Are You Ready? How Health Professionals Can Comprehensively Conceptualize Readiness for Change

Abstract

One important factor influencing the successful implementation of system-wide change is initial readiness. Readiness is defined as the degree to which those involved are individually and collectively primed, motivated, and technically capable of executing the change. We present a conceptual framework that highlights three broad areas to be considered if health-care professionals are to comprehensively evaluate readiness that includes psychological factors (i.e., characteristics of those being asked to change), structural factors (i.e., circumstances under which the change is occurring) as well as the level of analysis (i.e., individual and organizational levels). We also describe more specific dimensions within each of these broad categories that have both empirical and theoretical support, presenting several valid and reliable survey instruments that measure key dimensions of readiness quantitatively.

Facilitators, Barriers and Management Competencies Associated with Schools' Readiness to Implement New Accountable Practices

“…These changes cannot occur if employees are not ready for it." Although some authors suggest that the concept of ORC can be studied at the individual, group, and organizational levels [10,11], those having conducted work on organizational change highlight the relevance of studying collective practices changes at the organizational level [12], considering that these changes can be described as complex because they require multiple simultaneous changes. Although this model has been used generally in the field of health care, to our knowledge the ORC concept appears central and crucial to the study of organizational change specifically targeting schools' regulation and evaluation practices, whether upstream or downstream of the management process.…”

“…In the same vein, Holt et al [11] argued that the concept conduct that defines "how things work here." These beliefs and rules are not always written, and in fact, most of the members of a company would be hard to explain.…”

“…As mentioned above, ORC refers to organizational members' shared resolve to implement a change and their collective ability to do so; respectively, these dimensions are known as change commitment and change efficacy [9,23]. In practical terms, readiness for change requires both willingness and a capability to change [11]. More recently, Nickel et al [15] use the terms "collective commitment" and "collective efficacy" to designate these two dimensions.…”

Capability for Change at Community Health Centers Serving Asian Pacific Islanders: An Exploratory Study of a Cancer Screening Evidence-based Intervention

“…Several frameworks for implementing and assessing organizational changes have been constructed (Glasgow et al, 1999;Cohen et al, 2004;Damschroder et al, 2009;Weiner, 2009;Holt et al, 2010). Cohen et al (2004) identified attributes of practices that achieved high rates of intervention adoption and described four major domains (i.e., resources, stakeholder motivation, outside motivators, and opportunities for change) in the Practice Change and Development Model (Cohen et al, 2004).…”

Connecting Research and Patient Care: Lessons from the VA’s Quality Enhancement Research Initiative

“…Common to all of them is an emphasis on the importance of context-the recognition that the success of any strategy depends critically on the type of change being implemented and the setting in which it is being adopted. For example, two articles in this supplement deal with the importance of "readiness to change" as an influence on success 8,9 . We need additional practical tools to assess such contextual factors and define how we can address those that are modifiable.…”