title: Building a team through a strategic planning process.
abstract: Strategic planning is a process often left to senior hospital leadership, with limited input from unit-level, bedside patient care providers. This frequent approach to strategic planning misses the opportunity to engage a wide range of employees, build a shared sense of commitment, produce a collaborative team environment, and to generate greater acceptance of the plan. The Patient Care Services division at the University of Chicago Medicine used a strategic planning process that incorporated 360-degree input from both within the Patient Care Services division and outside of the division. The result is a strategic vision and plan that, shaped by broad-based input from both internal and external constituencies, is strengthened by the team that emerged from the process. Through the process of identifying a common understanding of the group's future direction, a shared purpose was created that transcended traditional professional boundaries and shaped a cohesive team focused on effective and efficient patient care. Now, with a focused strategic plan and a team centered on a shared purpose, the team is beginning to effectively deliver on the plan.
authors.affiliation: Patient Care Services, University of Chicago Medicine, Illinois (Ms Albert); and Quantum Synapse, LLC, Richmond, Vermont (Mr Priganc).
authors.forename: Debra
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Albert
authors.forename: Dave
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Priganc
mesh_terms: D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D006761:Hospitals / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D007857:Leadership; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010934:Planning Techniques