Same Company, New Job?

Nearly everyone who is involved in healthcare, including EMS, works in an environment that experiences change. And with change there may be new opportunities and new challenges. Organizations can have a variety of responses to change, and this often affects all staff, from senior management to the newly hired employee. Supporting all employees through times of organizational change, whether it involves growth or restriction, is essential.

Individuals respond to change differently and there are numerous factors that impact this. For example, if a staff member prefers to have a "regular" routine at work, arriving at work and experiencing change on a daily basis may be overwhelming. The individual's productivity may slow and they may be unable to focus. This can have numerous consequences, such as making errors, or appearing to have a short temper on seemingly small issues.

In contrast, an employee who thrives in environments of frequent change may find the same environment to be energizing. Their productivity may soar and they may become an outstanding performer. Depending on how this is projected, the "energized" employee might be perceived by other employees as an overwhelming team member. This may especially be the case for the employees that are struggling.

Given the potential for such differences in employee performances, supervisors should try to remain aware of how of the staff are faring when faced with changes. For example, in a dispatch center, after a month of new shift schedules and additional job responsibilities, "Sean", who had been a stellar team member, appears to be struggling. In the past he had a nearly error-free history. Over the past two weeks he had made half a dozen mistakes, including sending an ambulance to an incorrect address on a critical patient. As a result of the mistake, the response time was prolonged and the delivery of urgent care was delayed.

Sean's supervisor, Kate, has known Sean for several years. She recognizes that Sean is normally a solid performer and that his recent performance is not a normal representation of his abilities. Kate also recognizes that Sean's performance was normally outstanding until a new dispatch software program was introduced. While several dispatchers appear to have mastered the new system very quickly, Sean appears to be struggling.

In an effort to support each employee's success with the changes, the dispatch supervisors arrange for one-on-one meetings with their staff.

A development plan
Kate arranged for a closed door meeting with Sean. She began by explaining that the goal of the meeting was to promote his success, despite all of the recent changes in operations. Sean indicated that he was open to the idea. During their discussion Kate referred to Sean's employee file that included performance reviews. After briefly reviewing the file, Kate then described to Sean what she had observed regarding his recent performance. She told Sean that she would like to work with him to create a development plan. The idea would be to identify areas that Sean could focus on to improve his overall performance.

Working too fast
Over the next few weeks Kate and Sean met on a regular basis. After completing a few of the meetings several key factors were identified. One of the first factors they identified was that Sean had been pushing himself to be faster with his overall performance. In the past he had been comfortable with the systems that were in place; now, Sean appeared to be trying to "go faster" with a brand new system. The combination of a new system and Sean's attempting to work faster did not appear to be a good approach for Sean. His essentially error-free record was becoming tarnished.