What’s in a Name?

Change management exercises are the hottest new trend that organizations endeavour to achieve cultural transformations. These strategies are meant to fundamentally change the way we think and deliver business.

At the Capital District Health Authority (CDHA) in Halifax, Nova Scotia one such transformation is taking place. It is known as Our Promise. Conceptually, this change management process drills accountability for health back to members of the community by providing proactive health solutions to individual well being. What does that mean to staff?

That question left “Occupational Health and Safety” team in a quandary. As staff members in the CDHA there is an expectation that we as a health care provider will change the way we conduct business; however, as a highly regulated industry the challenge of maintaining compliance and changing business processes require some thought and planning.

The team embarked upon several exercises with the intent of discovering from one another both an identity and a mutual understanding of how we wished to conduct business in alignment with Our Promise. Several questions were put forward for discussion, group meetings were conducted with fun exercises and professional articles were circulated and discussed.

One discovery from the group was that if we wish to conduct business differently, then we have to change our image and deliver services differently. The other learning was a collective “Ah HA” moment where we realized that the CDHA was not asking us to change what we do but merely how we do it.

We embarked upon a branding strategy with the help of our Marketing and Communications department. In an identity exercise known as “The World Café”, we recognized the words well being as the perfect fit for our intent. After much banter it was decided that we would change our name to “Wellness and Safety Services”. From this exercise our new mission was born:

“We will deliver our services to the whole person proactively through wellness, rehabilitation, and education, by means of a service model where we go to the people.”

The connection with Our Promise was made by looking outside of the confines of our own walls. We realized that staffs are also a part of the community we serve and as social people we are morally accountable for all constituents well being and safety. Anything we do has positive residual affects for the community.

The interpretation of a change management process requires leadership to provide a course for staff to follow. The breakthrough that had managed to put the department on the path to success was the discovery that the answers lay within as everyone is a leader and that all individuals can affect change if given the opportunity.

We are still in the early stages of our change process but as team we shall build upon our new image to deliver the best health care possible.

Murray Doucette MBA, BGS
Director Wellness and Safety Services
Capital District Health Authority

This entry was posted on Friday, February 6th, 2009 at 11:32 am and is filed under Wellness and Safety. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.