Ask healthcare leaders about accountability, and you’ll often get a pause or even a sigh before receiving an answer. Accountability has become synonymous with discipline, hard conversations, and the very real fear of losing a staff member the organization cannot afford to lose. This mindset alone tells us something important. The problem isn’t that healthcare leaders don’t care about holding employees accountability; it’s that we sometimes have a skewed view of what it should look like day-to-day – and what it costs when we avoid it. When compassion becomes avoidance Healthcare attracts people who are wired to help, which is one of its greatest strengths.  But that same instinct can undermine leadership when compassion becomes a reason to delay or avoid conversations related to performance.

For years, we’ve been told that research proves it takes 3-5 years to change an organization’s culture. Apparently, Curt Cignetti, head coach of the Indiana Hoosiers football team, didn’t get that memo. In nearly every interview I’ve seen during this record-breaking season, especially ones featuring Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza, the team’s culture comes up more often than any other factor to explain how their unprecedented college sports miracle happened. My gut tells me that Curt Cignetti started changing the culture of IU football during his first 3-5 minutes – not years – on the Bloomington campus. Like college athletics, companies are complicated organisms, filled with mountains of rules and regulations, policies and procedures, and tried-and-true traditions that dictate how things get done. So, how

When staff engagement surveys roll in, one message is nearly universal: improve communication.  Too often, that leads to a flood of new emails or revamped intranet pages – well-intended but misguided fixes. What employees actually want isn’t more communication; it’s better communication. Following are five ways to rethink and retool internal communication. Ditch the sales pitch In written communication or major organization-wide meetings, most organizations can’t resist the temptation to tell staff how great the company is, including some version of the “people are our most important resource” line. Today’s employees will judge how great the company is or isn’t through their own experience on the job. Platitudes have never been very effective. Our current workforce may actually find them offensive if they reveal that

Across industries and organizations, contemporary workforce discussions often frame Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, Millennials, and Gen Z at odds with one another. Generational stereotypes – like Boomers struggling with technology, Millennials being entitled, or Gen Z requiring constant pats on the back – may provide entertainment, but they also reinforce a divisive narrative. The problem is not only the jokes. Social media platforms do more than just reflect generational conflict; they actively shape it. Headlines designed for engagement, such as “Why Gen Z is Over Millennials” or “How Boomers Wrecked the Economy,” subtly influence how we perceive and interact with colleagues from different generations. When leaders adopt these narratives, casually repeat them in meetings, or reference them in performance conversations – even unintentionally – they

Over $360 billion. That’s how much companies spend on leadership training according to TrainingIndustry.com and reported in Forbes. Approximately $160 billion of that total is spent in the U.S. alone. Yet in research from McKinsey, organizations report that most leadership development programs fail to deliver the desired results. With huge investments of both money and time, how can that be. The answer lies in how those dollars and hours are invested – and then supported – to improve performance. Feeling Good vs. Performing Better In medicine, some drugs may make a patient feel good about taking them, even if they don’t help them get better. In a 2017 study published in the peer-reviewed journal The BMJ, authors found that: “Most new oncology drugs authorized by

In their effort to boost employee engagement and retention, many organizations overlook one of their most powerful assets: empowered middle managers. When these leaders feel trusted and supported, it cascades to their teams.  And the impact is measurable. Teams led by empowered managers enjoy 79th percentile employee engagement, and 67% of employees say they’re more likely to go above and beyond as reported in Forbes (“The 6 Key Secrets to Increasing Empowerment in Your Team”). Contemporary leadership theory emphasizes empowerment – encouraging open dialogue, recognizing contributions, and extending trust.  But in real-world settings, something critical is often missing. Empowerment without resources is a hollow gesture. If managers aren’t given the time, training, support and validation to lead confidently, then autonomy becomes more of a burden

Only 12 percent of employees think their company does a good job of welcoming new hires according to a study by Gallup. If onboarding and making new hires feel welcome weren’t so important, maybe that statistic wouldn’t be so troublesome. But industry research consistently highlights the critical role onboarding plays in both keeping new employees and helping them be most successful. Effective onboarding increases retention of new hires by 82 percent according to an often-cited study by the Brandon Hall Group for Glassdoor. The same study found a 70+ percent boost in productivity for new staff who found their onboarding experience was positive and helpful. Employees who are the beneficiaries of great onboarding are 18 times more committed to their organizations, according to a study

“Do I belong here?” It’s the question everyone asks themselves as they start a new job. And today, organizations are seeing rising rates of first-year resignations because their new employees can’t answer that question with an enthusiastic, “Yes!” It’s no surprise that effective onboarding strategies have become front-and-center in retention efforts. A recent article in HR Morning, “Why the Best Onboarding Happens Outside the Conference Room,” highlights that approximately 20 percent of new hires quit in the first 45 days. For managers and current staff, that early turnover is frustrating, disruptive – and extremely expensive. Unfortunately, these statistics shouldn’t be a surprise when only 12 percent of employees think their company does a good job of welcoming new team members. The good news is that

Among the long list of demanding responsibilities facing frontline leaders, initiating difficult conversations with staff often is among the most dreaded. It’s also one of the most important skills to develop. In our last blog, we emphasized why developing the will and skills to have these difficult conversations is so critical for leaders. Today, we share eight key steps to make tough discussions a little easier – and a lot more effective. Before the conversation: 1. Start with a clear, results-focused purpose for the conversation. Too often, we think about and approach all challenging conversations like our most dreaded scenario: having to fire someone or eliminate their job. The problem is that those encounters usually are not conversations. Rather, they are structured to deliver bad

Among the many challenges facing leaders, hard, uncomfortable conversations with staff, peers, and even bosses are among the most dreaded and often avoided leadership practices. Leaders usually admit that they could be better at having what many call “crucial conversations,” because of the title of the 2002 best-selling book. But in spite of the popularity of the book and recognition that these types of conversations are indeed crucial, we still see significant quantitative and qualitative opportunities in most organizations: direct, honest, difficult conversations should be happening more frequently. And leaders could be better at how they approach them. Are there risks in having these conversations? Sure. But we often ignore the arguably bigger risk of not having them. Following are three of the most significant