By: Christina Olivarria, MSPM, PMP, HACP

The construction plans are approved, the budget secured, the contractor selected, and internal resources confirmed. Everything is in place to build your next healthcare environment. Just one thing stands between you and breaking ground – the spaces you need to refurbish or demolish are currently occupied by staff. Now what?

The term “enabling” is defined as “making something possible or easier or providing whatever is necessary to achieve a specific aim.” Enabling projects in healthcare construction and design often consist of a series of steps necessary to prepare an organization to construct a new healthcare environment. To support these types of projects, it is critical that project managers understand how to effectively manage them to ensure they are completed to make way for the bigger organizational initiative. Three things to keep in mind when managing enabling projects are:

• Differences between enabling projects and traditional Transition and Activation projects
• Management skill sets to support Enabling Projects
• Baseline tools to get the job done

Understanding these items will ensure your next enabling project implementation is a success.

Differences Between Enabling Projects and Traditional Transition and Activation Projects

Before jumping into your first enabling project, it is important to understand some key differences that set enabling projects apart from traditional Transition and Activation Projects.

The first important difference is that these projects often impact staff in ways they may not expect or appreciate. For example, if trying to make way for a new tower on an impacted medical center campus, organizations may evaluate space utilization and determine which staff remain on the existing campus and which will be temporarily moved to offsite locations. Being informed of an unanticipated office relocation can be unsettling for many staff. Taking the time to develop and deliver clear messaging explaining the reasoning behind how staff were selected to move and how this supports the organization’s vision will go a long way towards engaging staff in the process. Once you begin to engage with users, it’s better to recognize this elephant in the room right away. Pro Tip: Identify an Internal Communications Resource to support messaging throughout the enabling project engagement. This will ensure staff are all receiving consistent messaging.

The next key difference is that the schedule of enabling projects is typically more compressed than those of traditional Transition and Activation projects. When planning, project managers may need to adjust how they approach projects. Thinking of each project as a sprint, managers should plan workstreams accordingly and schedule shorter meetings closer together to complete the work. Pro Tip: Work with the Project Sponsor to identify any predecessor activities required to support the compressed schedule. Is the space ready? Does someone else need to move out first?

Resources on an enabling project may be constrained compared to those of a traditional Transition and Activation project. On a hospital tower project, project managers collaborate with the same stakeholders over a longer duration, providing time to build trust and relationships. Due to the high stakes and high visibility of large construction projects, organizations often dedicate resources to ensure their success. On enabling projects, resources may be pulled to support multiple projects simultaneously, and the timeline for building relationships with impacted department stakeholders is cut short. Because of this, it is important to identify the key stakeholders required to successfully complete the project:

• Facilities, Planning, and Construction Project Manager – Supports management of space readiness and confirmation of space requirements with department stakeholders
• IT/IS – Supports de-installation and reinstallation of computers, technology, and other systems
• Furniture/Interiors – Supports furniture assessments or acquisition for new space inhabitants
• Clinical Engineering – Supports installation and calibration of medical equipment
• Signage – Supports updating of departmental and wayfinding signage
• Mover – Supports moving of boxes and equipment
• Department Stakeholder – Supports communication and requirements/information gathering from their impacted departments

Pro Tip: Having the right people at the table (in-person or virtually) will support decision-making and the overall project timeline. During each meeting, note if a specific request keeps coming up and work with your project sponsor to get that decision maker to your meeting.

Management Skill Sets to Support Enabling Projects

“A pivot is a change in strategy without a change in vision.” – Eric Ries

Have you ever drafted an agenda and ten minutes into a meeting and realized you are never getting through it because the stakeholders are discussing other priorities? How do you respond? Project managers who are successful with enabling projects are able to quickly pivot to meet the needs of the stakeholders and drive the project completion. They are adept at reading the room and determining how to change directions and priorities, quickly and decisively. Having worked on over 100 Enabling Projects of various sizes and complexities, below are key skills that the Yellow Brick team has noted as requirements for surviving the sometimes turbulent waters.

• Adaptation – Enabling projects are dynamic in nature. Due to the revolving door of stakeholders being engaged, it is safe to say that at least one of your projects will not go as planned. The ability to quickly adapt and pivot as new information presents itself is critical to the delivery of enabling projects.
• Negotiation – As shared earlier, in some instances (I would argue in most instances), the departmental stakeholders you will be working with had not planned on moving and may be resistant to the move. As a project manager, it is important to listen, know what you can and cannot negotiate, and bring reasonable requests back to your project sponsor for evaluation. Listening (not just hearing) will be important as you navigate crucial and sometimes difficult conversations.
• Organization – Due to the quicker nature of these projects, note-taking, file organization, and accountability will be minimum requirements to maintain pace. Maintaining clear records of the project is important. For example, when reviewing construction diagrams, include photos of plans with annotations in the notes to ensure there is an accurate record.
• Meeting Facilitation – Being able to command a meeting and steer the group safely to their ultimate goal of moving to a new space is a key skill. Come prepared to know what you need to accomplish in the meeting, keep an eye on the time, and be sure to summarize conversations to ensure all parties are clear regarding the next steps and decisions.
• Empathy – Like all projects, often the work being asked from the department stakeholders is often the “Other duties as assigned” part of their job description. Pay attention to facial expressions, voice tone, and nonverbal cues. Always share appreciation and recognition of accomplishments. When asking for something, ensure the requested timeline is achievable and, if possible, build time in the meeting to work together to complete tasks as a group.

Pro Tip: When onboarding new members to your team to work on an enabling project, take the time to orient and highlight these skills. Take the time to assess your approach and ask those leading successful projects what skills they find advantageous to accomplishing goals.

Baseline Tools to Get the Job Done

The next question to ask yourself is “How am I going to make this happen?” Establishing tools to support how you manage the work will allow you to adjust and refine them depending on the type of enabling projects you are delivering. Below is a list of baseline tools used to support enabling projects:

• Task List—Although your to-do list might be shorter than the hundreds of tasks required to support a traditional Transition and Activation, readiness activities need to be accomplished to ensure a successful move. Having a centralized tracking method ensures all stakeholders are aware of their assignments and deadlines. The Yellow Brick Our team leverages Smartsheet, but Excel or Lists are great alternatives to track and manage Task Lists.
• Timeline – Like any project, it is important to understand the key milestones associated with the project, including when the space is ready,  deinstall and reinstall dates of equipment, and Day 1. Once you have a handle on the timeline, create a baseline timeline that can be customized for each project based on the milestones.
• Move Roster – Develop a list of staff moving to the new space, including badge numbers and from-to office/space assignments. Be sure to include a list of equipment to ensure you have the right resources to support de-installing and reinstalling equipment.
• Orientation and Training Tools – When moving into a new environment, it is a best practice (if not a regulatory requirement) to develop educational tools to support orientation. Tools can include Welcome Packets, education modules, and vacated space checklists. Include information about parking, access, hours of operation, work orders, and staff amenities to support a smooth transition into their new home.

Pro Tip: Develop a folder structure to store project documents and provide access to key stakeholders. Include a Project Dashboard that displays key metrics, so stakeholders can understand the status of each project.

Enabling projects are the predecessor for larger, more complex Transition and Activation projects. By taking the advice shared and refining it to fit your needs, you will be on your way to successfully managing make-ready initiatives.