Identifying a Change Project
The kind of change that an organization wishes to adopt is significantly influenced by its leadership framework. Any institution that has visionary leaders is bound to make changes that will transform it to the better as opposed to organizations that are steered by self-centerd leaders. Northhouse (2010) presents headship “as a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal” (p. 3).
In a clinical setting, leadership influences and motivates others towards professionalism and delivery of clinically effective care. In this case, a leader must demonstrate clinical excellence by providing support and guidance through mentorship, supervision, and inspiration to colleagues and subordinates. An organization must undergo change in one given time or another to adjust the ways of undertaking activities to reflect the best practices that are prevailing during a specified period (Encinosa & Bernard, 2005).
Leadership and management are important aspects in the successful implementation of projects and programs in a healthcare facility. For instance, in the process of change in an organization, leadership and management activities ensure a smooth adoption and integration of changes to enhance performance and efficiency. The management serves an important role in setting up, categorizing, leading, and controlling the workforce towards a given outcome (Northhouse, 2010).
Although these activities are difficult and less certain due to the complexity of the present-day healthcare system, they remain relevant as they present an organization with well-established goals and means of achieving them (Encinosa & Bernard, 2005). On the other hand, leadership holds together the different functions of management by providing impetus, the driving force, and purpose to people for achieving the goals of an organization.
Changes that are highly desirable at my agency relate to the adoption of transformational leadership and management strategies that will foster teamwork and hence create a highly motivated labor force that is able to achieve the agency’s goals. The change project will focus on the adoption of transformational leadership strategies that have been tried and proven effective in a healthcare system in terms of guiding an organization towards accountability and excellent service delivery to people.
Applying Change Theory to the Proposed Change
In the implementation of the leadership change project, different theories of change can be applied. The Lewin’s change management model is the most appropriate to guide the agency in the process of change and change management. The model is ideal in different organizations, including the healthcare sector due to its simplicity and in-depth coverage of different stages throughout change process in a business (Northhouse, 2010). The model consists of three steps for successful implementation of change. These steps include determination of areas that require change, implementation of change, and anchoring change into the organizational culture.
In the first step, it is important for an organization to determine what needs to change. This step applies well in the leadership change project where the areas that need to change have been identified. The second step is the implementation of change. It involves the process of ensuring that the desired changes take place in the organization (Ghahramani, 2000). During this step, it is important to ensure open communication to all people in the organization as well as their participation where necessary (Encinosa & Bernard, 2005). Such actions are important in ensuring that change occurs throughout the organization and that there is the necessary support, which is vital in the short-term and long-term success of the change process.
The proposed leadership changes are consistent with the agency’s mission and vision of providing excellent healthcare. Through the adoption of transformational leadership, the agency’s management and leaders will be able to foster teamwork, which will lead to efficiency of service delivery at the facility. Healthcare is a human labor-intense service. Hence, it requires consistent and excellent human resource for its success (Ghahramani, 2000). Without a highly motivated team of professionals who uphold proper management and leadership, healthcare delivery is likely to suffer. This observation reveals the importance of the proposed changes in supporting the agency’s mission and vision.
Collaborative and Communication Strategies
Observation
To find out the collaborative and communication strategies in the organization, it was important to attend multi-disciplinary team meeting which was convened to contribute its input towards the proposed changes. The director of healthcare operations chaired the meeting in the facility. He coordinated the activities in the meeting. During the meeting, different observations were made. For instance, there were conflicts of ideas as different members tried to ensure their contributions and ideas where the best to be adopted in the facility. To solve these issues, ideas that were supported by many members were adopted.
Such inter-professional collaboration is very important in the healthcare sector, especially in terms of the delivery of safe, quality, and effective services (Holden, 2005). On several occasions, some members supported their arguments with evidence to prove their validity and applicability towards the proposed changes in the health facility. Through the adopted collaborative strategies, participation of different professional ensured that all areas of service delivery at the agency were represented in the change process.
