Straight up – I’m big on Strategic Planning. You can never stand still for any length of time and stay relevant in my opinion.
That’s why I’m startled by the results of our organizational survey where nearly 2/3rds of those surveyed stated they didn’t believe the orgs 3-year Strategic Plan (2009-2012) was applicable to them or had any impact on their daily activities.
I know what some will say; “it’s a small sample, only about 15% of the total staff group.” I think it’s big enough to indicate a trend, and you’ll have a tough time convincing me that the 80-85% of staff that weren’t motivated enough to participate would make the statistical scenario better.
I need somebody to explain to me how providing the best possible care; advancing discovery through research and education; working in an integrated system with our care partners in mental health; making our workplace the best it can be; and being financially healthy isn’t applicable to their job.
Where would Apple be, where would Google be, University Health Network, John Hopkins, any truly recognizable innovator in any field, if 2/3rds of their staff felt their organization’s strategy had no relevance to their work.
Making strategy count is a manager’s role. And in this crazy environment of workload and information overload, it’s hard for those doing their best on the front line to find the time and energy to listen to something that isn’t “right here, right now”.
But Strategic Planning is real – real important, really rewarding when you see how you can move yourself and your organization forward, and it’s also really the only way the Royal has survived as a care provider in this region for over a century. We can’t risk that by being apathetic to the importance of Strategic Planning.
As per our blog policy - the opinions and comments in this article represent those of the author and should not be considered representative of the ROHCG.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Monday, September 20, 2010
A Telemedicine Gift of Validation
The great news of our recent philanthropic gift from Bell Canada to our Foundation and its Telemedicine campaign is especially exciting for me. It validates fourteen years of work, often intensive, devoted to this fabulous method of delivering healthcare.
I can’t help but reminisce on the days in the mid-nineties when my buddy Dr. Ed Lemaire and I were conjuring up visions of delivering care through videoconferencing. But in those days we were working with 56K modems, on a web browser called Netscape (Explorer wasn’t even around then) and postage stamp size video on NetMeeting.
Clients loved it! And thankfully we had a couple of prosthetic and orthotic specialists who realized how important it was to the clients, and compromised their usual routines to accommodate this primitive technology.
During the fourteen years I’ve traveled across Canada and into the U.S. to share the stories of our growing list of small victories in Telehealth at the Royal. I’ve seen much evidence of its success in other provinces, well ahead of Ontario until recently. We’re now seeing more research that validates the effectiveness of telemedicine. Yet the toughest part of the job for me is the tortoise-pace of change, even though we slowly increase the number of clients seen each year. And even though we can boast about our latest accomplishment taking Telemedicine to our Canadian Astronaut aboard the Space Shuttle, I still wanted to do more.
What excites me the most about this gift is that it empowers us to really become innovative again! To think outside the box again! To listen to great ideas, and have the resources to act. It hasn’t felt like this since the days of our Health Canada Grant in 2002-2004.
I’m grateful to the Foundation and Bell for believing in the power of Telemedicine, and to my past champion friends like Dr. Ed Lemaire, Dr. Robbie Campbell, Dr. Andre Cote, Eddie Lloyd, Martin Manseau and many others who have believed in this for as long as I have.
As per our blog policy - the opinions and comments in this article represent those of the author and should not be considered representative of the ROHCG.
I can’t help but reminisce on the days in the mid-nineties when my buddy Dr. Ed Lemaire and I were conjuring up visions of delivering care through videoconferencing. But in those days we were working with 56K modems, on a web browser called Netscape (Explorer wasn’t even around then) and postage stamp size video on NetMeeting.
Clients loved it! And thankfully we had a couple of prosthetic and orthotic specialists who realized how important it was to the clients, and compromised their usual routines to accommodate this primitive technology.
