An Established Healthcare Facility Looks At The Road Ahead

The Challenge

American Hospital, a well-established, multiple-location medical system in a midsize city, faced challenges typical of many healthcare systems today. Although it had a long-time reputation for high-quality healthcare, American was encountering issues associated with growth and change as it expanded its network of care facilities. They wanted to be more proactive and flexible throughout the company and that started with leadership being nimble and accountable. The company was challenged by:

Customer opinion indicated Americans maintained its excellent reputation for providing quality health care systems in the region. Yet the CEO was concerned.

The CEO turned to The Oliver Group to realize his vision that American continue as the leading provider of patient-focused care as well as become the preferred employer in the region.

The Process

How was American to keep both the people component and the care component equally strong? How were they to build accountability into an organization that had been blended from several hospitals? And how was the hospital to recruit and keep the very best people to accomplish both those goals?

The Oliver Group believed that the ultimate solution was to tie performance measures with the vision. The process was a lengthy one since it touched so many areas including top leadership, directors, managers, key patient care supervisors and others. After a thorough planning, assessment and analysis process, American and The Oliver Group identified three areas for action:

In recent years, the hospital had blended several hospitals into the American system. Each had had its own culture. Did American need to reconsider a new culture for the entire system or did the existing culture need better definition within the system? After a facilitated discussion of mission, vision and values, the leadership team committed to a new culture of accountability, identified culture change champions among leadership, and created a change strategy for implementation.

The Oliver Group assisted by first working with American to benchmark positions. What jobs were employees being asked to do? Did they have the competencies to handle those situations? Were the positions aligned with the American goals throughout the systems? Ultimately, the Predictive Index, 360° assessments, feedback surveys, and specific unit studies were among tools used to create a workforce strategy linked to American's vision strategy.

American's leaders realized that making certain they had the right people in the right jobs, and that people and jobs were properly aligned, was only half the battle. Continued professional development was key. American's CEO chose to begin at the top with facilitated executive coaching sessions dealing with topics such as decision-making, conflict management and communication. Together, The Oliver Group and American tackled issues such as on boarding, succession planning, and team building. To specifically address the need to retain RNs, they created a mentoring program pairing senior nurses and new graduates, again using the Predictive Index, a behavioral assessment tool, to properly align people to each position.

The Change

American Hospital indeed followed their map to the destination they outlined. Although it was a lengthy journey, the trip was worthwhile. Recent surveys indicate that patient satisfaction continues to be high, while retention by employees had increased. Through the nurses mentoring program alone, American enjoyed more than $1 million in cost savings through the turnover decline.