Change vs. Transition

Change vs. Transition

We will do a series of posts on the concept of change! Change is a word we hate – maybe it’s not the word but what it stands for. There are three things that are certain in life: taxes, death, and change. We deal with it on a daily basis. Most people think of it as NO WAY and continue or revert back to doing it the way they know.

Let’s think in terms of transition rather than change. Perhaps using a different word will help put a different spin on what you are trying to do. Perhaps even this won’t work and it falls back on your shoulders as a practice manager or leader. Let’s look at this more fully.

Change is easy to announce, we want to do things differently. You get together with your team, talk about how things are done and everyone agrees to try something different. The meeting is adjourned and everyone goes to their work area and talks to their staff about the change. All listen and agree that it is a good idea. So you think it is done and all will be better. A week later nothing has happened, things are being done the way they always have been done.

Transition on the other hand requires a “PLAN” which means the acceptance of the new way is not enough. It is necessary to develop a way to implement it. This will mean a commitment. This will mean training or re-training. This will mean communication. And communication means talking, demonstrating, writing memos, etc. and doing it over and over again to reinforce the idea of changing how things are done.

We are so busy in our world that we do not take the time to effectively implement what was agreed upon as a way of improving patient care.

So here are the two questions to ponder:

1. What did you do wrong and how could you have done things better to make the transition to the new and better way of doing things? 
2. Why did you waste time having a meeting about the issue in the first place? Remember, we know that we waste 25% of our day, a meeting with several team members that accomplishes nothing is a good example of waste!