Minute Motivation

By now you’ve had a chance to look at the results of the Employee Engagement Survey. We have much to celebrate at Grandview and Southview. Grandview is at the 90 th percentile on the Engagement Index. Southview is at the 89 th percentile for percent engaged. These numbers are worth getting excited about. I enjoyed attending yesterday’s Called to Lead session with many of you. I enjoyed hearing the stories about what is taking place in many of our departments, and the shout-outs to various leaders. I want to take the opportunity to extend a shout-out to all of you, as well. When we have the kind of results we’re seeing in this survey, it’s very much a reflection of those who serve as leaders. Our employees are engaged in their work and in our organization because they have managers, directors, and executives who they trust, and who create a workplace culture that they can connect with. These results come from your work in building relationships with the people you serve ever...

Over the past week, many of you have begun digging into the results from the Employee Engagement Survey. As we’ve said before, the numbers are a snapshot into the culture of your area, the experience your team has at work at this moment in time. This data is important for leaders, as it helps us know what our team is experiencing, and gives us insight as to how we can continue our pursuit of excellence in creating a great place to work. One of the most important things we can do is to continue focusing on those things that create engagement. In a paper published by SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management), we find this insight: “According to the SHRM findings, the most important condition of engagement continues to be the relationship with co-workers, followed by opportunities to use employees’ skills and abilities at work, relationship with immediate supervisor and the work itself.” * We are challenged to continue to focus on relationships within our departments – those ...

After sending out last week’s Minute Motivator talking about creating a culture of joy at work, Sandy Johnson, Director of Patient and Family Experience, sent me a fascinating white paper on the subject, titled “IHI Framework for Improving Joy in Work.” From the paper’s introduction: “Health care is one of the few professions that regularly provides the opportunity for its workforce to profoundly improve lives. Caring and healing should be naturally joyful activities. The compassion and dedication of health care staff are key assets that, if nurtured and not impeded, can lead to joy as well as to effective and empathetic care.” The authors then lay out four steps to take in moving from the current state to a culture of “joy in work:” 1.       Ask staff, “What matters to you?” 2.       Identify unique impediments to joy in work in the local context. 3.       Commit to a systems approach to making jo...

(This Minute Motivation is written with apologies to our Cavs-loving HR Director, Keith Jenkins) ESPN ran an article last week on the impact their star player, Steph Curry, has on the Golden State Warriors team and organization. The writer talks about head coach Steve Kerr: “…mere months into his tenure in Oakland, Kerr decided the dream culture he desired would embody the star player at the very center of it. They would strive to make one of Curry’s defining traits their cornerstone. It would be a constant, felt in the practice facility (where music thumps) and film sessions (where jokes fly) and far beyond. It would be one of the few qualities that, in the age of analytics, remained difficult to tally: happiness.” The article tells how Curry’s happiness and joy permeates the culture of the team. Teammate Klay Thompson says: “’I can say here, everyone enjoys coming into the gym.’ [Draymond] Green cosigns this notion, saying that many NBA players feel like their job – while c...