Managing change when it happens hourly: Tips from MGH learning specialist Karin Doan

Karin Doan, RN, MScN, CPMHN(C), is a learning specialist at Michael Garron Hospital (MGH). She has worked at MGH for nine years in both management and organizational development. Her work includes a focus on change management and new leader development. Here are her tips for managing change when it’s happening rapidly.

At MGH, we have a Change Management Toolkit to help us create, plan and implement change. The eight steps of the change process can be used to guide us through any change, personal or organizational. But what about our current climate where change is happening by the minute, hour and day, not by months or years? What does that change management process look like? How do we cope with, and manage, rapid change?

Change is challenging at the best of times and right now, all of us have been tasked with changing how we live our daily lives and how we work. We have to understand that it is not really about any one of us individually, but it is all about us as a collective and a society. The message we are getting at all levels is that we need to make these changes to keep ourselves, our families, our friends and our colleagues safe, and save lives.

To help manage all the change right now, I am focusing on keeping myself and others safe. I want to see us “flatten the curve” and minimize the loss of lives. As a society we are getting clear messages at all levels about what we need to do to achieve these goals. As a hospital, our leaders are also communicating this vision and outlining the strategies we are taking as a community to keep ourselves and each other safe. By the end of March, MGH had already implemented multiple major changes to keep each of us and our community safe at a much faster rate of change.

So how can we all do our part to manage this rapid rate of change? One way is to remember that we are not alone; we are all part of a team and working together with that team is critical to our success. There is a vision and a strategy we can focus on. We can’t stop the changes that are happening right now, or make the stress go away, but we can control our perception of the situation and the choices we make. We can focus on the task at hand and take the actions that are required, working together towards our common goal. We can support one another and our leaders.

And while we are supporting each other, we can’t forget about taking care of ourselves. In times of stress and crisis it is so important that we are taking care of our basic needs—sleep, exercise, nourishment. It is natural to be worried and anxious about the changes that are currently happening. It is easy to focus on tomorrow or next week, when we really need to focus on the present where we have some control. We can establish a routine for ourselves or our family that works with the changes we are experiencing. At times we may need to take a minute to breathe, or to disengage and do something different, or to remind ourselves of what is actually occurring versus what our imagination is telling us. We can look at problems as learning opportunities; we do not have to find the perfect solution, just one that works. Taking positive action can bring a sense of control to a challenging situation.

As I reflect on what is happening in our community and our country right now to manage the COVID-19 pandemic, I realize that change is occurring and being managed at multiple levels and in multiple stages, all at the same time. That gives me confidence that if we each do our part, we will achieve our end goal. So, perhaps all we can do right now is embrace the change and be kind to one another. We are all truly in this together.