FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

People have many questions about readiness. Feel free to consult the below FAQ or contact any The Dawn Chorus Group team member for further discussion about how to apply readiness to your projects.

• What is readiness?

  Readiness refers to how prepared an organization or team is to successfully implement and sustain a change or initiative. It involves two main components:

  1. Motivation – The willingness or desire of individuals or groups to engage with and support the change. This includes understanding the benefits of the change, aligning it with organizational values, and seeing it as a priority.
  2. Capacity – The ability to carry out the change, which depends on the availability of resources, skills, knowledge, and infrastructure necessary to make the change successful.

  In short, readiness is the combination of the motivation to change and the capacity to execute the change, ensuring that the organization or team is fully prepared to move forward.

• We already started. Why should we care about readiness?

  Readiness is important not just at the start of a project, but throughout the entire implementation process. The conditions that affect success can shift over time, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. By regularly monitoring readiness, you can catch and address challenges as they arise, ensuring that the team stays aligned and capable of reaching its goals. Continuous assessment helps maintain momentum and adaptability, increasing the chances of long-term success.

• Does it matter what type of organization we are?

  Not at all! Whether you’re a marketing agency, school, behavioral health provider, hospital, urgent care clinic, state-level agency, community coalition, board, retailer, military base, church group, university department, or nonprofit, readiness applies to any setting. Every organization, no matter its size or type, can benefit from assessing and building readiness to ensure successful implementation and long-term success.

• What is an innovation?

  An innovation is any policy, program, process, or practice that is new to a setting, organization, unit, or team. It represents a fresh approach or idea introduced to improve how things are done, regardless of whether it’s completely new or just new to the specific group adopting it.

• How is readiness linked to implementation?

  Readiness is closely linked to successful implementation. The more prepared an organization is, the better its chances of implementing effectively. Quality implementation goes beyond simply following a set process (often referred to as fidelity). It involves understanding the surrounding context, addressing the needs of the people involved, and continuously seeking opportunities for improvement throughout the implementation process. A high level of readiness ensures that an organization can adapt, respond to challenges, and enhance outcomes during implementation.

• What if I want to take the survey more than once?

  We are currently developing the functionality to link results over time.

• Can the survey be customized for my own organization’s needs?

  Yup! Contact our team and we can discuss how to develop project and site-specific modifications that can enhance the utility.

• What can I do to get additional help?

  Change Management of Readiness (CMOR) is one of our core research and practical activities. Contact us for additional consultation about how to apply CMOR to your work.