NYAPRS Note: Below from our friends at Open Minds is an interesting article on the endurance we all need to assure the survival, change and sustainability of our organizations. Please join us on April 24th and 25th for a “deeper dive” into these issues at our Executive Seminar to be held in Albany next week. Our seminar will feature the latest information on where New York is in reaching an agreement with the federal government on our Medicaid Waiver application, on the DSRIP, HARP and health home initiatives and the expected impact of the recent state budget agreement on our state and Medicaid systems. Keynoting will be Drs. Jeffrey Brenner and Peggy Swarbrick, and the National Council’s Linda Rosenberg. Dr. Brenner’s groundbreaking ‘hotspotters’ innovation to address unmet healthcare and related needs in distressed communities and Dr. Swarbrick’s pioneering development of peer wellness coaching models and SAMHSA’s 8 Dimensions of Wellness are changing the face of integrated care across our nation. Linda Rosenberg’s vibrant leadership has brought heightened visibility and visionary leadership to the nation’s behavioral healthcare provider community. Integration, innovation and change are the themes of the Seminar and workshops on health homes, crisis diversion, cultural competence and the social determinants of health will be offered. On Thursday evening, join us for an opportunity to build relationships with potential partners to further growth and expertise in the new health care delivery system at a special “meet and greet” with the Managed Care and Behavioral Health Organizations in your region.
Registration is already over 300: don’t miss this very timely, information packed program!
View the total program and register today at https://rms.nyaprs.org/2014-executive-seminar/.
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Endurance – The Key For Survival, Change, Sustainability
Survival, change, sustainability. This is the current cycle of strategy for executive teams of most service provider organizations – survive the often unexpected changes in the current environment, change to create services and management infrastructure required for success in the new environment, and then sustain the effort with a mode of operation for endurance over time.
This issue of organizational endurance came to mind when I read the recent blog post by Eric Knight on Harvard Business Review � The Art of Corporate Endurance. His premise? Rethink organizational success as survival in the face of rapid, globally competitive change. His research into organizations that have “endured” over time revealed four common traits among “survivors.”
Talk to your customers � Many executives lose touch with the “customer.” In the health and human service field, there are not only many customers � consumers, families, caregivers, referral sources, payers, and more � their wants and needs are changing. Now is the time for executive teams to spend less time with their peer organizations and more time with their customers to keep on top of those changes.
Cultivate wasted time � This is a difficult premise for most executives – when you are at your best is when you should be planning for the worst. To develop something new requires resources and failures. You need to invest the time and resources in preparing for the down times when times are good. My grandfather, a farmer, would have said it differently with the sixteenth century English proverb, “Make hay while the sun shines.” Make the most of one’s opportunities while you have the chance.
Don’t just build competencies, build dynamic capabilities � Competencies are specific performance abilities of an organization – and essential for success. But as the authors point out, competencies can be “replicated by competitors with time and money” and “Capabilities…relate to structures and routines of decision-making at the most senior level of the organization…..[T]these decisions are incredibly important, hard to develop.”
Beware the dogma of founders � The tyranny of mission and tradition haunts many health and human service organizations � and is often used as a reason to prevent organizational evolution. Organizational intent and customer need are forever � everything else needs to change over time.
For more on sustainability and endurance, check out the July 2013 presentation, The Children’s Service Market – Sustainability, Market Shifts, & Strategypremium members, by myself and colleague Howard Shiffman for the members of The Leadership Council For Children’s Services. And, our next web briefing for children’s service providers, Keys To Improving Your Organization’s Positioning Through Optimized Operations Management, will be next week. As you think of endurance, keep the words of immortal football coach Vince Lombardi in mind – “It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.”