Attracting and retaining workers amid a clinical burnout crisis has made building a positive company culture a priority for hospital leaders.
But many health systems are making the same avoidable mistakes in their efforts to do so. Below are the three of the most common pitfalls, according to Myra Gregorian, chief people and transformation officer at Seattle Children’s — she discussed these during an interview earlier this month at HFMA’s annual conference in National Harbor, Maryland.
Doing the survey but not the work
Health systems have become skilled at surveying their employees, but they don’t always end up doing something tangible with the results. Gregorian said organizations tend to fall into a pattern where they pour energy into promoting the survey while it’s open and then go quiet once it closes.
Employees notice this, she pointed out. Over time, this pattern breeds the kind of cynicism that makes culture change even more difficult than it already is.
“The survey is not the work — the work happens between surveys,” Gregorian declared.
Handing change to people instead of building it with them
Health systems sometimes have the instinct to design change at the top and then roll it out to staff members. Gregorian said this approach almost guarantees resistance — not necessarily because employees are opposed to change, but because they didn’t have a say in making it.
Seattle Children’s involves clinicians on the front end of major changes, sometimes even requiring NDAs to do it, she noted.
Hospitals should make an effort to involve its frontline employees in major decisions as early as possible because people who help shape a change are far less likely to fight it, Gregorian stated.
Assuming the message got through
One of the most common culture mistakes Gregorian has noticed is that leaders sometimes confuse the simple act of communicating with their message actually landing.
Seattle Children’s tested this directly. The health system asked its leaders and frontline employees separately on whether the strategic plan had been discussed with their teams. Leaders reported 90% compliance, while employees reported 70%.
“That means leaders are overrating their connection,” Gregorian remarked. “So we have to figure out more ways to support leaders to do that — because it’s not about finger-pointing, it’s about how to keep engaging employees.”
Photo: MirageC, Getty Images
