Company, Operations, Process Management, Strategy, Training
Change Management | The How and Why
August 15, 2017 - Company, Operations, Process Management, Strategy, Training
Your organization is growing. You see more patients, you have more staff. The processes you followed up until this point are old and outdated. Your software needs to be updated. New policies will be implemented. Change is coming. This is good news. This is your organization evolving and staying on the cutting edge of your industry.
The idea of change does not come easy for many people. We become accustomed to our routines. We feel comfortable using the software we’ve always used, no matter how slow or inefficient it is. This is human nature. As leaders, we must not only communicate to our staff of an impending change, but we must make them part of the process. This is known as change management.
What is Change Management
Change management is a widely used term referring to everything that is done to prepare, coach, and support our teams in making any type of change.
How uncomfortable would an employee feel if they received a memo at work saying ‘effective immediately, we will now be using our brand new EMR. Please refer to the user manual for any questions’? That is a nightmare scenario for most people, and it happens all the time.
Proper change management will eliminate those situations. The concept is pretty simple, the execution is the hard part. There are many models of change management. Most of them have the same fundamental components.
4 Steps of Change Management:
1. Identify the need for a change2. Plan and prepare for the change
3. Implement the change
4. Monitor the change, and look for opportunities for more change
What is often left out of these models is the perspective of your employees. To make a change, and make the change effective, your employees need to be part of this process from start to finish. They must be communicated to every step of the way, but more importantly, they need to buy in to what you are doing. They have to understand why something is being done. When they understand the why, it makes the how that much easier. A communication plan, timeline, and written procedures must be put in place before something new is implemented. If not, your new whatever may be flawed from the start.
