MHA FPX 5010 Assessment 3 Developing and Communicating the Strategic Action Plan

Developing and Communicating the Strategic Action Plan

Slide 1:

Hi, I am Sherry Kraus, and today I will be presenting Nor’easter Medical Center’s strategic action plan to address our critical workforce challenges.

Slide 2:

To create viable strategic plans, healthcare organizations need to constantly analyze both their own and their external environments. For example, Nor’easter Medical Center (NMCH) is a 75-bed nonprofit community hospital located in Maine and faces similar issues as many other organizations with regard to staffing levels, employee turnover and stress related to work. Additionally, the American Hospital Association (2026) reports that workforce instability continues to be one of the greatest challenges facing healthcare organizations throughout the country. Therefore, in order to maintain high levels of performance and quality of care, healthcare organizations must utilize an established process for completing environmental analyses to address and resolve these staffing issues.

Overview of Identified Workforce Issues

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In order for health care entities to be able to remain operationally stable and continue to provide high-quality, consistent care, health care entities have to take an active, proactive role in identifying workforce-related challenges that affect their operations. Two of the most significant challenges that emerged from Nor’easter Medical Center’s (NMC) environmental assessment were the clinical workforce shortages and general employee burnout, as Alaskar, et al. (2025) identified as contributing to an increased workload in hospitals and delaying patient care, which both contribute to a decrease in patient satisfaction. Identifying these problems is one of the essential first steps to being able to create a long-term, meaningful and sustainable strategic action plan.

Action Plan to Address Workforce Issues

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To respond effectively to shortages in clinical staffing, health care organizations should be proactive in recruiting care professionals ahead in time to address clinical shortages of staff. This means forming formal relationships with local nursing schools and allied health training programs in Maine where Nor’easter Medical Center is located. A way to be proactive about staffing issues is to create “workforce pipelines,” (Cao & Tomski 2023) which provides an ongoing supply of qualified staff. Forming these partnerships will also provide a long-term, sustainable solution to the clinical staffing shortages at Nor’easter Medical Center.

Companies that make employee well-being a focus will be more likely to see reductions in employee burnout and increases in employee retention rates. Structured wellness programs like reasonable work-loads and/or access to mental health resources, as well as leadership practices that promote a supportive work environment, should be implemented into Nor’easter’s wellness strategies. According to research by Farrona et al.(2023), the implementation of properly designed workplace wellness programs can increase job satisfaction and overall productivity, while also dramatically reducing the rate at which employees leave their jobs. Therefore, making an investment into the programming of Nor’easter’s wellness offerings will have a significant, positive impact on the stability of their workforce and the performance of the overall business.

Technology-driven strategies are increasingly important for reducing the burden on frontline staff at healthcare facilities. Nor’easter Medical Center should expand their telehealth services and implement administrative automation to help reduce workloads. According to Bialas et al. (2023), organizations that have taken advantage of technology are able to sustain themselves in spite of the current challenges surrounding staffing. By integrating telehealth technologies, organizations will be able to significantly reduce staff burnout while ensuring continued high-quality care to their patients.

Human Resource and Financial Perspectives of the Action Plan

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Management of areas pertaining to people is one of the most important things an organization can do to maintain a stable workforce and provide high-quality healthcare services consistently. An organization’s HR Strategy addresses these common HR Challenges in a way that reduces the average amount of time and effort needed by creating HR recruitment pipelines, wellness programs, and redistributing workloads through technology. According to Andriany et al. (2025), organizations that invest in HR program strategies will retain employees longer and incur lower turnover costs than their competitors while achieving better workforce sustainability across the board. Aligning HR Program Investments with the organization’s strategic goals will help Nor’easter to have a sustainable workforce and achieve operational success over time.

It is essential to understand how workforce strategy affects the overall financial health of a healthcare entity in order to ensure its long-term stability. Partnerships with nursing schools and developing wellness programs require an initial investment, but can provide significant long term savings through reduced costs associated with costly temporary agency staffing and high turnover of staff. According to Suwarno et al. (2023), healthcare entities that consistently align the direction of their workforce strategy with their financial planning achieve higher sustainable success and operational efficiency. Balancing the costs versus benefits of initiatives such as these will allow Nor’easter to simultaneously improve both its financial stability and its ability to meet the needs of patients through its workforce.

