Organize Renewal

Organizing Renewal contains several major elements. These are illustrated briefly below and have a number of toolsets and materials in the following sections:

  1. What is renewal? Renewal is less about fixing what's wrong with the current system, though that can be important work. It's more about creating a new system for a new environment. Renewal means accepting the organization's need to continually reinvent and recreate itself. Organizations that are "stable state" are at the greatest risk for instability in the future. One of the most important tests of the organization's leadership is whether they can push the organization out of its comfort zone. If that idea resonates, go to the next step.

  2. Assess Situation. Several techniques are presented that will help leaders think through the organization's strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT). And to get to the bottom line questions: Are we ready to make change? Are we willing to commit to making change?

  3. New American Hospital Model. Decide next on the kind of organization you want to build. It makes sense to build the kind of organization that actually works. We have termed this model the New American Hospital. What it really is is a tested way of arranging people and systems that seems to work quite well. See if it sounds like what's needed at your shop.

  4. Change Drivers. Assign groups to work on various aspects of the change. This is a pretty big project and many hands need to be involved. To make change happen, a substantial amount of thought needs to be given to communications, training, socialization, education and recognition.

  5. Cultural Change. Culture is not something soft and squishy, it is the hard bedrock on which high performance organizations are built. It is less an outcome and more a cause of excellence. Often the positive aspects of an organization's culture are already present (founding history, religious traditions, ethnic backgrounds) but they have been subdued or subverted by the onrush of change. Bringing back the pride and the voice of the people is a core requirement for organization success. What past elements do you think need restoration? What present elements need to be magnified or minimized? What new elements should be added?