Successful transformation depends on sustained implementation and improvement of products or processes that make a difference in the real world. Many leaders feel stuck when it comes to moving from aspiration to action, often pointing to a lack of alignment across the organization. If ‘every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets’, understanding the structures, functions, views, and relationships that facilitate or impede progress is essential.
With experience as Professor of Medicine at a major medical school, Chief Innovation Officer at a health system, Founder and CEO of a successful start-up, and Chief Transformation Officer at NRC Health, Dr. Gregory Makoul has shaped an assessment of Organizational Readiness for Transformation. Focusing on cultural and operational criteria, it involves a disciplined process of conducting structured yet flexible interviews with leaders, managers, and a sample of frontline staff. The interviews can generally be conducted over the course of 2 full days on-site, with targeted virtual sessions to connect with leaders who were not able to meet in-person or follow-up with those who were.
This assessment is designed to be useful even for organizations with dedicated innovation centers and venture arms, as perception regarding reach and buy-in is often very different from reality. In addition, alignment around what Dr. Makoul calls the One Big Dot approach to elevating experience, quality, safety, and equity – a process innovation – will be a major component of the Organizational Readiness assessment. This approach can re-energize and focus improvement efforts across domains by prioritizing the overlap and streamlining activity, but will only thrive if there is a trusted, concerted effort by leaders to articulate the vision and signal tangible support throughout the organization.
The interview plan will be shaped with health-system leadership. The overall structure includes 30-minute sessions held on-site across 2+ days, for a total of approximately 24 interviews. While the final list will vary with organization and internal availability, the following is illustrative: CEO, COO, executive leaders responsible for experience, quality, safety, equity, digital, strategy, medicine (CMO/CPE), nursing (CNO), finance (CFO), and people (CPO/CHRO) as well as operational leaders (e.g., directors/managers) for experience, quality, safety, and equity and representatives of frontline staff from both inpatient and ambulatory areas.
Dr. Makoul will conduct the interviews, draft the report, and present a summary of readiness criteria as well as evidence of alignment/gaps and impressions gleaned from the interviews. For instance, is the experience culture bolstered by clarity of purpose and authentic attention to the humans on both sides of the stethoscope? Is it hampered by fear, internal competition, or frustration with a flavor-of-the-month approach? How are stakeholders involved in shaping and sustaining new initiatives? This focused assessment includes a high-level roadmap that charts the course for accelerating positive change.
