The role and impact of every employee on the mission

I’m about to take some new training professionals onto my team and the process got me thinking about why training matters in healthcare and the importance of non-clinical employees in the industry. In healthcare, there is one focus, the patient, and rightfully so. So, who takes care of the patient? The nurses, physicians, therapists and other clinical staff. When it comes to the employee population, often times, the spotlight is solely on the clinical staff because they take direct care of our patients.

When your touch is as direct and intimate as that of a nurse or physician, your impact is often immediate and clear. There’s no arguing the power of saving a life. So, what role does everyone else in healthcare play in customer service and patient care? I challenge anyone who thinks that they don’t have a role.

I’ve had the absolute privilege of wearing three hats in my healthcare career: human resources (HR), training, and information technology (IT). I can connect everything I have done and continue to do in these roles back to patient care. I know how I impact the bottom line and I want my soon-to-be training team to understand what their role really means in achieving the mission of our organization.

As an HR professional, my job is to make sure that employees receive appropriate pay and benefits, that they have avenues for support with workplace issues and that they get to work in a safe and engaging environment. As an IT professional, it is my job to provide functional and innovative technology, the appropriate support for that technology and the relevant guidance needed to make the best possible technical decisions for operations. As a training professional, my job is to offer clear and accurate education, effective evaluation of competencies and continued learning support to employees. All of these things allow our clinical staff to focus on the most important thing in our organization: taking care of our patients.

Ultimately, I do what I do so that the employees I serve can best serve their customers and patients. If non-clinical employees do not receive the proper tools and investments to do their jobs well, clinical staff will end up frustrated that they have to focus on things like slow computers, complicated HR policies, and accountability without training. Then, patient care is no longer at the forefront for these employees. However, if we value our non-clinical staff enough to empower them to make great decisions and do great work, they can make sure that the patient is always front and center.

As leaders, we should never diminish the value of our non-clinical staff and as non-clinical staff, we should always understand the important role we play in patient care and think about how to best serve our customers: the employees who take care of those patients. With support for and investment in both clinical and non-clinical staff, the employee and patient experiences become stronger, better and more valuable.

Whether you are in healthcare or not, its critical that employees understand their role and impact on the mission, regardless of where they sit in the company.

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How a punitive culture will punish you

Why are we so afraid to fail and why are we so afraid to let our employees fail? Often, it’s because we’re punished for it. If we make a mistake at work, we get written up for it or in the harshest of organizations, maybe even fired for it.

I challenge you to change this mindset in your organizations. I’m not asking you to give up accountability. I am asking you to rid the punitive cultures that exist in your workplaces. Failure without accountability has no place in the workplace but allowing people to learn from failure holds great value.

I’ve seen organizations lose exceptional employees because they punished them for a “mistake.” Some of these “mistakes” include making a decision that the organization felt should not have been made by the employee or forgetting to do something once. If you have a good employee in this situation, they may start looking for another job because you punished them right away instead of empowering them to learn from their mistakes.

It goes beyond mistakes though. Sometimes, employees are punished simply because they made a decision that the organization or leader does not agree with even though that decision may play out in everyone’s favor in the end. Employees don’t always have the chance to see their ideas, risks and decisions come to fruition because they get in trouble just for presenting them.

Allow your employees to fail and take some risks without punishing them. A punitive culture keeps people down after they fall rather than helps them back up. Remember that as leaders, we make mistakes too but we sometimes have the power to avoid punishment for them. We’re often trusted and expected to learn from our mistakes without any guidance from others.

Think about the last time you did something wrong. If you can’t think of something, you’re in desperate need of some self reflection. Then, think about the last time you did that same thing again but did it right. The feeling of relief that something that once went poorly now went very well is a pretty amazing feeling. Afford your employees the same right to have that feeling. Let them learn from their mistakes and have the opportunity to fix them or change them for next time.

Some of the most successful people and the best employees are the ones who make a lot of mistakes because they are the ones willing to take some risks. They learn from each mistake and eventually, they could be the ones who do something really cool that makes you and the organization look good too. So, stop punishing your employees for making mistakes or taking risks without first empowering them to learn from those mistakes or see the outcome of their risks. A punitive culture only punishes you.

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Are you really ON LinkedIn?

I was talking to someone recently who was looking for some career and job-seeking advice. He asked me to review his paper resume and I asked if he’s on LinkedIn. He said yes with a big confident smile on his face. There was no hesitation in his answer.

After looking up his LinkedIn profile, I said to him, “You’re not on LinkedIn. You have a LinkedIn profile.” Needless to say, we changed this.

I see people make this mistake all too often. Job-seekers think that just because they have a LinkedIn account and copied their resume over to their profile that they’re going to start getting jobs, opportunities, resources, clients, etc. There’s a huge difference between having a LinkedIn account/profile and being ON LinkedIn.

Being ON LinkedIn requires interaction and creativity. Recruiters on LinkedIn are not your traditional recruiters. They are looking for much more than a resume to review your education and experience. They’re looking for examples of your work; they’re looking for your unique thoughts; they’re looking for endorsements and recommendations.

So, let’s tackle some of the things that take you from having a LinkedIn Profile to being ON LinkedIn. The assumption here is that you already have a profile setup with your work experience, education and hopefully, a lot more.

Being active on LinkedIn is the key to successful online networking and knowledge sharing. Here are some things to start doing so you become more active and visible.

