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28 | march/april 2014 | Facilities Manager The participants described the supportive culture as one that is change ready and used cooperative language. For this group, the experience of the AFE application process was positive and relatively enjoyable. The social approach to change suggests that change is a social event and requires willing participants. Fullan (2007) described the change process as a social event that involves a three-stage process: initiate, implement, and institutionalize. Fullan's three stage process appears similar to Lewin's three steps; however, the difference between the models is high- lighted by the manner in which the change takes place. For Fullan, the approach must be initiated though relationships, developing of shared meaning and mutual respect with broad stakeholder participation. For the supportive pre-AFE cul- tures, this study supports Fullan's view that recognizes change as a social event. Other social-based models can be applied to the supportive pre-AFE culture: Watkins and Mohr's (2001) 5–D Model, and Kouzes and Posner's (2007) five core practices and ten commitments of leaders. WHICH LEADERSHIP THEORY OR APPROACH WAS UTILIZED? Participants identified their leadership in two ways. First, leaders were described in terms of what they did. Leaders 1) initiated the action required to begin the AFE journey, 2) set the expectations necessary to drive the change ef- fort, 3) established priorities and focus, and 4) ensured the change progress was maintained. According to this study, the role of leadership was foundational in the AFE journey. The vice president and the senior facilities officers were perceived to be vital primary catalysts required to initi- ate the journey, by setting the vision, establishing a goal, or setting the expectations necessary to drive the change effort. This includes working to convert the resistant pre-AFE culture to a supportive culture. In this process, the senior facilities officers, with support from facilities leaders, were key agents in prioritizing resources and bringing the focus necessary to achieve the AFE recognition. The senior facilities officer was also identified as the person responsible to ensure that progress was maintained. These findings are consistent with Bridges (2003), who believes that the leaders' job is to understand what to do in each stage and help people transition through organizational changes with minimal disruption. The findings are also consistent with Kotter's (1996) belief that overcoming the natural resistance to change requires great leaders who can drive change by creating power and motivation to overcome the opposing inertia. According to Kotter a leadership focus required to initiate change. This study has identified five traits and skills that leaders exhibited during the AFE journey: initi- ate, set expectations, set priority and focus, assign resources, and ensures progress is maintained. pre-AFE departmental culture as having two general overtones, resistive or supportive. Resistive cultures require behavior-based change approach. Participants characterized the resistive culture as having an air of skepticism and generally lacking trust between staff and lead- ership and within members of the facilities leadership team. For the campuses with a resistive pre-AFE culture, the behavioral- based approach to change model best fit the participants' experi- ence. In 1951, Kurt Lewin introduced the classic behavior-based three-step change mode: unfreeze, create new momentum, and refreeze. More modern behavior-based change models include Leading Change by Kotter (1996) and Management Systems' Phases of Change by Flamholtz and Randle (2008). Lewin's model illustrates the phenomenon observed in the study. The first step in Lewin's process is to unfreeze the exist- ing deeply anchored behavior, in this case the resistive culture. Participants described the role of leadership was to apply enough force to unfreeze the existing status quo. Vice presidents and senior facilities officers initiate the unfreezing effort by setting the vision and direction for change, and an expectation of excellence and to pursue the APPA Award for Excellence. The second step is to create movement and momentum in the desired direction. Movement toward desired direction, in this case a culture of excellence, is driven by the senior facilities officers, and facilities leaders who: 1) implement the expectations necessary to drive the change effort, 2) established a priority for and the focus necessary to achieve the AFE recognition, and 3) ensured that progress was maintained. The third and final step is to refreeze the behavior to anchor the new patterns. Participants identified three actions taken by leaders to anchor the culture of excellence: 1) make certain that assessment and inclusion were ongoing, 2) confirm new expectations for continual improvement were upheld, and 3) intentionally improved process- es and leadership practices. Social-based change theory works for supportive cultures. Participants described the support- ive culture as ready to embrace change with team members that were gener- ally prepared to take action. Participants described the sup- portive group as hav- ing a "team approach" and well established leadership engagement. www.appa.org/fmep