Change is the ultimate frenemy.
85% of hospitals anticipate leveraging digital innovation as a long-term strategy. But with digital innovation comes change, and change is ubiquitously disliked across many industries.
You can’t please people with it, you can’t stay competitive without it. Frenemy.
If change is inevitable, then your role as a leader is to help others adapt. Successful technology adoption across the organization can make or break your implementation, so it’s important to recognize the business need before nailing out your rollout strategy.
After more than our fair share of successful implementations, we’ve compiled our best advice for you. Full disclosure, we’re using examples from our own implementations for context, but the strategy could be applied across a spectrum of technologies.
The short of it? Communicate well and often.
1. Be transparent.
There’s been a lot of discussion around the importance of transparency in the workplace lately. The fact of the matter is that people don’t appreciate being kept in the dark about what changes are happening and why they’re happening. It’s better to give context than to take a “because I said so” approach. If you want staff to respect your decision about a solution, treat them as someone of value to this process. Try laying it out like this…
We’ve had consistent challenges with this process. Here’s how we’re going to fix it.
Explaining the why and how behind your decision is the foundation of a transparent rollout. Describe the challenge in a meaningful way to your staff, and hit the highlights of how the solution will help address those challenges. Paint a before and after picture.
ABC Healthcare is adopting EverCheck as its solution for system-wide primary source verification of licenses, credentials, and other registrations. EverCheck will allow us to automate and centralize the verification process, send renewal reminders to staff and supervisors automatically, and will allow employees to digitally upload their required credentials.
The main reason for our decision to adopt a new solution is simple: it was taking far too long to verify licensure for all of our staff, and we were missing critical Primary Source updates. With EverCheck, the process is completely automated, meaning our teams can focus more on resolving any issues that arise rather than identifying them.
Here’s what this means for you.
You’ll likely need to customize this for each audience. This is about setting expectations. This is your opportunity to answer the vital questions: how will this change affect my day-to-day life, and what do you expect of me in return? The key to helping people accept change is to eliminate the unknowns; people fear what they don’t understand.
For our floor supervisors, this means that you’ll no longer receive the quarterly licensure spreadsheet from Human Resources. Instead, you’ll have direct access to the EverCheck web platform, where you can access real-time data for your direct reports. It will not be necessary to log into the system daily; if important changes happen that require your attention/action, you will receive an alert via email coming directly from EverCheck.
This tool is meant to give you better transparency and insights into licensure and credentialing information for your staff. We ask that you pay close attention to any correspondence you receive from EverCheck and respond according to hospital protocol.
Here’s what you can expect over the next few weeks/months.
Time to lay out the next action items. Depending on what stage of the implementation process you choose to make the announcement, it’s wise to provide a timeline of relevant expectations and deliverables.
We expect our implementation of EverCheck to be completed by Wednesday. On Friday, you will receive an email from EverCheck with instructions on how to access your account. Once you’ve registered, feel free to take a look at the app and familiarize yourself with it. Shortly thereafter, you’ll receive two options for one-hour virtual training sessions. Please choose one of the two sessions. The training will take place in our live account, so feel free to jot down any questions that come to mind as you’re exploring the app.
2. Ask your solution provider for help.
No one knows the technology you’re implementing better than the people who developed it and work with it every single day. If you’re developing internal materials to help roll out the product, ask their team to get involved. It’s likely that they have the material they can share with you to help you make your case to your staff. You don’t have to go it alone!
3. Make help available & be receptive.
First, be sure that the solution has an obvious way for your users to access help and support when needed. There’s nothing more frustrating than getting stuck and not knowing where to turn. Additionally, you want to avoid an inbox cluttered with questions. Make sure there’s a clear line of communication between users who may need help and the people who have answers.
Next, give those who adopt the technology a way to provide you and your solution provider with feedback. This can help you determine whether the project was successful in addressing the concerns that led you to search for a solution in the first place. It also gives your provider insights into which features work and which they may need to revisit. A survey is a great way to gather feedback; just be sure you’ve allowed enough time to pass for users to get accustomed to the system. No matter how much you prepare people for change, it still takes a little adjustment.
Once you adopt your new technology, be sure to follow best practices to get the most out of the solution. You can download EverCheck’s e-book, The 7 Best Practices for License Verification
