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Cheshire NHS (Health)
creating a positive response to change
“The finished product has been a very useful tool in communicating to a wide group of people, the visual layout means a lot of information can be communicated simply.”
Tracey Harding, Director of ICT, East Cheshire PCT
Cheshire NHS were launching a shared service to bring together three IT services. The change affects 4,000 customers (GPs and hospitals) and for it to happen effectively and efficiently it was critical that several groups bought into and positively supported the change.
The Cheshire NHS ICT Shared Service brings together the three IM&T services covering the founder stakeholder organisations of Western Cheshire PCT, Central Cheshire PCT, East Cheshire NHS Trust and Eastern Cheshire PCT. Cheshire NHS needed to ensure that the 30 executives, 85 IT workers and 4,000 customers affected understood why and how the changes were taking place. There was known to be resistance, negativity and uncertainty about the project. It was important that the executives were engaged to ease the project through the various stages of sign off and ensure timely delivery.
Cognac Solution:
Our interviews showed that the employees were not engaged. They needed to realise the benefits and see how they fitted in to the change. The big picture was needed to clearly explain what was going to happen and why. It needed to explain how it would benefit the individuals affected and show how everyone fits into the new way of working.
During the interview process we realised that if the big picture overcame the challenges of understanding and engagement an added benefit would be increased staff motivation. Also, by effectively demonstrating the clarity of the vision, external stakeholders (including journalists) would understand it to be an achievable, believable and sensible change.
The big picture reflects the blue/white branding style of the NHS. It has easily referenced sections covering the main areas of information:
- What is the change?
- Why is it happening?
- How will it affect me?
- Timescales - What’s happened so far? What Next?
A section titled ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ was created to deal with objections that we uncovered during the interview process.
A circular diagram visually shows the benefits of the shared service. When dividing the issues affecting service users into ‘Now’ and ‘Future’ we were careful not to risk overpromising on what would be delivered. This was a concern uncovered during the interview process and is one of the fundamentals of ensuring the credibility of the message.
The format of the big picture overcomes the potential of overwhelm of information and makes it an easy reference guide. Clearly marked boxes and relevant images make it a very accessible communication piece. The vision is simple to explain to others, saving time and ensuring a clear, memorable and consistent message is cascaded.
Results:
“The process of putting together the big picture was very helpful in allowing all stakeholders to have an opportunity to voice their concerns and for the senior management to understand these and address them.”
“The finished product has been a very useful tool in communicating to a wide group of people, the visual layout means a lot of information can be communicated simply.”
“The big picture has been used in leaflet form as handouts to all the service users as part of a launch campaign whilst the poster format has been used to promote the new service in key locations.”
Tracey Harding, Director of ICT, East Cheshire PCT
