Involving people in change

Speaking recently to a few people in the National Health Service (NHS) has awakened my interest in a thorny old problem faced by hard working and dedicated staff out there in ‘NHS land.’

At the moment there is major management reorganisation going on in the NHS and many people’s jobs are under threat. There is nothing new in that and in my experience in the NHS it was a constant threat in the background.

Security in ‘one job for life’ went out of the window many years ago.

What does intrigue me is that every time there is significant change in the NHS many staff become quickly disillusioned and feel undervalued. They are often not involved in the process of change – often despite promises they will be fully involved.

I would have thought there was enough experience to make such changes less painful for the people most affected by involving them fully in the change process instead of having it all decided by a select few people behind closed doors and then telling the staff.

But then again ….

Maybe I am out of touch with good practice in management and leadership … I don’t think so do you?