Communication Strategy

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Communication is a primary function of leadership that will underlie successful delivery and implementation of all strategic action plans. As exhibited by Nor’easter Medical Center’s leaders, effective communication therefore necessitates the ability to actively listen, adjust to the needs of others, collaborate effectively with a variety of people, and problem-solve when presenting new initiatives concerning their work force to their various stakeholders. Mwamba (2023) showed that leaders who involve their stakeholders in the decision-making process, through open lines of communication or collaboration, can eliminate much of the resistance to change in their organizations. By developing and applying these key soft skills, Nor’easter will be better able to ensure that all employees will clearly understand and broadly support Nor’easter’s overall action plan.

Motivating Stakeholders and Gaining Buy-In

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The successful implementation of any healthcare workforce improvement plan requires successful meaningful stakeholder buy-in. Nor’easter’s leaders must communicate through town hall meetings, department briefings, and transparent data sharing, emphasising the urgency and value of the plan. According to Lubis (2024), organisations that use inclusive communication methods when developing a strategic plan have significantly increased staff engagement and commitment to the organisation. By involving stakeholders directly in the development of the plan and addressing their concerns, Nor’easter has created the necessary motivation and joint ownership for sustainable workforce change.

Leadership Soft Skills for Action Plan Delivery

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Strong leaders will have the temperament to lead effectively and gain acceptance of any strategic actions plans. One way Nor’easter Medical Center can help its leaders achieve this goal is through using active listening in order to understand what their employees feel; delegation so that they are meeting the employee’s right measurements; as well as being able to adapt to workforce changes as they arise. Farrona, et al (2023) have found that leaders who possess excellent interpersonal skills and excellent communication skills will increase employee engagement with their organization, thus increasing the chances of a successful implementation of their organization’s strategic plan. By developing and consistently applying these strong soft skills, the end result will be that Nor’easter’s employee action plans will be clear, credible, and have an effect on the organization long after the agenda has been complete.

Conclusion

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To deal with some of the more difficult problems that our health care workforce is dealing with, this planning process was built on clear and open communication. The Nor’easter Medical Center has developed a multi-faceted action plan consisting of partnerships with nursing schools, wellness programs for employees, and telehealth expansion to address the need for improved staffing and reduce employee burnout. Health care organizations invest in aligned workforce strategy, communication, strong leadership, and evidence-based action to deliver proactive solutions, making them sustainable and operationally efficient in the future. By taking an evidence-based approach to implementing these strategies, involving all stakeholders in designing these programs, and creating a high performing workforce at Nor’easter, we will have better quality patient care and be able to provide for the long-term viability of the organization.

References

Alaskar, E., Albarrak, N., Alamri, G., Almutairi, A., Binswileh, B., Alhariqi, H., Sowayd, M., Alahmry, S., & Al-Sayed, H. (2025). Impact of nursing staff shortage on the quality of care in emergency departments. Jmans, 5(2). https://doi.org/10.47352/jmans.2774-3047.207

American Hospital Association. (2026). 2026 environmental scan. https://www.aha.org/environmentalscan

Andriany, R., Hardy, H., Asrul, A., Maslim, M., & Megawaty, M. (2025). Evaluation of the sustainability of organizational welfare and human resources to improving long-term performance. PARADOKS Jurnal Ilmu Ekonomi, 8(2), 540–555. https://doi.org/10.57178/paradoks.v8i2.1157

Bialas, C., Bechtsis, D., Aivazidou, E., Achillas, C., & Aidonis, D. (2023). A holistic view on the adoption and cost-effectiveness of technology-driven supply chain management practices in healthcare. Sustainability, 15(6), 5541. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15065541

Cao, X. E., & Tomski, P. (2023). The sustainability workforce shift: Building a talent pipeline and career network. Matter, 6(8), 2471–2475. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matt.2023.06.016

Farrona, M. M., Wipfli, B., Thosar, S. S., Colino, E., Unanue, J., Gallardo, L., & Fernández, J. L. (2023). Effectiveness of worksite wellness programs based on physical activity to improve workers’ health and productivity: A systematic review. Systematic Reviews, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-023-02258-6

Lubis, M. (2024). The role of communication and employee engagement in promoting inclusion in the workplace: A case study in the creative industry. Feedback International Journal of Communication, 1(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.62569/fijc.v1i1.8

Mwamba, J. (2023). Effective leadership in change management: Ensuring success in organizational transformation. Journal of Policy Options, 6(1), 28–38. http://resdojournals.com/index.php/jpo/article/view/280

Suwarno, S., Fitria, F., & Azhar, R. (2023). Optimizing budget allocation: A strategic framework for aligning human resource investments with financial objectives and business goals. Atestasi : Jurnal Ilmiah Akuntansi, 6(2), 835–855. https://doi.org/10.57178/atestasi.v6i2.880