Activity 1.2: Establish organisational goals

Identify drivers for change to motivate stakeholders and ensure the vision and purpose of the Victorian Assistant Workforce Model (VAWM) are right for the organisation.

Drivers for change

Drivers for change include:

• external drivers, for example aging population, increased demand on healthcare
• internal drivers, for example wait-list demand, difficulty managing patient/client caseloads, job satisfaction.

Use discussion with stakeholders to identify drivers for change.

Understanding your organisation’s internal drivers will help you develop goals that resonate with stakeholders.

The evidence suggests that with appropriate training and support, assistants working within sound models of practice can improve:

• service delivery and allow a refocus on areas of need
• workforce flexibility and team efficiencies
• client outcomes.

Organisational priorities

Understanding the organisational priorities will help to link the VAWM to the organisation’s vision.

It may also assist in targeting the areas of most need.

Organisational goals for VAWM implementation

Developing specific organisational goals ensures the organisation will benefit from the VAWM implementation.

Measurable goals allow you to determine if the project’s aims were achieved, and will provide the project team a way to track progress.

Hints

• Use the SMART goal framework to develop organisational goals for the VAWM.
• If your organisation has an organisational priorities document, use it for reference.
• Health Workforce Australia’s document The assistants and support workers: workforce flexibility to boost productivity: full report[1] draws on peer-reviewed evidence, grey literature and stakeholder consultation to establish how assistant roles can assist healthcare and teamwork and contribute to wider workforce reform to boost productivity. Use this report to provide clear evidence that assistants can enhance service delivery, workforce flexibility and team efficiency, and client outcomes.
• Align the aims of the project with the organisational priorities to engage the executive or management (see Element 2).
• Staff motivation is improved when the VAWM is clearly linked to organisational priorities.
• Improve engagement and motivation by outlining the broader context for change and why it is important to achieve a successful outcome.
• Revisit the goals throughout the project to make sure you stay on track.

Activity outputs

• Project aims align with organisational priorities.
• Organisational drivers for change identified.
• Organisational goals agreed by steering committee.
• Organisational priorities, drivers for change and organisational goals for VAWM implementation are included in staff engagement activities (Element 2).

References

1. Health Workforce Australia 2014, The assistants and support workers: workforce flexibility to boost productivity – full report, Health Workforce, Department of Health, Canberra.

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