SPECIAL EDITION!

While healthcare is a wonderful and fulfilling profession, many facilities still face high turnover and low morale. We at IHN Solutions are continuously helping facilities address this issue. In fact, one of our biggest goals is to help every healthcare professional realize the wonderful career path they have chosen. That’s why we’ve decided to dedicate our August newsletter entirely to employee satisfaction and success.

This special issue also comes in conjunction with the availability of a very powerful and compelling tool set. The 7 Keys to Unlocking Personal Success and Happiness in a Healthcare Job is a new series that will help healthcare employees reach their personal and professional goals. Over three decades of research and development have been dedicated to the specific tips and strategies that comprise The 7 Keys. Tried and tested among thousands of healthcare professionals, these strategies have now been incorporated into an easy-to-use series of tapes/DVDs that any healthcare professional can apply to their daily routine.

Lastly, the topics in this special edition are just a few of the many issues The 7 Keys address. You can learn more by simply clicking on the link at the end of each article.

IN THIS ISSUE:

Communication Corner: share information & share in success

Employees Matter: how to make everyday a success

News You Can Use: factors that influence job satisfaction

Just for Fun: things you would love to say, but don’t

Are Your Co-Workers Holding Out on You?

Keeping Information Could be Keeping You from Success

Knowledge-sharing has numerous benefits. When employees exchange information freely, they can learn valuable tips and skills quickly and efficiently. Although many healthcare organizations encourage knowledge-sharing, employees often experience co-workers who hoard information. In fact, a recent study by the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University found that employees often protect their knowledge. Not only that, but some employees go a step further by actively hiding what they know from others.

Why would employees do such a thing? For one, many employees don’t want to give away the secrets they feel make them valuable in the workplace. In other instances, employees will keep knowledge to themselves to get revenge: They think the company has wronged them, and they want to get even by keeping important information to themselves.

This behavior is not good for business. Productivity suffers. The workplace suffers. Workers suffer. If you feel that a co-worker is hoarding information that they should really be sharing with the rest of the team, you need to talk to your manager.

Here are some clues that you’ve been the victim of knowledge-hoarding:

• You ask your colleagues for help and they say, “Sorry, my boss doesn’t want this to be public right now.”

• You ask your colleagues for help, and they are extremely vague or say noth­ing at all.

• You ask your colleagues for help and they say, “I don’t know. Maybe someone else can help you out.”

• You are completely ignored.

While you can’t force your team to share information, you can help foster an environment that is conducive to information exchange. To encourage knowledge-sharing, try the following tips:

• Emphasize positive relationships and trust among your team. Begin by sharing important information with your colleagues. Divulge the “secrets” that helped you when you first started.

• Explain the mutual benefits of having team members share knowledge (these benefits were outlined in the beginning of this article).

• Treat all workers fairly and with respect. If you only share important bits of information with a select few, chances are, only a select few will reciprocate. Bottom line: treat everyone the same.

• Make knowledge-sharing part of the company culture. If team members know that sharing information will be rewarded, they’ll be more likely to do it.

The Key to Success

If you want to be successful in healthcare, your team must be successful. And sharing information is just one of many elements needed to create a fully functional, successful team. So, how do you ensure team success? It’s possible, and it’s easier than you think. Learn more

“Avoiding the phrase ‘I don’t have time...’ will soon help you to realize that you do have the time needed for just about anything you choose to accomplish in life.”

—Bo Bennett

How Healthcare Professionals Can Make Everyday a Success

Healthcare is a demanding profession. In a high-pressure, around-the-clock environment, you must effectively interact with a diverse and sometimes demanding set of people. That being said, it’s absolutely critical that healthcare professionals develop and maintain sharp communication skills.

Simply put, excellent communication skills lead to successful relationships with co-workers and patients. Indeed, all the technical expertise in the world isn't going to help you if your superiors, peers, or patients don’t like what you say or how you say it.

So, how can you successfully communicate today and in the future? Although everyone's circumstances differ, the following tips can help any healthcare professional:

Be open to feedback. Any type of feedback, whether it’s formal or informal can provide critical information about your strengths and weaknesses. When you receive feedback, think about how you can act on it—seek out training, focus on your work habits, etc.

Clarify, clarify, clarify. Be clear on expectations—this includes what you expect of your boss, staff, and peers, as well as what they expect of you. Once you have determined expectations, try to exceed them.

Watch the clock. Time is a very valuable commodity. Get a notebook and write exactly how you spend your time for a typical two-week period. After the two weeks, analyze which kinds of activities you want or need to spend more or less time on.

Find a role model. Identify one or two people who can provide you with concise, timely information and tips specific to your discipline. Finding a mentor at work can help you network with key people in the company. This person can also help you build knowledge of key processes.

The Key to Success

To be a successful healthcare professional, you must take charge of your own skill set. Remember, success and happiness takes work on your part—no one is simply going to hand it to you. Let us help you take charge, so that you are fully motivated and on top of your “game” each and every day. Learn more

“Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It’s not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it’s when you had everything to do, and you’ve done it.”

—Margaret Thatcher

Factors That Influence Job Satisfaction

According to Harris Interactive®, employers need to do three main things if they want their workers to be happy, productive, and healthy:

1. Give them control over their work.
2. Allow them to use their talents and skills.
3. Make sure their work is recognized and appreciated.

Harris’s research also shows the following:

• Overall, 46% of workers say they have a lot of control over their work; 51% get to use their talents and skills a lot; and 41% feel recognized and appreciated a lot.

• Among those who say they have a lot of control over their work, 60% are very satisfied with their jobs; among those who only have some/not much/no control, only 25% are very satisfied.

• Among those who use their skills and talents a lot, 62% are very satisfied with their jobs; only 14% of those who only use their skills some, a little, or not at all are very satisfied.

• Among those who get a lot of recognition and appreciation, 68% are very satisfied with their jobs; only 13% of those whose work receives little or no recognition are very satisfied.

The Key to Success

As the research above indicates, achieving job satisfaction often requires a specific formula. Healthcare employees must ultimately be empowered and given specific tools to succeed and be happy. The 7 Keys to Unlocking Personal Success and Happiness in a Healthcare Job Key offers three specific techniques that will help ensure that everyone in your healthcare organization has what they need to be successful. Learn more

We hope that this special edition of Solutions has helped you gain insight into employee success and happiness. If you have any questions about The 7 Keys, or would like more information, please feel free to contact us.

Things You’d Love to Say at Work, but Don’t

We’ve all had that customer, patient, co-worker, boss, etc. who seems to do everything within their power to get on our last nerve. Of course, being the professionals we are, we deal with these situations in a calm and collected manner. However, sometimes phrases may go through our minds as to what we’d really like to say, but NEVER, EVER would. Below are some humorous examples.

• How about never? Is never good for you?
• I see you’ve set aside this special time to humiliate yourself in public.
• OK, how about this, I’ll try being nicer; you try being smarter.
• Ah, I see the screw-up fairy has visited us once again.
• I like you. You remind me of when I was young and stupid.
• I have plenty of talent and vision. I just don’t give a damn.
• I will always cherish the initial misperceptions I had about you.
• The fact that no one understands you does not mean you’re an artist.
• Do I look like a people person?
• If I throw a stick, will you leave?
• Whatever look you were going for, you missed it.
• I ’m trying to imagine you with a personality.
• I thought I wanted a career; turns out I just wanted a paycheck.