Welcome

Welcome to the Ready, Set, Change! online decision support tool. Assessing organizational readiness prior to implementing a change initiative is an important step and can ultimately lead to better implementation outcomes. The purpose of this tool is to guide you through the process of selecting a valid and reliable readiness assessment measure that is appropriate for your organizational setting. Learn more about organizational readiness for change and how we developed this tool.

About this tool

A brief background on organizational readiness for change

Much importance has been placed on assessing readiness for change as one of the earliest steps of implementation, but measuring it can be a complex and daunting task. Organizations and individuals struggle with how to reliably and accurately measure readiness for change. Several measures have been developed to help organizations assess readiness, but these are often underused due to the difficulty of selecting the right measure. In response to this challenge, we have developed a decision support tool that is designed to guide users interested in implementation in the selection of an appropriate readiness assessment measure for their setting.

The development process at a glance

A multi-phase approach was used to develop the Ready, Set, Change! decision support tool. The key steps of development included:

  • Phase 1: Key measures for assessing organizational readiness for change were identified from a recently completed systematic review. Included measures were those developed for healthcare settings (e.g., acute care, public health, mental health) and that have been deemed valid and reliable.
  • Phase 2: Study investigators and field experts were engaged in a mapping exercise to categorize individual items of included measures according to four key readiness constructs from an existing framework developed by Holt and colleagues (2010):
    • Individual psychological (IP)
    • Individual structural (IS)
    • Organizational psychological (OP)
    • Organizational structural (OS)
  • Phase 3: A stakeholder panel of potential end users from different disciplines and sectors was consulted to determine the feasibility, relevance, and likelihood to recommend score of the selected measures.
  • Phase 4: Findings from phases 1-3 informed the development of the decision support tool.
  • Phase 5: The decision support tool underwent rigourous usability testing with potential end users to understand user interactions and experiences with the tool.

To learn more about the development process of the Ready, Set, Change! decision support tool, refer to the complete and open-access protocol paper here: http://www.implementationscience.com/content/9/1/56

Introduction

Ready, Set, Change! is a decision support tool designed to guide users with an interest in implementation in the selection of an appropriate readiness for change assessment measure for their setting. This tool is based on a framework for organizational readiness for change comprised of 4 key constructs:

  • Individual Psychological
    Attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions held by individual staff members regarding the change. It may also refer to the extent to which staff members agree with the value of the change
  • Individual Structural
    Staff members’ knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform activities and roles related to the change. It may also refer to the willingness of individual staff to undergo training to improve their knowledge, skills, and abilities required for change implementation
  • Organizational Psychological
    Collective commitment and collective efficacy, or the extent to which members of an organization are seen to work together to achieve change implementation
  • Organizational Structural
    Human and material resources, communication channels, and formal policies required to support change implementation

These constructs are important to prioritize and assess before implementing an intervention.

The tool is divided into three sections:

  • Section 1
    In Section 1, you will be asked questions about your organizational setting, including your current implementation context.
  • Section 2
    In Section 2, you will be asked to rank a series of statements regarding priorities for implementing your intervention of interest from your perspective. This will be completed using a 3-step approach.
  • Section 3
    In Section 3, based on your selections from Sections 1 and 2, one or more readiness assessment measure(s) will be recommended for use in your unique setting to assess your organization’s level of readiness to implement your intervention of interest.

    After your recommended measures have been generated, on the final page of the tool you will be given an option to enter your email address to have these results sent to you. Do not worry about writing down the measure names or using screen capture.

How to Navigate the Tool

  • An image of the back and next buttons for reference
    When navigating through the tool, click "next" to advance to the next screen or click "back" to move to the previous screen. You may need to scroll down to see the navigation buttons.
  • An image of the undo and reset buttons for reference
    In Section 2, click “ undo” to return the last dragged item to the left of the screen. Click “reset all” to return all dragged items to the left side of the screen. You may need to scroll down to see the navigation buttons.
  • An image of the browser back and forward buttons as well as the enter key for reference
    Do not use the forward and back buttons on your browser’s navigation bar to move forward and back and do not use the “enter” key on your keyboard to submit your responses or selections.

Section 1 Organizational Setting and Implementation Context

Which of the following best describes your organizational setting (i.e., the setting for change implementation)?

Please select one of the following

Section 1 Organizational Setting and Implementation Context

To your knowledge, is your intervention of interest an eHealth intervention (e.g., electronic health record system, telemedicine, virtual health care team, consumer health informatics, etc.)?

Please select one of the following

Section 1 Organizational Setting and Implementation Context

To your knowledge, has a plan already been developed for how your intervention of interest will be implemented in your organization? This question applies to both eHealth and non-eHealth interventions.

Please select one of the following

Section 2 Determining your Organization’s Priority Areas

In this section you will rank priorities for implementing your intervention of interest from your perspective. Priorities should be ranked in order of importance based on your understanding of your organization and the characteristics of the intervention of interest.

In this section, you will be asked to prioritize a total of 8 predetermined statements across 3 steps.

  • Step 1: You will prioritize 4 statements in order of importance.
  • Step 2: You will prioritize another 4 statements in order of importance.
  • Step 3: Your top 2 priorities from your selections in step 1 and 2 will appear as a unique set of 4 statements. You will prioritize these 4 statements in order of importance.

Section 2 Determining your Organization’s Priority Areas

Step 1: Below is the first set of 4 statements that describe key considerations when implementing a change initiative. When thinking about your organization’s priorities and needs, how would you rank each statement in order of importance?

Please arrange the following statements in order of importance

Section 2 Determining your Organization’s Priority Areas

Step 2: Below is the next set of 4 statements that describe key considerations when implementing a change initiative. When thinking about your organization’s priorities and needs, how would you rank each statement in order of importance?

Please arrange the following statements in order of importance

Section 2 Determining your Organization’s Priority Areas

Step 3: Below is a unique combination of 4 statements that was generated from your top 2 selections from the previous rounds of ranking (step 1 and 2). For the final step of the ranking exercise (step 3), please arrange the statements relative to one another in order of importance.

Please arrange the following statements in order of priority