During the fourteen years I’ve traveled across Canada and into the U.S. to share the stories of our growing list of small victories in Telehealth at the Royal. I’ve seen much evidence of its success in other provinces, well ahead of Ontario until recently. We’re now seeing more research that validates the effectiveness of telemedicine. Yet the toughest part of the job for me is the tortoise-pace of change, even though we slowly increase the number of clients seen each year. And even though we can boast about our latest accomplishment taking Telemedicine to our Canadian Astronaut aboard the Space Shuttle, I still wanted to do more.
What excites me the most about this gift is that it empowers us to really become innovative again! To think outside the box again! To listen to great ideas, and have the resources to act. It hasn’t felt like this since the days of our Health Canada Grant in 2002-2004.
I’m grateful to the Foundation and Bell for believing in the power of Telemedicine, and to my past champion friends like Dr. Ed Lemaire, Dr. Robbie Campbell, Dr. Andre Cote, Eddie Lloyd, Martin Manseau and many others who have believed in this for as long as I have.
As per our blog policy - the opinions and comments in this article represent those of the author and should not be considered representative of the ROHCG.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Learning Management System: An Exciting Tool with a Terrible Name
The term Learning Management System (LMS) can seem cold and impersonal, however it is creating a buzz around our office, and hopefully among staff who have help us out over the past few months. We’ve received valuable input from over a dozen key education and training stakeholders around the ROHCG, helping us with vital decisions on purchasing the best vendor and product, and helping us shape the design and functionality of this upcoming software tool.
Let me try to explain this upcoming change in simple terms, focusing on what it will mean for staff and managers.
Remember your schooldays when you received your course outline and class schedule?
The Learning Management System will present each staff person will a list of their required courses. Some courses (or training if you prefer that term) will be mandatory at some point; others may be part of a development plan designed to grow a professional competency. And there are many who are required to participate in a minimum amount of continuous education activities to meet professional standard requirements.
Your Learning Management System account will provide you with that information and empower you to better manage your education and training requirements.
Managers have been telling me for years of their struggles monitoring and managing the education activities of their team members. The Learning Management System will enable them to review the activities of the full team at a glance, and to take a closer look at the accomplishments of any individual on their team.
And there are the numerous “bells and whistles” that powerfully enhance the Learning Management System. Things like online class registration, tools to assist trainers in planning their sessions, the generation of numerous reports, and much more.
As a champion supporter of this system, I believe this system will raise everyone to a new level of accountability for our professional growth and development activities. One of my favorite mantras from the world of Quality is “you can’t manage what you can’t measure”. We’ll finally be able to measure our activities, individually and collectively. That will make it dramatically easier to manage our knowledge growth and development.
As per our blog policy - the opinions and comments in this article represent those of the author and should not be considered representative of the ROHCG.
Let me try to explain this upcoming change in simple terms, focusing on what it will mean for staff and managers.
Remember your schooldays when you received your course outline and class schedule?
The Learning Management System will present each staff person will a list of their required courses. Some courses (or training if you prefer that term) will be mandatory at some point; others may be part of a development plan designed to grow a professional competency. And there are many who are required to participate in a minimum amount of continuous education activities to meet professional standard requirements.
Your Learning Management System account will provide you with that information and empower you to better manage your education and training requirements.
Managers have been telling me for years of their struggles monitoring and managing the education activities of their team members. The Learning Management System will enable them to review the activities of the full team at a glance, and to take a closer look at the accomplishments of any individual on their team.
And there are the numerous “bells and whistles” that powerfully enhance the Learning Management System. Things like online class registration, tools to assist trainers in planning their sessions, the generation of numerous reports, and much more.
As a champion supporter of this system, I believe this system will raise everyone to a new level of accountability for our professional growth and development activities. One of my favorite mantras from the world of Quality is “you can’t manage what you can’t measure”. We’ll finally be able to measure our activities, individually and collectively. That will make it dramatically easier to manage our knowledge growth and development.
As per our blog policy - the opinions and comments in this article represent those of the author and should not be considered representative of the ROHCG.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Recovery and Renewal
Many staff have paid a great compliment to our Learning & Development team by telling me that they didn't even notice I was away for nearly two months.
