Four tips for ensuring new tools and processes are ultimately successful are described by two technology experts in a K-12 Dive article. Amy Jackson is information technology project manager at Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia, and Dwight Levens is chief technology and information officer at Oakland Schools in Michigan.
1) Accept that change doesn’t come easy
If someone uses a product or process for a long time, that’s what they’re comfortable with and they don’t want another product they have to learn, says Jackson. With any change, people initially go through shock, followed by the other stages of grief, she says. Accept emotional expressions as part of change management.
2) Question the urgency of change
When a new change is presented from leaders as “urgent” or an “emergency,” Jackson suggests asking these questions:
Is it going to stop business needs? If it’s something with a two-year timeline, technology leaders should urge slowing down, working through a process, and potentially discussing the definition of an emergency, she says.
Will all stakeholders be coming to the table? Introducing new tech calls for involving the heads of departments in the implementation process. Unrealistic launch deadlines set without stakeholder input will lead to pushback or stalling.
Are all stakeholders in agreement? Jackson’s district has an IT project proposal form that requires detailed responses on who the key stakeholders are, what the need is, who will be making the decisions, and where funding is going to come from. Everyone involved has a better understanding of the project implementation process.
3) Know the needs of stakeholders
Understanding the needs or fears of stakeholders from staff to administrators enhances implementing a new tech product or platform.
Bring secretaries into the loop, Levens says.
“They know everything,” he says. “They know who doesn’t like what, and they’re going to sit on the sidelines and watch these things implemented. They can probably tell you from the top down who’s going to be a holdout, who should you go to first, and who you need to make sure you get on board from the teacher ranks because they’re going to have influence on the other teachers.”
Middle school teachers are crucial, too, because they’re most likely to have “9,000 questions and 9,000 reasons why it’s not going to happen,” Jackson says.
“I always say if you don’t have a middle school teacher on your stakeholders side, it’s not happening,” she says. Middle school teachers know how to find “a trusted adult” like a board member or community partner or superintendent when they don’t like a change, she says.
4) Make time for your rollout and training
Building enough time for training and the actual rollout is critical to success. “We do a good job of telling people we’re going to implement something, but what don’t we do? Show them how to use it,” Jackson says.
If the vendor says, “Our implementation guide is 16 weeks of in-depth training,” leaders shouldn’t try to squeeze training into two hours in a professional learning day, she says.
A commitment to professional learning time for implementation should be spelled out in project planning from the beginning, Levens says.
“Where is that time going to come from?” he asks. “You can’t just say, ‘We’ll figure it out along the way’.”
Without that commitment, people don’t get trained and they can’t participate effectively, he says.
K-12 Dive
