Performance improvement overview

From HMCwiki

Performance improvement is a large and rich topic. While there are many different "models" for Performance Improvement, one that is particularly helpful is associated with The Institute for Healthcare Improvement and describes three phases of improvement: Generating Will to change,Generating ideas for change, and Implementation.

Contents 1 Generating will 2 Generating ideas 2.1 Developing an idea-friendly environment 3 Implementation

Generating will

Generating will is important for organizations to thrive. Change is difficult and often involves decisions that are complicated and disruptive. Taking a top-level approach, organizations that are able to agree upon the overall goals and strategies for the organization often can construct key requirements to be successful in achieving these goals. This is an essential element to generating will to change, certainly for an organization as a whole. From a cost management point of view, a willful organization has an worthy goal, a strategy to reach it, and from that a definition of the financial performance gap that exists, including cost improvement requirements.

This carefully defined and articulated gap translates into positive will to change. In this approach, a Cost Benchmark is particularly key to giving this performance gap a specific definition and setting expectations and goal alignment. Often Dashboards are also employed to keep track of whether the organization is on track or not with achieving it's strategic targets, including costs. Setting aims or goals for individual managers or teams parses this organization wide goal to those who are involved in the process of delivering care and who must lead the change efforts.

Generating ideas

At some point, however, those with responsibility to improve must generate ideas for change. There are many different approaches to diagnosing improvement opportunities within an organization, including Six Sigma, Lean, Waste Walks and there is no single right approach. Regardless of approach, the diagnosis must identify problems or issues and in that identification lead towards generating ideas for change. These changes must be specific and, naturally, need to be scrutinized as something that leads to an improvement and what to measure and track established.

Developing an idea-friendly environment

Every organization wants to be the best, with staff engaged in making it better. Yet the biggest hindrance to this happening today is that most organizations don’t have an idea-friendly environment; environments where ideas are welcome, developed, justified, resourced, implemented, recognized and shared. Few have a strategy to encourage, develop and integrate ideas and innovation into the way work is done. Creativity is something relegated to large breakthroughs and change. The sad thing is, in this global age, the company that doesn’t continually come up with fresh ideas throughout the organization will lose its competitive edge.

There is a wealth of ideas and empowerment locked up in employees in every organization. The reason managers don’t get employees with a bulldog mentality against waste is they don’t have the mindset or the infrastructure to honor and propagate ideas. Ideas are fragile, for a piece of the owner comes with each. For they risk ridicule and rejection to offer it up. The biggest waste is greatest idea that died because of leadership neglect. The recommended elements below apply to small individual ideas and larger scale proven practices.

Implementation

Implementing change, of course, is as difficult a step as any. This final step is often a point of breakdown in the Performance Improvement process. Tracking improvement measures established in the idea generation phase keeps things focused. While there are many implementation models, a well known one is the Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle. Not every change involves process changes, so not every change will involve a cycle such as this.