Patricia D. Kennedy-Scott is amazed that her biggest challenge today as regional president of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Ohio is the very same thing that challenged her almost 25 years ago.
“The challenge is we’re all very comfortable where we are, particularly when an organization is thriving and doing well,” Kennedy-Scott says. “People have a hard time understanding why should I change if the organization is doing well and I’m doing well. Helping people see the future as they live the present is always the biggest challenge.”
As one of eight regions comprising the $37.8 billion health care provider Kaiser Permanente, her organization sees a lot of change, but many circumstances can drive change in an organization — technology, regulations, macroeconomics. With those changes comes another challenge — showing her 2,000 people that the organization and their roles within it have to change, as well.
“Human beings are comfortable where they are,” she says. “You have to give people motivation to change. You can’t motivate people to change by creating or waiting for this burning platform.”
She says that most would say you have to have that burning platform in order to change something, but Kennedy-Scott doesn’t subscribe to that. Instead, she says leading change is a constant process in which you always have to be identifying new problems, finding solutions and then communicating those to everyone to move forward together.
“One of the reasons some of the tech firms do so well is that people who work in those types of environments naturally think that way,” she says. “They’re looking for the next challenge or change so they can see the future or envision the possibilities in a way that is comforting and not threatening.”
