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Culture related research findings need to be translated into information that is meaningful for stakeholders. There is a need to exchange and transform knowledge between those producing and using it. Not only do clinicians need to be able to understand and apply the research evidence, but organisations need suitable leadership structures and a culture to value research. Successful knowledge translation is therefore an interactive and reciprocal process that requires consideration of the nature of the research evidence, the clinical context and methods to change practice.
From Cowboys to Pit Crews: Leading Culture Change | Atul Gawande | Voices in Leadership
Why is it so important to define a culture in the early stages of company formation? Because cultures aren’t something you can easily back into over time; they’re the fertile compounds that foster growth and inspire employees’ actions and behaviors. This session with Michael Skok, a serial entrepreneur turned venture capitalist, will help you tackle the hard issue of how to define a culture that can help you encode the values
From the power of presence to the power of voice, leadership expert and Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter discusses the process of making a difference in the world. Kanter uses the stories of great leaders and ordinary people to reveal the six success factors that are the keys to positive change, including lining up partnerships, managing the miserable middles of change, and sharing success.
What You Think You Know That You Don’t- Jeni Cross is a sociology professor at Colorado State University. She has spoken about community development and sustainability to audiences across the country, from business leaders and government officials to community activists. As a professor and consultant she has helped dozens of schools and government agencies implement and evaluate successful programs to improve community well-being.
Sample strategy- Culture Change in Long-Term Care
Jurkowski’s book, Implementing Culture Change in Long-Term Care: Benchmarks and Strategies for Management and Practice, creates its niche by listing the culture change benchmarks presented in the Artifacts of Culture Change Tool (Bowman, 2006) and setting out to provide guidance to put those benchmarks into practice. The Artifacts tool creates a weighted score based on 79 “artifacts” representing culture change. Artifacts are listed under six categories: (a) care practices (14 items, 70 points; e.g., baked goods are baked on resident living areas); (b) environment (27 items, 320 points; e.g., no traditional nurses’ stations); (c) family and community (6 items, 30 points; e.g., regularly scheduled intergenerational programming); (d) leadership (5 items, 25 points; e.g., residents or family members serve on committees); (e) workplace practices (14 items, 70 points; e.g., a paid volunteer coordinator is on staff); and (f) outcomes (13 items, 65 points; e.g., longevity of the director of nursing). An important caveat regarding the Artifacts tool, however, and as noted by Jurkowski, is that it has not been psychometrically evaluated, nor is there evidence regarding its validity, reliability, and scoring algorithm (Zimmerman et al., in press). Thus, the Artifacts may be viewed by the research community as a weak standard around which to organize this book. Also, the Artifacts is but one of a number of available tools related to culture change (California Foundation for Medical Care, 2006), and its developers expressly note that it is meant to add to the available tools, not replace them. At the same time, the Artifacts has been embraced by many providers and advocates, and so practical instruction in achieving its benchmarks is certain to be welcomed.
Part II of this book presents the Artifacts and text intended to offer practical instruction to promote culture change implementation. In some cases, the text is helpful (e.g., an example and photograph of an altimeter clock in the room of a former pilot to illustrate personalization), but in others it is less so. For example, text to support the benchmarks related to using aromatherapy, making extra lighting available, having outdoor walking/wheeling paths, using a buddy system, and other sections do not provide the detailed instruction that could truly benefit a reader. That said, Part II also includes discussion of topics ranging from person-centered care to social engagement, leadership practices, measurement of staff turnover, and others, and so may help a reader better understand the relevance of the benchmarks.
The book also includes introductory chapters to “establish a context for shaping long-term care settings” and final chapters presenting “tools and resources to facilitate the change process.” These headings constitute important bookends for a “how to” book about culture change, recognizing as they do that individuals and settings differ and that culture change does not occur in a vacuum. Jurkowski is to be credited for recognizing the breadth of the matter of culture change and also for striving to make this information digestible to a wide audience. Indeed, that challenge is at times a tall order, as individuals new to the field of aging may need more information than is provided to (for example) understand what is meant by saying “asset transfer is critical” and “the fallacy of asset transfer,” or why it is “ironic” that 5% of the population resides in nursing homes. Of note, there are also some points of error—or at least argument—throughout the book, including distinctions made regarding types of long-term care settings and philosophical paradigms relevant to long-term care.