Be a High Performance/High Reliability Organization
Every administrative and leadership structure should exist to serve a function that facilitates the mission of the UMass Academic Health Sciences Center. After many years of working as one enterprise prior to 1998, and many years operating as two distinct but linked entities post-1998, both organizations are now committed to promoting an environment of acting as a single enterprise. We recognize that we cannot and will not be successful in achieving our strategic vision unless we create a solid foundation that eliminates barriers between us.
As the world changes with startling rapidity, our challenges intensify each day. We cannot simply strive to maintain current levels of performance; we must commit to raising the bar for all outcomes. Our goal is to be a high performance/ high reliability organization, one that sets the standard that others will try to emulate. As part of this commitment, we endeavor to be a learning organization, always pursuing new information, insights, and innovations.
Recommendations
Our priorities for being a high performance/ high reliability organization are to:
- create a horizontally integrated leadership culture that enables dialogue, mutual education, and fact-based decision making as a combined entity;
- plan for and deploy integrated information systems to facilitate seamless communication and information sharing across the enterprise;
- plan for our collective facility needs and appropriately allocate these physical resources to ensure the best and highest use and support of our shared vision;
- create and pursue an integrated strategy for workforce planning and development;
- coordinate development efforts, jointly setting funding priorities by department and for the overall enterprise;
- achieve a common brand and integrate messaging for both internal and external audiences; and
- ensure the necessary infrastructure (i.e., compliance, standards, and systems) to greatly elevate clinical research activities.