scoreboards will be refreshed with the new WIG and aligned performance indicators, showing real-time student progress in in-person and digital learning contexts.
Influencer Model Action: Reinforce Successful Behaviors and Develop New Leaders
To ensure that change is sustainable in the long term, it is crucial to recognize and reinforce successful behaviors that have proven effective throughout the process. Ongoing recognition of individual and group achievements motivates the team and ensures positive behaviors are embedded in the school culture. This reinforcement should include academic accomplishments and acknowledgment of collaboration, innovation, and leadership attitudes within the teaching team.
How It Is Applied in the Innovation Plan:
Celebrate individual and collective achievements: Successful efforts and progress should be publicly recognized at the individual and group levels during follow-up meetings. This includes recognizing teachers who have effectively implemented digital tools or innovative methodologies and students who have demonstrated exceptional commitment.
Give visibility to leaders within the team: Identify teachers who have successfully led change and highlight their contributions within the group. These emerging leaders should serve as examples to inspire others by sharing their experiences and best practices.
Foster the development of new leaders: Implement a mentorship and training system within the teaching team, allowing emerging leaders to develop new skills and leadership capabilities. This process helps distribute leadership across the entire educational community, preventing success from relying on a single individual.
Distribute ownership of the change process: Change mustn't rely on one leader alone. Empowering more team members makes the entire educational community responsible for the change process, ensuring that momentum is sustained. According to the Influencer Model, change must be shared to be truly sustainable over time.