March 31st, 2009 by khart
These are perilous times for those of us in the health care industry. Each day seems to bring new reports of hospital staff layoffs, issues with uncompensated care and the impact on systems’ bottom lines, to say nothing of huge losses on investments, donations and endowments.
Of course, the economy is hurting everyone in every industry. Yesterday I heard an announcement that the music director of our beloved Cleveland Orchestra is taking a voluntary 20% pay cut. Several other administrative staff members are also going to be taking pay cuts. As a huge fan of this wonderful orchestra, I am saddened to hear that. However, I realize financial health is an issue for most of our nation’s orchestras these days.
But I suspect Franz Welser-Most, the Cleveland’s world famous and brilliant music director, will continue to provide his leadership and the direction that will lead to more divine music from this orchestra. And I also suspect that each musician will respond to that direction with talent, passion and conviction. We audience members will listen with wonder and joy as the orchestra transports us to other more tranquil or exciting worlds. And all of this will be accomplished in a seemingly effortless manner. Without a hint of the worries that everyone must be feeling.
I guess you could compare every work environment to an orchestra, with leaders and musicians. We all take direction and give our most to our work, hoping we can provide our own beautiful music in whatever we do.
These are frightening times for all of us. But to mix metaphors a bit, think of the duck. He seems to be gliding along on the water. Until you look underneath and see those little webbed feet just churning and churning.
In these uncertain times, be an orchestra leader, a musician or a duck. Lead, follow, make beautiful music and make it look easy.
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March 24th, 2009 by khart
Having recently become a member of Facebook (to avoid being hopelessly out of touch), I have been observing how people communicate and what people do on this site and other similar ones.
I have come to the regrettable conclusion that many of these sites are designed for people who miss party lines and neighborhoods in small towns like the one I grew up in (where you have precious little privacy) or bars where ‘everyone knows your name’.
If you can get past the fact that social networking sites can eat up a lot of precious time unless you just dabble in them, you have to accept that you will not be able to escape if your old beau from college decides to hunt you down and reopen a dialogue (unless you ignore his invitation to be a friend), that someone will want to find out what you had for dinner last night, and that all of your friends’ political views will be shared by all and sundry.
For those of us who yearn for a more private life, social networking is a little off-putting. There are private ways to communicate, but most opt for (in the case of Facebook) writing on your ‘wall’, communication that can then be read by any of your friends.
Then there are the ‘games’. In a beginner’s mistake, I unwittingly accepted the gift of a virtual apple tree, which then necessitated my becoming involved in an insidious game called My Farm on Facebook. The way it works is one starts a virtual farm, complete with planting trees, crops, and purchasing animals, barns and so on. Now friends continuously remind me that my crops require harvesting (friends with farms can view their friends’ farms, if they are so inclined).
Upon viewing my friends’ farms, I realized unless I give up my job, I will never be a successful virtual farmer. While they have acres of land planted with tomatoes and corn, fruit orchards and herds of cows, gaggles of geese (well actually chickens, but not sure what groups of chickens are called), and a multiplicity of structures from farm houses to barns to chicken coops, to say nothing of hundreds of thousands of dollars of cash on hand, my pitiful farm consists of crops gone bad, trees drooping with unharvested fruit and a few hungry animals. Oh, and a couple hundred dollars.
Now I feel better…
On a more serious note, the social networking phenomenon (and it is a phenomenon) is really interesting from a sociological point of view. It speaks to the relevance of technology in our lives and the inherent need to be part of a community.And some of the professional social networking sites such as LinkedIn and Plaxo offer a great way to network with colleagues, get instant answers to questions and discuss ideas and concepts with peers. To say nothing of connecting and finding positions.
Lest we underestimate the power of the most popular sites, such as Facebook and MySpace as a recruitment tool, just think about the results we recently obtained from a survey we did in partnership with CampusRN. The over 600 nursing student respondents indicated they spend on average 3.61 hours per week on social networking sites! And these are nursing students, with heavy work and study loads. The most popular sites for these students? Facebook and My Space.
So clearly we need to take a serious look at using these sites as ways to reach potential employees. We are entering into a brave new world as employers learn to leverage the popularity of these sites to meet their recruitment challenges.
So what if you never liked party lines? Or are too young to even know what they were….
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March 18th, 2009 by khart
I saw a short video the other day that I can’t get out of my mind. It’s circulating on the Internet, so you may have also seen it. It’s about perceptions.
In the video, a group leader asks his live audience to look at a video that shows two teams, each team passing a basketball back and forth and asks the audience to focus on the numbers of passes the team in white tee shirts makes and count those passes. I dutifully concentrated on the passing and had counted 13 passes when the clip finished.
