Research School Network: Buy-in and Implementation How do we build buy-in? As Mark Miller explains, it’s rooted in the school culture.

When planning for implementation, we can often consider the need for ​‘buy-in’. But there isn’t a magic wand we can wave, or an inspirational speech we can deliver, that suddenly achieves this. In reality, ​‘buy-in’ for any single approach in a school can be dependent on the way all approaches are implemented in a school. 

To understand buy-in, we have to consider the role of acceptability in implementation. According to Proctor et al (2011), acceptability ​‘is the perception among implementation stakeholders that a given treatment, service, practice, or innovation is agreeable, palatable, or satisfactory.’

Concepts of acceptability may be different at different stages of an intervention, and can be affected by a number of factors. A systematic review from Dyssegard et al (2017) concluded that ​‘positive attitudes and perceptions are vital for successful implementation.’ They identified ways that this can be promoted:

• Commitment and resources from management
• Time for planning and a reasonable workload
• Teachers’ belief in the effectiveness of a programme or activity
• Differentiated approaches to individual teachers
• Staff being involved in choice of programme or activity
• Awareness training on the programme or activity
• Establishing and agreeing on a shared strategy and understanding

There are three messages that can be summarised from this. 1) Ensure appropriate support is in place. 2) Communicate clearly the why, what and how of the approach. 3) Ensure that all stakeholders have a voice in the implementation process.

While it may be relatively easy to consider the factors above in terms of individual approaches, schools are built on many many individual approaches. And it’s the approach to implementation within a whole-school culture that can affect the buy-in for the individual intervention.

Recommendation 2 from ​‘Putting Evidence to Work: A School’s Guide to Implementation’ is ​‘Create a leadership environment and school climate that is conducive to good implementation.’ And it makes the case that implementation effectiveness is dependent on culture.

The guidance contains checklists at the end of each section to help you reflect on implementation in your school. Download it below. The questions for the first two recommendations focus on school climate for implementation.

Therefore, buy-in is as much a part of buy-in to your whole school culture than anything specific. Schein, in Organisational Culture and Leadership, describes primary and secondary ​‘embedding mechanisms’, which are ​‘the major tools that leaders have available to them to teach their organizations how to perceive, think, feel, and behave based on their own conscious and unconscious convictions.’ They are a useful lens to view implementation, because these will be the norms in the school, and they will influence buy-in.

Primary Embedding Mechanisms

1. what leaders pay attention to, measure, and control on a regular basis
2. how leaders react to critical incidents and organizational crises
3. how leaders allocate resources
4. deliberate role modeling, teaching, and coaching
5. how leaders allocate rewards and status
6. how leaders recruit, select, promote, and excommunicate.

Secondary Embedding Mechanisms

1. organizational design and structure
2. organizational systems and procedures
3. rites and rituals of the organization
4. design of physical space, facades, and buildings
5. stories about important events and people
6. formal statements of organizational philosophy, creeds, and charters

Not everyone can influence all of these elements, but anyone who is considering the notion of ​‘buy-in’ is in some ways able to influence these mechanisms within their sphere of influence.

One further finding from Dyssegaard et al is regarding the role of professional development in buy-in: ​“Positive attitudes and perceptions are vital for implementation success, and they are best fostered in the professional development phase, where policy language and clarity of implementation procedures are assured.”

The EEF’s Effective Professional development guidance report sets out 14 mechanisms which can contribute to the success of CPD, and three of these relate to motivating teachers.

We have unpicked each of these recommendations in our blog series on the guidance:

Setting and Agreeing on Goals
Presenting Information from a Credible Source
Providing Affirmation and Reinforcement After Progress

Not only will a focus on these mechanisms help to make it easy to motivate teachers, well thought out approaches also build buy-in because they further emphasise the care and attention that has gone into making something effective.

Dyssegaard, C.B., Egelund, N., Sommersel, H.B (2017) A systematic review of what enables or hinders the use of research-based knowledge in primary and lower secondary school. Copenhagen: Danish Clearinghouse for Educational Research, Department of Education, Aarhus University

Proctor, E., Silmere, H., Raghavan, R., Hovmand, P., Aarons, G., Bunger, A., Griffey, R., & Hensley, M. (2011). Outcomes for implementation research: conceptual distinctions, measurement challenges, and research agenda. Administration and policy in mental health, 38(2), 65 – 76.

Schein, Edgar H. (2010) Organizational culture and leadership. Jossey-Bass .