It can be difficult to change the culture of an entire organization, especially if it is large and spread out. It is always helpful to review the strategies that other teams have found successful in the past. Adventist Midwest Health is just such a success story.
Adventist needed to start with straightforward, concrete steps that all 5,000 employees, spread over multiple facilities including hospitals, outpatient and support locations, could talk about and achieve.
The greatest objective was to shift the patient’s opinion of the level of care they were receiving. The organization had always been dedicated to providing great medical care, but it often happened that the staff’s focus on the task at hand caused the impression they were in a hurry and non-communicative to those they encountered during the day. This often resulted in patients perceiving that the quality of care they received was substandard, although this was not the case.
In order to capture the trust of the patients and their families, Adventist set out to become a more attentive staff dedicated to gracious interchange among those they encountered. While it might have been tempting to simply direct the employees to “be more polite,” Adventist saw the value in identifying straightforward actions that would help achieve the goal.
The 10/5 Rule was implemented by the leaders of Adventist and the suggestion of consultants from the Studer Group. They trained staff to make eye contact when approaching anyone (patients, coworkers and vendors) in the hallway within ten feet and to say “hello” at five feet.
What resulted was that the entire staff had a model to strive for with a specific name. Employees could easily see whether or not their colleagues were observing the rule and they held each other accountable. While it was no fun to be corrected if they forgot to greet someone, all staff agreed that working together to create a friendlier environment was gratifying.
Since it was implemented, the 10/5 Rule has become a way of life at Adventist. It only took a month of using the rule before patients started commenting on the positive changes and employees began enjoying their work day more.
Lessons Learned
Several important issues regarding change and influence are illustrated through the 10/5 rule.
1. Concrete steps to achieve change work best.
According to the book, Influencer, it is important for leaders who want to effect change to identify vital behaviors. These are the action steps needed to lead to other, less tangible change. In this example, the vital behavior was looking up and acknowledging one another. While this one action didn’t change the culture, it did create a cascade of other changes.
2. Make messages “sticky”.
Chip and Dan Heath explain in their book Made to Stick that in order for an idea to spread, it has to be “sticky” so that those hearing it will understand it and then be able to pass the word about it. The 10/5 rule adopted by Adventist was just such an idea in that it was easy, tangible, creative and easy to remember.
3. Encourage everyone involved to hold each other accountable.
Lastly, accountability was a key element in the success of this initiative. Employees throughout the organization were asked to hold each other accountable for the effective use of the 10/5 rule. This involved the entire staff in the success of the campaign.
Organizational culture is difficult to define because it is so abstract. However, the lessons learned from Adventist is that, rather than trying to force a certain culture on an organization, it is better to focus on changing specific key behaviors, which, when changed, will ultimately lead to a successful change in the overall culture.
Vinnie Garufi is the Director of Organization and Leadership Development for Adventist Midwest Health. Wendy Mack is a advisor, speaker, and change catalyst who specializes in leading and communicating change. For more articles and resources on mobilizing energy for change, visit www.WendyMack.com.
