Perspectives
Driving Healthcare Innovation with Teams
The healthcare industry is missing an opportunity to cultivate innovations “that are modest in size, low in risk and highly likely to deliver wins for both patients and profits,” according to a March 2016 article in Harvard Business Review (https://hbr.org/2016/03/the-best-way-to-improve-health-care-delivery-is-with-a-small-dedicated-team). The answer resides in the creation of “small but full-time clinical teams that are commissioned to redesign and deliver care to a particular patient population.”
But how can the C-Suites of healthcare organizations (HCOs) spearhead teams that embrace clinical, financial and operational performance? Curt Lucas, president and CEO of InveniasPartners, a Chicago-based healthcare executive recruitment, assessment and talent management consulting firm, offers the following recommendations:
Start strong: Define and match the work of healthcare teams to HCO units, departments, divisions and facilities. Provide teams with a mission statement or invite them to create their own statements of purpose. Discuss agendas and expectations with team sponsors before selecting team members with the right blend of clinical, financial, operational and interpersonal skill, knowledge and experience. “It’s a good idea to host kick-off events that allow team members to appreciate team mission, structure, roles and success factors,” advises Lucas. “These events will build trust and momentum, which translates into higher team productivity.”
Articulate team mission: Begin by challenging team members with a series of questions:
What is our task or work?
How will working together as a team reshape our work?
How will our work benefit care delivery, patients and healthcare professionals?
What will success look like? How will be know that we’ve completed our work or task?
How should we track and evaluate our success going forward?
“Make sure that a team’s mission statement is brief, written in everyday language, and understandable to every member of the team,” suggests Lucas.
Outline team goals in SMART language: Be sure that team goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. Instead of saying that you want to enhance patient experience or engagement, focus on a specific behavior, activity or response you want to enhance or decrease. Among the issues are the following:
How will the team measure progress toward the goal?
To what extent is the goal realistic and achievable? Can the goal be achieved with available resources?
Is the targeted behavior, activity or response important or urgent to patients, healthcare professionals and the HCO?
How long will it take the team to reach its stated goal? Six weeks or six months?
Scope out roles and responsibilities: “Make sure that healthcare team members know what’s expected of them,” advises Lucas. “Only by grasping expectations can team members build the accountability and trust needed to achieve success.” Appoint or elect team leaders who executives will hold accountable for team results. These individuals can occupy one or more roles: team spokesperson, coordinator of team activities or facilitator of team process and deliberations.
Lay down ground rules: “Team members need to know how they will work together,” says Lucas. “They need guidelines for specific behaviors.” Although teams need not put every ground rule in writing, members should have a shared understanding of the following issues:
How do we communicate during team meetings? For example, can we interrupt others? Are side conversations allowed? Must the team leader recognize us before we can speak?
How do we communicate between team meetings? How should we keep team colleagues informed and up-to-date? How quickly should we respond to e-mails?
How do we demonstrate respect for fellow team members? Avoidance of gossip and bad-mouthing? Taking turns to speak? Focusing discussions on agenda items? Honoring time limits?
Select a decision-making process: Lucas advises C-Suite and senior healthcare executives to address the following issues:
Will team members make decision via consensus, giving everyone the opportunity to support the final decision?
Will the team leader seek input and then make the final decision?
Will team members vote on the decision?
“Understanding the decision-making model helps team members understand what to expect and what’s expected of them,” says Lucas. “And that, in turn, helps build support for the final decision.”
Work toward decisions that meet the criteria of quality and commitment. Quality decisions, which tend to be logical and supported by accurate, timely, trusted evidence, can be evaluated by posing the following questions:
Has the team gathered and shared all required data, information and opinion?
Have all team members been consulted prior to making a decision?
Has the team sought input from varied stakeholders—individuals and groups who could be affected by the decision?
Test team commitment by confronting these issues:
Does every team member agree with the decision?
Is each team member committed to carrying out the decision?
Do members understand individual roles and responsibilities in decision implementation?
Buy into open communication: C-Suite and senior executives can delineate and model positive team communications. Among the behaviors recommended by Lucas are the following:
Listen respectfully to team members’ ideas: “If an idea is confusing or appears unconventional or odd to you, ask for more information,” advises Lucas.
Create sharing team environments: Encourage team members to share ideas--even those that seem incomplete or extreme.
Surface team conflict. “Instead of hiding or camouflaging conflict, bring it out into the open,” advises Lucas. “Use conflict as a catalyst to create the kind of results every team member can support.”
Advocate mutual accountability and self-assessment: “Celebrate the accomplishments of individuals along with team milestones,” counsels Lucas. “Doing so helps team members trust and respect each other and builds faith in the team.” Also stop at regular intervals to check if and how a team is functioning. Self-evaluation is as simple as asking, “What worked well and what could we improve the next time around? Or, on a deeper level, executives might ask, “How can teams handle conflict and disruption more effectively?”