Although the reform is still underway, leaders must engage in everyday management while preparing for the changes. We already know a great deal about the forthcoming solutions, regulations and integration, but the perspectives of a range of experts are needed for their interpretation, developing possible applications, resource allocation, and practical implementation. The various actors will require knowledge and skills to manage the future services in an impactful manner.

The opportunities of digitalization

Developments such as robotics, digitalization and artificial intelligence will enable new perspectives which may not be apparent to us but offer the potential for new well-being services, products and
skills. The social and health care services reform will require a new kind of focus on service integration and the streamlining of customer processes. We must lead our ‘troops’ into new situations and manage the change by preparing in good time.  Have you prepared for the future within your own organization?

Leadership of social and health care services during the transition

You will need competencies in business administration, industrial management and health economics to prepare for the regional integration of social and health care and develop your own leadership skills. The reform’s incomplete status creates challenges of its own. How can you lead in an uncertain situation, in which the precise implications of the reform are unclear? During such change, how should you provide leadership for yourself and your team of professionals? How will your own, professional self develop?

The patient's perspective is also a key issue. How should you develop the customer service process and deliver a genuinely better service? We will evaluate the efficiency of the available resources and what can be achieved with such inputs from the societal perspective.

Leadership development will improve your change management capabilities during the reform, and new conceptual models will foster flexibility and better customer orientation.

Managing social impact

Within the affected regions, the focus must be on organizing and delivering timely, integrated, efficient and results-based services of the right level. In social and health care services, the leadership focus is shifting towards managing impacts and impactfulness, rather than service delivery and productivity. 

One of the key development targets in the sector is to improve the experience of multi-service users by integrating services on a customer-oriented basis. This means that leaders and experts must be able to increase the impact and customer-orientation of their services.

Digitalization is radically transforming many current service production methods in areas such as interaction with services, evaluating care needs, and self-care. For this reason, managers of social and health care services must be aware of the service development opportunities presented by digitalization.

In many countries, a value-based approach now lies at the core of social and health care service development. Lean focuses on value creation and the development of customer-orientation in services. Social and health care service leaders and
experts must identify the key lean tools for streamlining processes and services.

Organization of services for special groups

On several occasions, the National Institute for Health and Welfare has expressed concern about home care services, referring to both the services themselves and the well-being of staff. Home care services for the elderly are changing rapidly, due to the opportunities presented by a growing and diversifying customer base, restructuring and digitalization, as well as the social and health care services reform.

Service management must include forecasting and a needs-based approach. In such a situation, attention must be paid to issues such as home care processes and resource management, smoothly functioning care chains, timely delivery of services, rehabilitation and preventive care. The goal is to ensure smooth home care and flexible service production, providing the customer with timely help while staff can deliver a high quality, unhurried service and nurture their own well-being.

Strong experience in developing the sector

Aalto EE offers leading edge expertise in the development of leadership in the social and health care services, since our training program is designed alongside experts in business administration and industrial management, and healthcare. The lessons learned during training are applied to your own work environment, providing tangible support for practical development work.

Aalto EE has been implementing health care management programs for both the private and public sector since 1990. A group of medical experts from the Finnish Medical Society Duodecim and the University of Helsinki are involved in designing the content. The aim of such cooperation is to ensure that the content is suitable for health care and fulfills the need to develop expertise in the field.

The program has had a ‘recommend to a friend’ rating of close to 100% for several years in a row, which shows how well the participants’ needs have been met.