In response to: Wafa Siyam’s Post 4.1-LDRS 501- Crafting a realistic vision and gaining employee-buy in is just a first step

Hi Wafa,

Thanks for your post. I am not in the healthcare industry, however, I feel that I enjoy reading the healthcare posts and learning from your experiences and knowledge.

In reading your post and reflecting on the readings, I feel as though a solid, well-laid out action plan may be beneficial. “A well-thought-out action plan is one of the best tools you have to ensure that the factors required for effective execution are in place” (Lepsinger, 2010, p. 28). Sometimes, myself included, people don’t see the value in creating an action plan. People sometimes see it as the obligatory paper work that wastes time. Lepsinger (2010), tells us that with the amount of change we experience, and the pace of the change, are what make action planning essential (p. 28). By developing an action plan, each member of the team will have a clear understanding of what is expected of them and all of the expectations are measurable to ensure that everyone is being held accountable. (Lepsinger, 2010).

I appreciate what you wrote about holding yourself and others accountable. Accountability is reinforced through action plans. Lepsinger (2010) writes,

Companies and managers who are the best at execution also create operational plans that are coordinated across departments and levels, expect and encourage top performance from everyone, hold people accountable for results and create a culture of responsibility, make high quality decisions by ensuring the right people are talking about the right things at the right time, and facilitate individual change readiness.

(Lepsinger, 2010, p. 27).

Hughes et al., (2014) also discuss the importance of accountability. They tell us that while teams rely on accountability, leaders will excel by being individually accountable. (Hughes, Beatty, & Dinwoodie, 2014). Hughes et al., discuss the importance of holding each other and ourselves accountable rather than having a leader hold us accountable. (Hughes, Beatty, & Dinwoodie, 2014). This is important in a healthy, collaborative and cooperative team environment.

In reading your thoughts about contrary practice, I was intrigued by the first one in which you talk about ignoring negative pressures (Siyam, W., 2018). Hughes et al., (2014) suggest that this is sometimes a source of error in leadership.

People, including leaders, have a tendency to look for information that will confirm what they believe (or “know to be true”) rather than to look more intentionally for information that could disconfirm their preconceptions. The danger in organizations is that if people look only for signs that they are on the right path (that their theory of the business is valid), they can often find them. But if they do not also look for signs that they are wrong, they will miss critical information.

(Hughes et al., 2014, p. 93).

Perhaps it may be beneficial to use the negative pressures as a guide in your action planning.

Thanks for triggering new thoughts and learning experiences for me!

Sadie

References

Hughes, R. L., Beatty, K. C., & Dinwoodie, D. L. (2014). Becoming a strategic leader: your role in your organization’s enduring success (2nd ed.). Retrieved from

Lepsinger, R. (2010). Closing the esecution gap: how great leaders and their companies get results. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.