The “sunk cost fallacy” is a fascinating phenomenon.
It describes the tendency of an individual or organisation to follow through on a time, effort or monetary-invested endeavour, despite current “costs” outweighing the benefits, and abandonment being more beneficial.
When we fall into the sunk cost fallacy, logical and rational thinking can go out of the window, which can lead to problems developing exponentially and the road to success becoming longer and more treacherous.
As educators, we’ve all come across this to some degree. Think of that flashy online learning platform that your school purchased at a high monetary cost and then asked to be embedded into schemes of work and to appear in lessons.
When the reality of the product turned out to be not what was expected, the school chose to stick by it because of the financial and person-hour investment. Sound familiar?
Or maybe it was changes to a curriculum, and the associated resource development. Have you ever heard the words “so much time and effort has gone into it, we can’t change it now”? Whatever the example, the sunk cost fallacy exists in schools and it is having a detrimental effect.
Breaking the ‘sunk cost fallacy’
The modern world is a fast-paced environment where developments occur quickly and suddenly. Just as other industries are, education must be fluid, flexible and ready to adapt as the world around it evolves.
While some traditional aspects of education will always have their place, a culture of change acceptance is crucial for individuals and organisations to future-proof themselves.
This culture does not mean changes can easily be made on a whim without due diligence; quite the contrary.
If change acceptance is woven through the fabric of your school, it means stakeholders understand the processes that lead to change and accept that if a change is implemented, it is absolutely required and should therefore be embraced. This breaks the sunk cost fallacy.
Before attempting to implement any form of change, you must be open with the affected stakeholders and answer the question of “why?”.
I’ve been in the scenario of changing the curriculum, with the associated resource development, mentioned above, many times.
Making any change was hard because there was an inevitable attachment, given the time some stakeholders had dedicated to the curriculum. You have to clearly show stakeholders why moving away from the current system is the right thing to do.
Questions will naturally arise throughout the implementation process, so ensure that you have forums where questions and concerns can be addressed.
Depending on the scale of your change, this may take the form of a regular stakeholder meeting or perhaps it could be something less formal like a Google Spaces or WhatsApp group.
The negativity towards change is generally attributed to the unknowns that come along with it. Transparency eliminates this.
Selling change to your staff
Through your openness and transparency, you can eliminate the fear, and stakeholders will then be ready for the change.
The next step is to get them excited, and this can be done by using a consistently positive tone and emphasising the opportunity that comes along with the change.
It may be a cliché, but I’ve used well-known examples of people breaking the mould and doing things differently to achieve this - everyone can connect to stories like Steve Jobs and Apple, for example.
You also need to make sure that you sell the benefits to individuals. For your teachers, focus on the growth, professional development and stimulation that comes from implementing change.
Make sure they know that remaining passive leads to stagnation and a career stuck in neutral. Change will help them to progress as professionals.
To get the maximum investment from stakeholders, they need to be part of the change. If they have a role to play in the process, they will be far more likely to embrace the end result.
If I was leading a move away from an embedded online learning platform like the one mentioned earlier, I would either set up a working party in the initial stages, with staff members assigned specific roles, or I would do something less formal like simply seeking regular feedback throughout the implementation.
Whichever option, wide involvement will go a long way to ensuring your school is moving forward instead of clinging to the past.
The sunk cost fallacy presents challenges for all schools. Break this by implementing a culture of change acceptance and watch your school move forward as quickly as the world around it does.
James Worland is the principal of The International School @ ParkCity in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Connect with him via @jamesworlandedu on Instagram or Twitter
