There are four main drivers supporting successful implementations: competency, organizational supports, leadership styles, and relationship attributes (Fixsen et al., 2015; Miller et al., 2010, Scott and Thurston, 2004).
Competency Drivers are mechanisms to develop, improve, and sustain awareness, knowledge, skills, self-efficacy, and motivation for all involved participants so they are able to implement the planned intervention as intended. The four key competency drivers are as follows:
- Selection – Are policies, plans, and criteria in place for the recruitment and selection of practitioners and staff needed for the intervention and its implementation?
- Training – Are the curriculum and methods in place for both pre-service and in-service training related to the intervention?
- Coaching – Are on-going coaching and facilitation approaches and any needed consultation services ready for supporting implementation and integration of the intervention into existing operations?
- Performance Assessment – Are staff and practitioner performance assessment forms and protocols developed relating to the planned intervention?
Organization Drivers are mechanisms to create and sustain organizational and system environments that support and ensure successful implementation. These include the following three drivers:
- Decision Support Data Systems – Are the necessary information and data systems in place to assess performance, support decision-making, and ensure fidelity to the intervention and measure outcomes?
- Facilitative Administration – Are any needed new operating policies and procedures and incentives in place for the planned intervention? Are the personnel and operations in place to ensure attention is paid to policies, procedures, alignment, culture, and competency? Are sufficient resources, tools, and technical assistance available for initiation of implementation? Are staffing, space, people, equipment, and peer networking adequate to ensure successful implementation of the planned intervention?
- Systems Intervention – Are there strategies in place to work with any potential external systems to ensure support for the intervention?
Leadership Drivers focus on matching the appropriate leadership style to the type of leadership challenges and opportunities involved in implementing the planned intervention. These leadership challenges and opportunities usually emerge as part of change management and include decision-making, provision of guidance, and supporting organization functioning. This generally involves monitoring team dynamics and motivation to discern when to deploy an adaptive leadership style and when to use a more technical leadership style. At all times it is important to model leader inclusiveness where the leader’s words and deeds demonstrate inviting others and appreciating their coming (Nembhard and Edmonson, 2006).
An adaptive leadership style emphasizes:
- Giving feedback
- Aligning
- Listening
- Motivating
- Consensus building
A technical leadership style highlights:
- Resolving issues
- Driving for results
- Providing direct technical guidance
Relational Drivers were the foundation of IMPACT’s implementation framework, within which competency, organization, and leadership drivers all happened. An important task within the Capacity & Readiness Assessment stage is to assess and strengthen the effectiveness, adaptability, and resilience of community relationship systems. At the core of this work is developing and ensuring psychological safety for all participants. The following aspects of relationships are worthy of greater attention:
- Mindfulness refers to awareness of self and others, of relationships, and of what is happening elsewhere in the setting, along with openness to new ideas and different perspectives.
- Diversity of mental models refers to valuing multiple, varied ways of thinking and efforts to capitalize on these to enhance group problem-solving and creativity.
- Heedful interrelating occurs when individuals’ interactions are rooted in ongoing awareness of how their work and that of others contribute to goals.
- A mix of rich and lean communication implies an appropriate mix of rich face-to-face communication for uncertain, emotionally charged issues and more lean impersonal communication such as e-mail for clear, simple messages.
- A mix of social and task-related interactions indicates that conversations appropriately include a blend of social and task-related discourse such that some are typically personal and social and based on friendships outside of work and others are specific to work functions.
- Mutual respect is demonstrated when behaviour observed throughout the organization is characterized by honesty, tactfulness, and valuing of each other’s contribution.
- Trust represents the judgment that others in the setting are capable and committed and that one can risk being vulnerable in the presence of peers.
An in-depth assessment and scoring system based on leading practices in implementation science is available for common usage from the National Implementation Research Network.
