Physicians are often asked to lead—but are rarely prepared for the role. Promotions can happen overnight, often with no formal training and little support.…
Getting to a culture of always is an elusive outcome for organizations. Achieving excellence with every process, behavior, and customer interaction—is hard. It separates great organizations…
How employees perceive things often depends on their leader. I often speak to organizations that are undergoing a merger or consolidation. (This is happening…
Like most other healthcare organizations, post acute staffing shortages have created real challenges. Abby Spence, who has been a nursing home administrator for the…
My job provides me with a fantastic opportunity to learn from many smart and successful leaders. Recently, I had the pleasure of meeting Ralph Stayer, owner of Johnsonville Foods, headquartered in Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin. I was presenting at NCH Healthcare System in Naples, Florida, and he was in the audience. Johnsonville Foods started as a small butcher shop. Today it has more than a billion dollars in annual sales and offers products in more than…
We all have moments of clarity, those times when something we may not have been aware of becomes noticeably clear to us. A few of these came to mind over the past several weeks. One is around how we think about deliverables. Employee engagement is a topic most organizations focus on. It shows up in goals. Yet, is engagement the goal, or are items like reduced employee turnover and increased productivity the desired outcomes? This point comes up often when I…
Part Five in a Five-Part Series on Communication and Cultures of Trust Over the past four weeks, we have explored the subject of communication and the role it plays in building a culture of trust. As we discussed early on, great communication helps leaders create clarity and reduce anxiety, demonstrate empathy and understanding, build strong relationships with employees, and much more. (All of these contribute to trust and, ultimately, high performance.) We’ve also talked about what keeps…
COVID-19 was tough on everyone, but one of the hardest hit areas was post-acute. It was a scary time. Residents were struggling. Caregivers were leaving. Stress and burnout were rampant. Organizations were in survival mode—just trying to get through the day. In the aftermath of the pandemic, post-acute is struggling with several realities. One, there’s a serious staffing shortage and high turnover. Two, morale continues to be low, in large part because of that short-staffing. Three, with…
Originally published by Becker’s Healthcare – click here to read in Becker’s Hospital Review. Many healthcare leaders (those who’ve been around for a while) cut our teeth on a certain style of development: the Leadership Development Institute, or LDI (the “big tent” approach). Everyone would get together in a big room for a day and a half while coaches and speakers downloaded a ton of content into our heads. Then, we’d walk out of the…
Part Four in a Five-Part Series on Communication and Cultures of Trust Welcome to the latest installment in a series on trust and communication. Last week we talked about what leaders can do to create the best odds that employees will “hear” what they’re saying and engage in the conversation. (Click here to review.) This week we’ll share some powerful tactics leaders can use to spark trust-building conversations. A great way to build trust is…
Part Three in a Five-Part Series on Communication and Cultures of Trust For the past few weeks, we’ve been exploring the relationship between trust and communication. This is one of the central themes of The Human Margin: Building the Foundations of Trust, the new book Dr. Katherine A. Meese and I coauthored. Good communication builds trust between leaders and employees, which is why it is so important for leaders to be well-trained in this area. In last…
Part Two in a Five-Part Series on Communication and Cultures of Trust Communication is one of the most powerful tools we have for building trust. As we discussed a few weeks ago—and as Dr. Katherine A. Meese and I talk about in our new book, The Human Margin: Building the Foundations of Trust—trust is crucial in the post-Covid workplace. It’s at the heart of everything today’s employees want. Making sure leaders know what to say and…
Part One of A Five Part Series on Communication and Cultures of Trust In last week’s column, we talked about why building a culture of trust in your organization is more important than ever. It helps with retention, engagement, and employee well-being, and sets everyone up to do their best work. And as Dr. Katherine A. Meese and I discuss in The Human Margin, communication is one of the best tools we have for building trust. Because good…
The new book The Human Margin: Building the Foundations of Trust, which I coauthored with Dr. Katherine A. Meese, came out this week. I am grateful to Katherine for partnering with me on the book and to the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) for agreeing to publish it. We share some of the research and insights from the book on my latest podcast available on the Healthcare Plus Solutions Group website. Click here to listen. I am…