How Do You Build a Culture of Innovation at a Healthcare Organization?
By
Clive Riddle, April 21, 2017 Now
that we’re thirty days in the Spring of 2017, nurturing seedlings with
hopes of taking deeper root should be on the mind of every healthcare
gardener. Along these lines, the current issue of
Healthcare Innovation
News asks their panel the question, “How Do You Build a Culture of
Innovation Within Your Organization?” Here’s some excerpts from what
these sowers of innovation seeds had to say:
David R. Strand, Chief Executive Officer of
Life Cross Training, based in Chicago, says in part, “We often point
to technology advances as “innovation” in healthcare. Yet, the next real
innovation in healthcare will come from our investments in human
capital—investments in the people we count on to deliver high-quality
care and a great patient experience.
Addressing this problem requires comprehensive, innovative
solutions focused in three distinct areas: (1) Improving the practice
environment. Systematically identifying and eliminating hassles from
technology to process to organizational design and identifying and
accentuating those things that bring joy to clinical practice; (2)
Aligning teams around common values and shared goals. Establishing
guiding principles for interactions with one another and with patients
and building cultures that support the well-being of both patients and
clinicians; (3) Providing clinicians with evidence-based skills driving
individual well-being. Ensuring that clinicians are better equipped to
handle the intrinsic stress associated with their work and busy lives.
James Polfreman, CEO and President of Solis
Mammography based in Addison, Texas echoes the theme that technology
is not enough, sharing that
“In the field of women’s breast health, innovation is not only measured
in terms of technology and clinical accuracy, but also in areas of
patient service, convenience and care to ensure annual compliance and
repeat business.” He advises that “to foster innovation, an environment
must be actively cultivated to promote openness and collaboration in
order to tap into the natural passion of employees. This type of
environment benefits the entire team and translates into superior
patient care Well-informed teams are vital. Communication of a
crystal-clear vision and mission is fundamental……When new ideas are
implemented, having clear processes in place from training to
implementation is key…..Consistently challenging the status quo
motivates initiative….. Finally, a culture of innovation is maintained
through leadership by example, repetition and affirmation of a job well
done. This influences how you attract, recruit, retain, train and reward
teams.”
Joanna Engelke, Managing Director at
Halloran Consulting Group in Boston counsels in part that “there are
numerous best practices cited to support an innovative culture: (A)
Enabling employees to spend 5% to 10% of their time on freethinking and
creating “skunkworks” projects—those dedicated solely to radical
innovation; (B) Creating office designs that encourage “bumping into
each other” with lots of light, mobile whiteboards, huddle rooms,
collaboration centers and games; (C) Investing in an internal, venture
capital-like fund with all the trappings of pitches, business plans,
proof of concept and funding milestones that are outside a regular
product development arena; (D) Sponsoring crowd-sourced, problem-solving
fairs for internal and external participation; (E) Surveying employees
to gain an understanding of internal practices that block or prevent
innovation; (F)
Rewarding innovation in each department of an organization.” But
Joanna reminds us, “the real secret sauce to an innovative culture is
very basic: Management must pay attention.”
Finally, Summerpal Kahlon, M.D., Director of Care Innovation at
Oracle
Health Sciences, based in Satellite Beach, Florida, says we need to
listen. “Listening is a key skill in healthcare.” In particular he
advocates listening to data through analytics. He cites these as
examples that can drive innovation – “There are a few high-value, rich
sources of information that can provide interesting lifestyle insight:
Demographic information, including occupation, income and family/social
environment; Environmental data, including census, local crime
statistics and accessible parks/recreation; and Retail data,
particularly for grocery and drugstores.” |
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