Future-Proof Your Healthcare Strategy: A Leader's Guide to JTBD

The healthcare landscape is under unprecedented pressure. Escalating costs, the demand for better outcomes, relentless technological disruption, and shifting patient expectations create a complex environment where traditional strategic planning often falls short. Many healthcare enterprises find themselves trapped in a cycle of optimizing existing services – tweaking processes, adding incremental features – hoping to find an edge. But what if the path to sustainable growth and market leadership lies not in doing things better, but in doing different things altogether?

This is where the Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) framework offers a transformative perspective. Instead of focusing internally on current capabilities or broadly on market trends, JTBD shifts the focus externally to the fundamental 'job' your stakeholders – patients, providers, administrators – are trying to accomplish in a specific situation. It's about understanding the 'why' behind their actions and the outcomes they use to measure success. By uncovering these deep, often unmet needs, JTBD provides a rigorous foundation for developing truly new strategic directions.

This post provides a strategic framework for applying JTBD within your healthcare enterprise, moving beyond incrementalism to identify high-opportunity areas and build a resilient, future-proof strategy.

Rethinking Value: What 'Job' Are You Really Solving?

At its core, JTBD asks a simple but profound question: What underlying goal is this person trying to achieve? It moves beyond demographics ("targeting seniors") or product categories ("selling telehealth platforms") to the specific context and desired outcome.

Consider these potential healthcare 'jobs':

• For Patients:

  • “Prevent chronic illness by eating a proper human diet.”

  • "Maintain my independence and quality of life despite a chronic illness."

  • "Navigate a complex diagnosis pathway with clarity and confidence."

  • "Minimize the life disruption caused by managing my health condition."

• For Providers:

  • "Collaborate seamlessly and efficiently with other members of the care team."

  • "Reduce the time spent on administrative tasks during patient encounters."

  • "Access comprehensive patient information precisely when needed for decision-making."

  • "Stay current with advancements relevant to my patient population."

When strategy focuses solely on optimizing current services (e.g., reducing clinic wait times by 5 minutes) without understanding the core job (e.g., "Get timely resolution for my health concern with minimal disruption"), resources can be misallocated. The real risk is investing heavily in perfecting solutions for problems stakeholders aren't primarily trying to solve, leaving the door open for competitors who truly understand the underlying job.

Framework: Applying JTBD to Healthcare Strategy Development

Integrating JTBD into strategic planning isn't just a theoretical exercise; it's a practical process for identifying where to play and how to win.

Step 1: Defining the Core Job & Context The first crucial step is identifying the right 'job' to focus on. This requires defining the scope and achieving the correct level of abstraction. Is the job "manage diabetes," or is it a higher-level goal like "maintain target blood glucose levels with minimal daily disruption"? Understanding the specific situation or context is also vital. Who are the key stakeholders (patient segments, provider types, administrators), and what circumstances trigger the job?

Step 2: Uncovering Desired Outcomes (Needs) Once the job is defined, the next step is to understand how stakeholders measure success. These are their desired outcomes – the metrics they use, consciously or unconsciously, to evaluate how well a solution helps them get the job done. This typically involves qualitative research, particularly in-depth interviews structured to uncover the 'struggles' and desired outcomes associated with the job. Outcomes should be framed as measurable success metrics, free from implementation details (e.g., "Minimize the time required to understand treatment options," not "Provide an explanatory brochure").

Step 3: Quantifying Opportunity Not all desired outcomes represent equal opportunity. The JTBD process, particularly in evolutions of its Outcome-Driven Innovation (ODI) origin, involves quantifying which outcomes are highly important to stakeholders but poorly satisfied by current solutions. This analysis pinpoints the specific unmet needs where innovation efforts will likely yield the highest returns.

Step 4: From Needs to Strategy The prioritized list of unmet needs becomes the input for strategy development. It clearly shows where current approaches are failing and where new solutions can create significant value. These insights directly inform critical strategic choices:

• Identifying new markets or underserved segments.

• Guiding internal R&D and product/service development.

• Informing partnership strategies and M&A targeting.

• Defining competitive positioning and value propositions.

Elevating the Level of Abstraction: Designing Future Solutions

A powerful implication of JTBD thinking is its ability to help organizations "elevate the level of abstraction." By focusing on the fundamental job, companies can design solutions that address higher-context goals, often simplifying or even eliminating the complexities inherent in today's solutions.

Consider chronic care management today. It might involve separate interactions with primary care physicians, specialists, pharmacists, along with juggling multiple devices (glucose monitors, blood pressure cuffs), apps, and educational materials. The patient is often the unwilling systems integrator.

Now, imagine a strategy focused on a higher-level job: "Ensure my continuous optimal health state with proactive adjustments and minimal lifestyle disruption." A solution designed for this job might look very different:

• Integrated platforms that consolidate data from various sources.

