Culture Catalyst Blog & Articles

Little Perks Won’t Cure a Broken Culture

It’s been decades since Peter Drucker first said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” His words ring more true today than ever. When healthcare organizations compete for talent, salary may get candidates in the door, but it’s culture that will entice ...

Nurse Coaches Improve Quality, Safety and Service

A few years ago, I started working with two hospitals to train and embed nurse coaches in inpatient units. Their goal was to provide staff with ongoing feedback on behaviors tied to quality, safety, and service. Their results have been ...

Delight or Drudgery? How Employees View Training Matters

Many things in healthcare require skill development and reinforcement. Sometimes those things require mandatory training to ensure quality and safety. But just because it's mandatory doesn’t mean it can’t be enjoyable. When you hear the word “mandatory,” how do you react? ...

One Email Is Not Communicating

When I coach executive teams on culture transformation, one of the first things I do is a communication audit. A few of the areas I look at include: Channels used for communication (email, newsletter, talking points for huddles and rounding, ...

Gratitude: Let it stick like Velcro

Several years ago, as I was collecting stories from nurses about their work, I learned a very troubling fact. Most nurses I interviewed didn’t accept compliments from patients very well. They would hear patients' statements of gratitude but not really ...

It’s Not About the HCAHPS Scores!

Yesterday, I was doing physician communication training with a large group of doctors. To give context, I showed them their current patient experience scores focused on physician communication. One of the attendees raised his hand and said, “There has never been any ...

Beware the Toxic Superstar

A few months ago, I was doing leadership development in a critical access hospital. The CEO is a strong leader and fairly new to his role. He has a clear vision of where he wants to take the organization, and I honestly ...

Want an ROI on Training? Measure What Matters

U.S. corporations (including healthcare) spent $94 billion on training last year. The investment is significant, but are they getting their money’s worth and seeing an ROI on training? The ones that are getting the biggest bang for their buck are ...

Good People, Bad Healthcare Systems

Healthcare is confusing, and it's often needed when we are at our most vulnerable. Despite major improvements in the patient experience over the years, deep chasms remain. And, in my experience, the gaps are often due to faulty healthcare systems ...

Stop Blaming Wages for Medical Staff Turnover

Medical staff turnover is rampant, but it doesn’t have to be if we start listening to our new employees BEFORE their exit interviews. I recently heard a case study from a large academic medical center about their Medical Assistants (MAs) leaving ...

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