4 ways to combat initiative fatigue in education

Educational institutions face new changes every year, whether it’s compulsory regulatory updates or voluntary initiatives designed to improve outcomes. But for educators and staff who already face increasing responsibilities and pressures, asking them to adapt can lead to burnout.

Your institution can’t always control whether you need to make a change, but you can control how changes are implemented. Building resilience is vital to supporting your staff, limiting initiative fatigue and helping ensure that you see a positive return on critical changes.

Why change resilience matters

Resistance and even rejection of change aren’t always rooted in the change itself but in how it’s managed. If you ask staff to adapt without the right support, they’re more likely to lack confidence in the change and become disengaged when frustrations arise.

Change resiliency focuses on developing the skills needed by staff at all levels to navigate change. It helps them adapt while increasing organizational change capacity so that you see a greater impact from your initiatives. 

When you focus on how you’re implementing change initiatives and supporting staff, you can:

• Limit initiative fatigue: Your staff is already burdened with constant change. If you’re not building up change resiliency, fatigue will accumulate and implementing new initiatives will threaten to burn out overloaded staff.
• Master future changes: Change resiliency is ongoing. If you manage to build it effectively in one initiative, those same skills will carry over into the next change and the next, so that you can continue increasing effectiveness.
• Implement the right changes: Part of change resilience is taking the time to understand what changes will best serve your staff and students and the potential impacts. Effective resiliency practices make it easier for you to identify unintended consequences and the changes that can bring the most value.
• See a greater impact: Change done well is easier to adapt to than change done poorly. When you use change resiliency effectively, you’re more likely to see higher levels of staff engagement and adoption, increasing the impact of your initiatives.

Promising practices for building resilience and fighting fatigue

If you want to minimize initiative fatigue and see better outcomes from your changes, here are four strategies you can use to build resiliency:

1. Clearly communicate about changes

Communicating the plan for the change and the reasoning behind it can help minimize resistance.

The reality is that you might not have all the answers. Your educational institution may be implementing things solely based on new regulations passed down from the federal or state levels. However, being transparent in your communication about what the change will mean and how you plan to address it can help make staff more confident in both their ability to handle the change and yours.

Additionally, while changes in education are often made with student outcomes in mind, it can help to foreground your staff when communicating. Explaining how changes will impact them and the potential benefits they may see can help increase their engagement.

2. Inclusive decision-making:

Establishing a feedback loop in the early stages of an initiative can help give staff and other stakeholders ownership over change. Since they have input, as opposed to the change simply happening to them, they may have a greater sense of agency and engagement when adapting.

But gathering stakeholder feedback isn’t just about creating a positive culture for change; it’s also about creating a more effective implementation strategy. Your staff and community members may have different perspectives on changes and can help you uncover unintended consequences and potential knowledge gaps before they become obstacles.

Of course, it isn’t always possible to include all stakeholders at the beginning of an initiative. Instead, seek feedback at critical junctures, and then continue to have a feedback loop open for input throughout.

3. Ongoing support and training

Providing continuous professional development and resources helps staff feel more equipped to implement changes. For example, if you’re implementing new technology, you need to ensure that any relevant staff understand how to incorporate it effectively into their processes. 

Part of that support is also being thoughtful towards your staff’s workload. Whenever possible, it’s important to be mindful of your staff’s busiest times, such as the first day of the academic year or around testing periods and schedule any major initiatives accordingly. Additionally, if an initiative impacts their workload, look for opportunities to modify their current responsibilities to accommodate that change.

4. Emotional support 

For effective education change management, you need to acknowledge an initiative’s emotional impact. Each staff member will react differently, so prepare to offer tailored support and open communication to mitigate their potential overwhelm and resistance.

Effective planning can also enhance emotional support. Being a better designer for change initiatives can help encourage staff to feel positive about change and give them more confidence that they’ll have the support, tools and information they need to adapt.

How Wipfli can help

With a team that includes former educational staff and change management specialists, Wipfli can help you navigate your next change successfully. Our services scale to initiatives of any size and provide you with proven frameworks, support and strategies to help you realize your desired outcomes.

Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you transform your institution.