– We can influence, we work in teams and we laugh a lot together.
The words made me wince. This is exactly what I have been working for so long to help businesses achieve. The feeling of being able to influence your work situation and working methods. Being part of a group, solving tasks together, without prestige. Not to mention having fun at work.
These are the words of nurse anaesthetist Camilla Lindberg in an article in Svenska Dagbladet, where they follow the challenges of healthcare in Sweden in a series of articles.
I read further and see that they have increased the number of operations by 55%. Just by changing the focus of their activities. They now operate in seven rooms instead of five. Some types of operations have been increased from two per day to six per day. This is a threefold increase.
All by changing the focus of the business, focusing on what we at Clean Stream teach about Self-Management Teams and Learning Organization.
– The team spirit is very important, everyone is involved from the surgeon to the assistant nurse. We want a process approach that frees up time. We used to work a lot one after the other, now we work in parallel, everyone is doing something all the time.
So says another of their surgical nurses.
I have worked in social care, among other things. There has been a struggle between having planners who plan how others should work, and those who plan themselves in groups. There are interesting articles, studies and surveys, which show that it is much better to involve staff in carrying out their own planning.
Better for whom? Yes, for the staff and for the customer, in this case often referred to as the user. Those who plan themselves feel better and users have a lower number of people visiting them in a month.
Because there is a difference if the focus of the planning is to cover all users so that they get help, regardless of who, where the goal is achieved when the occupancy is full. Or if the focus is on staff well-being and the quality of the service provided to users, where staff can plan according to their wishes and the needs of users, where the focus is on creating tighter teams that help a limited number of users.
The outcome will be different depending on what the incentive is.
Back to Alingsås Hospital, where the aforementioned Camilla Lindberg works and is so proud of it. There they even have to turn down staff who want to come to them to work.
Because in an industry where staff shortages are common, the word has spread that it is much more fun to work in this particular hospital. Because “fun” includes feeling efficient and production, where you really deliver value to customers, naturally called patient in this industry.
Value creation has thus increased significantly, with 55% more people in need receiving care. Imagine how much suffering and worry has been removed thanks to it. Imagine the benefit to society.
Imagine what it would look like if we all did that; focusing more on our staff and our customers, whatever we call them, delivering around 50% more to them with the same resources.
What would it do for you, your business and your customers?
Want to know more about how to implement Self-Management Teams and a Learning Organization? Get in touch with me and we can arrange an inspirational talk for you and your management team. It could be the start of something big for you and your business. The above-mentioned improvement at Alingsås Hospital started with a first step as well.