I was confined to home following a partial hip replacement. It was a sobering experience. In my heart I knew that our team would be up to the challenge - and the fact that special events, workshops, support services, and even a full week dedicated to workplace learning all unfolded without people noticing my absence speaks volumes about the commitment of our team.
The experience reminds me that the key question in my role as a team leader should always be "what can I do for you." I agonized for weeks over the fact that I couldn't be around to assist each L&D specialist meet the challenges of their assignments. I'm back now and find myself getting straight to the chore of making their work flow smoother, more efficiently, and making it more engaging.
There were tough times for each member of our team during my absence, and some important team lessons to be learned - but I don't think our customers noticed. That is wonderful customer service.
And now that I'm able to serve again, I'm really excited about many great initiatives and ideas for Education at the ROHCG in 2010.
As per our blog policy - the opinions and comments in this article represent those of the author and should not be considered representative of the ROHCG.
I was confined to home following a partial hip replacement. It was a sobering experience. In my heart I knew that our team would be up to the challenge - and the fact that special events, workshops, support services, and even a full week dedicated to workplace learning all unfolded without people noticing my absence speaks volumes about the commitment of our team.
The experience reminds me that the key question in my role as a team leader should always be "what can I do for you." I agonized for weeks over the fact that I couldn't be around to assist each L&D specialist meet the challenges of their assignments. I'm back now and find myself getting straight to the chore of making their work flow smoother, more efficiently, and making it more engaging.
There were tough times for each member of our team during my absence, and some important team lessons to be learned - but I don't think our customers noticed. That is wonderful customer service.
And now that I'm able to serve again, I'm really excited about many great initiatives and ideas for Education at the ROHCG in 2010.
As per our blog policy - the opinions and comments in this article represent those of the author and should not be considered representative of the ROHCG.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Code Alert Tags at the ROMHC
The Code Alert Tags from Ekahau have generated a lot of passionate discussion, most of it concerning the delay of implementation.
Well the wait is over!
Three in-patient units; Youth, Intensive Assessment, and Schizophrenia have been provided with Code Alert Tags since Fall 2008. The project hit the 'pause' button in mid-November to insist that Ekahau fix some technical glitches. We're rolling into February and the Tags are rolling out to the rest of the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre.
In my opinion, I think these Code Alert Tags finally give us license to brag about a truly innovative wireless application. And it's very appropriate that it address the safety of our greatest resource - our staff.
I realize these Code Alert Tags are not perfect. I've heard various concerns, and they are sincere and legitamate. I still believe the Code Alert Tags provide a new layer of security. I will be insistent that our team members wear a tag in situations where getting to a phone to activate a Code White is difficult.
The Code Alert Tag Implementation team led by Sheldon Box is commited to supporting the roll-out and continuously improving the Code Alert Tag and process.
This blog is a great way to continue to listen to your opinions on the Code Alert Tag and talk about making it even better. I welcome your feedback.
As per our blog policy - the opinions and comments in this article represent those of the author and should not be considered representative of the ROHCG.
Well the wait is over!
Three in-patient units; Youth, Intensive Assessment, and Schizophrenia have been provided with Code Alert Tags since Fall 2008. The project hit the 'pause' button in mid-November to insist that Ekahau fix some technical glitches. We're rolling into February and the Tags are rolling out to the rest of the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre.
In my opinion, I think these Code Alert Tags finally give us license to brag about a truly innovative wireless application. And it's very appropriate that it address the safety of our greatest resource - our staff.
I realize these Code Alert Tags are not perfect. I've heard various concerns, and they are sincere and legitamate. I still believe the Code Alert Tags provide a new layer of security. I will be insistent that our team members wear a tag in situations where getting to a phone to activate a Code White is difficult.
The Code Alert Tag Implementation team led by Sheldon Box is commited to supporting the roll-out and continuously improving the Code Alert Tag and process.
