An organization can only achieve its highest potential if its employees are fully aligned with the organization’s mission, vision and goals, engaged as owners, and functioning at their fullest potential. It is essential to understand individual levels of employee engagement, and subsequently encourage them to establish a meaningful connection with their employer.
According to HealthStream, an organization’s success depends on how engaged and empowered your people are and how well they deliver a patient-centered experience.
An organization can only achieve its highest potential if its employees are fully aligned with the organization’s mission, vision and goals, engaged as owners, and functioning at their fullest potential.
Healthcare providers must encourage employee engagement if they want to improve patient care, according to a new report from the Point of Care Foundation in the United Kingdom."
Staff engagement is a function of good management and teamwork, staff satisfaction and staff health and wellbeing. These are, in turn, related to a number of aspects of clinical quality, patient experience and productivity and costs.
Staff wellbeing, for example, is an important antecedent of patient care performance," authors write in the report. The way healthcare staff feel about their work can affect a hospital's efficiency and financial performance.
Staff engagement as a whole has fallen each year since 2009 before rising very slightly in 2012, with only 55% of people surveyed indicating that they'd recommend working at their respective organization.”
Great patient care starts with great employee care. Every organization, every department, every shift, is made up of a group of individuals all contributing at varying degrees of engagement.
When you as a leader can begin to understand individual levels of employee engagement, you are better able to help them to align their passion, skills, and talents to the department’s/organization’s needs and goals.
The most important difference between a good leader and a great leader is one of focus. A great leader looks inward; he or she looks inside the company, into each individual, into the differences in style, goals, needs, and motivation of each person.
These differences guide the leader toward the right way to release each person’s unique talents into performance and produce higher employee satisfaction. Leaders who inspire and motivate their employees achieve higher employee engagement scores, greater quality outcomes, and demonstrate better patient experience outcomes.
As a leader, you have the ability and an obligation to develop and grow your employees. In essence, they depend on you to ignite their passion, develop their skills and nurture their talents, ultimately maximizing their potential.
Engaged employees possess an intellectual commitment and an emotional bond (pride, passion, enthusiasm) to their employer. They are willing to exert extra effort and creativity and accept some personal ownership for their own level of engagement, all leading to maximized outcomes for your patient/customer and the organization.
An engaged employee is more likely to recommend their organization as an employer of choice as well as to promote its products and services.
The article was originally written for HealthStream, and is used here with permission.