4 strategies for leading cultural change through strategic thinking

Establishing and sustaining a positive, strong corporate culture — while always an essential factor of engagement and productivity — is today an even larger predictor of organizational success.

At the American College of Healthcare Executives' 2015 Congress of Healthcare Leadership in Chicago, Thomas A. Atchison, EdD, president and founder of Atchison Consulting in Le Clare, Iowa, and Peter W. Butler, president of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, shared the following strategies for a successful strategic thinking process while maintaining strong alignment and engagement with the clinical workforce and staff.

1. Strategic thinking drives strategic planning — not the other way around. Citing Henry Mintzberg's 1994 book, "The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning," Dr. Atchison said, "A plan may not result from formal planning, indeed, a plan as a vision, expressed even in imagery, or metaphorically, may prove a greater incentive to action than a plan that is formally detailed… and why action itself may be better driven by thinking of a less formalized and more involved nature."

With this in mind, Dr. Atchison explained that when beginning the strategic thinking process in healthcare, it is imperative to maintain a forward-looking, agile mindset and not rely on regression analysis of what has worked in the past. While the end goal of providing the most effective, efficient and low-cost healthcare services to people will always remain, the environment surrounding this goal is constantly in flux. Strategic plans must be agile, adaptive and receptive to change. A rigid strategic plan will not allow unanticipated but important conclusions to be discovered along the way.

2. Emphasize engagement and diversity of thought. The most important resource an organization has during the strategic thinking process is its people, Mr. Butler said. "In uncertain strategic times, the most important thing you can have is talent."

The most commonly asked question in the preliminary stages of strategic planning should be, "What do you think?" according to Dr. Atchison. The most effective way to get clinicians, staff and stakeholders engaged and committed to the strategic thinking process is by incorporating their opinions, ideas and concerns. In doing this, the final product will have psychic equity, or the input of a variety of peoples' thoughts and ideas. Additionally, this will lead to a great deal of mutual respect among executives and clinicians. Many clinicians feel disrespected because they feel their opinions or suggestions aren't incorporated into strategic planning processes. To ensure physicians feel respected, let them control what they need to so they can perform at a high level, Dr. Atchison suggests.

Additionally, engaging workers from across the organization gives them a chance to demonstrate their ability to work outside of their individual silos and collaborate. When people from different areas of the organization are involved in the same important discussions, they are on the same page and understand that in uncertain times it is critical to be decisive, yet flexible.

3. Make the organization's culture reflect its vision and values. Corporate culture is the organization's personality, or the behavioral manifestation of an agreed-upon set of core values.

"The culture of an organization should make it possible for trustees, physicians, executives, managers and employees to share the same set of values and work toward the same goals," according to Dr. Atchison.

Corporate culture is a critical component of the patient experience as well as of the level of engagement of an organization's workforce. Patients make decisions about an organization based on the behavior of its employees. According to Dr. Atchison, most of healthcare will be commoditized within the next decade, and consumers will decide where to seek their care partially based on the organization's culture.

Finally, if the various personalities in an organization — those specific to different departments — are at odds with one another, the organization will never reach high performance, according to Dr. Atchison.

4. Execute. "A vision without execution is only a dream," said Mr. Butler. A strategic thinking process must have a vision, consensus among the leadership team, skills and resources to carry out the strategic initiatives, incentives and an action plan. Together, these things equal change, but if one of them is lacking, the end result will be confusion, anxiety, resistance, frustration or even sabotage.

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