For several years now, the healthcare industry has stuck to traditional, redundant models that were uniform, repeatable and predictable. However, as the surroundings and situations around it change, the healthcare industry would also need to change for the better.
Healthcare organizations around the world would need to start adapting to these changes in more innovative ways in order to survive in the market. As such, here are some strategies that would help an organization introduce a culture of innovation in its healthcare system.
Freedom to Experiment
Organizations should allow ample freedom for their employees to spend time in innovating and coming up with ideas that would improve the system for the better in terms of quality of healthcare. Currently, only about 20% of healthcare organizations provide innovation time for their employees. This is very less when compared to other fields like life science where over 50% of respondents offer innovation time for their employees.
Placing too many rules would instill a culture that is afraid of taking risks and prefers to stay cooped up in its own world while the competition passes by. Hence, healthcare organizations would need to revamp their existing business models to allow for innovation to creep into them, rewarding the same as a form of encouragement as well.
Bold Ambitions
Large scale advancement would only be possible with a large scale plan. Healthcare organizations wishing to introduce innovation activity and reap the benefits of the same on a grand scale would need to set bold ambitions that would urge the entire organization move together towards a common goal. This would make it easier for the organization to reach its goal in a short span of time without too many hassles.
Encouraging Questions
Open ended conversations tend to be more fulfilling than closed ones wherein the boss speaks and the employee listens. Healthcare organizations must encourage their employees to ask questions about procedures and processes. In most cases, this practice would allow the organization to identify faults that it had previously missed out on, while improving its existing practices by welcoming innovation.
Guidance and Review
Healthcare organizations should not stop at just introducing innovation and encouraging experimentation with ideas. They should monitor the innovation activity regularly and review it as and when it reaches the stage of maturity. This would allow the organization to ensure that all innovation activity is carried out in the right way and via the right channels.
Cross Generational Practice
Instead of placing together people of the same age group or those with similar skillsets, an organization should opt for a diversified blend of employees in every team involved in the innovation activity. For instance, asking an elderly employee to work with a younger one would help combine the experience and expertise of one employee with the innovativeness and swiftness. This would, in turn, help drive innovation better and aid the organization tremendously in the long run.
Additional Advice from External Resources
Compared to the olden days when healthcare organizations kept to themselves and managed their own ideas, the newer challenges require these organizations to come out of their comfort zone and mingle with other areas. In addition to this, these organizations would also need to access external resources in order to gain access to the current best practices in the industry.
Reaching out to other companies would also allow healthcare organizations to open their doors to welcome a flood of innovative ideas from all sectors. This would, in turn, allow them give more importance to their own innovation activity and reduce the risks associated with the same in order to reach their goals faster and in a more streamlined manner.
Healthcare organizations need to open their doors to welcome more innovation activity among their employees.]]>