Practice Area: Organizational Readiness

At first thought, “getting ready” sounds like an activity that is quick and minor. However, organizations that slow down and dedicate the time and resources to build a strong foundation have better outcomes. A structured readiness helps to assure that a desired solution can be communicated effectively and understood clearly by others in the organization. Organizational readiness activities frequently include:

• Business cases for funding approval;
• Prototype activity to evaluate potential business value/return on investment or to evaluate for chances for success;
• Clear problem/solution statements to help ensure that final outcomes trace directly back to the intended business need;
• Well-defined business objectives that are paired with a strategy for measuring success;
• High-level business requirements that lead directly into structured project management activities;
• Risk assessment and mitigation planning activities; and
• Analysis projects that evaluate the industry or market trends.

What is this consulting service?

Grow Forward assists health plans to be articulate and savvy in their preparations for success.

Organizational readiness engagements are designed to have a beginning and an end, rather than providing unstructured consulting at an hourly charge. Our efforts begin by assisting health plans to critically evaluate the underlying business need and potential solutions. We work with plans to design developmental stages that have a discreet ending point where the plan is able to engage its standard operational process to drive the solution to completion.

What does this provide?

Our engagements help prepare a health plan to have as much clarity, buy-in and shared vision as possible before implementing a solution. Activities to achieve this may include one or more of the following:

• Assistance in developing prototype solutions that estimate the levels of business value possible before full funding is granted;
• Assistance in producing business cases for funding approval;
• Assistance in moving conceptual ideas into more concrete business requirements, documented according to the organization’s project management specifications;
• Identifying barriers to success and setting up plans to overcome them;
• Developing management level governance that is responsible for long-term ownership of decision support tools across the organization;
• Assistance in developing problem/solution statements for project clarity, agreement and sign-off;
• Assistance in developing vision and objectives for project clarity, agreement and sign-off; and
• Assistance in developing measures of success for project clarity, agreement and sign-off.