So many different areas of healthcare—including patient safety, throughput and supply chain management—can be measurably improved by implementing replicable, scalable, evidence-based best practices. That said, healthcare is incredibly complicated and not all problems have easy, prescriptive solutions. Healthcare leaders facing so many complex challenges may be tempted to look outside their organization for answers. While there is certainly a time and place to seek advice from outside subject matter experts, too often, leaders overlook their internal teams for input.
By engaging staff in problem-solving efforts, leaders make teams feel heard and valued. Additionally, employees can tailor solutions to the organization’s unique culture and operational processes, and they may be more likely to support transformation efforts they helped form.
Here are five tips for engaging your team in problem-solving efforts:
1. Begin your meetings with a simple and important question:
“What have you noticed since our last meeting that has been better or different?” After you ask the question, listen to the feedback. Once employees begin chiming in, be ready to ask follow-up questions like, “How did you make that happen?” or “What did we do to initiate that?” Framing your questions this way will get you on track to solutions as opposed to lingering on problems. If you ask, “How’s it going?” you are very likely to get the typical “I’m busy” response. Or worse, this vague question can send your team down a rabbit hole of complaints from which your meeting will never recover. By focusing on what is “better or different,” you encourage your team to focus on movement that is happening that we might miss if we focus on being “busy.”
2. Use meetings to solve problems, not to give updates.
One of my CMO clients used his Monday team meetings only to solve problems, never to just share updates. Each week, the eight people who reported to him were expected to submit a 200-word brief outlining an issue with which they wanted help. The CMO’s administrator published a newsletter with everyone’s brief each Thursday, and the following Monday meetings were used to tackle the issues together. Consider reframing your own team meetings as a time to find solutions to challenges instead of a time to report everyone’s to-do lists.
3. Take time for training.
Once, while vacationing in South Dakota, I came across a coffee shop that closed every Wednesday in October and November for staff training. Upon speaking with an employee, I learned that the shop dedicated those days to one-on-one and larger group training sessions, some of which were led by team members. Occasionally, the shop would bring in someone for the staff to interview such as a local business owner or a pastor engaged with the local community. The training sessions kept the younger staff members learning and the senior staff engaged. As a healthcare leader, you can’t shut down a hospital for training days, but always remember that professional development keeps team members learning, growing and ready to solve problems.
4. Ditch the tables and circle up for discussions.
Similar to how preschool teachers have students “circle up” for story time, healthcare leaders should ditch the tables at meetings and have team members form circles for brainstorming and problem-solving sessions. Being in a circle allows everyone to hear and see each other clearly and—without the distraction of computers or notepads that you might have when people are sitting at tables—makes it easier to focus on the task at hand. I’ve done this with groups as large as 60 physicians and as small as five executives and it bonds people in a way that keeps the energy flowing.
5. Have an opening and closing routine at every meeting.
One client starts every meeting with a “safety moment” to review a near miss or adverse event and a “service moment” to acknowledge a staff member for following guidelines or for going above and beyond. This routine reminds staff of the problems we are all trying to avoid, the solutions we have in place the mitigate issues and the accomplishments we should aspire to achieve.
Another client closes every gathering with a “meeting effectiveness moment,” similar to the military’s After Action Review, where the last five minutes are devoted to looking back on the meeting and evaluating it. Leaders can ask questions such as, “Did we use too much PowerPoint?” “Was there a lack of engagement?” and “Was the agenda too broad?” This allows everyone to speak up to make the next meeting even better. Bookending meetings this way is a simple tactic for consistently soliciting feedback, making staff feel comfortable speaking up when something isn’t going well and offering solutions, and holding ourselves accountable for incorporating our team’s suggestions on an ongoing basis.
Looking Inward for Solutions
Inspiration can be found anywhere, but the most successful solutions tend to come from our teams—from their energy, their vision and, most importantly, their engagement. Nora Dunn, a “Saturday Night Live” cast member from the ‘80s, once said, “Your job is not to please the audience, your job is to engage the audience…and it is in the engagement, that is when they will be pleased.” As a healthcare leader, your job is not to solve every single team member’s problems, your job is to engage the team in problem-solving efforts…and it is in that engagement that your team will feel comfortable creating solutions and fostering innovation.
Kevin E. O’Connor, CSP, LCPC, LMFT, CCMHC, is a Certified Speaking ProfessionalTM and member of ACHE. He serves as an ACHE faculty member and teaches at Loyola University Chicago (kevin@kevinoc.com).