Creating Change-a personal perspective

Being tasked with creating in a working environment or as part of your role is a very daunting prospect. I think it’s sets off a a number of unhelpful feelings for example, can I really do this, am I good enough, how on earth am I going to do this? Then the fear sets in, I will never do this, I don’t know how to do it, I will never get people on board. I won’t be able to cope with the objections to what needs to be achieved…I won’t get people on board. It is at this point you need to stop, believe in yourself and take a step back, breathe and make a plan. Have confidence and believe in yourself.

I wanted to share some of the things I have learned over the years creating change, whether it’s been a behaviour change, a clinical practice change or a culture change. I haven’t experienced creating change within an organisation (although this may have happened incidentally) but rather a person working for an organisation who works with outside providers to create a change. I have looked at 3 key experiences and picked out the things that stood out for me. I hope it helps someone and would love to hear your experiences or if you have anything to add.

1. My first priority is always develop relationships with the people, get to know them, let them get to know you, let them see your values, honesty, integrity. I also think this is key for any difficult conversations to come later on too
2. Do everything you can to make people feel safe, allow people to speak up and say how they feel. You might not always like what is said but at least you will know where people stand and it’s the foundation to grow from
3. If you say you are going to do something, do it. If there is going to be a delay in you doing something or getting back to them let them know. This helps maintain trust and ensuring people feel involved
4. At the start of creating change people seem to love to tell you, “you won’t change anything or this has been done before and it didn’t work”, Don’t Believe Them! Sure you can ask what was done before but know that if you have experience of creating change before and were successful you will do it again.
5. Bring people together to have conversations about their experiences. Listen and observe because you will learn a lot. It’s a great opportunity to look for root causes of apathy, toxic cultures, self esteem issues, lack of confidence, even traumatic experiences, not feeling like they have a voice, they don’t feel valued or that they have been heard
6. Somewhere on the journey to creating change you will get a good feeling that things are going well, then out of the blue you will hit a brick wall, someone will say something or do something that will make you think you haven’t created any change at all. Don’t be despondent, review what you are doing, redirect if you need to but also look around as there will be evidence around you that you have made a difference
7. Be patient. Creating change is a long term game, infinite. It needs to be worked on, re-evaluated as the times change. Change will come in layers. I don’t agree with people being dragged through change as they will fight it, resist it or maybe leave. Remember what seems like a small change to us may be a massive step to another
8. If you are in a situation where the change needed is urgent, bring people together, explain why the change is needed, the consequence of the change not happening. Ask for their input, ideas so people are included and involved in the change and they don’t feel it has been done to them
9. Be consistent with your message, and goals, even on the days when you are not feeling positive
10. Don’t give up. If you really believe in the change you are wanting to create and you are doing it for the right reasons with good intentions it will work out. It just takes time

Being authentic in the change you want to see is really the starting point for me. Truly believing the change you want to see and having the confidence despite what people are saying around you. From a personal perspective it is about creating change that benefits us all on a human level and changing experience for the better for patients, customers and staff equally