Definition

Now, let’s look at the Competency Driver, Selection, through an active implementation lens. Selection refers to the purposeful process of recruiting, interviewing, and hiring ‘with the end in mind’.  Selection through an active implementation lens includes identifying skills and abilities that are pre-requisites and/or specific to the innovation or program, as well as attributes that are difficult to train and coach.  Let’s look at how recruitment, interviewing, and selection processes support high quality implementation that leads to better fidelity and improved outcomes.

Rationale

From an active implementation perspective, the selection process is critical to program success. Selection from an active implementation perspective is different from selection as usual in two important ways:

1. Selection is viewed as a "mutual" process. That is, the school or district is deciding whether or not to select an individual to join them and the process allows the applicant to understand the expectations related to the position.
2. Selection includes "role play" or "behavior rehearsal" processes. These processes allow interviewers to observe how applicants respond to feedback and how able and willing they are to learn new practices. This process provides insight into how an applicant might respond to feedback and data. A desire and ability to learn and grow are critical for ongoing improvement.

Key Functions

The selection process is an important opportunity that allows new hires and reassigned staff to clearly understand the job requirements and ways of work and to make their own decision about whether the programs, practices and continuous improvement processes are a good fit for them. A detailed and realistic overview of the position helps the applicant decide if they are up for the challenge. The process also provides the opportunity to select for specific traits or characteristics – ones that may be challenging to support through training and coaching. For example, characteristics such as seeing parents as partners in the education process or willingly being accountable for outcomes. Information gathered through the selection process can be fed forward to trainers and coaches to help them understand the strengths of the person and more quickly focus on areas that may need attention.