Health care organizations have been through crises before; however, COVID-19 has put an overwhelming strain on patients, providers, and the system as a whole. Leaders ranging from senior management to shift managers have had to reimagine their role as a leader and refine their strategy to prevent the system and their teams from breaking.  

To mitigate crises, leaders must make decisions based on the bigger picture. Clearly understanding the problem is imperative to moving forward with solutions that target the root cause. Interdisciplinary meetings, leader rounds, and surveying the desired population are ways to promote open communication between stakeholders. Root cause analysis tools such as 5 Whys and fishbone diagrams also contribute to understanding the problem at hand.  

Once the problem is understood, comprehensive solutions can be iteratively developed  by clearly communicating the problem to senior management and other stakeholders. Solutions have a low chance to succeed without the support of senior management.  

Inviting all stakeholders’ feedback and allowing space for their voices to be heard  reinforces shared  goals and a collaborative environment. It is key to invite those who are adverse to change to the conversation. Establishing a sense of urgency and building a coalition around the desired future state of the organization can increase onboarding of new ideas and creativity. Most importantly, willingness to listen to staff, who are the experts in their practice, and heeding their ideas through action, will speak volumes of any leader’s ability to support and harness their expertise.

The 12-week co-design champion course promotes clear communication channels by identifying what matters to stakeholders. Align and reinforce shared goals that foster innovation, teamwork, and critical problem-solving. The co-design tools and case studies introduced in the course assist in getting curious about the problem and asking the hard questions to pinpoint low hanging fruit. Drilling down to the root cause enables patient care and team support to be redirected towards more person-centered practices. Interactive surveying further determines if changes made to the areas identified have positively impacted the organization. Constantly tweaking the process provides the greatest success for the future of the organization. 

Below are benefits of using the co-design champion course:

• Improve collaboration of all stakeholders form the boardrooms to the exam room through clinically-driven patient tools
• Learn how to capture soft data through What Matters surveys, perception mapping, motivational interviewing, and empathy building
• Obtain a holistic understanding of patients’ health by identifying gaps in care and creating human-centric ideas to solve them by involving all stakeholders

‍

Receive more information about the course.

‍

https://bmjleader.bmj.com/content/3/1/1