LinkedIn Posts
There are two kinds of postings that you can take advantage of on LinkedIn. On your newsfeed, you can type right into the “Start a post…” box and your message will be seen on your connections’ news feeds. Pushing out updates regularly gives you visibility. Be careful not to over post, though. If you can’t think of anything to post, think about your passions. Post interesting articles that you find, inspiring quotes or even updates on cool projects you’re working on.

LinkedIn also has another posting option. You can write articles that can be visible by your connections, everyone in your network and anyone who follows you on LinkedIn. These posts are usually a little longer in length and should reflect some of your deeper thoughts. I treat mine like blog posts where I share my thoughts on different topics that I think my audience might be interested in. Your reach is much larger when you write articles on LinkedIn. Whether you’re trying to find a job, gain new clients or grow your network for knowledge, resource and idea sharing, visibility can impact your success. Posting gives you that visibility.

LinkedIn Groups
Joining and actively participating in groups is a great way to network and share knowledge and resources. Ask questions in groups about relevant topics that get people thinking. You can share articles here too, including ones that you wrote and posted yourself. Try to strike up conversations though with your posts rather than just posting them.

Don’t forget to comment on other people’s posts too and answer questions that they pose in the groups. Participating in groups is like attending a networking event. Eventually, you’ll connect with people who enjoy discussing, posting about and debating similar topics.

LinkedIn Jobs
If you’re looking for a job, you can do it right from LinkedIn. Some employers post their jobs on LinkedIn but require you to go to their website to apply. Others allow you to apply straight from LinkedIn.

If you apply for jobs on LinkedIn and the employer can see all of your activity (posts, comments, etc.) relevant to the job, your chances of spiking their interest might just increase.

LinkedIn Companies and Education
Follow companies you apply for jobs at or that you would like to work at one day. Keep up with what they’re doing – big projects they have going on, what they’re making the news for, awards they’re winning and other relevant announcements. Knowing these things will greatly benefit you in an interview to show that you’ve been keeping up with the company.

LinkedIn’s Education features also allow you to connect with students, alumni and professors at colleges and universities. This is a great way to network and connect with people who have something in common with you.

LinkedIn Connections
Connections are more than just a static network or popularity contest. LinkedIn Connections are about relationships. LinkedIn has a great feature where you can see your last conversation with a connection. Make sure to reach out to your connections every once in a while especially if they are not people you see or talk to regularly.

Maintaining relationships is more important than simply connecting on LinkedIn. Put a reminder on your calendar every few months to reach out to people on LinkedIn.

It’s a commitment to really be ON LinkedIn but it’s one worth making. What are your best practices on LinkedIn?

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It’s performance review time: Tips for the dreaded self-evaluation

It’s performance review time – my favorite time of year…just kidding! It’s not really a fun time for anyone. Employees usually dread it. Managers hate the paperwork. Human Resources goes bananas because they have to sort through all of the reviews and their phones are constantly ringing with questions and concerns.

Plus, there’s been quite a lot of controversy about performance reviews. Thought leaders have been debating the value of performance reviews and whether or not we should even have them. While this debate continues, most organizations are still doing performance reviews.

As a Human Resources professional, I’ve coached a lot of managers on how to best deal with performance management and reviews. However, the people who usually don’t get much direction from Human Resources are the employees who are actually being evaluated.

There’s this thing called the self-evaluation that people often dread completing for their managers as part of the performance review process. Usually, they get submitted with nothing on them except a signature. Sometimes, there’s a joke written on it to see if anyone’s actually looking at it. Other times, people basically write what their job is rather than how they added value to a project or how they went above and beyond.

Here are some great tips that I’ve learned from being evaluated and from evaluating others (and reviewing their self-evaluations):

  • Make it a year-long task to save time in the end. Starting on the first day of your performance year, commit to completing your self-evaluation. As you accomplish things, receive positive feedback or meet goals, make a note of it on your self-evaluation (or your own document if you don’t have the actual form yet). You’ll save a lot of time in the end if you don’t wait until the year is over to try and remember or find things to put on your evaluation form.
  • Stop putting things on your self-evaluation that are simply your job duties. It always amazes me when I see this on self-evaluations: “I’m always on time to work.” Well, it is part of your job to arrive on time! Your manager and Human Resources both know what your job is already. You don’t have to tell them again.
  • Go ahead and brag. It’s okay to talk yourself up if you’ve accomplished a lot. Structure your thoughts though. What did you accomplish? What was the impact of what you accomplished on your team or the organization? In other words, what value did it provide to the overall goal or mission?
  • After you brag about yourself, talk about some of the areas you would like to improve in. If you don’t tell your manager this, they won’t help you get better.
  • Document the status of your goals. Did you have goals for the year? Did you meet them? Perhaps, you even exceeded them. Either way, document this. If you did not meet a goal, explain the reason, the obstacles and the plan to complete it within a specific timeframe.
  • Be real. Be honest about what you put on your self-evaluation and write it with a genuine tone/voice. Don’t try to make bad things sound good or good things sound better. Also, don’t diminish the value of something great because you’re modest.
  • During your review, talk to your manager about what you put in your self-evaluation. Have a conversation about what you’re proud of and what you would like the two of you to work on next year.

These tips will help you complete your self-evaluation and hopefully, find value in it so that it’s not just paperwork that you have to complete every year. These tips should help the performance review process become more meaningful and less dreaded for both you and your manager. As I always tell people I mentor, “The first step to improving ourselves is to engage in constant self-reflection. Make it a habit, part of your everyday.”

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