I once heard John Maxwell say that if a train was moving at 55 miles per hour, it could knock through a six-foot block of concrete. However, if the train was sitting still, you could put a two inch block of wood in front of one of the front wheels and it would be stuck. Gaining momentum for your initiative at start up is an important part of the journey.
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Buy-in, in my experience, is related to creating a sense of urgency while you explore the need for an initiative in your setting.
It’s similar to what sales people (good ones) do when working with new customers, they qualify them (e.g., is this a product you need?, is this something you can afford?). Within educational initiatives, we consideration matching the priorities of the school with the goals of the initiative. We also want to ensure the school can commit to the systems (e.g., time, focus) that will make the approach work over time.
These are a few resources that you might find useful to gain traction and buy-in.
Get an overview. This is an article we wrote about our work related to buy-in and positive behavior support (PBS). It describes a process of establishing buy-in prior to implementing an initiative.
Ask before you tell. This tool (Link) is something I like to use with schools to get a sense of their needs, prior to implementing PBS. We use this as an interview tool or in focus group like meetings with potential school team members.
Self-Assess. Another tool we value is the Effective Behavior Support Self-Assessment Survey. It can be used with an entire staff to obtain their perceptions of what is already in place and their sense of priorities for improvement. This tool can be completed and complied for you electronically using PBIS Apps.
Know where you are going. It’s important for you and your team to know where you are going on your journey. I really like this checklist for implementation of PBS to accomplish this task. It is very efficient and can be used for action planning and tracking fidelity of implementation. It’s written with great systems features to guide your approach. It too is available on PBIS Apps.
See an example. This is a link to a 30 minutes webinar where you can see examples of these tools and others for obtaining buy in.
I have written other blogs related to buy-in which you might find useful including steps for buy-in and approaches for addressing resistance.
I would really appreciate learning more about your thoughts around establishing buy-in. Please let a comment here on my website.