Insights

Rolling out a new electronic patient record system is a technology project. Leading that rollout well is something else entirely.

Earlier this year, Canoe partnered with Digi Rogaland to develop a programme for exactly that challenge. Our goal: give municipal health leaders the competence, tools, and confidence to drive digital transformation in their organisations, not just oversee it.

The problem we were solving

Healthcare leaders are often put in the position of change drivers for digital systems they didn't choose, don't fully understand yet, and are now responsible for making work in their teams.

That's a difficult position. Not because the leaders lack capability, but because most digital implementation programmes focus on the system, not on the people leading the adoption. They get technical training and a go-live date. They don't get what they actually need, which is support in navigating the human side of the change.

What the programme looked like

We used methods that engaged rather than instructed. Practical tools grounded in benefit realisation. Frameworks that helped leaders understand not just what was changing but what they could expect from their teams as the change rolled out.

The outcomes were measurable: real gains in change competence, and leaders who felt more secure in their role as drivers of digital transformation. Not passengers. Drivers.

What this reflects about how we work

Digital transformation in health doesn't fail because the technology is bad. It fails because the human architecture around the technology isn't built.

That's the work Canoe focuses on. Not the system. The people and the culture that determine whether the system ever really lands.

Interested in how we approach change leadership in complex environments? Reach out to Morten Pedersen, Irene Grastveit, or Tina Grønnevik.