The Big Story: Hope, Mission and Turning the Tide
“In the current environment it could be easy to say, ‘There’s too much noise. We need to put our heads down and do the work and let our people do the same.’ That won’t work.”
Powering Up Your Workforce to Advocate for You
By Isaac Squyres and David Shifrin
4-minute read
At a moment when healthcare urgently needs a passionate army to help solve the industry’s many challenges – ranging from clinical puzzles to stretching every dollar to policy driven tsunamis – our most recent research finds you don’t have to look far to find it. It’s exciting, helpful and liberating.
Leave your C-Suite and you’ll find latent energy coiled in the form of white coats and blue scrubs walking your hallways waiting to be organized and activated to spring into action as advocates for what lies ahead.
Our research team recently asked nurses and physicians across the nation this: “How much do you think you as an individual can drive positive change related to the major challenges facing healthcare?”
A whopping 85% – a political landslide – expressed some confidence that they can help drive positive change. That is great news.
But only half said they are being asked to help. That’s a miss. And a critical opportunity.
Earlier this month we wrote there are two questions to ask: “What must be done today?” And, “Who must we become tomorrow?” The findings in Hope, Mission and Turning the Tide offer a way to work through those questions in partnership with the people in those hallways who have the experience, insights and willingness to be your advocates.
We don’t (just) mean political advocates, making calls or knocking on doors. You need advocates of and participants in the systemic change needed for the industry and for tough decisions at your organization. There are hard choices to be made. But anything you want to achieve can be made easier by giving your people a role in it – whether workforce engagement, community advocacy, change management, addressing policy changes, or tackling operational issues.
Tapping into that power starts with forthright conversations inside your organization about what’s coming down the road. And articulating your point of view, your vision for the future.
Survey Says
Let’s go back to the survey by our Jarrard Market Research & Insights team. Central questions we posed to 1,000 nurses, doctors and other clinical staff from across the country were:
“Please indicate whether you agree or disagree with the following statement: ‘My organization involves me and my colleagues in finding productive ways to respond to the major challenges facing healthcare?’”
“Regardless of whether you think your organization involves you, how much do you think you as an individual can drive positive change related to the major challenges facing healthcare?”
Just over half (53%) of healthcare workers agree that their organization involves them in navigating this chaotic moment. That number is higher for physicians, lower for nurses. Yet nearly two-thirds (62%) say they are “somewhat” or “very confident” in their ability to help solve those problems. Tack on the people who say they’re “a little confident” and you’re looking at more than eight in 10 saying that they have something to contribute.
That’s a lot of pent-up energy and ideas, just waiting to be given a chance.
They are people who share your mission and directly experience the challenges you face, whether bad public policy or inefficient operations.
And most important? Patient suffering – not margins and reimbursement – is personal to them. Now that’s motivating. That’s energy. What problems can’t be solved with smart energy harnessed well?
High-Voltage Safety
It should be encouraging, illuminating and a relief for leaders to bring their workforce into the conversation.
There’s tremendous power to deploy here. But, like dealing with any high-voltage energy, take caution.
Bear in mind three potential risks.
- Left untapped, pent-up energy will find an outlet – and possibly (maybe even likely) in a way you could find unhelpful or even harmful. The energy grows, the spring coils tighter as healthcare workers experience the problems and want change but hear nothing or conflicting information. Keep them out of the loop and eventually their spring will snap. Use this goodwill energy or risk it turning on you.
- You can’t activate your colleagues if your organization’s cultural distrust causes them to roll their eyes. Without trust, the invitation to participate will look desperate or pandering instead of empowering.
- Be clear on your vision for the organization and communicate it. Demonstrate that you have a point of view and an approach to what lies ahead. Avoid the information vacuum which people fill with their own worries and speculation. Lack of clarity kills.
Effective engagement and successfully navigating change requires a well-informed and compelling point of view and a clear-eyed assessment of your organization’s culture, existing engagement efforts and communications channels.
Then comes the work to find your messengers. Engage them. Ask them to join you. Listen to what they have to say. Then equip them and activate them to find “productive ways to respond to the major challenges facing healthcare.”
Power up and release all of that inspired energy out into the world.
Contributors: David Jarrard, Emme Nelson Baxter
Image credit: Shannon Threadgill
