In my last post, I used the metaphor of a viaduct to suggest that leaders of change need to visualise the finished outcome from the beginning and make the necessary plans to ensure this future state will be fulfilled. In this article, I will link this to the Concerns Based Adoption Model (CBAM) by Hall and Hord (1974) which provides a framework for leading change in complex education settings.
Hall and Hord recognised a chasm that existed between innovation – policies, practices, processes or programmes – and the eventual impact on pupil outcomes. They observed that it was often not the innovation that was at fault, nor was it the quality of the research methodology but the implementation of the innovation.
They proposed that this chasm could be crossed through an ‘implementation bridge’. Without this bridge, educational leaders often made a ‘giant leap’ to get from the innovation to the outcomes; often falling short into the abyss of high hopes and failed ideas.
At risk of mixing my metaphors, the above illustration uses the bridge to show Hall and Hord’s model to represent what needs to be addressed to bring full implementation. Innovations take place within an organisation and change happens through people. Implementation must address the ‘Stages of concern’ of the participants to bring them to engage and unite towards the purpose of the innovation. There must also be a level of support and expectation to change the participants’ ‘Levels of use’. This bridge of implementation is built by six functions:
Develop, articulate and communicate a shared vision
Plan and provide resources
Invest in professional learning
Check progress
Provide continuous assistance
Create a context for supportive change
In the latest EEF Guide to Implementation, the second recommendation is to ‘Attend to the contextual factors that influence implementation’. Leadership is key to this recommendation. Leaders need to be able to be sensitive to the stages of concern and the levels of use within their settings and make use of the six functions in the right measure at the right time to bring their colleagues towards greater engagement so that the vision is achieved.
