What choosing health insurance teaches me about Change Management

New country, new health insurance… oh, the many joys of relocation!!! The only thing that makes me feel more ignorant and confused than buying a laptop or filling in my tax declaration is choosing a health insurance plan. One of the very few instances when figures make more sense to me than letters – it usually comes down to what I need to pay every month, because after reading the coverage of at least two options my brain just cannot compute. I get the human version of “the blue screen”.

This past weekend was THE weekend – I could not postpone making a decision on the new health insurance plan any longer. After reading three different options, revisiting my medical history and trying to make an educated guess about my (immediate) future needs, I didn’t necessarily feel like an empowered, responsible adult. On top of the “analysis paralysis”, I realized I was older than the last time I got a health insurance, and the various things covered by the detailed plans did not sound that much sci-fi as they used to…  

Oh, well, after making peace with the sad reality that I am not Wonder Woman (although I do things that make you wonder… ), I thought about what choosing health insurance teaches me about Change Management. While you read the takeaways below, I will resume my hoping beyond hope that one day I will find a health insurance that covers retail therapy.

Conversations about your vulnerabilities are the foundation for safety. Reading the health insurance plan options raises a lot of questions about vulnerabilities. What basic and extra coverages make more sense – optical, dental, hospitalization? A thorough Risk Management plan is a given in any project – and many argue that is squarely a Project Management tool, and Change Management should not take any credit for it. Where do you have the conversations about vulnerabilities then when you do change work? Pretty much everywhere, if you do it right – Stakeholder Analysis and Mapping (push to cover beyond your “usual suspects”), Change Impact Assessment, Change Readiness Assessment, Engagement and Communication strategies and plans, Training Needs Assessment. Build a dedicated Resistance Management Strategy and Plan. Be as clinical (not cynical) about it as possible. And challenge what it is you are dealing with: resistance to change, immunity to change or change fatigue? As the health insurance teaches me, different risks and medical histories come with different investments for future safety. Although made with humor, there is serious truth behind one of Dave Carpenter’s cartoons – a patient is sitting on a hospital bed, and the doctor holding his chart tells him “First, we’re going to run some tests to see how your insurance reacts.”

“Everyone should have health insurance? I say everyone should have health care. I'm not selling insurance.” Beyond the obvious political implications of this quote from American politician Dennis Kucinich, my health insurance dazed brain raised the question whether there is also a distinction to be made between “change management” and “change care”. Oftentimes, “change management” sounds purely operational to me, inducing the expectation that if there is a framework set up, a methodology followed and tools applied, change is guaranteed to happen. A structured approach definitely helps, yet over the years I learned there is a lot of “care” needed around the purely “managementy” part. Every project should have change management. Every employee should have change care.

“View health as an investment, not a cost.”, says John Quelch, the Charles Edward Wilson Professor of Business Administration Emeritus at Harvard Business School. During the weekend, my health insurance decision felt a bit more on the “cost” side, but I am sure it will shift heavily towards “investment” in a few days, right after my dentist appointment. Change Management work is perceived sometimes as a cost – of time, focus, and other resources taken away from “concrete work”. However, when adoption rates of a new process or technology are not exactly sky rocketing, then “some change management intervention” seems like a timely investment. Professor Quelch goes on to say, “Mention health in most companies, and the cost of health insurance is what comes to mind, not how the company can invest to prevent further escalation in societal health care costs.” Especially after what we all have been experiencing since the pandemic started, I believe this goes beyond ergonomic chairs and good ventilation (over simplifying here to save some mental bandwidth for choosing a home insurance plan tomorrow). There is an undeniable and ever-increasing societal cost incurred from organizational cultures. Investing in curating the people experience within organizations in all its aspects and manifestations will have a positive impact on overall societal health care costs.

Sir Winston Churchill, British statesman and former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, believed that “Healthy citizens are the greatest asset any country could have.” Equally applicable when we substitute “organization” for “country”.

Until next week, keep calm and stay healthy! Get a good health insurance plan – just in case…