Best Practices

4 Steps to Get Staff Engaged

These principles can lead to effective employee engagement strategies.

By Dana Jacoby

Employee engagement is a key indicator for staff retention, satisfaction and productivity. Despite this, most physician-leaders struggle to find time to create and implement a comprehensive staff engagement plan with contemporary strategies. Recent research indicates this might be a mistake.

A recent Towers Watson study revealed that 65% of the global workforce feels unsupported, detached or disengaged. This suggests that workplace environments have outgrown traditional reward-based engagement strategies. According to Towers Watson, newer strategies primarily based on culture and relationship tend to be more effective in sustaining higher levels of engagement.¹ This means that most practices may need to update their strategies.

Principles for Effective Engagement

Having an employee engagement plan is undoubtedly a key fundamental step in effectively managing a successful practice. As such, physician-owners interested in best-practice management efforts should be carving out time to establish or update engagement strategies. Successful practices use these four principles when creating effective, contemporary staff engagement strategies.

1 Base strategies on a unified vision.

A common vision reflects a unified purpose and joint values. This vision is usually captured in a mission statement that engages, excites and unifies employees and patients. Value-based strategies help staff members understand that providing excellent patient care is a critical component in each of their job duties. While it is possible to create individual departmental visions, each employee should get motivation from an aligned set of goals that directly relate to other departments and the organization’s main mission.

2 Work with meaning and purpose motivates employees.

Most employees agree that job satisfaction depends upon an occupation in which they find meaning and purpose. So, an employer’s primary focus should be helping employees create meaning in their day-to-day activities. Because most employees need social interaction during the day, planning a weekly icebreaker or “huddle” can help create a meaningful and unified work environment. Such meetings foster teamwork and mutual respect.

3 Recognize staff regularly.

Meaningful recognition and performance kudos remain invaluable tools for encouraging individual performance success. Awards, recognition and praise are cost-effective ways to make the difference between a happy employee and one who feels undervalued. Consider sending thank you (TY), achievement (AMT), or exceptional (EX) messages to at least one deserving employee each week.

To stay on track, management can set up a reminder system on Outlook (or any other application) using these abbreviations. Simple e-mails of praise at the completion of a project, monthly memos outlining achievements and peer-recognition programs are additional ways to foster a work environment that is positive.

4 Facilitate personal and professional employee growth.

The employer must engage staff members in discussions around career goals and objectives, even if formal career paths are in place. A strong leader has a plan for each employee and creates opportunities to let her know the practice genuinely cares about her future development. Physician-leaders should make career development and professional growth integral components in the practice’s annual performance review process. Encourage staff to embrace learning and look for development and growth opportunities.

Gain a Competitive Edge

Practice environments without strong, contemporary employee engagement strategies are at a disadvantage in the medical marketplace. Poorly engaged environments can negatively affect employee loyalty, staff morale and, ultimately, retention and productivity. These principles outlined here can provide a competitive edge by creating and updating employee engagement strategies with an eye on improving retention rates and boosting productivity. OM

Reference

1. Towers Watson. 2012 Global Workforce Study. http://towerswatson.com/assets/pdf/2012-Towers-Watson-Global-Workforce-Study.pdf

Dana Jacoby is a senior consultant with BSM Consulting, headquartered in Incline Village, Nev., and Scottsdale, Ariz. Resources discussed in this article are available at twww.BSMCafe.com.