One of the first questions organizations often ask is, “Where should we begin?”

It’s an understandable question. Leaders want to make thoughtful decisions, use their resources wisely, and focus on changes that will have the greatest impact. The challenge is that there isn’t a universal answer. The right place to begin depends on the organization itself.

There is no universal roadmap for every organization to follow. Healthcare organizations differ in size, culture, staffing, patient populations, leadership priorities, and available resources. Even organizations that appear remarkably similar on paper may face very different opportunities when you look more closely.

A large academic cancer center may have multiple specialists, established survivorship services, and extensive educational resources, yet struggle with helping patients navigate between them. A smaller community program may have fewer dedicated services but stronger continuity of care and closer relationships between team members. One organization may have clinicians who feel comfortable discussing intimacy but lack clear referral pathways. Another may have excellent referral resources that are rarely used because conversations seldom begin.

Neither organization is necessarily ahead of the other. They are simply starting from different places.

This is one of the reasons I believe organizational change should begin with understanding before action. It is tempting to assume that improvement means adding another training program, creating additional resources, or introducing a new initiative. Sometimes those are exactly the right next steps. However, just as often, organizations discover that meaningful improvement comes from strengthening what already exists.

That process begins with seeing the organization more clearly.

When people take time to look closely at how intimacy-informed care is currently experienced, they often discover strengths they had overlooked. They recognize clinicians who can serve as trusted resources. They identify educational materials that deserve greater visibility. They notice informal practices that are working well but have never been intentionally shared across teams. These strengths become important foundations for future growth because they demonstrate that meaningful work is already happening.

At the same time, greater clarity makes opportunities easier to recognize.

An organization may realize that conversations occur regularly during survivorship but rarely during active treatment. It may become apparent that referral pathways exist but are understood differently by different departments. Patient resources may be comprehensive but introduced inconsistently. Staff may genuinely want to help but remain uncertain about what falls within the scope of their role.

These observations are signs that the organization is beginning to understand itself as opposed to signs of failure.

This distinction is important because improvement is often framed as fixing weaknesses. While addressing gaps is certainly important, lasting change rarely comes from focusing only on what is missing. It comes from understanding how strengths and opportunities exist together within the same system.

For example, instead of asking, “How do we become like another organization?” teams can be encouraged to explore, “Given where we are today, what is the most meaningful next step for us?”

As you can see these are very different questions.

The first assumes there is a single destination that everyone should pursue. The second recognizes that organizational change is influenced by context and that thoughtful progress depends on understanding that context before deciding where to invest time and resources.

This philosophy has shaped the way CancerEVOLVE approaches organizational assessment and implementation.

The purpose is not to compare organizations against one another or to determine who is doing better. It is to help each organization develop a shared understanding of its current strengths, its emerging opportunities, and the realities of the environment in which it is working.

From there, priorities become easier to establish, decisions become more intentional, resources can be directed where they are most likely to make a meaningful difference.

Ultimately, every organization starts in a different place because every organization has followed a different path to arrive where it is today. That is not a limitation. Rather, it is one of the greatest advantages an organization can have because meaningful improvement begins not by following someone else’s roadmap, but by understanding your own. And we’re here to help your organization do exactly that.

Ready See Your Organization More Clearly?

Understanding that every organization starts in a different place naturally raises another question: Where are we today?

The CancerEVOLVE Organizational Readiness Snapshot was created to help answer that question. It offers organizations a structured way to reflect on their current strengths, identify opportunities for growth, and establish a thoughtful foundation for future improvement.

Explore the Organizational Readiness Snapshot →