In May of this year, we had the opportunity to chat with Dr. Jill Waters, Lean Six Sigma Coordinator at Adventist Health, which is a not-for-profit healthcare organization comprised of over 20 hospitals and over 30 clinics in the U.S.
Jill shared a ton of invaluable process improvement and innovation insights she has learned during her time at Adventist.
In this article, we highlight five key takeaways.
Key takeaways from Adventist Health’s Jill Waters
1. Il y a du pouvoir dans la simple observation.
Jill told a story about how she spotted a barrier to efficiency for an Adventist Health hospital when she first joined the company.
L'entreprise passait des dossiers médicaux manuels aux dossiers médicaux électroniques, ce qui signifiait que chaque hôpital devait faire le changement. Inévitablement, cela a entraîné une courbe d'apprentissage qui, si elle n'est pas prise en compte, a la capacité de ralentir les progrès.
One hospital in particular, where Jill was temporarily placed, experienced slowdown in progress. They were 3 months behind due to performing unnecessary work.
In two-days, Jill was able to spot the wasteful steps by simply observing what the department was doing. She then trained the staff on the correct way to use the elcontronci medial record equipment fix, which got the hospital back up to speed.
This is an example of how the power of simple observation can lead to significant change, which is the very essence of process improvement. All it takes is one individual to spot a better way of doing something to be more efficient and productive.
2. De petites améliorations progressives peuvent conduire à d'énormes transformations.
Incremental improvements are significantly easier to implement than large, disruptive transformation.
Cela dit, il faut trouver un équilibre entre le fait d'imaginer avec les employés des améliorations progressives (gains à court terme) et le fait de viser une transformation systémique de grande envergure (gains à long terme).
3. Empower the directors and managers of departments.
When it comes to running an ideation program where process improvement is a focal point, the program manager doesn’t need to be the person that knows it all. Instead, it’s his or her responsibility to give power to department directors and managers. After all, they’re the ones who know where inefficiencies and problem areas lie since they experience them on a day-to-day basis.
Empower directors and managers by giving them a simple way to share the problems their team experiences day-to-day and potential solutions to them.
4. For process improvement to work effectively, it starts at the top.
Jill a raconté une histoire sur la façon dont le PDG de la région Central Valley d'Adventist Health a insisté pour que les employés au niveau des cadres et des directeurs apprennent les différentes méthodologies d'amélioration des processus afin de trouver de nouvelles façons d'améliorer les processus existants ainsi que des opportunités de croissance.
Il s'agit d'un point important. Les cadres, et plus particulièrement les PDG, doivent s'investir à fond dans les initiatives qui guident la mission, la vision et la stratégie de l'entreprise. qu'il s'agisse de produits ou d'éducation. Les PDG doivent montrer l'exemple.
5. Entasser des centaines de personnes dans une pièce pour faire un brainstorming n'est ni pratique ni évolutif.
When you have 10 people that make up a department, brainstorming in a room is easy. But when you have hundreds maybe thousands of employees, brainstorming isn’t as straightforward. This is one reason why many companies turn to Planview IdeaPlace’s idea management software. They need an easy way to brainstorm and collaborate with thousands of employees who are distributed around the world.
Dernières réflexions
Adventist Health is pioneering a new era of process improvement through company-wide ideation to great success.
To hear more about Adventist Health’s ideation program and process improvement efforts, I highly recommend you watch this on-demand webinar.
