Focused discussion on the most important results

A healthcare facility opts for a focused discussion on the most important results. Together with the managers, all of the results are reviewed and the most important obstacles identified (too many changes at once, major tensions arising from the changes, and criticism about the role of the managers during the change). The managers and their teams participated in a discussion that focused on four questions:

1. Do you recognize the obstacles and is it important to do something about them?
2. What are the most important changes in your workplace that have taken place over the past three years and would you consider those positive or negative?
3. How would you be able and willing to contribute to the development of the organization in the coming period?
4. What could your manager do (or stop doing) to increase your involvement in and commitment to the development?

The first question is meant to find out whether the obstacles are generally known and if the teams are willing to work on improvements. The second question is meant to make visible the cohesion among the various changes and to show that there are really only two returning themes. The third and fourth questions are meant to start a discussion about the role of employees and the role of managers in the change process. Following the discussion, each team draws up its own plan for improvement. The management team responds to each of the plans and formulates three improvement themes for the healthcare facility as a whole.