Spring is here and summer is just around the corner which means you are likely planning new initiatives for the coming year. Clearly this will be another unique school year as you prepare to shore up student learning and figure out how to use an unprecedented level of federal funding in your district.
As you begin to work with your leadership team in designing next year’s activities, I thought it might be helpful to reflect upon the concept of time and timing when planning new initiatives and to outline a few best practices.
Time
Achieving success in implementing new initiatives take time. You must think through, with a broad-based team (to get varying perspectives), a plan that not only identifies key timelines and benchmarks in the process, but also how the idea will be promoted and what roadblocks you might anticipate. Hasty implementations, which do not include others, and do not take the time for proper planning, are doomed to fail.
At times it can seem like a certain course of action is clear and we can move quickly but realize this is a trap. Regardless of how insignificant the initiative might be a well thought out process must be developed and followed.
Timing
Timing is tricky and makes implementing new initiatives highly unpredictable. Why? Because there are many occasions where it might be the right thing to do, but not the right time to do it. How do you know the difference? First, I don’t think you can ever know with certainty, but there are things you can do to mitigate risk. One is to study and understand the culture and context of the district. As an example, how have new initiatives been approached in the past – what worked and what did not? In considering previous initiatives, were their “implementation blockers” (people who worked to thwart the effort)? If so, are they still in the district and how might they respond to this new effort?
Best Practices
Here are a few best practices which can lead to success when implementing new initiatives. I can also send you an initiative implementation template if you are interested (just send me an email). Each of these items is further explained in my Accelerated Wisdom: 50 Practical Insights for Today’s Superintendent book.
-Windowpane Model: To gain insight into constituent’s perspectives related to an initiative you can use the Windowpane Model which is a tool that places varying constituents in different windows (drawn on paper) and then allows you to consider how they will respond to the initiative.
-Howard Gardner’s Levers of Change: Gardner identifies various “levers” which one can use to promote an idea or change people’s minds related to an initiative. As an example, using research or best practice to promote a concept.
-Emotion: In Teaching that Sticks, an article written by Chip and Dan Heath, they speak to the importance of emotion in promoting an initiative. In other words, if you have not included in your plan methods to elicit an emotional response from constituents it is likely not to “stick”. It could be that you use a story or visual images, or a host of other options, but the idea is that to engage constituents you must include an emotional component.
I hope this information helps you reflect on the planning of your initiative(s). Please place in the comment section below any ideas, tools, or resources you believe might be helpful for others regarding this topic. Remember that we all grow when we gain wisdom and share information with each other.