But Why Though PI Blog Series 1

Staging your team for success

               There are two ways to prepare an amazing meal. One way is to turn on the YOLO mode, fire up the stove, and go! Consequences be damned. Chaos ensues, ingredients are added as needed, timing is what it is, and at last results. Or, alternatively, you can “mise en place” (French for gather or set in place). You gather the ingredients, organize them into steps, map out your prep and cook time, and begin. As calculated and prepared for, you get results. There is more than one way to cook a decent meal, however, most of us are going to get better results being patient, mindful, and taking the time to prepare in advance. That’s not to say a brilliant chef can’t drop a masterpiece on the fly. Or that fortunate accidents don’t happen. However, unless you are an accomplished chef or extremely blessed with luck, prepare yourself. Prepare your team. Set the stage for change and do the work.

            Preparing your team for change is difficult. There are many necessary steps, and it helps to map them out ahead of time. Is the team ready, capable, and willing? There isn’t any one perfect assessment tool out there. Pick one. Some basics to keep in mind, no matter which tool you use to assess readiness for change or if you create your own, assessing the following (not all-inclusive list) is a good start.

o   Strength/health of frontline staff

o   Leadership experience

o   Impact of change on all key stakeholders

o   Why?

The Frontline

The strength and health of frontline staff can make or break any process improvement efforts. Before you even begin, make sure you know where your team is at. What is the vacancy of permanent positions? A chronically short-staffed team is tired, frustrated, and less likely able to support healthy change. Getting your team out of survival mode is a priority. How experienced are your frontline staff? What is the skill mix? New, less experienced employees are trying to learn the basics, including the new environment they are working in. It takes time and practice. Implementing significant change can be overwhelming to novice employees. The skill mix of new and experienced staff will require careful thought and planning in order to implement change. This is important when creating realistic expectations for progress. Outcome goals should be objectively tied to the ability of the team doing the work that impacts the target for improvement. Don’t overreach. You need a healthy frontline to partner with. These employees are essential and should be a part of designing changes that will promote better, safer care and better outcomes.

Leadership

Who are the leaders providing oversight? Leadership is such an important part of any unit level or org level process improvement effort. Before jumping into the fray of change, assess the level of knowledge, skill, and experience your front-line leaders and managers have. If you do not feel confident that your team is full of highly skilled, seasoned experts, and problem-solving warriors, sit down for minute. Pause before moving forward. Take the time to understand what training and support your leaders need to be effective agents of change. Don’t cut corners here. Build your team up and prepare them.

Impact

Another important assessment is impact. What are the changes needed and how do they impact all key stakeholders? Do you fully understand who the stakeholders are? It is not uncommon for a process to change and there be persons along the workflow stream, up or down, who were missed and not considered. Now there is change not all participants may be able to support. These change mistakes will probably require rework no one has time, energy, or budget for. Be mindful. When assessing impact, keep asking questions. Make sure there is an accurate and detailed understanding of the many steps in any process or workflow design as it is and how it will change. Make sure all parties impacted by change are represented and able to participate in the new design.

Why?

Lastly. Why. Why is there a need to disrupt the workflow in place. The obvious is that if you want different, better results then do better differently. The results you get is the product of the work you do day in and day out. Set the stage; change is coming, do your stakeholders know and understand the why? Connect your stakeholders to how the change is necessary to accomplish these key priorities; 1. Make the job better and safer for staff, and 2. This change will help take better care of our patients. Always keep your staff and patients the focus of why change is necessary. Rally the team to a good cause.  

Summary

Change is difficult and inevitable. Staging your team for success creates stability even during disruption and turbulent times. Measure the health of your frontline workers, make them partners in building a better workplace. Support your leaders by providing the training necessary to develop their skills. Take the time to understand the impact of change on all stakeholders. Be inclusive. Explain the importance of why, connecting change to the people who matter most, our staff and our patients. Building a strong team capable of adopting new and emerging best practices is the way forward. There are less hazardous, albeit more time-consuming, methods of doing so. Lead with kindness, mindfulness, and Mise en place.

 Steven Corey RN MSN MBA

Butwhythoughpi@gmail.com

Butwhythoughpi.org

November 2025