3 Reasons your whole school initiative isn't taking off (and what you can do about it)
Here's the scenario: You've poured everything you've got into designing a new school initiative that you know (or at least are confident) will drive the improvement you wish to make. You've read the research, distilled its knowledge into a useful form, produced resources, rewritten the relevant school policies, taken staff through a carefully prepared PowerPoint presentation - hey, you even brought biscuits to the staff meeting to ensure everyone was in a good mood before you began. Then, you waited.
After what seems a sensible wait time, you take a learning walk. You set foot in classroom after classroom, looking for evidence that your great new initiative is having the impact you know it can have. You talk to pupils, observe learning, look through books. But something is missing. It's not difficult to lay your finger on what this is - nothing new is happening. You find little if any evidence that your shiny new initiative has even found its way into classrooms, books or the memories of the blank-faced pupils you interview.
In short, your initiative has failed to launch.
Sound familiar?
Disheartening, isn't it? It is, however, a common experience, particularly for those new to leadership or operating in a new context. Before all else, as leaders, we must quickly get over the bruised ego and set to work finding a solution to the problem.
Here are three possible blockades that may need to be removed or circumnavigated for your initiative to take hold (presuming it was a good idea in the first place - but perhaps this is a discussion for another post).
I am fortunate to have been through this process many of times in different contexts and what follows is based on my experiences, those of colleagues I have spoken with and plenty of reading on the subject.
#1: Your staff haven't 'bought in' to your vision
Clearly, the biscuits and PowerPoint combo didn't work. Despite spending that time in the staff meeting going through the plan, this did not translate into action. It is very likely, then, that at least some of your team were not sufficiently convinced of the value of your change.
'Change' is the keyword here and there is a reason why so many books have been written on successful change management. As a rule, people like things to be familiar, predictable, unchanging. Change takes effort, involves habit breaking and feels uncomfortable. This means you will need to give your staff a good reason for why it is necessary. If the whole school PowerPoint presentation wasn't enough, it may mean that you didn't spend long enough on the 'why'.
Alternatively, you failed to convince only a minority. However, one/two/few individuals are major influencers within the school and, whilst you were waiting for things to be implemented, their work began, sowing doubt in the minds of others that perhaps these changes aren't worth the effort. They've seen something similar fail before. He/she (you) are a nice, well-meaning leader but maybe a little naive - best just ride this one out.
What can be done?:
Deal with the dissenting voices first. Identify those least likely to embrace a change and speak to them early. Bring them into your thought process. Invite them to trial the new initiative in their classrooms first. Meet with their team/department/year group and treat them as a focus group, feeding their thoughts back into the project before presenting to the rest. By listening to them, including them in the design of the initiative, they are now invested. And, because they have worked with you on the design, they will find it harder to speak negatively of it to others.
When talking to staff, focus on the 'why'. Do not expect them to change their practice just because it's in the policy. There must be a good reason for changing things, so be sure everybody knows it. Highlight the shortcomings in current practice (but be careful not to do this in a way that might offend or belittle and certainly without giving specific examples from people's classrooms).
Shepherd the change. Be hands-on in classrooms, modelling the change yourself. If you still have a classroom role, invite others to observe you modelling the new policy. Where practice is strong, signpost others to this, making champions of those who have made the change work. Where things are not working, offer support.
#2: There isn't room for another card in the hand
You've achieved buy-in. Your team(s) want to implement change in their classrooms but there just isn't room in the day/week/lesson. It is easy to fall into the trap of continually dealing new cards without collecting any in. We can all only achieve so much in our working day and even the best designed new initiative will create some extra workload, at least in the beginning. Remember, cognitive load isn't just a challenge for pupils in a classroom. We all operate under the same constraints to working memory and consciously working through the implementation of something new is hard work. Be particularly mindful if your school has more than one leader tasked with introducing something new - multiple competing initiatives can be disorienting for staff and create additional workload and cognitive overload.
What can be done?:
Review what is asked of teachers/support staff on a day-to-day basis. Decide whether there is unnecessary duplication and remove expectations where necessary. Where previous new initiatives have been embedded, remove any initially imposed expectations that are no longer required to see the practice continue.
Review what is happening at leadership level right now and decide whether any initiatives are vying for space. Consider putting an implementation calendar together, liaising with leaders to agree acceptable time frames that allow teachers time to embed one thing at a time.
Throughout this, talk to staff and listen to their experiences. They have all the information you need to make the right decision and will tell you, provided they feel able to.
#3: Old Habits Die Hard
Again, change is hard. We are all creatures of habit and, if your new initiative seeks to replace something else, it will take time for staff to 'unlearn' the old behaviours and replace them with the new. For the reasons outlined above regarding cognitive load, we are most likely to rest on habit when demands are placed on our working memory.
What can be done?:
Habits often hinge on a particular trigger. Trigger - child looks puzzled during an input. Habit - Visit that child early during independent work. Trigger - kids go out to break. Habit - grab a biscuit from the staff room. Are there existing triggers in the classroom that would prompt these unwanted habits and prevent a new habit from forming that supports what you are introducing? Want there to be daily independent writing in your classrooms? Have an independent writing book on the desk each morning. Want every teacher to read aloud for fifteen minutes each day? Put up a plinth in every classroom prominently displaying the class book. With some new habits, the pupils are often quicker than the adults and can provide the trigger With the daily reading example, tell the children in assembly that they will have fifteen minutes with their class book each day and they are guaranteed to ask their teacher each day, "Siiir/Miiiiss, when are we reading the class book?” - Instant trigger!
Habits can be followed by a reward. Most do if you take the time to think about it. Eat the break time biscuit, enjoy the sweet taste. Help the struggling pupil to get on track, enjoy the fuzzy feeling inside that, once again, you made a difference. What rewards might there be to incentivise your new habit? By the way, the reward is often a simple one: show that you take an interest in what is happening in classrooms and be sure to celebrate the good work of your staff by letting them know you were impressed. A simple email or quick passing comment can go a long way.
Also, a bonus #4: You haven't waited long enough to see the fruits of your labours.
Sometimes, in our excitement to see things change, we forget that change takes time. Perhaps you cannot see things happening because people need longer to embed new practice or find the right place or way to use it. If this is the case, tend carefully to each emerging bud, give plenty of nourishing encouragement and remain involved to see that things grow as you expect them to.
Whatever your plans for the new school year, I hope that you become not just their architect but also their gardener/shepherd/cheerleader and that they have the impact you set out to achieve for your school, staff and pupils.