This blog is a great way to continue to listen to your opinions on the Code Alert Tag and talk about making it even better. I welcome your feedback.
As per our blog policy - the opinions and comments in this article represent those of the author and should not be considered representative of the ROHCG.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Corporate Welcome: If It Ain't Broke - Break It Anyway
It’s only been about 18 months since we began working on the re-building of our Corporate Orientation day, which we call the Corporate Welcome. We had just reached a point where the planning and process of the day was running smoothly; and based on evaluations, much to the satisfaction of the participants.
Then one day in November Margaret Tansey, our VP of Professional Practice and Chief of Nursing asked if we could make half of the day available for a grant-funded educational pilot program on Inter-professional Practice. This obviously threw our program into chaos – but I believe that if the right opportunity presents itself, even the best made plans can be adjusted to seize the chance. It was quickly apparent to me that this was a chance to make a profound cultural impact on teamwork at the ROHCG moving into the future.
As many of you know, I have worked at the Royal for a long time – and team-based practice and collaboration (or the lack of it) has been described to me as an obstacle for most of my Royal career. I liked the idea of introducing new recruits to the values of inter-professional teamwork. The 10 competencies or capabilities model also made perfect sense.
My job was to compress a full day of content into the morning agenda. That wasn’t easy. I also wanted to do what I could to ensure that our Orientation participants accepted this new and experimental workshop. Clocking in at about two-and-a-half hours, this didn’t look like your average orientation session.
The preparation was tough. The meetings weren’t always fun. The final practice and materials were ready just hours before show time. It reminded me of the early Corporate Welcome days; nervous, risky and exciting. As with most new educational interventions, I think you must take a “ready-fire-aim” philosophy. It seemed to go well. Of course we had a list of things we want to improve for the next workshop. The evaluations will pave the way for the future of this inter-professional education session, both within the Corporate Welcome and along side other ROHCG education formats.
The message of this experience is that “when the right thing comes along, there’s always room for it.”
As per our blog policy - the opinions and comments in this article represent those of the author and should not be considered representative of the ROHCG.
Then one day in November Margaret Tansey, our VP of Professional Practice and Chief of Nursing asked if we could make half of the day available for a grant-funded educational pilot program on Inter-professional Practice. This obviously threw our program into chaos – but I believe that if the right opportunity presents itself, even the best made plans can be adjusted to seize the chance. It was quickly apparent to me that this was a chance to make a profound cultural impact on teamwork at the ROHCG moving into the future.
As many of you know, I have worked at the Royal for a long time – and team-based practice and collaboration (or the lack of it) has been described to me as an obstacle for most of my Royal career. I liked the idea of introducing new recruits to the values of inter-professional teamwork. The 10 competencies or capabilities model also made perfect sense.
My job was to compress a full day of content into the morning agenda. That wasn’t easy. I also wanted to do what I could to ensure that our Orientation participants accepted this new and experimental workshop. Clocking in at about two-and-a-half hours, this didn’t look like your average orientation session.
The preparation was tough. The meetings weren’t always fun. The final practice and materials were ready just hours before show time. It reminded me of the early Corporate Welcome days; nervous, risky and exciting. As with most new educational interventions, I think you must take a “ready-fire-aim” philosophy. It seemed to go well. Of course we had a list of things we want to improve for the next workshop. The evaluations will pave the way for the future of this inter-professional education session, both within the Corporate Welcome and along side other ROHCG education formats.
The message of this experience is that “when the right thing comes along, there’s always room for it.”
As per our blog policy - the opinions and comments in this article represent those of the author and should not be considered representative of the ROHCG.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Fall Conference Marathon
As per our Blog Policy - the comments and opinions in this article are those of the author and do not represent the organization.
We’ve just finished a fall education term where we’ve coordinated four conferences in five weeks in Ottawa, and the first off-site conference for Brockville staff in two years. We feel like we’ve completed a 26K marathon.
