What do you do if your healthcare organization is struggling to succeed without strategic thinking?

1 Assess your current state

The first step is to evaluate your current state of strategic thinking and decision making. You can use tools such as SWOT analysis, PESTEL analysis, or balanced scorecard to identify your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, as well as your external and internal factors that affect your performance. You can also collect feedback from your stakeholders, such as patients, employees, partners, or regulators, to understand their needs, expectations, and satisfaction levels. By assessing your current state, you can gain a clear picture of where you are and where you want to go.

3 Set your goals and objectives

The third step is to set your goals and objectives that support your vision and mission statements. Your goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART), and they should reflect your desired outcomes and impact. Your objectives should be the actions and steps you need to take to reach your goals. You can use frameworks such as OKR (objectives and key results) or KPI (key performance indicators) to track and measure your progress and results. You can also prioritize your goals and objectives based on their importance and urgency, and assign roles and responsibilities to your team members.

5 Implement and monitor your plan

The fifth step is to implement and monitor your plan that summarizes your vision, mission, goals, objectives, strategies, and tactics. Your plan should be realistic, flexible, and adaptable, and it should include a timeline, budget, and resources. You should communicate your plan to your stakeholders and ensure they understand their roles and expectations. You should also monitor your plan regularly and evaluate your performance and outcomes. You can use tools such as dashboard, scorecard, or report to visualize and share your data and insights, and to identify any gaps, risks, or issues.

6 Learn and improve your skills

The final step is to learn and improve your skills as a strategic thinker and decision maker. You can seek feedback from your stakeholders, peers, mentors, or coaches, and use it to improve your plan and actions. You can also learn from your successes and failures, and use them to refine your vision, mission, goals, objectives, strategies, and tactics. You can also seek opportunities to enhance your knowledge, skills, and abilities, such as reading books, attending courses, joining networks, or participating in projects. By learning and improving your skills, you can increase your confidence, competence, and creativity as a strategic thinker and decision maker.