Healthcare organizations are experiencing unprecedented levels of exhaustion, burnout and organizational trauma, but creating a culture of replenishment can help combat these challenges.
Not only are hospitals and health systems facing unsustainable staffing levels, but many of the immediate solutions come with downsides. For example, nurses who are new to the profession and agency staffing can impact on organizational consistency and budgets. Time constraints make it difficult to keep up with clinical documentation practices, so physicians end up staying late or completing work from home. Many managers are trying to lead and work on the front lines but feel like they don’t have the answers to tough questions from staff. All of this can be deeply demoralizing.
Also demoralizing is the public distrust around healthcare information. Most concerning, fewer patients and families are offering gratitude to caregivers, which is often all that is necessary to recharge their “empathy batteries.” This lack of replenishment could not come at a worse time.
Call to Action: Center Replenishment and Well-being
The talent crisis is the biggest issue facing healthcare right now. Turnover is rampant. People are leaving because they are depleted, and those who stay are struggling. As leaders, it’s time to take a hard look at our organizational cultures. Are we creating places that replenish people and tap into their calling? Employee well-being must be put at the center of the organization.
Here are a few tips for creating a replenishing culture:
Know your “wellness” data.
Regularly assess employee wellness, not to diagnose, but to gauge how people are feeling and help connect them to resources.
Talk openly about well-being.
Leaders may be hesitant to openly discuss wellness due to concerns of organizational weakness, but “naming, claiming and framing” trauma is necessary for healing.
Recognize that trust may be eroded.
A deeply concerning side effect of organizational trauma is a breakdown in trust and communication. This may occur despite the best efforts of leaders and strengths in these areas. Acknowledging this goes a long way.
Focus on relationships.
Relationship rounding—where leaders regularly meet one-on-one with employees to build strong connections and catch well-being concerns early—is a powerful tool. Mental wellness doesn’t manifest like a cold or a broken leg, so leaders need to build strong relationships to see how people are doing. Empathetic leadership matters. Training in this area is especially vital for young and new, less experienced leaders.
Prepare people to answer tough questions.
Survey your middle managers and say, “I know you get a lot of difficult questions. Let us know what they are.” Collect them, look for commonalities and work together to create some standard ways to handle them or to respond with clarifying questions. Sometimes the fear of being asked these tough questions is enough for leaders to retreat and not spend as much time with their staff.
Build teamwork and collegiality into your processes.
A sense of collegiality, community and belonging is the most powerful countermeasure to burnout. Start with one or two visible and impactful workflows and hardwire changes that build teamwork into new process. Don’t underestimate the psychological impact of small improvements.
Leverage the power of good communication.
Frequent, multipronged communication alleviates anxiety. It keeps people engaged and connected (to each other and to the mission). It keeps organizations nimble, adaptive, aligned and innovative. Communication is always important, but in a time of uncertainty and rapid change, it is vital.
Rethink your training.
People don’t have time for training but are still desperate for it. Consider short bursts of doable, easy-to-access, on-the-go micro-training. (Younger generations expect this.)
Model healthy behaviors.
Very few healthcare leaders right now have work-life balance, adequate rest, good nutrition, and time for exercise. Many nursing unit leaders are working consistently 12- to 15-hour days, often split shifts, five or six days per week. This will accelerate burnout and leader turnover. In areas like this, and in the use of employee assistance programs, senior executives may need to prioritize themselves so they can better serve their teams.
Reconsider the EAP.
Consider taking EAPs out of the Human Resources sphere and make it more about prevention. Rather than being a place where people go when they are in distress, it can be a resource to help people stay well.
All of this is important for now, but also for the future of our profession. Retaining the workforce of today helps us attract and retain the workforce of tomorrow. With no healthcare workers, there is no care. Leaders have a responsibility to prioritize wellness and move toward a culture of replenishment with great urgency—the future of our industry depends on it.
Quint Studer is co-founder of Healthcare Plus Solutions Group, a highly regarded expert in operational excellence and an ACHE Member.
His new book, The Calling: Why Healthcare is So Special, helps individuals replenish themselves, their teams and their organizations. Quint has generously offered to donate $1.00 for each sale of his book to the Fund for Healthcare Leadership, which provides scholarships to ACHE members who seek resources to acquire the skills and training needed to effectively lead today and into the future.