Late Adopter

1. Obtain commitments from key school leadership team members to learn more about the bigger issues related to the idea.
2. Keep the leadership team “in the loop” by providing them with up-to-date information about new evidence, the actions and experiences of other school communities, and changes in the provincial landscape that could influence the issue and idea adoption.
   • Try to stay on the leadership team’s agenda, while not aggravating them.

For resources on working with decision-makers click here.

1. Provide evidence to illustrate the scientific support (e.g., research) that exists in favour of adopting the new idea.
2. Provide evidence to illustrate the school community support that exists in favor of adopting the new idea.
   • When providing evidence of support, focus on showing the support that exists both within the school community and among neighbouring school communities.
3. Illustrate how school communities with similar characteristics have successfully adopted and implemented the proposed idea.
   • It is important to highlight the positive impact that the idea has had in these school communities.
4. Emphasize the risks and the detrimental impact of maintaining the status quo (e.g., not adopting the idea).

For resources on working with evidence click here.

For sources of evidence click here.

For resources on assessing return on investment of a new idea click here.

For resources on how to conduct a health impact assessments click here.

1. Develop relationships with key stakeholders (e.g., administrators, teachers, staff, students, parents, community members, school board members, school partners, city councilors and provincial representatives)
   • Remember that this process may be more time-intensive than with an Innovator and Majority-Type school community, so plan accordingly.

For resources on identifying and working with school champions click here.

1. Work with the school community to develop an approach that fits their specific needs and concerns. This will help to create buy-in and understanding for the idea early on.
   • Each school community has different needs and may require different approaches to the same idea. Acknowledging this is especially important when dealing with Late Adopters because they have the most reservations about adopting a new idea.
   • Late Adopters tend to require more evidence-based information to inform action. For this reason, it may be beneficial to conduct a situational assessment.
     • A situational assessment helps determine the needs and strengths of a school community. It involves the examination of factors such as the economic environment, key stakeholders, literature and previous evaluations, and the school community’s overall vision.
     • It is important to note that conducting a situational assessment requires a great deal of time and energy and is not suitable or necessary for every situation.
   • Recognize barriers to moving forward with a new idea and identify how they can be addressed.
     • When working with Late Adopters, there are often underlying barriers inhibiting the adoption of a new idea. These barriers can result from a number of factors, such as a specific ideological standpoint, a lack of resources, or limited capacity. To successfully start moving a new idea forward with a Late Adopter, you must recognize what these barriers are and how they can be addressed.
2. Debunk myths (about the impact of adopting the idea) and increase the legitimacy of evidence about the issues related to the idea.
   • Myths often surround new ideas when they are proposed. Unfortunately, evidence may not always be sufficient or adequate to debunk these myths as a Late Adopter school community may be skeptical about the legitimacy of the evidence or its sources.
   • An effective way to increase the legitimacy of evidence is by working with school community members who are well-respected, receptive to change, and willing to work towards the adoption of the new idea.
3. Be prepared to counter the arguments of those who oppose the idea.
   • Work with key stakeholders to anticipate likely arguments against the proposed idea and develop possible responses.
4. Provide resources (e.g., money, in-kind time, materials), if available, to the school community to overcome barriers.
   • Identify possible resource pools available to the school community. For example, school community partners can often apply for grants to support new ideas. Local or provincial not-for-profit groups are often good sources of templates and materials that can be used in support of the new idea. Volunteers who support the idea can be a good source of in-kind time or skills needed to help gain support for the idea.

For resources on conducting a situational assessment click here. 

For examples of funding support click here.

1. Empower receptive members of the school community to take action on the idea.
   • Pressure is often needed to facilitate moving a new idea forward with a Late Adopter school community, so it is important to engage the school community members and encourage them to take action.
2. Work to gain support from the members of the school community, and then use this support to engage the leadership team.
3. Connect with the members of the leadership team using evidence and examples of success.
   • It is important to encourage dialogue in the school and to work with different stakeholders to build school-wide acceptance of the idea.
4. Consider strategies that publicly ‘shame’ the school community.
   • Generally speaking, a school community does not like to be identified as a Late Adopter, so negative tactics may work in some circumstances. This is a more aggressive strategy and requires careful consideration of the potential consequences for current and future relationship-building efforts. This is best considered only if all other efforts to engage the school community (e.g., with leadership team) have been unsuccessful.

For resources on community engagement and organization click here.

For resources on raising awareness click here.