Tranzo Pearl | Flexibility in healthcare institutions

Flexibility in mental health care is of great importance. Especially given the developments such as tight labor markets, changes, and complexity of care. Therefore, a program has been developed that encourages flexibility in mental health care.

Mental health care in the Netherlands is increasingly facing unpredictability, change, and complexity. In addition, the financing of care has also changed dramatically in recent years, and many developments are underway in the areas of legislation, the funding system, and the (self-)regulation of supervision and governance of organizations.

To keep functioning and adapt within these dynamics, it is crucial that healthcare organizations, as complex organizations in a hyper-competitive environment, develop into "flexible" organizations. But creating flexibility is not easy. Difficult phenomena occur that pose challenges at the individual, team, and organizational levels. At the organizational level, institutions must seek a balance between agility and controllability. Paradoxically, a stable core, a "backbone," is needed to be flexible without descending into chaos. But individually we also know our own need for direction and for clarity; we like our comfort zone, and at the same time, we like challenge. At the team level, too, there is the challenge of reaching consensus, on the one hand, while at the same time, maintaining diversity or striving for cohesion without ending up in groupthink. A complex issue that is central to Frank van Gool's PhD research.

As part of this research, the Flexmonitor was developed to facilitate teams in creating and maintaining their own flexibility. The monitor is used by the teams as an analysis tool and to reflect on their flexibility. This is done within the domains: learning behavior, collaboration, decision-making behavior, and capacity. It also challenges the teams to keep stepping out of their comfort zones, to keep developing, and to create ownership regarding their own functioning.

Frank van Gool received his PhD on March 25, 2022 with his thesis Keep it complex! How organizations in mental health care create flexibility as a permanent and pro-active attitude. The research contributed to knowledge about how flexibility can be facilitated and created in healthcare organizations.

Frank van Gool: "Even the most successful teams can become rigid in their thinking and actions, especially when they have to work under pressure or threat. This is detrimental in a dynamic, changeable environment. Flexibility means embracing complexity and letting go of the urge to avoid mistakes. And this is true not only in team collaboration; administrators, managers, and professionals have to deal with the hard-to-match qualities and characteristics. It requires both agility and fortitude, both creativity and diligence, both cohesion and diversity. And it’s a challenge to combine all that. Something that is not simple cannot be kept simple; hence the title of my thesis: Keep it Complex."