HWW zorg (Haagse Wijk- en woonzorg) is a community care organisation in The Hague that provides tailored care for the elderly. By working closely with older citizens living in the community, it aims to help them become more resilient and remain independent during periods of vulnerability.
HWW zorg’s mission to ‘put a smile on everyone’s face’ gave rise to a programme designed to improve client satisfaction, help employees take pride in their work and bring loyal partners on board. This was sparked by the awareness that staff felt they were unable to give sufficient attention to clients.
From task to client-oriented
“Many of the departments at our locations were still operating as they had done for years by focusing on routine tasks,” says director Bert Deitmers, “but we want to put the client at the heart of our organisation. In practice, however, it has been difficult to transition from task- to client-oriented processes: care professionals, team leaders and location managers often tend to just work faster or end up doing only the most essential things when put in this position.” HWW zorg acknowledged that staff did not have the time to implement changes that would allow them to do what they love most: be there for clients, offering genuine care and attention.
Experimentation, learning and optimise
Bert Deitmers: “It needed to be a journey of continuous experimentation, learning and optimisation. We therefore required external expertise, a partner to make the project a success.”
Accezz International came on board via a tender. Bert adds: “Accezz has a great deal of experience in implementing successful improvements within the care sector. It was, of course, important for us to take ownership of this project. Achieving a well-organised department is only possible if a project is carried out both for and by staff and managers.”
Kaizen approach works
Staff are now actively helping to improve the organisation overall as well as the quality of their day-to-day work. The Kaizen approach was instrumental in bringing this about. Looking back, Bert says: “Accezz identified many bottlenecks and areas for improvement in the first analysis. We specifically used the Kaizen method during the project so that staff could solve structural problems themselves.” However, he acknowledges that employees cannot solve everything: “There are certain issues that affect HWW zorg as an organisation, not least how we plan care and staff deployment. But we discovered a uniform solution for this, which our managers are now implementing.”
Securing results with HWW coaches
To ensure that the new working methods take hold, HWW zorg recruited coaches to support the departments and managers after completion of the project. “Securing results is very important,” Bert stresses, “as once a project has been completed, new working methods must continue to be used both in the workplace and by management.” Accezz therefore trained three employees of HWW zorg to become internal coaches. Bert explains: “They spent 18 months working alongside Accezz’s consultants. Even though the project is over, the coaches are still supporting employees and managers in improving departmental work processes.”
He concludes: “We wanted the project to add value for our clients and our staff and this has been achieved. The departments are now better organised and we continue to work on further improvements. And we picked a very fitting name for the project – ‘For Each Other’. But this doesn’t mean we are done; the process has provided insight into other areas where we can start to built on!”
