Research Paper on Training for Policy Implementation

Introduction

The prescribed changes should be beneficial as intended. This is possible through effective training and education delivered to the individuals within the organization who will be mandated to implement and work with changes in the organizational policy. In this training, there will be a development of strategies for engaging with a specific group to ensure buy-in, support, and preparedness to implement changes in policy and practice guidelines. This will be followed by an identification of training activities and materials that support learning and skill development, and prepare a specific group to successfully apply a new policy or practice guidelines to its work. Here, the changes in the policy to be implemented together with the guidelines will be described. There will also be a justification for the importance of an institutional policy or practice guidelines to enhance the quality of care or outcomes related to a selected group. It will be essential to advocate for the essence of the function that the particular group will play in enforcing the policy and the guidelines of the practice. Finally, the complex considerations of the policy will be interpreted respectfully and clearly.

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Strategies for Engaging with a Specific Group to Ensure Buy-in, Support, and Preparedness to Implement Changes in Policy and Practice Guidelines

The specific group targeted for the buy-in, support and preparedness for the implementation of changes in the policy together with the practice guidelines is the stakeholders. Implementing change in an organization is challenging and the main reason is that employees tend to hold life more constant than organizational transition. This is in addition to the fact that human beings tend to be against any form of change because of the cognitive biases that tend to work towards maintaining the status quo (Kotter & Whitehead, 2014). Employees' resistance to policy changes becomes even greater when the benefits attached seems to be absent or unclear. With the challenges of introducing and implementing changes in policy and practice guideline, management must design strategies for incorporating the target group the change process (Kotter & Whitehead, 2014).

There should be identification and listing of all possible stakeholders. Analyze the scope of the policy and guidelines to determine the individuals and activities that might be affected by both the project and its result, for instance, management and the employees in the organization are involved. The suppliers, financial institutions, and the patients served in the facility may also be potential stakeholders.

The second strategy is to organize a list of stakeholders and evaluate their influence. Some stakeholders are more crucial due to their impacts. As a result, the buy-ins of such stakeholders becomes essential to the implementation of the prescribed policy and guidelines. Regarding this strategy, the management focus is attainable through the establishment of stakeholder hierarchy (Bardach, 2014).

Engage the chief stakeholders early in the prescribed policy implementation. Additionally, this can be a means of attaining marketing surveys to the external stakeholders such as the patients served in the facility.

Develop anticipations for both the participation of stakeholders and updating. For instance, there should be the issuance of weekly or monthly reports if the organization promised. Erosion of confidence among stakeholders will result if the trust is lost. An understanding must prevail that buy-in is not a one-instance event, it should be maintained and updated.

Communicating both perspectives of the issues especially the advantages and the challenges of the policy is essential since it informs on all about the changes to be implemented. Elaborate on the compromises and the negative impacts of the prescribed policy and the proposed changes. Emphasizing only the benefits of the policy and the guidelines can trigger suspicion among the stakeholders prompting the reservations and of the buy-in.

Winning stakeholder's buy-in, support, and preparedness involves proper identification of end-user subgroups and the specific groups that desire seeing the end-users succeed during the process implementation (Shpak, 2013). The change implementation team must then communicate regularly with members of these groups and subgroups to ensure that the needs of every end-user group are tackled. Management must also understand that people will always take time to respond positively to a change (Shpak, 2013). However, through early communications, the group members can easily adjust to the new policies and guidelines. The early indicators that can be used to measure the success of strategies are a positive response on the part of the group, improvement in group buy-in and support, constant group consultation and engagement of team leaders, and successful adoption of a new policy or guideline.

Training Activities and Materials that Support Learning and Skill Development

The first activity is the identification of the workplace and the organizational issues that the prescribed policy will address. This connects the policy with its objectives and assures practicality upon its implementation among the employees. The staff can also brainstorm the means to enhance their job performance and explain how the new policies can be implemented conclusively. These activities will promote the development of critical thinking as a skill to the participants.

