Leadership, Governance, and Change Management
Core concepts
Understand informatics governance structures: steering committees, clinical informatics councils, and prioritization processes. Know the difference between governance (decision rights) and management (execution). Learn change management models - Kotter's steps, ADKAR, and the diffusion of innovations - and how they apply to EHR rollouts. Understand stakeholder analysis, communication plans, and the role of clinical champions. Know how to build a business case, manage scope, and handle competing priorities. Recognize the importance of executive sponsorship and clinician engagement.
Traps
Questions often confuse governance with project management, or assume a top-down mandate produces adoption. Another trap: treating change resistance as a communication problem when it may be a design or incentive problem.
Rule of thumb
Governance decides what gets done and in what order; management decides how. If decision rights are unclear, projects stall.
Worked example
Two departments request conflicting EHR enhancements. The governance council applies transparent prioritization criteria (patient safety, regulatory, strategic value, effort) and documents the decision. The losing department accepts the outcome because the process was fair.