Minding the Gap: Attending to New Practice Needs When Implementation is Taking Something Away

This lesson offers a relevant practice example of how Leadership and Implementation Teams who participated in the BBI-Six Core pilot project navigated a key issue of what to do when a practice we seek to implement involves the absence of something else, thus resulting in a newly created gap of unmet needs that can impact readiness for the change.

Often during efforts to implement a new program or practice, organizations are introducing an innovation with the best intentions to improve existing workflows, client outcomes, or to simply get better than “the way it has always been done.” Sometimes, when a new program is part of taking something else away, it is not a clean replacement and can result in more and even new unmet needs. Just as successful implementation takes intentional planning and supports along the way, sometimes de-implementation of a previously existing practice also requires careful forethought and ongoing attention to nurture staff and system readiness for change.