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Veterans Health Administration uses Facilitate.com to
support organizational development
The Challenge
In the last six years, the Veteran's
Health Administration (VHA), the health care arm of
the Department of Veteran's Affairs (VA), has dramatically
transformed the delivery of veteran's health care and
health care in general. One of the ways that they have
achieved this is through the institution of aggressive
performance measures that have lead to the implementation
of best practices in government and private-sector health
care.
In the last year, the VHA Management
Support Office has implemented a High Performance Development
Model (HPDM) for employees. A key component of the model
is to enable employees to take responsibility for and
control of their own development. The HPDM 360 Degree
Assessment Scale is one of the tools to help them do
this. To implement this on a large scale across the
many thousands of agency managers and staff, the VHA
needed to find a survey tool that could do the job.
The Choice
VHA HPDM Coordinator Nancy Fadel began
a search for web-based survey tools to implement the
HPDM 360 Degree Assessment Scale, a survey instrument
of more than 50 multi-part questions. She was looking
for a tool that had the flexibility to build custom
surveys on demand, could scale to as many as 200,000
employees, was easy to use and to access with a standard
web browser and provided comprehensive report and data
export options. She also needed expert technical support
to develop a pilot model and provide customization/enhancements
based on later VHA requirements. Section 508 compliance
was another requirement for all new software purchases.
The VHA chose Facilitate.com.
The Solution
The VHA purchased a standard server
license of Facilitate.com packaged with on-site training
and consulting services to help them develop their initial
pilot implementation. Working with the Facilitate.com
experts, both on-site in Oklahoma City and virtually
from California, a small team of VHA psychologists,
program managers and IT specialists planned and set
up the HPDM 360 Degree Assessment Scale survey online
in less than a week, including complex demographic data
capture and customized screens. "The Facilitate.com
experts helped us make a fast start," reports
Nancy Fadel. "They listened to our requirements,
advised us on implementation options and strategies
and worked with us to get everything up and running
in record time."
The Results
The VHA HPDM team initially planned
to run a pilot of the 360 Degree Assessment Scale for
200 participants, each with 6-12 survey respondents.
Enthusiasm from the 22 hospital networks around the
country quickly expanded the scope of the pilot to over
1000 participants in the first few months. Once the
survey was created on Facilitate.com the administration
of a large number of assessments was as easy as sending
out an email and adding a participant name to a list.
The Organization Development team, working the Management
Support Office, then worked hard to interpret all the
data collected and integrate the assessment results
into a full employee development program.
"Survey participants have
found the Facilitate.com online tools easy and fun to
use," commented Nancy Fadel. "We were
initially unsure if employees would trust an online
system and provide candid input. This has turned out
not to be a concern and participants have appreciated
the anonymity provided them."
The VHA is already working on additional
surveys in support of their organization and employee
development. A Work Environment Assessment has begun
with 500 respondents across several facilities. The
Office of Resolution Management is preparing an organization
culture survey to begin later this year to gather employee
perspectives and ultimately help minimize grievances
and complaints. The VHA is able to administer all these
surveys using their initial standard Facilitate.com
license.
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