Managing change in healthcare

As the old adage goes, the only thing that is constant in life is change.

We live in what has been described as a VUCA environment — an acronym that reflects the volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity of general conditions and situations. Despite our knowledge about the constant presence of change in all spheres of life, why do healthcare managers struggle with managing change?

Why do change forces catch most healthcare organisations flat-footed? Prof John Paul Kotter, a thought leader in business, leadership and change, says 80 percent of change efforts fail if not managed. So, how then should we manage change in healthcare?

A key starting point is to understand and appreciate that change has two sides — the technical and human. Often, we focus more on the technical side and neglect the human side which then exposes such efforts to potential failure.

The human side of change reflects the organisational ‘software’ — how its staff perceive and respond to change. If the human side of change is managed well, it increases the likelihood of success in the change efforts and attracts benefits such as faster implementation of strategy, reduction of resistance, building capacity, clarifying roles and boosting morale.

The next key step is to subject it to an organisational change framework. This includes having an understanding of the tools that we have at our disposal to help individuals navigate change successfully.

This involves not only communication and training to help individuals traverse change, but also scale change management activities using tools available such as the various approaches for managing resistance to change like recruiting change agents from existing teams.

Dr Kevin WW Rombosia is a healthcare leader and geospatial epidemiologist. [email protected]