Paving the way for organization process change

Business processes are structured activities that achieve a specific result. For example, scheduling appointments is a organization process that results in an orderly work flow and timely patient care.

Wellness Program implementation often requires changes to established organization processes. These changes may be simple, such as adding prescreening appointments to the scheduling process, or more complicated, like determining how time devoted to a particular Wellness Program will be coded.

Not all change can be affected painlessly. However, developing a plan for achieving change will overcome obstacles like:

“But we’ve always done it that way” or “But we’ve never done it that way.”

Each change situation will be different. The path to achieving change may not always be straightforward.

Lesson learned: Making small, incremental changes will be easier than trying to make one big change. It is also easier to modify a current process than to introduce a brand new one.

Develop a road map for change.

Describe the current organization process.
• For example: what is the current registration process for the weight management program? Include steps for both members and staff.

Identify where the new or modified organization process could fit into the current process.
• For example, prescreening appointments for the weight management program could be scheduled when members sign up OR the prescreening could be done at the first class.

Collaborate.
• Consider the change process to be a team effort. Determine everyone who will be affected by the change and get their input.
o For example, be sure to ask the personnel that set up the prescreening appointments AND the personnel that would do the prescreening for their ideas.
• Recruit one or more champions for the change. It helps if the champion has some clout.
• Get buy-in from as many people as you can – including those that might be most resistant to the change.

Communicate.
• Don’t keep the change a secret. The more people know, the more likely they will support a change.
• Anticipate obstacles ahead of time. Be ready to articulate concrete benefits that will result from the change – especially advantages such as costs avoided or training time conserved.