At this point the speaker asked the audience if any of them saw anything unusual and about half the audience started laughing. He asked the audience to watch the clip again, and not bother looking for or counting passes. About 30 seconds in, a man in a gorilla suit appeared, right in the middle of the teams passing the basketball.
I could not believe I had not noticed something as obvious as a man in an ape suit, but about half the audience had missed it too.
The speaker called it ‘perceptual blindness’ or ‘inattentional blindness’ attributing the concept to Dan Simons’ research. Dr. Simons is currently at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Simons describes inattentional blindness as the failure to notice unusual and salient events in the visual world ‘when attention is otherwise engaged and the events are unexpected’.
As a colleague mentioned after viewing the video, ‘This concept has legs.’ Globally, we could make the analogy of the economic downturn and the rapid impact of that downturn on the health care industry. Not all of us saw it coming because we were ‘otherwise engaged’.
On a smaller scale, how often do we miss the forest for the trees on a daily basis? Are we so involved in minutia that we miss the big picture?
This video really made an impact on me-I consider myself a big picture kind of gal, but when I am concentrating on a project, I do tend to ‘get lost’ in it.
Now might be a really good time to take a step back, look at the big picture (both in our professional and personal lives) and chart a course that will help us incorporate the really important ‘stuff’ while not getting so caught up in counting the basketball passes. Food for thought, at least.
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March 11th, 2009 by khart
In these worrisome times, with downsizing occurring in many health care systems across the country driven by the overall economic downturn, it is important to again underscore your value to your organization.
You probably have many fewer positions to fill now that RNs are working longer hours if they are part time (or they might even want to go to fulltime if a spouse is out of work). Older nurses may be delaying retirement, and allied health personnel may also be extending hours and delaying retirement.
I remember a speaker one year at the NAHCR conference (during the last downturn) who called recruiters dinosaurs-and claimed we would not need them in the future. Those of us who had been in the business a few years knew he was wrong; that the cycle would repeat again, but we don’t want to hear a similar negative message in this environment.
What can you do to validate your worth and help your organization during these times? How can you prove you are a strategic partner?
Here are a few suggestions:
Workforce and Succession Planning
Now would be an excellent time to delve into workforce planning if you haven’t had the time to do so previously. Gather internal and external information about supply, demand and new and contracted services, and prepare a plan to address your projected needs. Similarly, this would be an excellent time to look at succession planning.
Be Selective in Those you Recruit and Retain
Seek out the “A” candidates, and then focus on keeping them. Evaluate your current workforce and weed out the “C” employees to make room for “A” employees who will be poised for the future. Those organizations that have the best talent and know how to keep that talent will be far ahead of their competitors.
Assist with RIFs
Offer your help in dealing with RIFs. Chances are good that you know those who are being laid off, and you may be able to help managers in this process. Though this will be one of the hardest things you will ever be asked to do, if you can help make the transition easier for those impacted, it will be worth the effort.
Create a Career Center
Convert your recruitment office into a true career center, with outplacement assistance for departing employees who may need that benefit and career counseling and educational assistance for those looking for career mobility. Looking at roles for your aging workforce goes hand in glove with this concept. This also ties into the whole workforce planning piece and will greatly benefit your organization in years to come, to say nothing of helping your employees.
New Graduate Nurses
We have been hearing about many hospital systems either reducing numbers of new graduate nurses being hired or not hiring new graduates at all. If you can possibly convince your administration, try to allocate some openings for new graduate nurses. We know shortages are cyclical and it is hard to get beyond the stigma of not hiring new grads when the cycle begins again. If you are still hiring new grads, consider providing a residency program that will cut down on turnover in that all-important first year. If that is not an option, look at mentoring programs for this group.
Social Networking
Get up to speed on social networking. Read everything you can on this relatively new recruitment concept and then build company profiles on sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. and consider building your own social networking site (Ning). Social networking is going to become one of the most important weapons in your recruitment arsenal.
Relationship Marketing
If you are not hiring, leverage resources such as live chat, educational webinars, and frequent communication updates via email and through social networking sites to those you may be interested in hiring when the situation improves. Keep in close contact and nurture those beginning relationships. This is key for all groups, but if you are not currently hiring new graduate nurses, fostering relationships with this group is vital.
Interviewing Workshops
If it has been a period of time since you last offered hiring managers interviewing workshops (or if these have not been offered in the past), this would be an excellent time to provide these. Remember, none of us is born with interviewing skills. Those with interviewing responsibilities should be provided the tools to do so.
Review and Revamp Your Hiring Process
Take the time to really look at your hiring process from requisition generation to hire, including your career website and recruitment roles and responsibilities. A thorough review will help you reduce days to fill and will go a long way towards meeting your hiring managers’ expectations and perceptions of quality of hires.
