Dealing with change is a 'prevention' issue
Dealing with change is a 'prevention' issue
How employees perceive change is crucial
As a hospital and home health agency administrator during the health care industry's transition to managed care, Sue Boever, RN, PhD, got a first-hand look at how change can affect employee health. She also learned the keys to optimal health and change management strategies, developing a change management model that she now employs as a senior consultant with The Benfield Group, a St. Louis-based consulting firm specializing in the prevention and wellness niche in health care.
"I was a nurse who had transitioned into the fiscal world on the entrepreneurial track," she recalls. "Managed care was just filtering into pediatrics [in 1992], and I was right in middle of all of that."
Physical health and coping mechanisms
In describing how change can affect employee health, she draws a straightforward comparison with the physical body - right down to the importance of prevention.
"If I'm physically fit, eat well, sleep well, get plenty of exercise, and then I'm hit with a disease, an accident, or stress, I'm better able to recuperate, to regain my strength and to get over it," she says. "If I eat poorly, and if I don't exercise, then the effects can be devastating."
Similar responses occur, she explains, when change hits an employee with poor emotional preventive health practices; change can affect sleep, appetite, and, "It clearly affects your level of energy," says Boever. "You actually go through the process of grieving. It can impact your GI system, your ability to digest and process food, and ultimately it can lead to colitis or ulcers."
The reason a healthy mental state is so important when facing change is that perception is a critical component of how an employee reacts to change - be it downsizing, a pending merger, or a job transfer.
"I would say that whether or not a change is stressful is determined by how it is perceived to be a threat to the individual," says Boever. "It can be a huge change on paper, but if the individual doesn't perceive it that way, it won't be as destructive. On the flip side, it can be a minor change, but if the individual perceives it to be a personal threat, it will feel like someone is holding a gun to their head."
As the administrator of St. Louis Children's Hospital, Boever saw how a team "that was healthy, that was well cared for, that felt respected, and that was cohesive," responded to unexpected challenges. "We saw the opportunity to get through them intact," she remembers.
Gaining a sense of control
What Boever stresses in her program, and imparts to in-house "coaches" she trains, is that one of the most important things an employee can hang onto and truly believe is that they always have a choice. "I may not have a choice as to whether the organization will merge with another company, but I do have a choice as to how I will respond to and play out this change," she explains. "I can control how I react."
This is true on a day-to-day basis, no matter what the employee's position. "To be very candid, we who are not drivers can make a positive impact in our little group, but it has to happen within our brains," says Boever. "You can get together with two co-workers and identify a common purpose, and ask questions such as these: "Here's where we're headed; are we in agreement? What do we want to do? What will get us to our common purpose?" For example, she says, two bookkeepers can agree on something as basic as getting the financials out monthly.
"When I truly choose to stay in for lunch twice a week [to achieve a common purpose], I feel I am making a difference and I am choosing to do that. If, on the other hand, the director says it is no longer acceptable for phones to be unanswered during lunch, and therefore you must stay in during lunch, that generates a whole other reaction."
Company wellness directors should serve as coaches for several other coaches within the company, says Boever. "They can actually serve as coaches for a team leader," she explains. "The leader in turn can coach a small working group."
The process actually begins with (and requires) understanding and buy-in from upper management. "First, there is education and exposure to the overall philosophy at that upper level - a two- to three-hour interactive meeting to explain the concepts," says Boever. "Then, we spend a day and a half to two days in skill building with the coaches. There is a lot of reinforcement by telephone after that."
Speaking a common language
The Benfield Group actually employed some of Boever's techniques this spring following a management buy-out. "Most important was the process itself and what it represented," says Chuck Reynolds, principal in the firm. "This was an acknowledgement of the importance of our human resources; just committing to do that was big step. Beyond that, it helps people speak a common language about behavior and expectations that is useful and practical when dealing with any sort of conflict. It helps keep the focus off of interpersonal fits that may not be optimal, and keeps it on finding solutions." n
Sue Boever, The Benfield Group, 8123 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63130. Telephone: (314) 862-4990, ext. 201. Fax: (314) 862-4099. E-mail: [email protected].
Chuck Reynolds, The Benfield Group, 8123 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63130. Telephone: (800) 883-9665. Fax: (314) 862-4099. Web site: www.thebenfieldgroup.com.
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