Interview
It was important to interview a case management official. In the interview, the official identified his leadership style as transformative where he acted as an example to others while at the same time supporting them to achieve better results in their work. The official felt that he had contributed immensely to the workforce through his expertise in case management, which complemented other professionals in the workforce. The official pointed out that the participation of all stakeholders could only be successful through the availability of collaboration and communication strategies that promoted openness and participation of the diverse groups in a healthcare setting. For example, stakeholders had a role to play in the success of the project and hence the need for their involvement.
The proposed changes will not only boost stakeholder participation in the affairs of the organization but also increase their confidence in the agency’s dedication towards excellent service delivery. The involvement of the multidisciplinary team is very important in ensuring success of the project. Each member of the team brings important expertise and suggestions of implementing the changes across different areas of expertise and service delivery, thus ensuring that the project is uniformly implemented across the organization (Encinosa & Bernard, 2005). The best way of communicating change within the organization is through participation and engagement with all the stakeholders in the organization. This plan eliminates uncertainties, dispels rumors, and fosters teamwork and commitment to the change process.
Managing Resources for Leadership Change Project
The budget for the leadership change project will be as shown in the table below:
The organization’s mission and vision focus on delivery of outstanding healthcare services. Leadership and management are two different concepts where the former is an expertise that involves the use of interpersonal skills to influence others towards the achievement of specific goals in an organization while the latter is a responsibility with accountability bestowed on an individual to guide the accomplishment of goals in an organization (Holden, 2005).
Hence, the leadership change project will be aligned with the mission and vision of the organization to ensure supportive leadership and management apparatus for the achievement of the organization’s goals. The proposed transformational leadership will improve teamwork, communication, and confidence in the organization and hence improve the quality, appropriateness, and effectiveness of the offered services. Through the participation of all key stakeholders in the change process, the project will achieve its purpose and lead to a highly motivated workforce where communication and teamwork are fostered at all times to reduce inefficiencies and other issues that may compromise the achievement of the goals of the organization in line with its mission and vision. Lewin’s change management model will influence the success of the project since it provides room for communication and stakeholder involvement as discussed above.
The theory guides the change process through the initial stages of identification of change areas to the change process whilst anchoring the change into the organization’s culture (Northhouse, 2010). As a highly developed agency, resources that are prerequisite for the success of the project, including human capital, finances including facilitation fees for training and training materials and others are available.
Addressing Quality and Safety Issues
The two major quality and safety issues relate to appropriateness of healthcare services and patient safety respectively. In terms of quality healthcare, it is important for healthcare to provide the appropriate care to the right patients at the right time and consistently over time. Without quality healthcare, errors often occur. They endanger the lives of patients and service providers at the same time (Ghahramani, 2000).
In the identification of quality and safety issues, healthcare facilities rely on data from past and current quality and safety records within the facility and from the healthcare sector. Such data is used to provide solutions that are relevant to the situation at the facility. Quality and safety improvement problems are solved through the adoption of technologies or processes that improve accuracy of a diagnostic data and delivery of services, which improve the quality of such services and consequently better safety for all patients. Further, the process involves ensuring support for the proposed changes from the upper management as well as from the key stakeholders to guarantee that the necessary resources and support can be availed for the success of the change process
The leadership change project will be important in the process of ensuring quality services and patient safety. The adoption of transformational leadership will open a new chapter in the organization where there is teamwork, appreciation of individuals and group efforts, open communication, and discussions.
The achievement of these milestones will ensure that issues that relate to quality and safety of care are openly discussed to pave a way of identifying and implementing some possible strategies of eliminating such problems as soon as possible. Further, the involvement of stakeholders in the process of change will ensure that more support for future projects will be geared towards quality and safety improvement initiatives at the agency. The outcome will be the joy of achieving the agency’s mission and vision. Besides, all shareholders will demonstrate satisfaction of being part of the successful business.
Reference List
Encinosa, W., & Bernard, D. (2005). Hospital finances and patient safety outcomes. Inquiry, 42(1), 60-72.
Ghahramani, B. (2000). Total quality management applications in the healthcare industry: a systems engineering approach. International Journal of Healthcare Technology and Management, 14(1/2/3/4), 67-89.
Holden, M. (2005). Complex adaptive systems: concept analysis. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 52(6), 651-657.
Northhouse, P. (2010). Leadership Theory and practice. California, CA: Sage Publishers.