Health care projects depend on astute management of change. But more than anything else, they depend on leaders who pay attention, who understand the importance of starting right, and who know how to launch projects that succeed. If leaders can increase the percentage of successful projects, patients, and practitioners everywhere will be better off and so will the organizations that depend on these projects for innovation.

In Launching and Leading Change Initiatives in Health Care Organizations: Managing Successful Projects. Author David A. Shore of the Harvard School of Public Health speaks directly to the health care leaders and managers who see the need for change, but keep encountering nearly insurmountable challenges. Through his research, Shore discovered that most implementation failures occur because of a poor launch, and that strengthening processes and operations during the early weeks of a new project is a key to continued success. The book covers issues like:

• The preliminary groundwork that cultivates a stronger launch
• Systematic and selective project selection
• Building the team that accomplishes change
• Skill-building and record-keeping systems that foster sustainable growth

Launching and Leading Change Initiatives in Health Care Organizations gives leaders and managers the practical, easy-to-implement ideas and methodologies to start and manage projects successfully.

Preface

Acknowledgements

The Author

PART ONE: Changing Health Care

Introduction: The Need for Change

Chapter 1 How Organizations Can Really Change

Chapter 2 Criteria for an Initiative’s Success

Chapter 3 Planning: Seeds of Success and Failure

PART TWO: Select the Right Projects

Introduction: The Crowded Runway

Chapter 4 Identifying and Creating the Right Initiatives

Chapter 5 Selecting, Prioritizing, and Monitoring Change Initiatives

PART THREE: Choose the Right People

Introduction: How Important Are Decisions About People?

Chapter 6 What You Are Looking For

Chapter 7 Assembling the Individuals for a Change Event

Chapter 8 Converting Individuals Into a Project Implementation Team

Chapter 9 The First Mile and Beyond