I directed communications during the largest single-build implementation of an Epic Electronic Health Record (EHR) system. We transformed 27 hospitals ranging from small rural facilities to 700-plus-bed medical centers, along with hundreds of clinics, across five states. It was a major upheaval that impacted 70,000 employees/physicians, and we knew it would be challenging – but […]
Read more "When the change initiative changes"Take a look at the mission and vision statements of healthcare systems. One once stood out among them, and I spent a few years as an internal communicator buoyed by the power of it.
Read more "Healthcare System Mission and Vision Statements Sound a Lot Alike. One was Once Different."I’ve had the privilege of directing external and internal communications “in the trenches” during a number of major industry revolutions over the last several decades. From a communicator’s standpoint, what do they all have in common? The need to win over the hearts and minds of those people whose daily work is most impacted by the […]
Read more "Workin’ the changes, enjoying the ride"Beginning with a shocking statement may be the best way to get a reader’s attention, but there’s yet another story ingredient that helps ensure high readership of an announcement or article. The statement above is called a “nut graph,” and it’s the nut graph for this blog post about nut graphs. Given all the competition […]
Read more "Crack open a good nut graph"Research shows that if most readers look at a page with 8 or 9 dense paragraphs of type, their willingness to read it at all goes down significantly, compared to a communication of 5 paragraphs. This is especially true when major change is swirling around your organization and people are time-stressed. If you let your CEO […]
Read more "Length Matters"This is the second installment of my mini-series on what I’ve learned from directing internal communications during integration of hospitals and medical group organizations. My previous post focused on strategy – this one tackles tactical components. As integration of employees begins, I create an initial communication with “What’s changing, what’s not.” We ask managers to deliver it and discuss it with […]
Read more "Communication tactics during integration of hospitals and medical groups: Lessons Learned, part II"Here’s what I’ve learned from directing internal communications to manager and all-employee levels during integration of their hospital or medical group organization into our large health care system. I’ve done two of each. Develop an over-arching communication plan incorporating all HR, IT and other work streams to ensure consistent messaging to impacted populations (theme, tone, […]
Read more "Communications during integration of hospitals and medical groups: Lessons Learned"The list of Top 10 types of resistance in the post below is missing one big, fat factor that can squash the whole change-management equation. The Load.
Read more "Look at the Load"Two lists here. First, the top five for implementation of major technology change in a healthcare setting, for physicians and other clinicians. Fear of the unknown Dislike time commitment to get training, practice, become proficient Fear of looking incompetent amidst peers Concern about disruption to operations (patient care) Resistance to standardization (workflows, clinical content, order […]
Read more "My Top 10 List: Resistance to Organizational or Process Change"I recently did a presentation for CAPG (accountable care physicians advocacy group here in California) on the do’s and don’ts of communications strategy that supports change management. I began by defining the parameters. Organizational change communication is not: an increased quantity and frequency of memo announcements from executive leadership, with reminders and cheer-leading messages […]
Read more "What Organizational Change Communication Is and Isn’t"