During the roll out of Patient Experience (PX) transformations, hospitals and healthcare providers are often torn between the use of resources. They are also challenged with how to maintain momentum to a process which implies a shift in focus from Process to the Patient. In addition, these initiatives often face resistance internally as they inherently imply having to change – change in process, behaviours and attitudes. Humans are naturally resistant to change, and so the knee-jerk reaction is to resist anything that implies working differently in those 3 areas.
It is possible, however, to reverse this resistance by executing strategies which will boost internal engagement. At AquitudeHealth, we have designed the ‘Trickle and Cascade’ strategies to boost the support from internal staff:
1. PX Coaching for Director Generals and Senior Leadership
Culture is inherently driven from the top. Embedding a PX-centred culture requires a significant culture-shift within any organisation. The most effective strategy to ensure success, is top-down PX coaching programmes for the organisation’s leaders. These programmes need to focus on broadening the perspective of experience to the human (patient) experience whilst allowing to create conversations that shift that experience toward organizational excellence. In PX transformation, all areas of the organisation are impacted and this we recommend those coaching conversations centre on the 7 pillars of Aquitude Health’s Cultural Transformation process and focus on how each leader can best enhance their contribution within the PX strategy roll out in their organisation. These 7 pillars include:
- The PX Vision
- PX Values
- PX Goal Alignment
- Metrics Alignment
- Data Management
- Process Effectiveness
- Systems Alignment.
In enabling the most senior of employees, the Director General, to have a private forum to learn and discuss their challenges in the PX transformation, the organisation benefits from the leader of the organisation crystalising their thinking and optimize their involvement in driving the processes successfully forward. This coaching relationship thus becomes a means toward productive change by fostering conversations that promote improved performance, learning and fulfillment.
2. PX Coaching for Internal PX Ambassadors
PX transformation programmes are often tasked to individual employees who become the spokesperson for the project. These ‘Patient Experience Ambassadors’ are often, however, ill-equipped to fight the Everest of resistance which they are likely to encounter internally. It is, thus, imperative that the PX Ambassadors are equipped with the maximum of tools to be able to drive what is a gargantuan task. An in-depth coaching programme needs to support these employees on:
- How they influence others up, across and down the organization
- How they communicate and assist people in expanding their patient-centred visions
- How they build their own, and others’ confidence and
- How they unlock their own potential toward achieving their performance goals.
3. Buddy-based Coaching Programme to support internal PX Roll-out.
There is a popular saying: ‘If you want to go fast go alone; if you want to go far, go together’, which is perfectly relevant for PX Transformation Roll-out. Peer-based coaching is a powerful tool to support the roll-out efforts. By assigning buddies to the internal PX Ambassadors, whose role is to be the sounding board and offer their insights and support to their counterpart, two things occur in tandem:
- The PX Ambassador has the opportunity to learn and grow from the support from his or her counterpart
- The ‘Buddy’ becomes an active stakeholder in the PX Transformation which increases the likelihood of their long-term engagement in the project. As a result, the Buddy can then become part of the cascade of the PX Transformation within the organisation, as they themselves are paired up with a Buddy to support them in the change programme.
These three powerful engagement models are part of AquitudeHealth’s ‘Trickle and Cascade’ strategy- they begin as trickles at the top of the organisation which then build to a cascade. As more and more employees of the organisation become active stakeholders in the process and feel the positive re-enforcement resulting from the coaching conversations, the PX Transformation roll-out benefits from the tsunami of success.