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Building Buy-in

Only a daunting target-clearly unattainable through existing modes of operation will stimulate radical thinking and willingness to overturn tradition.¹ When Dr. Devi Shetty of Narayan Hrudayalay⁶ first proposed the changes
required in the government healthcare financing scheme, there was hardly anyone who paid serious attention. It is a general tendency of the people to resist when they have to change what they do on a daily basis and how they do it. State Government Health Officials who are habituated to sanctioning funding and other such grants for hospitals found it really tough to digest the idea of the Yeshasvini Scheme⁷.

As Hammer mentions, "For many, this is a difficult and even wrenching experience, and one that they will find all kinds of excuses to avoid. Dropping such changes on them out of the blue will guarantee failure, and preaching to them about enterprise financial goals will not help them adjust."

When Aravind first launched Aurolab and the idea of manufacturing an IOL at less than $ 100, the organization was mimicked by western researchers in the field. As this was not enough, even the researchers who were working on the concept themselves were skeptical. It required lot of motivation and efforts on the part of David Greene to get them working and believing in the possibility of the initiative.

In Yeshasvini, many government agencies and NGOs were exposed to the new process while it was being developed, making them feel like participants rather than victims of an ill-managed system, and making them see the power of the new idea. We can find many of these individuals turned into strong advocators of the change and happily claiming themselves to be the founding stones of the Yeshasvini Scheme. It definitely took Dr. Shetty huge amount of efforts in terms of negotiations, reinforcement and support to all those involved in the implementation stage.

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1. Michael Hammer, "Deep Change - How Operational Innovation can Transform Your Company", in Harvard Business Review, April 2004, Pp 4-12
6. www.narayanahospitals.com
7. www.yeshasvini.org

* Contributed by: -
Dr. Shreyas Goswami is a II Year Business Management student at XLRI, Jamshedpur. He is an MBBS doctor from B. J. Medical College, Ahmedabad, and had extensive work experience in the Healthcare Sector prior to joining XLRI.
This Paper was adjudged one of the Best 8 Papers in "Ashwamedh Paper Writing Contest" organized by XIMB.