Leading Organizational Change: 7 Reminders From One Healthcare Leader to Another

If you’re a leader in a medical practice, hospital, or health system, you know that leading your organization through necessary change is a true constant! And while you’ve certainly become accustomed to the task – and developed competencies to drive effective execution through periods of evolution – challenges can remain. So while you navigate and lead through inevitable organizational change over the coming months, here are a few reminders that may be helpful.

You’ve just finished the project, passed the milestone, or completed the initiative and are thinking it’s time to let the organization take a well-deserved break. Be careful! We now live in a world where our realities change daily, meaning the target may have moved while you were busy executing. When that’s the case, periods of passivity can result in real consequence. Condition yourself and your organization to constantly look over the horizon and to accept that change initiatives most often will need to overlap.  

Casting vision is a fundamental requirement for obtaining organizational “buy-in” and ensuring that change initiatives stay on track. Your vision should provide clarity as to what needs to be accomplished, why it needs to happen, when it must be completed, and who will participate. Essentially, visions define what successful outcomes will look like. While visions can be delivered in a variety of forms, including in writing, video, personal presentation, or walk-around storytelling, it’s critical that they are both simple enough to be understood and repeated by all in the organization and meaningful enough to inspire buy-in.

You can’t do it alone. Every healthcare organization has an informal organization chart that is full of “thought leaders.” These are the influencers that people watch and listen to when seeking the truth. For any given team member, this is often not their managing supervisor and may in fact be peer level, subordinate and / or in an unrelated column of their formal organization chart. Know who your institutional thought leaders are. Recruit them through inclusion. And leverage their influence and relationships to share your vision.

Effective leaders don’t disappear when things get hard. In fact, leadership skills become most important and impactful when the going gets tough. When leading change initiatives in healthcare, it is critical that senior leaders are visible and accessible to the organization. Hearing your leaders’ voices and seeing their faces sets a tone, calms fears, and relays importance. But leadership visibility doesn’t happen by accident; it must be a priority. In planning your change initiative, ensure that there is an executive communication plan that extends over time, including such things as memos, meetings, recorded video presentations, town hall meetings, and more.

Sharing the lift of organizational change is important for reasons beyond managing your capacity. It also accomplishes two very important and necessary things. First, it opens the door to ideas and broadened competency that may be applied to execution. Secondly, and critical to your initiative’s success, it expands “ownership” and investment in your vision and the important steps that must be completed to make it a reality. Although it may be tempting to keep a tight circle to ensure confidentiality, minimize distraction, and limit meetings, the benefits of expanding your army are significant. Share your personal challenges, set clear expectations for execution, hold team members accountable, support their work, and they too will own your outcomes!

Any meaningful change initiative is a long-term excursion. In planning, chart your course. Set achievable milestone objectives that are understood and that can be celebrated when accomplished, then be intentional with your recognition and updates to the team. With a consistent communication plan and rhythm, these celebratory interactions can reinforce your vision and intended outcomes. That said, don’t be afraid to depart from the set communication plan to reward extraordinary efforts and outcomes. What’s important is that you deliver consistent, positive energy to your organization to keep everyone working towards the same vision.

As a seasoned leader, you recognize that not everything is going to go the way you’d planned. Charting a course is easy in comparison to finding your way home after getting thrown off track by life’s storms. Prepare practically for distractions, delays, and necessary detours, while also preparing yourself mentally for the emotions you will face as you journey toward your desired outcome. Surround yourself with good advisors who will tell you the truth and bring you ideas and perspectives when you face challenges. Expand your network beyond your organization and, when possible, outside the healthcare industry to gain valuable insights and feedback that you might not encounter otherwise.

This list is just a sampling of the reminders we share with our valued clients who are intent on successfully navigating through organizational challenges presented by the current healthcare environment. There are many more!

Our team of experts helps healthcare leaders accomplish their goals with practical industry knowledge, an objective eye for identification and evaluation of opportunities, and a track record of successfully implementing change initiatives as they become necessary.        

If you’re in need of a trusted partner in any of these areas, please reach out to us to learn more or set up a conversation:

Jerry Kelsheimer: jkelsheimer@medicmgmt.com

Ronnen Isakov: risakov@medicmgmt.com

Joe Compton: jcompton@medicmgmt.com 

Jerry L. Kelsheimer is President and CEO of Medic Management Group and MMG Healthcare Solutions. His background includes extensive work in areas including leadership development, strategic planning, process improvement, and capital markets / financial management. MMG is a national provider of advisory and consulting competencies, transaction support services, and back office administrative support to independent and system owned physician practice groups.