Over the past decade, Public Consulting Group (PCG) has joined educators, academics, and innovators from across the world in Austin, Texas for SXSW EDU to address some of the most consequential issues surrounding K-12 education. This year, we were proud to have Jacob Klett, a Senior Managing Education Advisor, selected as a mentor for the roundtable session, “Catalyzing & Navigating Change in Schools.” Klett is the first PCG employee to serve as a SXSW EDU mentor.

This roundtable session allowed attendees to engage in direct dialogue with experts and leaders from across the educational landscape as they navigate challenges and reimagine educational systems. 

“Those who attended represented a diverse range of work in the education space,” Klett shared. “Several attendees touched on the challenges around long-term sustainability of change initiatives. We talked about the model of change described by Chip and Dan Heath in Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, discussing the pitfall of often relying too much on giving information while neglecting the emotional and motivational aspects of change. Another prevalent theme that came up across table groups was the uncertainty of the present moment in education and the impact of a changing federal landscape on students and educators. We discussed spheres of concern, influence, control, and support, emphasizing the need to create consistent, safe environments for students while also prioritizing one’s own self-care.”

The routable session featured three tables, each with two mentors. Over the course of the hour, attendees rotated every 20 minutes to engage with different mentors. Klett was joined by Lindsey Steele, CEO of Steele Empowered Consulting LLC and Senior Consultant at vChief.

“Steele and I had the opportunity to connect before the session started and found we had many shared perspectives on education, mentorship, and leadership,” Klett noted. “Her work centers around delivery of professional learning and coaching in schools, while my work focuses on the systems-level within state education agencies and school districts. Our perspectives and experiences complimented each other well and provided a holistic approach on considering and discussing the topic of change in education.” 

Reflecting on this experience, Klett emphasized the importance of intentionality in change management—planning with the end in mind and considering all stakeholders throughout the process, adding, “I think this is especially relevant for the work I do at PCG, supporting state agencies and school districts and leading staff and communities through change initiatives. Since so much of our discussion centered around the uncertainty felt in the education space, it highlighted how critical it is to proactively consider wellbeing and safety, both physical and psychological, as crucial considerations in change management at any level.” 

The roundtable session quickly reached capacity with many participants expressing positive sentiments about the structure and the topic. “Following the event, I exchanged contact information and connected with other mentors and several attendees, we discussed connecting virtually or over the phone on some follow-up questions,” Klett said. “The roundtable format really sparked dialogue and got everyone engaged quickly in dissecting timely problems of practice. There may be some opportunity for us at PCG to consider whether we could use this format in our stakeholder engagement efforts related to the topic of change in education or other topics as well.”