I use the wedding metaphor to try and help people visualize the work and emotion involved in creating a successful conference. There are hundreds of details requiring attention. We’ve never attempted so many major events over such a short timeframe and my colleague Marie-Constance Morley deserves enormous credit for the success of these events.
o The 3rd Annual Community Day for Care and Treatment of Schizophrenia reached its 100 registrant ceiling again, as it has every year. The multi-systems panel was a huge success. And the event placed over $2,000 in the pockets of the Schizophrenia Program to reinvest in other education needs.
o The IMHR Free Public Lecture “Breaking the Barriers: Out of the Shadows Through Science” celebrating Mental Illness Awareness Week filled all 170 seats in the auditorium within a 18 day registration period.
o The 5th Annual Ivy Dunn Clinical Nursing Research Day “Keeping Our Clinical Space Safe” was another successful event and for the first time in the past two years, generated revenue for the Ivy Dunn Bursary.
o The Building Healthier Workplaces Conference “Inspiring Leadership”, a partnership initiative that included our lead Human Resource service partners Manulife, Shepell-fgi, and Mercer, raised $10,000 for the Royal Ottawa Foundation for Mental Health.
As we debrief these events there are areas for improvement. But these conferences were successful during a period where we are seeing a downturn in the conference industry, obviously connected to the economic fallout that is impacting all public and private sectors.
I also want to take pride in our first conference success in over two years in Brockville where we recently administered the “BMHC Self-Determination Workshop” which received outstanding feedback. We want to encourage and support more of these events in Brockville. Whitnee Denard-Paul, Debra Rice and Candace Whitley have set a terrific example for all BMHC programs.
We live in an age where education is being squeezed onto the web, channeled through the wires of videoconference equipment, and compromised in several other ways. A successful conference that provides great content and takes the learner away from the noise and conflict of their normal workday still has a profound impact on education; and we’ll continue to work diligently to support this traditional mode of learning.
We’ve just finished a fall education term where we’ve coordinated four conferences in five weeks in Ottawa, and the first off-site conference for Brockville staff in two years. We feel like we’ve completed a 26K marathon.
I use the wedding metaphor to try and help people visualize the work and emotion involved in creating a successful conference. There are hundreds of details requiring attention. We’ve never attempted so many major events over such a short timeframe and my colleague Marie-Constance Morley deserves enormous credit for the success of these events.
o The 3rd Annual Community Day for Care and Treatment of Schizophrenia reached its 100 registrant ceiling again, as it has every year. The multi-systems panel was a huge success. And the event placed over $2,000 in the pockets of the Schizophrenia Program to reinvest in other education needs.
o The IMHR Free Public Lecture “Breaking the Barriers: Out of the Shadows Through Science” celebrating Mental Illness Awareness Week filled all 170 seats in the auditorium within a 18 day registration period.
o The 5th Annual Ivy Dunn Clinical Nursing Research Day “Keeping Our Clinical Space Safe” was another successful event and for the first time in the past two years, generated revenue for the Ivy Dunn Bursary.
o The Building Healthier Workplaces Conference “Inspiring Leadership”, a partnership initiative that included our lead Human Resource service partners Manulife, Shepell-fgi, and Mercer, raised $10,000 for the Royal Ottawa Foundation for Mental Health.
As we debrief these events there are areas for improvement. But these conferences were successful during a period where we are seeing a downturn in the conference industry, obviously connected to the economic fallout that is impacting all public and private sectors.
I also want to take pride in our first conference success in over two years in Brockville where we recently administered the “BMHC Self-Determination Workshop” which received outstanding feedback. We want to encourage and support more of these events in Brockville. Whitnee Denard-Paul, Debra Rice and Candace Whitley have set a terrific example for all BMHC programs.
We live in an age where education is being squeezed onto the web, channeled through the wires of videoconference equipment, and compromised in several other ways. A successful conference that provides great content and takes the learner away from the noise and conflict of their normal workday still has a profound impact on education; and we’ll continue to work diligently to support this traditional mode of learning.
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