Five cheap and easy ways to improve performance, morale, and motivation
Performance not great? morale low? Motivation weak? staff a little lackadaisical? Yes, there are solutions. And no, they aren't difficult,says LYNN HOMISAK of SOS Healthcare Management Solutions, a practice management consulting organization in Seattle. Neither are they expensive.
Here are a handful of them.
1. a survey for staying, not exiting
Give staff a "stay" survey. Everybody uses exit surveys, Homisak says. But once somebody is out the door, the opportunity for improvement has been lost. "Why wait till people leave to find out what the office could have done to make the environment more enjoyable?" Keep ahead of the game. Give staff an opportunity to recommend improvements while there's still time to make them. Hiring and training a new staffer can cost the office as much as $10,000; far cheaper is to find out what will keep a good staffer from leaving.
For her own clients, Homisak uses a survey that not only gives the manager usable information but is also fun for staff to answer. (See sample at right.) One question, for example, asks staff to compare their attitude to movie titles. "If somebody chooses Les Miserables, obviously there's a problem," she says. Have staff fill out the survey once a year right before performance reviews and make the responses part of their reviews. Or if there's some significant change such as a merger, tell them "it's time to survey again." With the written survey, the office gets truthful and usable information, because it's easier for people to write down their feelings than it is to tell them to the manager face-to-face.
2. the look of a team
To create a team, make staff feel like a team. Here, Homisak makes three recommendations. The first is to establish a team uniform. Having everybody wear scrubs the same color or print on the same day "creates a sense of unity." It's no different from sports; when people dress the same, "they all belong to the same team."
People are aware of that, albeit subconsciously. She finds, for example, that when she goes to a client office for the first time, staff usually have made an effort to dress the same and look their best, maybe all medical office manager wearing the same color scrubs. But the next day, "they go back to wearing what they want" - one person in scrubs with pictures of whales, another with flowers,"and the office looks disjointed."
Take the unified look further by getting scrubs with the office logo embroidered on the shirt. And carry that further still by setting out a dress policy that outlines the professional appearance staff are expected to present. And in it, include a ban on the questionable things such as visible tattoos and body piercings.
The second team builder is personalized business cards for staff. That's no great expense, she says. The physicians' cards are likely already made up, so all that's needed is to drop in the staffer's name. Staff are proud to hand out their cards, because cards show their jobs are important. As a result, the cards wind up in the hands of people whom the physicians could never otherwise reach - often with a testimonial of "this is the best practice around."
The third team builder: on correspondence to patients, mention staff members by name and givethem titles to indicate who's responsible for what. If there's a letter about a drug recall, for example,tells patients to call "our recall supervisor Staffer A."That way, patients have someone specific to ask for,the other staff don't have to take time away from their work to handle the calls, and the recall staffer has a sense of importance plus accountability for handling the recalls.
3. get to know staff personally
To get staff to take a personal interest in the office, take a personal interest in them. Ask about their interests, their hobbies, and their outside lives, Homisak says. Again, use a form. Just draw up a simple one that asks for information such as birthday, the names of family members and their birthdays, and even the names of pets. Ask what personal and professional goals the staffer has and what accomplishments the staffer has achieved. Ask about hobbies, music preferences, restaurantpreferences, favorite foods, and so on.
4. smooth out the rough spots
Two very simply tactics can help create a pleasant office environment, Homisak says. One is to smooth out the day-to-day rough spots staff have to deal with. Ask them for the five or 10 most difficult situations they encounter and together talk about how to respond. For example, if the front desk says patients complain about having to pay at the time of service, talk about what staff can say to those patients and write a script for everybody to follow. The script can be an outline or a word-for-word response, but don't ask anybody to memorize it, she says. Do that and it sounds stilted. Staff need to answer "in everyday language."
The second approach to a pleasant environment is to set aside the last five minutes of each staff meeting for positive remarks. Make it a rule that each staffer has to say one positive thing about another staffer or about the office. It can be a compliment to someone who did extra work, a story the staffer heard about the office, or a remark a patient made. But whatever it is, it has to be positive.Following that approach, nobody leaves a meeting with negative thoughts.
5. immediate gratification
With gratification, the faster it comes, the more it effective it is. Quarterly incentives are better than annual payouts; monthly is better than quarterly, day-to-day is best of all. And the rewards needn't entail any expense Homisak says. The best ones are quite intangible. Respect, for example, is a tremendous reward.
Involve staff in the process of running the office. Let them participate in discussions and in making decisions about how the office is run "so they feel like team members and not outsiders."
Recognition is another. And all it requires is a statement that some small job was well done.Homisak, herself a former medical manager, points out that when she worked in that capacity, her incentive for going to the office was that at the end of each day, the doctor thanked her for the work she had done. The physician wasn't aware of the effect his comments had on her; he was just giving her his sincere thanks. "Everybody wants to be recognized and appreciated," she says. That counts more than the money.
A 'stay' survey to stave off the exit interview
ENVIRONMENT
What three words best describe our office's work environment? _____________________________
If you could change one thing about your job, what would it be? _____________________________
What level of teamwork would you say exists in our practice? (none) 1 2 3 4 5 (high)
What level of stress would you say exists in our practice? (none) 1 2 3 4 5 (high)
What phrase best describes your average workday?
- Is it time to go home yet?
- Wow! This day just flew by.
- There are not enough hours in my day!
What movie title best describes the attitude of our organization?
- All the Rage - Animal House - As Good as it Gets - Clueless- Fight Club - Get Real- Hope Floats - I Stand Alone - It's a Wonderful Life - Les Misérablés - Mission Impossible - Money Talks - Pleasantville - Sense and Sensibility - Speed - Strangeland - The Winners - True Lies - Turbulence - Waiting to Exhale
JOB DUTIES
What three things about your job do you find most enjoyable? ______________________________
What three things about your job do you find least enjoyable? ______________________________
Do you feel the duties you do are aligned to your job description? yes_____ no_____
(If no, why?_______________________________ )
What do you feel are your two greatest contributions to the practice? ________________________
JOB EXPECTATIONS
Do you feel you were properly trained for what you are doing? yes_____ no_____
What training would have helped you perform your job better? ______________________________
What phrase better describes your attitude toward job growth?
Oh no, not another responsibility! - Why can't I do more around here?
Do you see a value to your job in being able to attend seminars? yes_____ no_____
(Please explain: ___________________________ )
POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
Do you understand all the policies described in our employee handbook? yes_____ no_____
(If no, which policies? ______________________ )
Do you have an issue with any of the policies or think any of them are unfair? yes_____ no_____
(If yes, which policies? _____________________ )
WAGES AND BENEFITS
Are you satisfied with your total compensation? yes_____ no_____
(If no, please explain: ______________________ )
Please rank these benefits in order of their importance to you:
___ paid time off
___ health insurance
___ pension, IRA, 401(k)
___ incentive cash bonus
___ salary increases
MANAGEMENT
How can we improve our management style? _______
(additional comments:___________________ )
THANKS TO MEDICAL OFFICE MANAGER/Ardmore Publications for allowing us to re-print this article
P.O. Box 52843 - Atlanta, GA 30355
telephone 404/367-1991 - fax 404/367-1995
