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Key Points for Spread and Sustainability
• For the spread of new ideas to happen in a timely fashion, the spread process needs to be
managed
• Spread is founded on communication - communication to raise awareness, attract adopters, and
share the technical content with them
• Leaders should assign high performers to a spread effort and allocate them sufficient time
• Evidence for the ideas being spread is built as success is realised in different situations
• Adopters will usually progress through stages of change, from awareness to decision and from
decision to action. The spread team should develop communication tactics to assist adopters to
make these transitions
• Persons who are influencers or opinion leaders in the social system serve as the best
messengers
• Making the success of early adopters visible reduces the perceived risk of the majority and makes
their decision to adopt easier.
Langley G, Moen R, Nolan K, Nolan T, Norman, C, Provost, L.
The Improvement Guide, A Practical Approach to Enhancing Organizational Performance; 2009
Spread and Sustainability
Spread = The process through which new working methods developed in one setting are adopted,
perhaps with appropriate modifications, in other organisational contexts.
Sustainability = The process through which new working methods, performance enhancement, and
continuous improvements are maintained for a period appropriate to a given context.
Buchanan D, Fitzgerald L, Ketley D. The Sustainability and Spread of Organizational Change: Modernizing healthcare. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge;
2007.
Things to Think About
Resources: What will you need?
How will you get it?
How much will it cost?
Support: Whose support do you need for the project?
How can you influence them?
Staff: Who else is involved in planning and implementing
the project?
Don't forget the wider team - nurses, pharmacists,
doctors, AHP's etc.
How can you engage them?