Why Education Alone Doesn’t Create Sustainable Operational Change

As a healthcare provider with over 30 years in the industry, 25 of those in management and executive roles, I would often become bewildered and then would feel hamstrung trying to figure out why sustainable change was so challenging. If we educate our employee base on what the new plan, program, platform or system is going to be, what can’t they just do it? Or, I’d sit in bewilderment wondering how those old forms, worksheets and booklets keep resurfacing when we haven’t used those in years. Here’s another favorite, “I didn’t know we were doing it this way now.” Sound familiar?

I have been fortunate in my career to have worked with some of the most transformative change agents and as I stood on the shoulders of these giants, I watched and I learned how much of a hot mess we created when it comes to operational change management strategies. If we tell them, why can’t they just do it right? If it were only that easy. Change comes in the form of a readiness curve and, like grieving, individuals experience it differently and at their own pace. It cannot be forced. The key factor in all of it is this: It must make sense to them and they have to choose to do it.

Sense-making is a skill set that many leaders don’t give much attention to. If it makes sense to the leader from a budgetary, operations and resources perspective, it’s a go, but what about those that are responsible to operationalize it? Where is their input?

I have had the pleasure of working with various agencies over the course of my career who have all had that deer in the headlights look as they scratch their heads and say, “Why didn’t it work?” Equally, I have heard from many who work in operations say, “If they would have asked, I could have told them this wouldn’t have worked because…”

There is no question that those in executive seats should have the first crack at assessing whether an operational shift is necessary because there are so many variables to consider that those in operations may not fully understand, yet when we don’t tap into those that will be charged with executing those changes, we do a tremendous disservice and miss out on pearls of wisdom that the executive team may not have otherwise considered. That can cost time and money in the long run. Those closest to the perceived problem(s) know, often in a rote way, what will be easily adopted, successfully operationalized and sustainable.

Here are the crib notes on how to facilitate sustainable change:

1.      Have regular staff meetings to keep a pulse on the culture of the group and to garner what’s working well and/or what could be done differently and why. The why is important; change for the sake of change is not productive.

a.      Create platforms for staff to submit ideas and feedback anonymously. Not everyone will speak up at a meeting for a number of reasons that are irrelevant for this discussion.

b.      Create public platforms to share ideas on ways to improve operations. If you use one and it works, how do you recognize those individuals?

c.       Easy changes that are budget-neutral or inconsequential can be operationalized. This feedback loop sends the message to employees that management is listening, acting and recognizing (see bullet b above).  

2.      Large operational shifts require executive level review to ensure the following is considered before operationalizing:

a.      Cost

b.      Manpower

c.       Regulations

d.      Equipment

e.      Stakeholder group impact

f.        Return on investment

g.      Training

h.      Marketing

3.      Find volunteers to lead the charge of change management. We can all recall times where a manager called us in for a meeting and has said, “We are about to embark upon a really exciting change involving (blank) and you immediately came to mind as the perfect person to lead this project.” You’re no longer listening at this point. Your heart goes into your throat, your hands start to sweat, you can hear your pulse rate climb and pound in your ears and all you can think about is how overworked you already feel, how work-life balance is already a problem as you’re raising a family and taking care of a frail parent. But, how can you say no to your boss? How will that look if you decline? You can’t afford to be fired or blacklisted. More on this later on an upcoming blog about setting boundaries and saying no.

Here’s the issue with appointing someone to lead the charge versus locating a volunteer to do it. How many times have you volunteered to do something you’re really bad at? My guess is zero. How many times have you volunteered for something you hated doing? My guess again is zero. How many times have you volunteered to do something that you had no time for? You guessed my answer — zero! People volunteer who have the time, enthusiasm and passion. Where do you find them? Hold a meeting, put the project out there citing all the benefits and then ask for people to see you by a prescribed deadline. Once you have your folks identified, choose the right coach for the roles you seek, give them their boundaries, parameters and any other required guidance and let them go. You can then discuss reporting structures, feedback loops and progress reports. Then sit back and watch the magic happen! If for some reason you don’t get volunteers, you may have a deeper issue that needs to be evaluated. Worse case scenario you can hand-pick, but I would suggest you go back to determine root causes for the lack of an inquiry on your ask.

4.      Educate, educate, educate. The antidote to fear is knowledge. No one starts their day intending to have setbacks or to mess up. When people do experience a setback, it isn’t because they are purposely trying to sabotage the effort (see item #5 below), it’s because they weren’t aware or have misunderstood the process in some way. Don’t shame, rather perform just-in-time training and garner feedback to ensure understanding. Education and ad hoc training are vital for sustainable change, as people are more inclined to do things correctly when they understand the logic behind ‘why we do it this way.’ Unfortunately, education often takes a budgetary back seat, particularly when an expert may be needed, as operators don’t see the immediate return on investment. The proverb an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, or said differently, if you put in a little effort to prevent a problem, you will not have to put in a lot of effort to solve the problem, is so true in this case. Operators spend a great deal of money and resources when they are putting out fires and trying to stop a runaway train. Take the time to educate and invest in staff development — it’s worth the money.

5.      Find your cheerleaders and cheer them on! Many leaders believe that when a new system, program or product line starts they need to focus their attention on the laggards or the naysayers; this is simply not the case. It is the champions of your organization, those that support the team and make lemonade out of lemons that will carry the torch of change. They will do so with enthusiasm while encouraging others to do the same. We get more of what we focus on (check out my blog, “Creative Mantra Practices in an Effort to Manifest Change,” for more on this topic), so place your attention on the cheerleaders and early adopters when engaging in operative change. Your laggards and naysayers will come along in time. Don’t waste valuable resources there unless you have people that are purposely sabotaging the company’s efforts; that is an issue that should be addressed immediately.

6.      Give change time and celebrate your successes. Nothing sustainable happens overnight. Think of the planning, effort, time, work, evaluation, regrouping and course-correcting that happens when starting something new. Incremental positive shifting should be celebrated and those getting the company there should be honored. We get more of what we focus on. If you want cheerleaders, cheer them on. As employees watch the progress, feel a part of the shift and are recognized for their hard work, they will be encouraged to give more of what’s been rewarded and recognized. I can’t stress this enough. Many organizations want to rush into the next phase before allowing time to regroup, recharge and celebrate. Sustainable change takes time; you can’t rush the process or you risk losing enthusiasm and gain exhausted personnel. When the organization wins, everyone wins and people are more likely to get behind the next operational shift and not dig their heels in.

7.      Create a supportive, nurturing environment where staff know it’s okay to fail. Failing is learning what not to do next time. Failing is how we grow. It is a rarity that is synonymous with winning the lottery that first attempts at change management strategies succeed without modification and course correction. Avoid shaming, blaming and of utmost importance, pulling employees from the project. Rather, perform root-cause analysis to understand why, then make the required modifications, learn from those setbacks and keep it moving! Language drives practice so avoid using words like failure — having a setback is not failure, it’s valuable feedback.

Thomas Edison took a long time to invent the light bulb. The problem was finding the right material for a filament that would glow but not quickly burn in two. There is a story that as Edison was refining his filament, a reporter asked, “Mr. Edison, you’ve now tried 5,000 experiments to invent your electric light bulb. Every one of them has failed. Mr. Edison, how does it feel to fail at something 5,000 times?” Edison replied, “Sir, I have not failed 5,000 times. Rather, I have successfully discovered 5,000 ways which do not work.”

Thomas Edison understood that it is not the number of times you fail that matters. It is the number of times you succeed, and that depends on how many times you try.

With much sugar & a lot of soul!

Rhonda