One of the hardest things about introducing innovation or change in organizations is getting people on board. This is especially true in health care.
3 Steps for Engaging Health Care Providers in Organizational Change
One of the hardest things about introducing innovation or change in organizations is getting people on board. This is especially true in health care. Health care providers are being asked to spend more time on documentation, see more patients in a day, and use unfamiliar processes and tools. For many, this means less time healing patients and fostering wellness – the reasons providers became health care professionals. But when innovations and changes are seen as clashing with longstanding patient care values, staff are less likely to adopt new behaviors and practices. Health care leaders need to focus on aligning innovation with existing cultural values, and devote more time to explaining how new processes and behaviors will allow employees to better enact their values and deliver high quality care. Three steps may help: 1) Seek to understand why staff think innovations or changes do not align with the existing culture and mission; 2) Engage employees with data to explain the problem, its urgency, and how to address it; 3) Pay attention to the behaviors you reward and tolerate.