5. Leadership & Support

Chapter Summary

Organizational change efforts are most successful when there is alignment among leadership across multiple levels of an organization. In other words, a clinic’s executive leadership, middle managers, supervisors, and team leaders must all be on the same page.

There are basic actions leaders can do to support organizational change efforts, like “talk up” the innovation (e.g., new policy, practice, or program), collaborate with team members in problem-solving, and acknowledge and reward their efforts to implement the innovation.

Clinics can identify and nurture change champions to promote, advocate for, and overcome barriers to organizational change efforts.

Gaining buy-in from providers and staff is crucial to maximizing the success of organizational change efforts.

Included in this Chapter: Overviews of strategies to garner support across multiple levels of leadership in the clinic, leadership practices and behaviors to promote successful implementation of new policies and practices, and ideas for including champions and building staff support.