Key Strategies

• Harness the support of individuals from the school community who are open to new ideas.
• Identify and work with key stakeholders (for example, administrators, teachers, staff, students, parents, community members, school board members, city councillors, and provincial representatives) to generate support for an idea.
• Build relationships and foster dialogue with champions in your school community. To build relationships with potential champions, provide them with evidence, help them understand the new idea, and offer them continued support.
• Work with people who have an in-depth knowledge of the school community.

For resources on building relationships with school champions, click here.

• Position the idea to align it with the vision and mission of the school community. Link the proposed ideas to strategic documents and mission statements developed by the school community.
• Frame the message in terms of what the school community can gain from adopting the new idea.
• Position the idea in a big picture or population health perspective.

For resources on framing ideas, click here.

• Prior to launching an information or education campaign, make an effort to understand the needs and characteristics of the school community that you are working with, and how knowledgeable members are about the idea.
• Keep your message clear and simple by using three to five key messages.
• Use innovative forms of communication (e.g., social media) to educate, raise awareness, and help the school community understand how and why the idea is important.
• Organize the school community to show their support for the idea. This can be achieved by creating collaborations or working groups within the school.
• Launch a letter/email writing campaign and encourage school community champions, other stakeholders, and parents to participate. Encourage the school leadership team to respond to letters, emails, and phone calls from school community members. This provides the leadership team with an opportunity to informally assess the level of school community interest and support, and to better understand the issues.

For resources on educating the community, click here.

• Emphasize the positive outcomes that will result from adopting the new idea. Be as specific as possible.
• Present evidence by using experts in the field. If possible, give examples of other school communities who have undergone similar changes and illustrate how and why they have been successful.
• Outline the pros and cons of adopting the change. Illustrate how the benefits outweigh the risks.
• Provide evidence to illustrate school community support that exists in favor of adopting the new idea.

For resources on providing evidence, click here.

• Tools and incentives can be used to encourage the adoption of a new idea by making the proposed idea easier to implement and of increased benefit to the school community.
• Provide the school community with support to help them define goals, set targets, and make the uptake of a new idea easier.

For resources and tools for the adoption of new ideas, click here.