Start again
Lastly, once you’ve led a change in your organization, recognize that you’re not done. Kennedy-Scott says you have to have continuous quality improvement.
“Just because it’s resolved for the moment doesn’t mean it’s done,” she says. “Once people get to a place where they’re comfortable, you have to start over.”
For example, after Kaiser of Ohio had implemented its central electronic medical records system and had been running it, a new national CEO came on board, and now he wanted a national central system. With more resources now available, people had to change again, but they had seen a glimpse of what this transition was like the last time, so they bought in more easily. And even after they adjusted to that change, then they had to make other changes, like adding secure messaging. Each time you need to change, use people’s experience to ease their reservations.
“They’re in a place where they’re comfortable,” Kennedy-Scott says. “They know it, they’ve seen it work, and that’s where they like to be. You have to use that history that they have in making that change to help bring them along.”
Ask questions to show people how they got through the last change so they’re more likely to embrace the new one.
“When you resolved that problem, look at the history of what happened,” she says. “How did we resolve that? So let’s start over again.”
Because this is a continuous process, you have to be actively looking for more problems that could come up. She says to talk to people in meetings and gauge where you’re currently.
“Are we planning for the next five years? Is this going to sustain us for the next five years?” she says. “If anyone around the table says, ‘Hmm, I don’t know,’ that’s an opening to start a discussion.”
Kennedy-Scott recognizes that as the leader, it’s her job to make sure that Kaiser constantly moves forward like this, so she’ll constantly be looking for new problems that arise and how to bring people along in solving them so that the competition doesn’t pass by her organization.
“What do you do next?” Kennedy-Scott says. “If you’re sitting at your desk just doing what you’ve been doing, then you’re probably not doing the right work.”
How to reach: Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Ohio, www.kaiserpermanente.org
