Selected Podcast
Navigating Change on the Go
Cynthia Herrington explores steps leaders can take to navigate change in today’s challenging health care environment.
Featuring:
She is a graduate of Indiana Wesleyan University, and the University of Southern Indiana. She is a member of the American Organization of Nurse Leaders, and a 2019 Graduate of AONL Executive Leadership Fellowship, and member of the Sigma Theta Tau. She has her Nurse Executive Board Certification from the American Nurses Credentialing Center and is a Certified Oncology Nurse.
She has been employed at IU Health Bloomington hospital for over 33 years and as a life-long resident of Owen County, she excels at understanding the regional healthcare needs of the community.
Cynthia (Cindy) Herrington, DNP, FNP, RN
Cynthia (Cindy) R. Herrington, RN, DNP, FNP, NE –BC, OCN is the Vice President, Chief Nursing Officer for Indiana University Health Bloomington Hospital and South Central Region.She is a graduate of Indiana Wesleyan University, and the University of Southern Indiana. She is a member of the American Organization of Nurse Leaders, and a 2019 Graduate of AONL Executive Leadership Fellowship, and member of the Sigma Theta Tau. She has her Nurse Executive Board Certification from the American Nurses Credentialing Center and is a Certified Oncology Nurse.
She has been employed at IU Health Bloomington hospital for over 33 years and as a life-long resident of Owen County, she excels at understanding the regional healthcare needs of the community.
Transcription:
Bill Klaproth: With so much continual change in the healthcare industry. How do you manage change while on the go? Well, let's find out with Cindy Herrington, vice president, and chief nursing officer for Indiana Health Bloomington Hospital in the South Central Region. This is Today in Nursing Leadership. A podcast from the American Organization for Nursing Leadership. I'm Bill Klaproth. Cindy, thank you so much for your time. It's great to talk with you. So first off, why is being able to navigate continual change in the healthcare space so important?
Cindy Herrington: In today's world of healthcare and really, it's been this way for our whole career. Healthcare is just ever-changing and it's becoming more and more complicated dynamic, chaotic at times even. And so does that challenging environment of our profession and healthcare, to be able to deal with change and to help each team member through change on a day by day basis is really just a skill that we must really, gain and be able to maneuver that really helps to engage, inspire others so that we can really be role models and leaders of change.
Host: Right. You mentioned dealing with change. Are there steps we should take to help navigate or deal with change properly to help make change a little bit easier.
Cindy: Absolutely having a useful tool and we have used one in our organization, very widely it's called ad kar. Which is really where you have a for awareness, D for desire, K for knowledge, a for ability, and then our reinforcement to sustain a change, having those kinds of tools or framework that you can have, let's say in your back pocket. And you're able to, as you're rounding with team members and having one on one conversation, to be able to see where they are within the change process and to best address each one of those stages for each individual need and how they're accepting change as you move along that continuum of a new process.
Host: So thinking of that ad kar model awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, and then reinforcement to sustain a change by having that in the back of your mind when change does occur by applying that model, then you're more easily able to adapt to that change then, is that correct?
Cindy: Yes, because each team member will be along that change continuum or process at their own speed. And so change occurs with individuals, not really with an organization. So as you have conversations and rounding, and you're connecting with team members and to start, just conversing about a process change, you're going to be able to identify pretty quickly, are they on board with it? You know, do they have the desire to know more about it? Are they engaged? Do they need more knowledge to get them to the desired state? And then do they have the ability. So really walking through all of those stages is just that tool and that framework that has that individual touch to really help lead it effectively. Once you do that and you see the tool being used, it really just helps that you can see how it influences, and you're influencing others in that whole change. Understanding it's really pretty powerful to see that we've used it again pretty frequently where we're building a new hospital. And with that you can imagine, having 5,000 employees, they're not all gonna be at the same stage of acceptance and a process change. So it's been used widely for us with that process and has been very effective.
Host: So an individual can use that ad kar model if you will. And then, I imagine it also applies to nurse leaders. How do nurse leaders use the ad kar model to lead teams? Of course, with that continual change, all the time happening?
