Healthcare Strategies - Research Paper Example

This emphasis on groups is necessary due to the fact that once the strategic plan is announced it will ultimately be up to these key shareholder groups to implement the plan. Furthermore, without their buy-in and support it is highly unlikely that anything will come of the high aspirations and goals of the strategic plan. Furthermore, it is up to the creator/creators of the plan t be especially mindful of the fact that in order for a strategic plan to work effectively, it must be implemented on every level and not in a piecemeal approach.

Before delving into the issue of how to work to overcome change resistance, the individual that is presenting the information to the group must be mindful of the fact that they best way to ward off change resistance is in the initial pitch of the information (Waechter, 2009). If all efforts are made to accurately and positively frame the change as a way that mutually benefits all parties involved. In this way, resistance can be minimized and/or averted entirely due to the fact that the key shareholders and individualized groups will begin to see the importance of their buy in as it relates to the strategic plan, the future of the firm, and the livelihood that the job provides them.

As such, the strategic plan must work to employ a clear vision, a verifiable mission, a succinct yet clear set of values, and a strategy with relation to how the group will grow and evolve with relation to the future. These steps are all equally necessary in the explanation of a strategic plan due to the fact that with any one of these the plan ceases to be something that works to benefit all parties involved and becomes to b seen as merely another tool that management is employing to maximize a profit margin.

However, in order to minimize this view, it is of vital importance that the shareholders see that although the plan is of importance, it is equally importance to the authors of the plan that values (to include ethical choices and decision making), a clear mission, a vision to share amongst everyone for what the future must look like, and a clear path ahead to implement these hopes (Nelson, 2008). However, this buy in will not always be the case and the strategic plan developer must be mindful and ever aware of the fact that certain actions may need to be taken in order win over those that continue to resist the change agent.

These include: communication and education to seek to win over those that are none too happy concerning the given change that is proposed, a support option for seeking a means to win over those that are not satisfied with the change (i.e. compromising in an effort to provide a satisfactory solution to the needs and desires of those that are resistant to such changes), carrot and stick approaches that work to reward or coerce individuals that do not accept the given change agents, and lastly and most importantly – leadership.

Leadership is a broad term that means a host of things to many different people; however, when applied appropriately, the winning personality, skills, eloquent delivery, and obvious best intentions of a true leader oftentimes averts further disagreement and/or reticence towards accepting a planned change or a strategic plan (Dorris, 2004). Oftentimes, the reason that individuals are so hesitant to