COACH'S PLAYBOOK
Building an Organization of
Problem Solvers by Kay Kendall
H
ow would you describe your staff members? Are they troublemakers? Clock watchers? Problem solvers? The first group may be difficult to lead. The second may be difficult to motivate. But the third group can elevate a good organization to one of excellence. What leadership skills make the difference? Last week I had the privilege of talking with the CEOs of two highly regarded health care organizations, Brian Dieter of Mary Greeley Medical Center in Ames, Iowa (a 2019 Baldrige Award recipient in Health Care) and Dr. Fred Cerise of Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, Texas (highly ranked by U.S. News and World Report in five adult specialties). I’d like to share their organizations’ similar approaches for engaging staff in problem solving.
WHO’S RESPONSIBLE FOR PROBLEM SOLVING?
In both organizations quality and reliability serve a centralized function. Both CEOs, however, view these departments as “centers of expertise” and “facilitators of improvement” … but not the solitary “owners” of problem-solving. In Parkland’s case, it’s the Performance Improvement group within the Quality function that promotes centrally driven projects. Mary Greeley Medical Center devises both strategic projects that
align with overall (“Big Dot”) goals and “local” projects that are driven by functional owners within a department or unit. Both organizations employ various improvement processes to work through challenges: Parkland uses Lean, as its High Value Care Team seeks to eliminate waste. Mary Greeley’s Performance Improvement group uses Rapid Improvement Events and Small Tests of Change before new or re-engineered processes are adopted as standard work. Neither organization does extensive training for the sake of training. In many instances, improvement project teams are given just-in-time training, teaching whatever tools are best suited to address their specific circumstances.
THE GRASS IS GREENER “OVER THERE”
I’ve worked in some organizations where people are quick to point out problems in other departments while turning a blind eye to their own. I asked Brian and Fred how they prevent this. Mary Greeley requires that a team’s first 90-day opportunity for improvement be in its own department. Leaders encourage a fresh set of eyes from another department be brought in to question the “why” of current processes. ARKANSAS HOSPITALS | SPRING 2022 25
