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You are here: TeamSTEPPS Home > Tips
and Suggestions for Enhancing Organizational Readiness
Tips and Suggestions for Enhancing
Organizational Readiness
Below are some tips and suggestions for actions you can take to help assess and
enhance the readiness of your institution to implement TeamSTEPPS.
- Use assessment tools to further assess readiness
and clarify needs. Examples include the AHRQ Patient Safety Culture Survey, surveys
of patient and staff satisfaction, unit- or site-specific process and outcome measures
(patient flow, hospital acquired infection rates, preventable deaths). Gather data
that will provide a baseline of the organization's current status and can be used
to develop a business case or leader briefings.
- Conduct a briefing for senior leaders and key stakeholders about the TeamSTEPPS
program, including its purpose and goals, what's required from an organizational
perspective, and what's required of them to make the initiative a success. Be sure
they are aware of what will be needed for your organization to gain the benefits
from TeamSTEPPS and allow them to make an informed decision. Reinforce the concept
that TeamSTEPPS is more than just a training program. It's an ongoing effort to
enhance teamwork. This will reduce the likelihood of a "false start," where the
training is conducted but no actions are taken to ensure the behaviors become incorporated
into everyday actions.
- Gather information regarding the need within your institution and assemble a business
case that you can present in support of initiating TeamSTEPPS. Identify who will
receive the business case presentation (e.g., senior leaders), what you need from
them (e.g., decisions, support for the program, resources), and the type of information
that will mean the most to them and that they will rely on to inform their decisions
(e.g., evidence-based research, hospital safety statistics, success stories). Present
a compelling rationale for why the change effort is necessary (e.g., the problem
that it will solve) and the benefits that will potentially be obtained. A report
from The Conference Board in 2005 suggested that a lack of urgency and unclear rationale
are two of the most common derailers of change efforts. If there really isn't a
clear, compelling rationale, it is best to determine that up front and postpone
the effort.
- Identify all the changes that are currently occurring within the organization, determine
who the changes are impacting (e.g., specific units), and create a timeline of the
progress of each change effort. Based on this timeline, identify a good time to
implement TeamSTEPPS for a specific unit. Ideally, start with a group that has a
need and the capacity to handle the change effort. Postpone the start, if necessary,
until another major change has been completed if it is organization wide. Sometimes
delaying the start for a few months can make a big difference. Having too many changes
underway that exceed peoples' change capacity is a common reason why change efforts
fail. In some cases you may be able to work with leaders to identify whether any
of the other change efforts are unnecessary, freeing capacity for TeamSTEPPS.
- Identify units that are prime candidates for TeamSTEPPS by applying the following
matrix. First, identify the capacity of various units to handle the change as well
as their level of readiness. Then determine the level of teamwork required within
the units. Use this information to determine a rollout plan or sequence within the
institution. Units that are both ready and require great teamwork are logical candidates
for an early launch.
|
Less Capacity/Readiness |
Greater Capacity/Readiness |
High Need for Teamwork |
Careful about timing (postpone) |
Prime candidate |
Low Need for Teamwork |
Do not proceed |
Less urgency |
- For any effort, especially if the institution is not at a high level of readiness,
consider starting small rather than launching an organization-wide effort.
- Gather leadership support and buy-in for a targeted effort.
- Select a specific unit, considering both its readiness and need for enhanced teamwork.
The selected unit should neither be the easiest nor the most difficult one to start
with.
- Identify champions and change agents from both physician and
nurse areas within the unit. Make sure they clearly understand the rationale
for the effort and their roles.
- Identify a problem the unit has that it wants or needs to fix. (What keeps you up
at night? What can we fix?) Focusing on a problem the unit wants to address can
help keep it motivated.
- Select a specific TeamSTEPPS tool or process that best addresses the problem and
can be most effective for that unit. Look for tools or processes that fit into the
unit's current processes.
- Provide the unit training on teamwork and how to use the tool or process.
- Reinforce the use of the tool or process through ongoing coaching and leadership
support and recognition.
- Measure how the tool or process is being used and how the problem is being addressed.
Capture successes and recognize when adjustments are needed.
- Identify and apply lessons learned from this unit to begin the process with another
unit.
- Discuss additional opportunities for this unit.
- Try to identify champions from both the physician and nurse areas. Champions help
support the effort, encourage others, and maintain energy. Both physician and nursing
champions are important, but without a physician champion, the effort is less likely
to succeed.
- Involve key influencers in the process. These can be leaders, but they can also
be staff. Which individuals tend to have the greatest influence on other team members?
Who do team members look to when deciding if something is useful or a waste of time?
Ideally, you'd like them to be champions, but even if they aren't champions at the
beginning of the effort, try to find ways to involve them in decisions (e.g., which
problems to address, which tools to use). Research has shown that participation
in change efforts is related to subsequent success (Lines, 2004).
- Identify current safety and quality initiatives (e.g., Lean Six Sigma) that may
be occurring within the institution, and identify how TeamSTEPPS can fit with or
reinforce those efforts. What is the purpose of those efforts and how might a TeamSTEPPS
tool or process support that purpose? This ties the new team behaviors to an existing
initiative. Identify measures that are being used for the safety and quality initiatives
and determine whether any can be linked to TeamSTEPPS. One caveat: Avoid linking
TeamSTEPPS with an extremely unpopular or unsuccessful effort.
- Identify ways that the TeamSTEPPS behaviors can be incorporated into existing work
processes within the organization or unit. For example, TeamSTEPPS behaviors can
be used during normally occurring handoffs to enhance information sharing and patient
safety. Connecting TeamSTEPPS to regular work processes and requirements can make
better teamwork part of doing the job rather than an unrelated or academic concept.
- Seek behavioral commitments from leaders. Ask them to help launch the effort, agree
to followup on progress, reinforce key behaviors, and exhibit the behaviors themselves.
Sometimes leaders don't sponsor efforts effectively because they don't know what
they need to do. Coaching them can help them be better sponsors. A study of change
efforts in 225 organizational change efforts showed that leader commitment is closely
related to organizational success (Sirkin et al, 2005).
Emphasize the ongoing effort required to reinforce the TeamSTEPPS tools or processes
over time. This includes the need for team meetings, huddles, and debriefs to discuss
and reinforce the learned concepts and the need for coaches to provide team or one-on-one
feedback regarding the use of the tools or processes. More learning occurs on the
job than in classrooms (Tannenbaum, 1997), so coaches and supervisors are a key
factor in ensuring ongoing learning and reinforcement of training (Tracey et al,
1995).
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References
1. Beaman KV and Guy GR. The Conference Board. Effecting change in business
enterprises. New York, NY. August 2005. Report No. R-1371-05-RR.
2. Lines R. Influence of participation in strategic change: Resistance,
organizational commitment and change goal achievement. Journal of Change Management
2004 4(3):193-215.
3. Sirkin HL, Keenan P, Jackson A. The hard side of change management.
Harvard Business Review 2005 83(10):109-118.
4. Tannenbaum SI. Enhancing continuous learning: Diagnostic findings
from multiple companies. Human Resource Management 1997 36(4):437-452.
5. Tracy JB, Tannenbaum SI, Kavanagh MJ. Applying trained skills on the
job: The importance of the work environment. Journal of Applied Psychology 1995
80(2):239-252.
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