Reporting and Metrics
Make sure you are over communicating what you are doing. Provide frequent and useful reports, including metrics on turnover, vacancy rates, days to fill, quality of hire, etc. Include numbers of hires and recruitment activities.
Retention
In this stressful environment, retention will be essential. Work with your hiring managers and employee relations in planning retention programs and dealing with the added stress in the work environment. Remember, your employees may be having lots of stress in their home lives as well, and bringing that stress to work with them. Work-life balance is also going to be of paramount importance. Consider yourself a retensivist for the duration.
Finally,Tough times call for tough measures. Hang in there-better days are coming. May the recruitment Force be with you!
Special thanks to Sandy Haeberle, Kate Christmas, Cathy Swenson, Pat D’Aurizio and Judith Russell for contributing to this post.
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March 3rd, 2009 by cbarber
Several years ago, a colleague dropped me a note of thanks for being his mentor, which was very rewarding to me. But until that moment, I didn’t know that “mentoring” was what I was doing. I just thought of it as listening, offering advice if asked for it, and showing support. But, surprising to me, I was called a “mentor,” defined by Webster’s as a “trusted advisor,” with the words “tutor” and “coach” offered as synonyms.
I began to wonder if mentors were perceived as having certain characteristics that establish their positions as “trusted advisors.” I figured there was a lot more to it than just being a nice people person. So I reached out to some of my closest colleagues, many of them great mentors in their own right, and posed this question:
“What makes an effective mentor?”
The responses I received were impressive, good fodder for what could become “The Beginner’s Guide to Mentoring.” Though the responses were prepared and sent to me individually, I was struck by the number of similar insights, which I’ve organized by the characteristics mentioned most often by my colleagues. Here’s what they see in effective mentors:
Knowledge Bearers/Sharers
The consensus was that a mentor’s level of knowledge is indisputable and encompasses professional know-how as well as an intrinsic understanding of his/her company’s landscape, culture, and political eccentricities. While what they know is important, it’s their willingness to share what they know that establishes their platform for effectiveness. They’re seen as openly generous with advice and information that can help others achieve their professional goals and avoid those pesky landmines along the way.
Optimistic Realists
My colleagues said that effective mentors have an infectious enthusiasm about them. They’re optimistic realists; they know nothing is ever perfect but seem to exude the sense that it can be. With exceptional ability to spot potential in people, their “you can do it” attitude inspires others to stretch, to push a little harder. Even when a mentee needs to improve on something, an effective mentor always addresses the issue with honesty, respect, and a positive spin. And, in keeping with his/her supportive nature, a great mentor is the first to cheer vigorously when progress is made.
Experienced Explorers
Mentors are seen as having “been there, done that, got the t-shirt.” They’ve walked in the same shoes on similar paths as their mentees, so they’re able to provide road maps with clear routes between Points A and B. They enjoy exploring various options, freely brainstorming, and guiding versus directing outcomes. Mentors view every encounter with a mentee as an opportunity to listen, empathize, achieve mutual understanding, and create new possibilities.
Trustworthy Confidantes
Perhaps the most important aspect of a mentoring relationship is trust. Effective mentors are totally close-mouthed about their interactions with mentees. They shun taking any credit for their mentees’ achievements and completely refrain from passing judgment, taking sides, and spreading gossip. They’re perceived as being privy to sensitive information on many company matters and are respected for maintaining strict confidentiality.
Organized Time Managers
My colleagues cited that effective mentors always seem to have time, even though they have plenty of their own work. Several people commented that mentors are usually the same players who can juggle changing priorities, get a lot done in short order, and make the most of available time and resources. They never come off as too busy to spend time helping others.
Winners in Work & Life
I thought it was interesting that many of my colleagues felt that effective mentors seem to have it all together, both professionally and personally. No question, their success on the job is probably part of company lore, but they’re also respected for having achieved a healthy balance in their lives. They see burnout coming and might be the first to suggest, “Why don’t you take a few days off before you make that decision?”
Big Picture Thinkers
Many respondents mentioned the difference between most managers and effective mentors. While some indicated that managers can indeed be effective mentors, they pointed to certain lines of distinction in the roles. Most saw managers as focused on the day-to-day and mentors focused on the larger landscape and what serves the greater good. Mentors, they say, see the future in talented people and nimbly cross reporting lines in order to help improve performance in any functional area.
In Summary
Many thanks to my colleagues who provided input for this article. It was truly interesting to see what some very smart people offered on mentoring and its importance to organizational development and results. It certainly helped me understand that striving to be an effective mentor brings value to my company’s greatest asset, our people. And for me personally, nothing brings me more joy and satisfaction than seeing coworkers I’ve mentored build impressive careers. I hope they’ll share their own experiences with others, and find out for themselves just how rewarding mentoring can be!
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