​​The coronavirus pandemic has exposed gaps and problems but also innovations and opportunities for long term/post-acute care providers. The time is now to capture and nurture the great ideas and creative efforts, while doing away with outdated or unproductive processes or activities. This doesn’t have to be a time-draining, cumbersome endeavor. It can be as easy as start, stop, continue.  

The Start, Stop, Continue framework is a fairly easy technique where managers and their teams can assess what processes, systems, practices, ideas, and programs are working and where changes are needed.

By identifying which of these things the team thinks should be started, stopped, and continued, the manager can pinpoint ideas for team-based action, change, and innovation that can be implemented quickly.

Clarify Means

To get started, make sure that the team members understand what should go on each list:

START.

These should be items that the team thinks would have a positive impact and contribute to better outcomes, teamwork, morale, engagement, and retention that aren’t already being used.

For example, staff may want to start more flexible schedules, make better use of technology, or a develop a better system to communicate or share information.

STOP.

These include activities or tasks that aren’t helping the team achieve their goals and actually may be impeding their efforts. For instance, staff want to stop having so many Zoom meetings.

CONTINUE.

These are things that have worked in the past and should continue to be part of the team’s workflow. “Continues” may include flexible scheduling, efforts to support staff during a crisis, or partnerships with local health departments and other stakeholders.

Ask everyone to submit one to two items for each category. Suggestions may be limited to each team’s work area (for example, clinical, administrative, operational) or open them up to recommendations about any aspect of the workplace.

Have an interdisciplinary, representative, and inclusive workgroup review the submissions, eliminate the duplicate ideas, and come up with a manageable list. The workgroup can develop specific action items in each area and send these back to the larger group to vote on the ones they think are most important and practical.

The workgroup then can involve the appropriate players to plan and implement each of the final stop, start, and continue actions.

Extra Benefits

While the pandemic and the fallout from it continue to place a burden on staff and leadership alike, this process can be done over a period of weeks, and the results can be powerful. Among the potential benefits:
● People will find that they have much in common and share some similar ideas. This can contribute to team building, engagement, and motivation.
● Staff are engaged and appreciate that their opinions are sought and valued.
● Problems, gaps, and other troublesome issues that are flying under the radar are brought to light and can be addressed early on.
● Ideas, thoughts, and concerns are captured while they are fresh in everyone’s minds.

Giving teams an opportunity to provide teamwork on a regular basis enables them to contribute and helps create a culture of trust, inclusion, and loyalty.  

For more information, go to www.forbes.com/sites/groupthink/2016/02/02/start-stop-continue-tutorial/?sh=6dc19e412798. ■