The Change Team Spearheads Communication Efforts to the Practice

Guide to assembling your change team

The change team is a small group of people who will help you maintain momentum as you undertake the task of creating a more agile practice. This team may also be referred to as a “guiding coalition,” as described in the book Leading Change by John Kotter. The change team should be made up of positive, forward-looking people who are good communicators and respected by their colleagues.

The change team spearheads communication efforts to the practice

Along with the practice leadership, the change team can help to establish and communicate the vision of the future practice. The change team will maintain a constant drumbeat of conversation about how the practice is improving patient care and the work environment. They will tell the success stories that result from process improvement. They will also be the ones to shape the culture of the practice so that it has a positive, can-do approach to solving problems.

The change team helps sway naysayers

In some practices there may be one or two people (physicians or administrators) who are averse to change and tend to be negative about new ideas. A key functionof the change team in these situationswill be to work with people who may impede progress to make sure they understand:

1)What the change entails

2)Why it is important to the overall functioning of the practice

3)The financial implications of the change or no change decision

4)Who benefits from the change

The change team identifiesthe appropriate team to pilot and champion the new process

The change team may identify one physician and his/her team who are enthusiastic about a particular new approach or process and have them pilot the new idea. If the pilot is successful, they can be the champions for the process when it is time to roll it out to the rest of the practice. If not, they will be the ones with the best ideas for how to improve the process or be honest about the need to scrap the idea.

The change team can help energize the practice to avoid change fatigue

Many practice leaders worry about “change fatigue.” Change fatigue will invade the culture when:

There is a lot of activity and talk about change but everyone feels like no progress is being made
The view is that the latest change initiative is a fad that will lose steam in a couple weeks or months

We see “change energy” pervade the culture if most people in the practice can see that improvement efforts are paying off through:

Increasedefficiency
Improved patient care
A healthy balance sheet

The change team can ensure that change energy persists by leading their committed team through successful change initiatives, as opposed to “flavor of the week” projects. Seeing positive results due to collective work is energizing and unifying, and the practice team will be inspired to continue making improvements.

The change team shapes the practice’s future

Your change team’s efforts will be responsible for shaping the future of the practice. The most important outcome will be a practice that is agile, positive and responds to the changing healthcare environment with innovative ideas and renewed energy.

Source: AMA. Practice transformation series: preparing your practice for change. 2015.