The Wandersman Center has pioneered a novel framework for applying readiness.
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The R = MC2 approach emphasizes the critical importance of organizational willingness (i.e., motivation) and ability (i.e., capacity) for readiness to implement something new with quality. Generally, we define an innovation as a program, practice, policy, or process that is new to a setting. Readiness work can also be applied to current interventions by simply substituting the word innovation with intervention.
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Motivation
There are psychological aspects of any change effort that are important for implementation success. Motivation consists of features within an innovation that contribute to whether people will want to implement it or not.
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General Capacities
General capacities are the overall characteristics of an organization. These conditions are applicable to any innovation and include things like leadership, culture, and other influences that affect the daily functioning of an organization.
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Innovation-Specific Capacities
Innovation-specific capacities are the conditions that are necessary to implement a particular innovation. This includes not only the knowledge and skills for the innovation, but also the conditions within the organization that facilitate implementation.
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How is readiness defined?
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1. Readiness consists of multiple
constructs. |
Readiness is more than being “ready or not.” Rather, readiness is determined by the three related components (i.e., motivation, general capacities, and innovation-specific capacities), which can vary in influence depending upon the setting. Each component has a number of subcomponents that provide more detail about motivation and capacity.
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2. Readiness is innovation-specific.
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When contemplating the use of readiness in a setting, consider this question: What are we ready for? Conditions may be right for one innovation but not quite appropriate for another. For example, just because a community coalition is motivated to implement a walking program does not mean that they are ready to implement a nutrition program, even though they are both related to health and wellness. Therefore, it is necessary to specify the innovation to apply the readiness concepts.
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3. Readiness is important throughout
implementation. |
The dynamic nature of readiness means that it is applicable and relevant across all stages of implementation, which include pre-implementation, adoption, active implementation, and sustainability. No matter the stage of an innovation’s lifespan, there are readiness issues that should be considered.
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4. Readiness is important for outcomes
across multiple system levels. |
Readiness applies to different system levels, which can begin with the individual and extend—through the team, organization, coalition, community, and state—to the national level. Thus, this model is applicable within and across multiple levels.
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5. Readiness can be built.
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Readiness can be established using customized interventions. By building conditions that are associated with quality implementation, an organization can increase the likelihood of achieving positive outcomes. Furthermore, these conditions can be preventively addressed to promote the sustainability of implementation so that gains are maintained and drift in quality is minimized. By defining the readiness level of an organization, a readiness-building plan can be developed to increase motivation and capacity.
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How does the readiness-building system work?
Readiness assessments often highlight the need to build readiness and, therefore, to ensure quality implementation. Consequently, the Wandersman Center team has compiled a change management database of strategies that draws from multiple sources of related literature, including implementation science, improvement science, social psychology, education, and business.
The readiness building steps depicted in the figure above are as follows:
- An organization engages with the readiness building system (RBS), followed by a readiness assessment and individualized site report that provides scores in areas of low and high motivation and capacities.
- The feedback and prioritization process highlights the readiness subcomponents where improvements may make the most significant impacts.
- Change management of organizational readiness (CMOR) strategies are integrated into a technical assistance readiness-building plan that is collaboratively developed, implemented, evaluated, and aimed at creating sustained and measurable change (i.e., outcomes) within an organization.
