Healthcare Strategy

Healthcare Strategy, Planning and Execution

Practical tools for developing and executing strategic projects and plans in healthcare organisations

Programme Overview

At some point in your career as a healthcare leader or manager you will be asked to prepare a strategic plan – a roadmap for the future of your department, organisation or service that sets out your goals and describes both your action plan for achieving them and how you will measure your progress. This task might seem daunting initially, yet it is surprisingly easy to develop a robust strategic plan that re-energises your team and enhances their performance – provided you use the right tools and methods, and use them properly.

This 10-week programme of live interactive webinars, supported by a comprehensive library of online resources and six months of one-to-one coaching, will provide you with a highly personalised and participative learning experience during which you’ll explore the essential elements that make a strategic plan effective and be guided, step-by-step, through each stage of the strategic planning process. Upon successful completion of both stages programme members are awarded the IHLM Professional Certificate in Healthcare Strategy, Planning and Execution.


What You Will Learn in This Programme

Whether you’re revisiting the strategy of your entire healthcare organisation, opening a new service or simply looking for ways to gain a competitive advantage in a crowded healthcare marketplace, this programme will help you do it. It features detailed instruction in:

  • Understanding Your Strategic Position – through detailed analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
  • Formulating Your Strategy – by evaluating and choosing properly from all the available options
  • Making Your Strategy Happen – through the practical actions that have to be undertaken in order to execute it successfully

Who Is This Programme For?

This is a highly practical and interactive programme that will benefit anyone who needs to be able to lead or participate in the strategic planning process in a healthcare system or organisation. It provides detailed coverage of all of the essential tools, concepts and models used in strategy.

Throughout the programme there are allocated timeslots allowing ample opportunities to practice the principles being taught using learning activities and case studies.


Prerequisites

There are no educational prerequisites for this programme. You can be from either a clinical or non-clinical background but should be working in a unit or department of a healthcare organisation. You should also be comfortable using a computer, and writing and reading in English.


What Happens During the Programme?

IHLM’s online programmes build on our world-class faculty’s ability to convey complex concepts in ways that are simple and practical. Each of our online programmes features:

Live, Interactive Webinars

The first 10 weeks of the programme features live, interactive, two hour webinars delivered via our virtual Zoom classroom. These webinars provide the opportunity for interaction with both our faculty and the other programme members and carry 2 CPD / CME credit hours each. To earn the credit hours associated with each webinar you must log-in and attend it live or watch the recording of the webinar in full.

Online Resources

The live webinars are supplemented by an online library of additional resources – including webinar recordings, other videos, podcasts, presentations, articles and case studies – that are hosted on the IHLM Extranet. To maximise the benefits of this programme you should spend some time studying these materials each week and completing the accompanying learning activities so you can check you have fully understood the content of the module.

Coached Strategic Planning Project

Every programme member is required to identify and undertake a strategic planning project through which they will not only get to practice their learning but will also be able to improve the performance of their unit or department, or of their healthcare organisation as a whole. It is through this project that you will maximise your professional impact and advance your career. You will be allocated a learning coach at the beginning of the programme who will provide one-to-one coaching via email and Zoom meetings during your project. This support is available for up to 16 weeks after the webinars finish.


 

Part 1: Understanding Your Strategic Position

What is strategy? And what makes a plan (and the process by which we develop and execute that plan) ‘strategic’? In Part 1 of the programme we learn the tools and techniques with which healthcare leaders and managers can evaluate the strategic position of their service or organisation: by understanding both it’s strategic potential (what it can do) and its strategic ambitions (what it actually wants to do).

  • Module 1: What Are Strategy and Strategic Planning? – Discover what strategy and strategic planning are and the processes they involve.
  • Module 2: Can You Say What Your Strategy Is? – Identify the distinctive purpose and focus of your service or organisation and communicate your ambitions in a compelling statement of your mission, vision and values.
  • Module 3: Understanding The Healthcare Environment – Investigate how the opportunities and challenges in the world around you affect both the demand for healthcare and the way it is delivered.
  • Module 4: Understanding Your Healthcare Organisation – Learn to ‘know’ your service or organisation better by thoroughly analysing its strengths and weaknesses.

Part 2: Formulating Your Strategy

In Part 2 of the programme we examine the strategic options available to a healthcare manager. These include the adaptive choices of whether to expand, contract or maintain the scope of an organisation or department’s services; the methods by which to pursue these choices and how to compete in a competitive healthcare marketplace.

  • Module 5: Generating Strategic Options – Understand the major strategic options and choices available to a healthcare organisation or service, then create a shortlist of options that could be suitable for you.
  • Module 6: Evaluating and Selecting Strategic Options – Use appropriate criteria to evaluate and choose from among your different strategic options.

Part 3: Making Your Strategy Happen

In Part 3 of the programme we consider the many practical tasks that have to be undertaken in order to actually execute a strategy or strategic plan successfully. These include communicating the strategy effectively, getting support from others, taking all the necessary actions and measuring success.

  • Module 7: Strategic Leadership – Identify how effective healthcare leaders motivate their colleagues and win the support of stakeholders.
  • Module 8: Communicating the Strategy – Understand the importance of sharing and explaining your goals effectively in order to inspire others and align their work with your strategy.
  • Module 9: Organising for Success – Learn how strategic healthcare leaders turn strategies into plans or action.
  • Module 10: Monitoring, Reviewing and Rewarding – Discover how the progress of strategic plans can be measured and how effort and success can be recognised.

 

Course Leader

Benedict Stanberry

Course Factfile

  • Next session: 7 September
  • Duration: 10 weeks
  • Commitment: 4-6 hours a week
  • Qualification: Certificate
  • Cost: £995
  • Location: Online

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