Move forward
Once you’ve told people what’s changing, then you need start implementing the change. During this period, you have to give people time to adjust, but that time varies based on what the situation is. If the outside environment requires you to move quickly, then they’ll have to do just that, but if there is no outside pressure, then you can implement more slowly so they can ease their way into the change.
“Listen to the market and external environment and use that as a factor,” she says.
For example, when Kaiser decided to create its systemwide electronic medical records initiative, Ohio was the last region to go through the transition, so it was able to learn from the others and didn’t need as much time to adjust.
“If people have had some of experiencing the change … that accelerates the time in which they need to adjust,” she says. “If they don’t have any way of experiencing the change, then it slows down the period of time that they need to adjust. But without regard to how much time we as individuals need to adjust, we have to listen to the market and external environment and use that as a factor.”
As people adjust, you’ll likely encounter some resistance, as well. When you see those people, it’s important to take a step back before making any rash decisions about them.
“Most people don’t want to be an outlier,” she says. “Most people want to run with the pack.”
If you notice some resistance, first see if that person has gotten all of the communication and isn’t missing any pieces of it.
“Is there something that they need in order to bring them along?” she says. “The first thing I ask myself is, ‘Does this person have the right information?’”
If you’ve told them and told them everything, and it’s been cascaded down, you can assume that they have the right information.
“The next place I go is, ‘If they’ve been told, do they understand?’” she says. “That is a learning issue. Do they have the skill set to interpret what they’ve heard and embrace that as learning?”
That involves intellectual and cognitive tools. For example, the central electronic medical records system required that professionals type information into the computer as they met with patients. Many resisted and complained because they had poor typing skills, so they struggled to be efficient and maintain eye contact with patients. To help give them the tools they needed to embrace it, smart sets were created. For instance, instead of typing, “The patient’s diagnosis is,” the person can type in “PTDX” which inserts that language automatically. Once they had help in the skill sets needed to embrace the change, they bought in.
If they have the information and the tools and still resist, then Kennedy-Scott assumes they would prefer to do something else. At that point, she discusses with them if Kaiser is the right organization for them.
