Strategic Value Analysis In Healthcare
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Strategic Value Analysis In Healthcare |
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STRATEGIC VALUE ANALYSIS NEWSLETTER |
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Home Weekly Strategic Value Analysis Newsletter ValueNet Central TM Value Analysis Software
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SPANNING THREE DECADES OF VALUE MANAGEMENT LEADERSHIP August 13, 2002
10 Change Management Strategies That You Need To Master (Part 2 of 2)
“Nothing Endures But Change, So By Mastering Change You Will Set Yourself Apart From Your Peers By Light Years”
Robert T. Yokl, President, The HCP Group, Ltd.
In last week’s newsletter, we talked about five of the ten change management strategies that you need to master to achieve innovation and sustain positive changes over the long-term in your supply chain organization. This week we will continue with this discussion with the last five strategies that can set you apart from your peers --- by light years:
6. No Surprises, Manipulation or Games
Effective change management is a matter of trust -- no surprises, no manipulation and no gamesmanship -- as you sell your change proposal to all levels of your management and affected employees and follow through with the implementation of your change initiative. Trust begins and ends with integrity, “the uncompromising adherence to principles of morals and ethical principles” that will guide you through the minefields of change management. Any surprise, manipulation or gamesmanship that you employ that you believe will win over converts to your change initiative will in fact destroy any good will and trust that you have generated with your action plan to effect the change you were looking for.
7. Give Time For Digestion
We often hear experts in change management touting SPEED as the best tactic to move a change initiative through an organization, so that the pain of the change will be dulled. Based on my experience, I would caution you on evening considering employing this tactic in your change initiative, because in reality your peers, colleagues, employees and management actually need time to digest your ideas to fairly evaluate its merits before they can move forward with any change initiative you are proposing. And some need more time than others to understand it and get onboard with your proposal! All that SPEED does is create uncertainty, disorientation and confusion about your change proposal. So take the time that is necessary to obtain the buy-in for your change proposal at all levels of your organization or you will risk anarchy and turmoil in the ranks and in your corporate suite.
8. Stay Aware and Flexible Any change initiative that you propose is filled with unknown factors and unforeseen surprises that you can never predict, even with the best planning possible. So you must always stay aware and be flexible enough in your planning and implementation process to react to these unexpected contin-gencies. To stay aware and vigilant, you will need feedback mechanisms (questionnaires, focus groups, meetings, reports, etc.) on the progress of your change initiative to be able to react to any unanticipated event in a positive manner. Be flexible enough to change your plans in order to fix, modify or repair whatever is broken. To believe you can stay the course even after it has been proven -- in the real world -- that your planning process was inaccurate is flirting with disaster.
9. Give Rewards and Recognition For decades we have managed change initiatives by “just telling people what to do, then making sure they did it or else they would face negative consequences”. It has only been in the late 19th century that we discovered that we need to reward and recognize positive behavior, if we want to make effective and sustained change. This can be accomplished with incentive programs, positive feedback, and public and private recognition that is timely, specific, well understood by our employees, tailored to suit individual preferences and tied to the big picture. To do so you must move from the old model of “ command and control” to a new model of, “inspire and motivate”, to immunize your change management initiative from failure.
10. Be Positive At All Times Negativity in change management initiatives comes from miscommunication or poor communication, poor direction, unclear expectations and participants desire to protect themselves from pain. Since negativity will arise in any change initiative, to manage this effectively, you must first be positive yourself. If you show you have any doubts or misgivings about your initiative it will spill over to all involved parties with negative results. Negativity can be minimized by taking charge, setting clear expectations of what you see as the outcome, giving clear direction so there is no confusion, setting priorities, establishing milestones, actively listening, communicating effectively, and setting the tone for the work that needs to be accomplished by being positive at all times.
To summarize,“typically there are strong resistances to change (in any change initiative). People are afraid of the unknown. Many people think things are already just fine and don't understand the need for change. Many are inherently cynical about change, particularly from reading about the notion of "change" as if it's a mantra,” cautions Dr. Carter McNamara. To combat these negative forces you will need a carefully laid out plan with high quality reasons for making the change that have targets that are measurable. Obsessively communicate with all involved parties to avoid confusion, missteps and frustration. Give credit and ownership to others, so they can share the burden and rewards. Avoid surprises, manipulation and games so that you build trust. Give time for digestion of your ideas, stay aware and flexible in your planning and implementation, finding opportunities to reward and recognize top performers and stay positive at all times.
Robert T. Yokl, President, The HCP Group, Ltd., has over 35 years of experience as a consultant and manager in the field of Supply/Value Chain Management and is one of the country's leading healthcare experts in value analysis, value engineering and materials management. He is the developer and program leader of the award winning Certified Value Analysis Practitioner Training Program™. Mr. Yokl is also the developer of the healthcare industry's leading ValueNetCentral™ Value Analysis Software. Over the past two decades he has trained thousands of healthcare managers in his patented Strategic Value Analysis™ and Team-Based Project Management™ processes and has assisted scores of organizations in developing their own value management programs. He has published six books, videos and audios on supply/value chain management. His latest book being, “ Strategic Value Analysis™: The #1 Smart Strategy for Taking Cost Out of a Healthcare Organizations’ Supply/Value Chain”.
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