01:05 pm, 10 Feb 2022
Over the past two years we have seen our hospitals and frontliners respond bravely to the pandemic. We have heard stories of tremendous leadership, skill, sacrifice and commitment to keeping patients alive. We have also heard of doctors and nurses pressured beyond breaking point. Very sadly, we have lost some of these heroes.
As the world settles into an endemic phase, will it be back to business as usual? Employees have transitioned to working remotely or from home and are enjoying the quality of life it offers. People are reluctant to get back to a 9-to-5 job and have used the downtime from the pandemic to upskill.
Now more than ever, Workforce Engagement and a good workplace culture are essential to both retention and ongoing recruitment. Similarly, the same applies to delivering a positive Patient Experience. Workforce Engagement and Patient Experience are two sides of the same coin, they both drive better clinical outcomes, improve patient safety and impacts financial performance.
Unfortunately achieving these twin objectives is made much more difficult today. What the past two years has taught us is, clearly, we live in a VUCA world where we all experience, in varying degrees, a world of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. In this environment, the old ways managing will not do! Where there’s Volatility we need Vision, where there’s Uncertainty we need Understanding, where there’s Complexity, we need Clarity and where there’s Ambiguity we need Agility.
CEOs should focus around a strategic intent and overall direction of the Hospital with a focus on a reason for being, a sense of purpose, belonging and values. Engage with your personnel on these levels to deliver a positive patient experience.
CEOs should also note the following:
• Strategic clarity. Clarity of why your hospital exists, who your patients are and why they come to you. What makes you special?
• Clarity of business drivers. Deep understanding of the key drivers of your patient experience, operations, revenues and profitability.
• What-If Proficiency. Your people will need to be highly skilled in asking ‘What-if’ questions.
• Agility. The ability to change tack as events unfold – without shame or blame attached in any way. It is always about improvement not blame.
• Execution. Effort is admirable but only delivery of outcomes matter. Track your performance hourly, daily, weekly and monthly.
• A change-ready culture. Your people will need to be ready to embrace change; constantly asking questions and continually looking for new ways of working and improving.
• An extraordinary leadership team. You will need ‘leaders of leaders’ who trust one another and work together to deliver shared missions and objectives.
• The ability to lead change. You and your departmental heads must at all times lead and direct change.
Reference: changeandstrategy.com
At PULSE we are on a mission to help Hospitals raise their standards and navigate more effectively in a VUCA world. Our Digital Platform engages with Hospital personnel 24×7 and offers certainty, consistency and confidence to make data driven decisions. This positive environment for Doctors and Nurses directly impacts patient experience.