Cindy: Right. So with that model, it's helpful to identify why people may be struggling with a particular change. So it really provides a common language and then helps to guide the discussion. So managers, directors, leaders, as there guiding those discussions it helps make those difficult conversations, more outcome oriented. You're really focused on the interaction, with an opportunity to aid others and accepting, and really what changes to expect. So the transparency around that and being very timely and providing frequent communication, that's all part of the ad kar model. communication from managers and leaders, that's the foundation of a successful change management strategy, regardless of which one you're using.
Host: So for a nurse leader who interfaces with many different departments and people are there essential ways to engage those different stakeholders in change.
Cindy: Right. So early on, engaging the stakeholders, by being transparent about what's coming. Again, always want to give heads up and well-informed being transparent, inviting the stakeholders into the change process. There'll be questions and concerns through every stage of the change process. And perhaps the most important thing that leaders can do is to pay close attention to the team members. Having that open and frequent communication is essential and it really should occur in a variety of forums, emails, blogs, podcasts, newsletters, town halls, rounding. I could go on and on, all of those scenes because that's where you really establish that trusted relationship in advance, instead of team members hearing about change in the throes of it. No one likes to be, sideswiped or, an expected change. So being proactive and engaging early communication is really the key.
Host: Yeah, that really makes a lot of sense being proactive in that crucial timeframe. So last question, Cindy, and thank you so much for your time. For a nurse or nurse leader struggling with managing change while on the go, what advice could you share?
Cindy: I would give the advice to pause and to make sure that you listen to people, team members and really hear what they're asking or where they're at in that change process. I guess we'll use another, little, diddy there were using that's love, listen and learn. And really is, if you extend some grace and understanding and just listen to what people are saying you'll learn a lot and then you can help them along that change process again, by using this ad kar model or another model framework, that's really just helpful in discussing. But the model just really allows leaders to pinpoint where team members are in that change process, and it also helps you identify yourself, for yourself where you are in that change process. So you can have an awareness as a leader, but not necessarily the desire. So, finding out where you are as important to then to effectively lead your teams.
Host: Yeah, really good advice. I love what you had to say there. So pause, listen to what they're saying, and then you told us that great phrase, love, listen, and learn to hear what they're saying, and then extend them some grace and understanding and that alone, really helps in that process too. Well, Cindy, this has really been fascinating. Thank you for giving us this overview of managing change while on the go. We really appreciate your time today. Thank you so much.
Cindy: Great. Thank you, Bill.
Host: That Cindy Herrington. And for more information, please visit AONL.com. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and check out the full podcast library for topics of interest to you. This is Today in Nursing Leadership. Thanks for listening.
Bill Klaproth: With so much continual change in the healthcare industry. How do you manage change while on the go? Well, let's find out with Cindy Herrington, vice president, and chief nursing officer for Indiana Health Bloomington Hospital in the South Central Region. This is Today in Nursing Leadership. A podcast from the American Organization for Nursing Leadership. I'm Bill Klaproth. Cindy, thank you so much for your time. It's great to talk with you. So first off, why is being able to navigate continual change in the healthcare space so important?
Cindy Herrington: In today's world of healthcare and really, it's been this way for our whole career. Healthcare is just ever-changing and it's becoming more and more complicated dynamic, chaotic at times even. And so does that challenging environment of our profession and healthcare, to be able to deal with change and to help each team member through change on a day by day basis is really just a skill that we must really, gain and be able to maneuver that really helps to engage, inspire others so that we can really be role models and leaders of change.
Host: Right. You mentioned dealing with change. Are there steps we should take to help navigate or deal with change properly to help make change a little bit easier.
Cindy: Absolutely having a useful tool and we have used one in our organization, very widely it's called ad kar. Which is really where you have a for awareness, D for desire, K for knowledge, a for ability, and then our reinforcement to sustain a change, having those kinds of tools or framework that you can have, let's say in your back pocket. And you're able to, as you're rounding with team members and having one on one conversation, to be able to see where they are within the change process and to best address each one of those stages for each individual need and how they're accepting change as you move along that continuum of a new process.
