One of the hallmarks of a strong organizational culture is a common language that goes beyond words to create a shared understanding and alignment of daily actions with your healthcare organization’s mission, vision, values and standards.
When everyone in your organization speaks the same “cultural language,” it’s easier to communicate and understand expectations, to recognize achievements, and to foster a sense of engagement and unity.
But how do you get there?
It Starts With Leadership Alignment
Your leaders set the stage. When they’re aligned, the rest of the organization can fall in step behind them. That alignment, though, only happens when leaders understand the organization’s values and agree on how these values translate into everyday behaviors.
Starting with executive leadership and then cascading down to directors and managers will ensure consistency and demonstrate commitment from the top of the organization down to the front lines.
Look to Your Organizational Standards and Values
Your mission statement, vision, and values are a critical starting point to develop a consistent language to drive desired behaviors and outcomes. When 90%, or more, of your employees can readily recite your values and articulate how they live those values in their daily work, you’ve achieved the kind of alignment and buy-in that defines a strong culture.
Use Consistent Terminology
From staff meetings to performance reviews, it’s important to use the same language consistently—language that supports and mirrors your mission, vision, values and standards. Repetition drives recognition and adoption. For instance, when you recognize an employee, you might say: “Wow, that was an excellent example of compassion, one of our core values. What a great example you set!” This is organizational values coaching.
You can use this same approach during coaching conversations, and in daily interactions and meetings. For instance, when addressing a performance issue you might say: “Let’s discuss how your actions weren’t aligned with our value of respect.” When starting staff meetings, begin with a quick story that illustrates one of your core values in action. Share the story then ask, which values came to life in that story?
Common Language Makes a Difference
It may not seem that something as seemingly simple as having a common language across your organization could make a measurable difference in turns of engagement, loyalty, and retention, but it definitely does. We’ve seen it in action with values-driven coaching.
For instance, we worked with a community hospital to implement a common language approach and saw employee engagement increase, saw increased confidence among managers and directors, and realized a 13% decrease in turnover, that translated into a million dollars in annual savings.
Yes, common language makes a difference. If you’d like to begin embedding the language of your mission, vision, and values into your culture, we can help.
Tags: common language, company culture, culture, culture catalyst, Culture Change, Culture Improvement, healthcare leadership, Organizational Culture
