In This Issue: The Leading Edge: Taking Initiative News You Can Use: Low Employee Morale Assessment Employees Matter: Valuing CNAs Just for Fun: Learning the Healthcare System June 2006 Special! Save 25%! Getting In Charge This program examines how nursing professionals can reduce turnover, improve employee morale, communication, quality of delivery, and effectively handle today's nursing leadership issues. It features interactive group exercises addressing topics such as "No Excuse" policy, coaching vs. counseling, developing self control systems and "team" vs. "turf" approaches. Note: The video program was video taped by Arizona Hospital/Healthcare Association at a live seminar presentation. Buy Today: $133.00 Regular Price: $177.00 For more information, click here: http://www.clintmaun.com/products/productDetails.aspx?id=44 [URL: http://www.clintmaun.com/products/productDetails.aspx?id=44 ] Want Your Employees to Take the Initiative? It All Starts with Management Taking the initiative is a great way for healthcare employees to gain a sense of workplace freedom and satisfaction. Moreover, employees who take initiative are likely to make improvements at work, solve problems, and provide customers with service that far exceeds their expectations. Unfortunately, many organizations don’t encourage risk-taking, initiative, or creativity. In fact, according to a recent Gallup survey of 1,200 U.S. workers, 66 percent said that while their managers asked them to get involved in decision-making, only 14 percent felt they had been empowered to make those decisions. In other words, they are not given the authority, resources, and support necessary to be successful. Simply put, the more supportive and encouraging the work environment, the more willing employees will be to take the initiative. Any healthcare organization can unleash untapped employee innovation, creativity, and risk-taking. The following five strategies are a great way to start.
“ You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” — Zig Ziglar Getting to the Bottom of Low Morale: An Assessment Every Healthcare Organization Needs to Take Is morale low at your healthcare organization? Are employees consistently unmotivated? If you answered “yes” you are not alone. Quite simply, there are many reasons for lack of motivation and low morale. However, if no one is willing to address these issues, they will continue—indefinitely. It’s ultimately up to management and senior level staff to root out the problems. When it comes to tackling low morale, you can start by asking some simple questions. Here is a practical list of questions that should shed some light as to how your organization is run: Are promises made but not kept? Broken promises are extremely disheartening to employees. If you have to postpone a group outing, meeting, etc, always try to re-schedule or make the situation right with your employees as soon as possible. Are raises and rewards always just around the corner? If you don’t know the exact date that rewards or raises will be given, you’re better off not saying anything at all. Is management out of touch with staff? Perhaps nothing lowers morale more than a management team that is hypercritical and doesn’t really understand what employees do. Employees who are criticized for things that don’t fall within their job description will greatly resent management. Has an “us” versus “them” culture formed? If you’re out of touch with your employees, they will begin to separate themselves from you and the rest of management. Are profits, revenue, and office equipment valued more than the employees? Does your organization turn a cold shoulder on employees who are sick or having family problems? Does your organization get extremely upset when profits are down, or when equipment breaks or is out of order? Management may not do it consciously, but employees recognize and resent this kind of behavior. If you answered yes to any of these questions, your organization probably needs to improve some of its operational practices. After you’ve identified the problem areas, you can then go to work on eliminating the offending practices. "The dictionary is the only place where success comes before work.” — Anonymous Certified Nursing Assistants: Are You Treating Them with the Respect They Deserve? Certified nursing assistants (CNAs) are an essential component of the healthcare continuum. Many are like family to residents and patients—tending to the unglamorous but necessary tasks of everyday living, such as helping residents brush their teeth, comb their hair, and get dressed. At the end of the day, patients commonly remember these “little things” more than anything else. Although patients surely appreciate CNAs, many healthcare professionals are still failing to recognize the importance of this critical role. This ultimately results in a lack of respect, compensation, and adequate education for many CNAs. Sound Familiar? Have you heard other staff refer to a CNA as “just a CNA”? Perhaps you’ve heard certain staff members say things like, “Jane shouldn’t be checking the patients’ charts. She’s just a CNA.” Or maybe some employees say more subtle things like, “I don’t have time to do that. Can’t we just have a CNA do it?” While staff members probably don’t say these kinds of words to purposely demean CNAs, they undoubtedly do. These types of words are degrading and ultimately nullify the importance of CNAs. While CNAs don’t have the high ranking credentials of a doctor or nurse, their job title should never be referred to as lowly or petty. After all, CNAs have the ability to impact patients’ lives in a positive and much needed way each and every day. What Your Organization Can Do There are steps you can take to help ensure that CNAs get treated fairly and with respect. The Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA) recently published a position statement entitled, “The Value of the Nursing Assistant in End of Life Care” (available at: http://www.hpna.org/positions.asp). While this paper summarizes the Association's commitment to nursing assistants who provide end-of-life care, the majority of the statement can also be applied to nursing assistants in all aspects of care. Act now: Visit the HPNA website and print out the position statement. Post it in your facility and discuss ways to acknowledge and reward your CNAs. Learning the System at a Very Early Age Five-year-old Becky answered the door when a census taker came by. She told the census taker that her daddy was a doctor and wasn't home because he was performing an appendectomy. "My," said the census taker, "that sure is a big word for such a little girl. Do you know what it means?" "Sure do!” said Becky. “Fifteen-hundred bucks, and that doesn't even include the anesthesiologist!" The Fine Print Back Issues of Solutions are available at: http://www.clintmaun.com/newsletter/newsletter.shtml [URL: http://www.clintmaun.com/newsletter/newsletter.shtml ] Questions or comments: clintmaun@aol.com http://www.ihnsolutions.com/ [URL: http://www.ihnsolutions.com/ ] http://www.clintmaun.com/ [URL: http://www.clintmaun.com/ ] http://www.maunlemke.com/ [URL: http://www.maunlemke.com/ ] © Maun-Lemke, LLC 2005 Please forward this E-Zine to anyone that may be interested in personal growth or improving their workplace. PRIVACY STATEMENT: We will not distribute your address to anyone. (No matter how much chocolate they tempt us with!) Guaranteed. Use this link to subscribe or unsubscribe from our newsletter: http://www.ihnsolutions.com/tinc?key=CpVqaxKX&RegistrationFormID=18986 [URL: http://www.ihnsolutions.com/tinc?key=CpVqaxKX&RegistrationFormID=18986 ] © 2005 Maun-Lemke, LLC Contact us toll free at 1-800-356-2233 |