Host: So thinking of that ad kar model awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, and then reinforcement to sustain a change by having that in the back of your mind when change does occur by applying that model, then you're more easily able to adapt to that change then, is that correct?
Cindy: Yes, because each team member will be along that change continuum or process at their own speed. And so change occurs with individuals, not really with an organization. So as you have conversations and rounding, and you're connecting with team members and to start, just conversing about a process change, you're going to be able to identify pretty quickly, are they on board with it? You know, do they have the desire to know more about it? Are they engaged? Do they need more knowledge to get them to the desired state? And then do they have the ability. So really walking through all of those stages is just that tool and that framework that has that individual touch to really help lead it effectively. Once you do that and you see the tool being used, it really just helps that you can see how it influences, and you're influencing others in that whole change. Understanding it's really pretty powerful to see that we've used it again pretty frequently where we're building a new hospital. And with that you can imagine, having 5,000 employees, they're not all gonna be at the same stage of acceptance and a process change. So it's been used widely for us with that process and has been very effective.
Host: So an individual can use that ad kar model if you will. And then, I imagine it also applies to nurse leaders. How do nurse leaders use the ad kar model to lead teams? Of course, with that continual change, all the time happening?
Cindy: Right. So with that model, it's helpful to identify why people may be struggling with a particular change. So it really provides a common language and then helps to guide the discussion. So managers, directors, leaders, as there guiding those discussions it helps make those difficult conversations, more outcome oriented. You're really focused on the interaction, with an opportunity to aid others and accepting, and really what changes to expect. So the transparency around that and being very timely and providing frequent communication, that's all part of the ad kar model. communication from managers and leaders, that's the foundation of a successful change management strategy, regardless of which one you're using.
Host: So for a nurse leader who interfaces with many different departments and people are there essential ways to engage those different stakeholders in change.
Cindy: Right. So early on, engaging the stakeholders, by being transparent about what's coming. Again, always want to give heads up and well-informed being transparent, inviting the stakeholders into the change process. There'll be questions and concerns through every stage of the change process. And perhaps the most important thing that leaders can do is to pay close attention to the team members. Having that open and frequent communication is essential and it really should occur in a variety of forums, emails, blogs, podcasts, newsletters, town halls, rounding. I could go on and on, all of those scenes because that's where you really establish that trusted relationship in advance, instead of team members hearing about change in the throes of it. No one likes to be, sideswiped or, an expected change. So being proactive and engaging early communication is really the key.
Host: Yeah, that really makes a lot of sense being proactive in that crucial timeframe. So last question, Cindy, and thank you so much for your time. For a nurse or nurse leader struggling with managing change while on the go, what advice could you share?
Cindy: I would give the advice to pause and to make sure that you listen to people, team members and really hear what they're asking or where they're at in that change process. I guess we'll use another, little, diddy there were using that's love, listen and learn. And really is, if you extend some grace and understanding and just listen to what people are saying you'll learn a lot and then you can help them along that change process again, by using this ad kar model or another model framework, that's really just helpful in discussing. But the model just really allows leaders to pinpoint where team members are in that change process, and it also helps you identify yourself, for yourself where you are in that change process. So you can have an awareness as a leader, but not necessarily the desire. So, finding out where you are as important to then to effectively lead your teams.
Host: Yeah, really good advice. I love what you had to say there. So pause, listen to what they're saying, and then you told us that great phrase, love, listen, and learn to hear what they're saying, and then extend them some grace and understanding and that alone, really helps in that process too. Well, Cindy, this has really been fascinating. Thank you for giving us this overview of managing change while on the go. We really appreciate your time today. Thank you so much.
Cindy: Great. Thank you, Bill.
Host: That Cindy Herrington. And for more information, please visit AONL.com. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and check out the full podcast library for topics of interest to you. This is Today in Nursing Leadership. Thanks for listening.