STRATEGIC DESIGN: TRANSFORMING THE CULTURE OF HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE
CLIENT
Karisha PBC seeks to transform the delivery of healthcare through the creation of a new kind of facility that houses a multi-disciplined approach to health and wellness. Led by a dedicated team of healing professions, Karisha’s clinical support group will include an integrated team including an MD, a naturopathic doctor, an acupuncturist, a Mind-Body center, and nutritional support via a ‘healing kitchen’ to support the whole patient. Karisha will open its doors in 2020. (www.Karisha.org)
PROBLEM
As with any new business, the Karisha team had a huge number of complex tasks and tight deadlines needing prioritization. With no clear plan in place, the team struggled to make tangible progress. Their needs included:
- Cultivating a strong leadership team,
- Securing funding for construction of the facility and for operations,
- Designing the building,
- Designing the clinical operations,
- Building a staff to run the business, and
- Engaging community members—a cornerstone of their vision for transformation.
SOLUTION
I led the Karisha team through the process of creating Karisha’s strategic operational plan. The first step was to conduct an operational assessment – creating a master list of everything that needed to get done and staging how the phases of work fit together. Steps included:
- Identifying all areas of work that needed to be designed, built, or cultivated in order to bring Karisha online.
- Defining (1) what they have and (2) what they need for each work area
- Using a customized, user-friendly tool to capture the information swimming in their heads into a database
- Prioritizing the tasks based on timing and importance to the project’s success.
RESULTS
Upon completion of the assessment, we converted the information into the framework of a strategic operational plan. By design, the assessment tool questions could be converted so that the plan quickly emerged. After uploading the initial plan into an online project management tool, Karisha now has clear tasks and timelines to achieve their goals. Now that the full scope of what needs to be done has been captured and prioritized, the CEO and her team are moving forward with clarity and focus on the critical, foundational steps needed for a successful launch. Even as the strategic operational plan was being finalized, the Karisha team was able to secure funding for development operations, address priority building design needs, hire a permanent COO, create a community engagement strategy, and renew commitment from their advisory board.
Here is what the Karisha CEO said about this experience.
Karisha Community Center for Wellness is a vision to transform the culture of health and health care… no small task! It has been a community driven initiative which has taken its own shape yet with the need for clear guidance and direction for the breadth and depth of the parts and pieces. As Founder and CEO, I knew we needed someone to help us do that. I also knew that someone needed to understand our culture and vision and have a willingness to think outside the box yet bring a deep skill set for strategic operational planning. I also needed our consultant to work with us on budgetary capacity over time. Hallie Duke was this person!
Karisha Community Center for Wellness, a for-profit, for-purpose corporation now has the strategic operational plan we need for the next 24 months to ensure a successful planning and opening! Hallie showed up with her full self and with dedication to our vision and mission. She listened to us first and foremost. She then took the information and created a structure, defined the parts and pieces of that structure while checking in with us along the way. Finally, she searched and found an appropriate collaborative online tool that fits our plans and our teams, all of which are innovative and distinct from traditional structures of organizations.
I highly recommend Hallie Duke as a dedicated, sharp, skilled, and heart-centered strategic operational planner.
Amina Haji, MD, ABiHM
Founder + CEO, Karisha Community Center for Wellness
Co-Founder + Executive Director, Austin Health Commons
PROBLEM SOLVED: BETTER IT GOVERNANCE
PROBLEM
Operational data about each of the agency’s 40+ in-flight major ($1M-$10M+) IT projects was maintained in separate worksheets and was prioritized and managed in organizational silos.
The CEO was consistently asked to approve new major projects prior to implementation without visibility to information on ongoing and emerging major IT projects and investments.
SOLUTION
Designed the first-ever “snapshot” that captured the full scope of major IT projects in one document;
- created visibility to critical information about each project and
- created transparency of priorities across organizational silos.
Designed and managed new processes to update project information, review and discuss the full IT portfolio quarterly at executive meetings, and manage emergencies when systems failed.
RESULTS
The CEO, CXO, and CFO had complete contextual information to
- address critical questions about how IT resources were prioritized,
- give informed approval for the initiation of new projects,
- strategize resource allocation across the full portfolio, and
- make informed decisions about reallocation of resources in urgent situations.
OUTCOME IMPROVED: EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAMS ARE READY
PROBLEM
During the unprecedented public health emergency created by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, it became apparent that the historical model of operations could not meet the demands created by a major disaster.
The Texas Commissioner of Health ordered an assessment and redesign of the agency’s health and medical emergency response operations.
SOLUTION
As the Commissioner’s embedded consultant, Dr. Duke coordinated the transformation of the Community Preparedness Section operations.
- Orchestrated the implementation of the Incident Command System (ICS) for Texas’ health and medical response.
- Created a new organizational structure and standard operating procedures.
- Designed and managed transition processes and to shift to the new business model, including change management strategies.
RESULTS
The transformation of the Community Preparedness operations created more effective response methods and increased readiness to protect the public in any emergency.
The agency had a scalable response model with five teams of ~30 people trained and ready for any disaster or emergency (natural, infectious disease, or manmade).