The Initiative Graveyard

• Initiatives fail from design issues, not effort issues. Schools aren’t struggling with motivation — they’re struggling with the wrong rhythm of change.

• Clarity is the new courage. Defining one learner outcome, two practice shifts, and three short-cycle measures builds belief, alignment, and momentum.

• Short cycles beat big launches. Six-week Design → Do → Decide loops sustain energy and create observable wins that staff can trust.

• Goodwill collapses without structure. Distributed leadership only works when roles are mapped, contributions are visible, and accountability is shared.

• Finishing loudly builds cultural trust. Initiatives must be closed publicly, with clear evidence of what changed, what continues, and what stops.

• Skill must come before scale. Real cultural shift comes from rehearsal, feedback, and capacity building — not from theory-heavy workshops.

• Sustainability is a rhythm, not a heroic effort. Protecting implementation windows, keeping action logs alive, and pacing spread make change stick.

• Culture carries what energy cannot. When design is deliberate, initiatives stop being events — they become part of the school’s identity.

Transcript

You can feel it in the staffroom before the slide deck even opens. Another launch. Fresh name. New poster set.

The energy is earnest, the intention is good. But somewhere between Week 6 and the end of term, the rhythm fades.

Handouts disappear into drawers. Lesson resources sit half-finished. And that new initiative? It joins the others in the Initiative Graveyard.

I hear the same line in schools everywhere: “We launch new programs… and then quietly bury them months later.”

A burst of energy at the start. A beautifully worded vision. And then… the slow slide back to business as usual.

It’s not laziness. It’s not apathy. It’s because schools are running on the wrong rhythm of change. We treat improvement like a performance — not a practice. It’s a systems problem — not a people problem.

This video is about breaking that cycle — turning change from an event into a habit you can see, measure, and sustain and I will give you the 5 evidence-based shifts that do that.

STAFF COMPLACENCY

In the Culture of Excellence framework, this sits under the barrier called Staff Complacency.

Not because staff don’t care — but because repeated, abandoned pushes have taught them that effort is temporary, and feedback won’t change anything.

It’s learned self-protection. After too many failed launches, staff start to believe: “This one won’t last either.” It’s not apathy — it’s realism.

When change becomes theatre, the smartest people stop performing.

You’ll know this barrier is shifting when staff ask for the next review checkpoint, when action items are claimed publicly, and when teachers talk more about evidence moved than activities completed.

That’s why your next great idea doesn’t need a bigger launch… it needs a better design.

SHIFT 1: Clarity Is the New Courage

I often ask staff: “What does success look like for this initiative in six weeks?” And the room goes quiet. Without a finish line, everyone’s running in different directions.

Strong leaders declare the finish line before the start line: one clear learner outcome, two visible practice shifts, and three quick measures you’ll collect within six weeks.

As Everett Rogers showed, adoption happens when change is observable and trialable. And John Hattie’s research confirms: clarity of success criteria drives collective efficacy. If people can see success, they believe they can reach it.

“Clarity is the new courage. Before you chase change, dare to define what success actually looks like.”

SHIFT 2: From Launches to Loops

Schools love big plans. But big plans collapse under their own weight. Year-long rollouts sound strategic — until they suffocate under paperwork and fatigue.

The alternative? Six-week loops. Design → Do → Decide. Short enough to feel achievable. Tight enough to keep energy alive.

Helen Timperley found that short feedback loops drive adaptive practice. And Durlak & DuPre proved that implementation quality, not program choice, predicts outcomes. So remember this: momentum beats magnitude, move from launched to loops

SHIFT 3: From Goodwill to Good Design

One principal told me, “If I don’t do it myself, it won’t get done.”

That’s the Collaboration Illusion I spoke about in my last video — leadership shared in name, not in practice. There is a link to that video in the description

Ken Leithwood’s research showed distributed leadership only improves outcomes when accountability is explicit. Amy Edmondson and Bryk & Schneider taught us that trust grows when responsibility is visible and fair.

So, map the roles. Keep an action log. Make contribution visible. Because goodwill collapses without design.

“If everyone owns it, no one owns it.”

SHIFT 4: Finish Loud, Not Quiet

Here’s a rule worth framing in every staffroom: Nothing new launches until the last initiative has been closed properly. Not shelved quietly — closed publicly. That means showing what changed, what will sustain, and what stops.

Michael Fullan and Peter Senge both warned that coherence relies as much on stopping as starting. Without closure, staff assume nothing really sticks — and cynicism hardens.

“Finish loud, not quiet. When leaders end visibly, they teach that completion matters as much as creation.”

SHIFT 5: Skill Before Scale

Too often, professional learning is scattershot — a series of one-off workshops disconnected from practice. Hours of theory… and then teachers flounder when the real work begins.

The smarter move? Invest capacity where the initiative lives. If the focus is routines, rehearse them. If it’s feedback, practise it live.

Andy Hargreaves and Michael Fullan call professional learning the deepest cultural investment a school makes. One short rehearsal with feedback beats a full day of talk.

“Skill before scale. Every great culture was built by people who could do the work, not just talk about it.”

Sustaining isn’t about willpower — it’s about rhythm. Protect a standing implementation window in your meeting cycle.

Keep the action log alive. Run a light “scale check” before you expand beyond early adopters.

Everett Rogers showed that spread only succeeds when it’s paced. When leaders create rhythm, staff start asking when the next cycle begins — because wins are visible, and the load is shared.

The graveyard isn’t inevitable. It’s a design problem we can solve.

When you define the finish line, shorten the cycle, make contribution visible, close loops, and build capacity deliberately — initiatives stop being events.

They become culture. Embed deeper. Let culture carry what energy cannot.

If you want to see how schools are doing this through the Culture of Excellence Program,

visit leecrockett.net/excellence-program.

Because embedding change isn’t about luck and it doesn’t survive on momentum — it survives on design.

REFERENCES

Fixsen, D. L., Naoom, S. F., Blase, K. A., Friedman, R. M., & Wallace, F. (2005). Implementation research: A synthesis of the literature. National Implementation Research Network, University of South Florida.

Durlak, J. A., & DuPre, E. P. (2008). Implementation matters: A review of research on the influence of implementation on program outcomes. American Journal of Community Psychology, 41(3–4), 327–350. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-008-9165-0

Fullan, M. (2011). Choosing the wrong drivers for whole system reform. Centre for Strategic Education.

Timperley, H. (2011). Realizing the power of professional learning. McGraw-Hill Education.

Leithwood, K., Sun, J., & Schumacker, R. (2020). How school leadership influences student learning: A test of three theories. Educational Administration Quarterly, 56(2), 224–262. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013161X19878772

Edmondson, A. C. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350–383. https://doi.org/10.2307/2666999

Bryk, A. S., & Schneider, B. (2002). Trust in schools: A core resource for improvement. Russell Sage Foundation.

Hargreaves, A., & Fullan, M. (2012). Professional capital: Transforming teaching in every school. Teachers College Press.

Rogers, E. M. (2003). Diffusion of innovations (5th ed.). Free Press.

Senge, P. M. (2006). The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization (Rev. ed.). Doubleday.

Hattie, J. (2016). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 1,200 meta-analyses relating to achievement. Routledge.

Australian Catholic University. (2023, 2024). Principal Health and Wellbeing Survey: Annual reports. Institute for Positive Psychology and Education, ACU.