Collaboration among different professionals in a workplace for a common goal is an essential skill. Since different professionals such as the nurses, pharmacists, engineers and IT experts among others employ different acronyms and jargons, there should be guidebooks and electronic databases to provide materials for guiding each employee in the team. Since conflicts are common in collaboration among professionals, the participants should receive training on the responses to conflicts involving co-workers (Kinlaw, 2017). This activity is possible through role-playing and the trainers should be responsible for developing the situation.

Reading skills will be developed among the participants. The changes and the prescribed policy can only be understood through extensive reading and comprehension of the situation. The participants have to read the prescribed policy requirements and the changes and highlight specific areas of interest. Another activity involves the participants reading sections of the developed manuals or the handbooks of the staff and answer the short questions created by the employees.

Numeracy is a special skill that can be developed through calculations of factious expenses forecasted for the implementation of the policy changes. The staff and other stakeholders should make all the successful calculations developed and any information provided by the trainer (Kinlaw, 2017).

On-the-job training is the essential approach for supporting learning and skill development. There are several techniques for learning and skill development. In many cases, people consider formal and other directed learning activities such as attending school programs and lectures to be the most effective approach when it comes to skill development (World Health Organization, 2017). In many organizations, learning becomes informal and unstructured. The types of training include knowledge management and learning about the organization while the learning materials include organizational expertise, facilities, and technologies. Creating awareness of the organization's system widens the possibility of individuals engaging in intentional learning activities.

Changes to Policy to be Implemented in an Organization

The first activity is the identification of the workplace and the organizational issues that the prescribed policy will address. This connects the policy with its objectives and assures practicality upon its implementation among the employees. The staff can also brainstorm the means to enhance their job performance and explain how the new policies can be implemented conclusively (Fincham, 2014). These activities will promote the development of critical thinking as a skill to the participants.

Collaboration among different professionals in a workplace for a common goal is an essential skill. Since different professionals such as the nurses, pharmacists, engineers and IT experts among others employ different acronyms and jargons, there should be guidebooks and electronic databases to provide materials for guiding each employee in the team. Since conflicts are common in collaboration among professionals, the participants should receive training on the responses to conflicts involving co-workers. This activity is possible through role-playing and the trainers should be responsible for developing the situation.

The reading skill will be developed among the participants. The changes and the prescribed policy can only be understood through extensive reading and comprehension of the situation (Fincham, 2014). The participants have to read the prescribed policy requirements and the changes and highlight specific areas of interest. Another activity involves the participants reading sections of the developed manuals or the handbooks of the staff and answer the short questions created by the employees.

These changes will positively affect the group's daily work routines and responsibilities and increase their productivity. An improvement in the productivity of the employees will bring the following benefits: It will help to achieve the business objectives described in the marketing plan more easily. It will imply a reduction in production costs, so you can improve your margins. It will mean a reduction in production times, which will increase the productive capacity. It will provide the company with greater agility and flexibility when it comes to responding to changes in the demands of the customers and the market in general. There will also be an increase in the profit margin without reducing the sale price. The company will have a better opportunity to reinvest the profits in new products, services, facilities, processes, etc.

There will also be greater satisfaction among employees. That employees are satisfied with their jobs is key to any company. The lack of satisfaction results in a significant loss of enthusiasm and motivation that, finally, will end up being a drain of time and money for the company (Bhavnani et al. 2017). On the contrary, when employees are satisfied, they feel a greater connection with the company and increase their productivity, which reverts to benefits for the company and for the clients. Keeping committed employees will help you lower the turnover rate and, therefore, avoid those costs. Committed employees work faster and harder because they like what they do. When an employee is interested in what he/she does, they are more likely to do well. In addition, when employees are committed and feel valued by their bosses, they have a greater sense of responsibility and put their best effort into serving the company. When employees are committed, they work harder and when they work harder, they produce a higher quality work that, in the end, translates into happy satisfied customers. Happy customers come back and, in addition, recommend the company to other people. This is a simple way to increase the profitability of the company.

The Importance of an Institutional Policy to Improve the Quality of Care or Outcomes Related to a Specific Group

Policies are mainly assumptions about the things that work, how things should be, people and what is good for the society. The institutional policy becomes a necessary tool for organizations that want to improve the quality of healthcare services. The most important areas of focus include...