• Predictive analytics identifying potential issues before they escalate.

• Automated delivery of supplies or medications.

• Seamless communication interfaces connecting patients, AI-driven advisors, and human clinicians when necessary.

In this future state, many of today's discrete tasks and tools are abstracted away. Furthermore, the 'job performers' may shift significantly – AI could handle routine monitoring and adjustments, remote clinical teams could manage escalations, and patients themselves could be empowered with simpler tools for self-management, changing the roles and responsibilities across the ecosystem.

Case Study Snippet: Post-Operative Recovery

Think about the job of "Recover fully and quickly from surgery." Today's solution involves pre-op instructions, the surgery itself, a hospital stay, confusing discharge papers, follow-up appointments, physical therapy, and often significant patient/caregiver anxiety.

A JTBD strategy might uncover key unmet needs like: "Minimize uncertainty about the recovery process," "Maximize confidence in performing rehabilitation exercises correctly at home," "Minimize the burden on caregivers," "Reduce the risk of preventable complications." A strategy targeting these needs could lead to solutions like:

• Personalized digital recovery pathways with daily guidance.

• Wearable sensors monitoring recovery progress and alerting care teams to anomalies.

• Tele-rehab sessions integrated with sensor data.

• Proactive check-ins based on predictive risk algorithms.

This approach shifts the focus from discrete service encounters to continuously supporting the patient's core job of successful recovery.

Overcoming Implementation Challenges

Adopting a JTBD-driven strategy isn't without challenges. It requires a shift in mindset away from product/service features towards customer outcomes. Potential hurdles include:

• Organizational Resistance: Departments siloed around existing services may resist a job-centric view.

• Capability Gaps: New skills in qualitative research, data analytics, or digital platform development may be needed.

• Data Integration: Connecting disparate data sources is often essential but complex.

Mitigation strategies include securing strong executive sponsorship, starting with pilot projects to demonstrate value, building cross-functional teams, and investing in necessary training and technology.

Conclusion: Start Asking 'Why?'

In a rapidly evolving healthcare landscape, incremental optimization is no longer sufficient. The Jobs-to-be-Done framework offers a rigorous, customer-centric methodology for uncovering unmet needs and defining strategies that create fundamentally new value. By focusing on the 'why' behind stakeholder actions and the outcomes they truly desire, healthcare enterprises can move beyond optimization and forge resilient strategies for the future.

The first step? Start asking "What job are our stakeholders really trying to get done?"

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What do you think?

What is the biggest 'job' you see patients or providers struggling with in your area of healthcare? How might understanding that job change your strategic priorities? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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If you’d like to take action, I would love to help. Here’s are some steps you can take to make that a reality for us:

1. Join my community and get access to more content and tools

2. Apply for coaching so we can do projects together and build a new business-as-usual with someone who will share the knowledge, and hold you accountable. (I have limited seats so hurry!)

3. I do project work as well. Use the coaching link and we can discuss.

Why Me?

I’ve been trained by the best in Outcome-Driven Innovation. Part of that training involved how to understand what the future should look like. As a result, I’ve taken what I’ve learned and begun innovating so I can get you to the outcomes you’re seeking faster, better, and even more predictably. Anyone preaching innovation should be doing the same; regardless of how disruptive it’ll be.

How am I doing this?

• I’ve developed a complete toolset that accelerates qualitative research to mere hours instead of the weeks or months it used to take. It’s been fine-tuned over the past 2+ years and it’s second-to-none (including to humans). That means we can have far more certainty that we’ve properly framed your research before you invest in a basket of road apples. They don’t taste good, even with whipped cream on top.

• I’m also working on a completely new concept for prioritizing market dynamics that predict customer needs (and success) without requiring time-consuming and costly surveys with low quality participants. This is far more powerful and cost effective than the point-in-time surveys that I know you don’t want to do!

I believe that an innovation consultant should eat their own dog food. Therefore, we must always strive to:

• Get more of the job done for our clients

• Get the job done better for our clients

• Get the job done faster for our clients

• Get the job done with with fewer features for our clients

• Get the job done in a completely different and novel way for our clients

• Get the job done in a less costly manner for our clients

You could be an early tester of the latest developments, but at a minimum take advantage of an approach that is light years ahead of incumbent firms that are still pitching a 30 year old growth strategy process but haven’t grown themselves. 👈🏻 It's worth thinking about.

All the links you need are a few paragraphs up. Or set up some time to talk … that link is down below. 👇🏻

Mike Boysen - www.pjtbd.com
Why fail fast when you can succeed the first time?

📆 Book an appointment: https://pjtbd.com/book-mike