Month: May 2024

From frontline workers to senior executives, ask anyone in healthcare what common challenges they are experiencing, and you are sure to hear frustrations about the “new generation of employees.”  Leaders who just made sense of Millennials are now trying to figure out how to engage Gen Z, and pre-existing negative stereotypes of this cohort have become further entrenched as TikTok videos and the concept of “quiet quitting” began making the rounds. Despite their notorious reputation, Gen Zers are actually highly practical and recognize the importance of hard work. Dr. Jean Twenge’s extensive research on generations reveals that they are more likely than the previous generation to say that work will be a central part of their lives.1 So, how can healthcare leaders engage Gen Z’s

How often do organizations develop and share annual goals at the start of a new year, then barely talk with work teams about them until 12 months later when posting results. Is it any wonder teams often miss the target when we don’t consistently track goal performance? Successful leaders help teams stay focused on achieving critical operational, financial, and quality goals every day. Monitoring, sharing, and discussing progress throughout the year are all essential practices to make that happen. That’s why the “T” in our Smarter S.M.A.R.T. goals model stands for tracked. Following are five key ideas for effectively tracking goals performance in ways that engage staff and improve results. Go beyond simply posting results To be meaningful and influence team priorities, updated reports from

Exasperated by current staffing and financial challenges, a friend who is a top executive at a major health system seemed uncharacteristically discouraged in a recent conversation. He admitted that their employee engagement, retention, and morale were at all-time lows. He also reluctantly confessed that he didn’t see a clear path out of the current morass.  Looking for a bright spot, he quickly shared, “But managers are doing action plans with employee engagement strategies right now to try to turn things around.”  Since we were both being open and candid with one another, I asked, “Have you really found those action plans to be effective?”  Without hesitation, he admitted, “No, you’re right. We usually check off the box that they’re done, then they go on the