Coaching a healthcare leader provides a great opportunity to review best practices, including rounding on employees. Over the past 25 years, I have heard every excuse in the book for why rounding isn’t done regularly, but the most common reason is that leaders are booked solid with meetings day in and day out. When they do have unscheduled time, they are responding to emails or dealing with immediate demands in their departments.
What Is Your Impact as a Healthcare Leader?
Last week, as I was kicking off a new cohort of Be the Leader Nobody Wants to Leave, I asked each participant to imagine that they could overhear their staff talking about them. I asked, “What would you want them to say about you as their leader?”
Most of their answers centered around being supportive, fair, and a good listener. They wanted their people to feel that they cared about them and that they mattered. All of their responses were reasonable aspirations but won’t be achieved in a meeting somewhere across the campus. Your team members need to see you, connect with you, and know that you care.
Make Time For Rounding
The key discussion point I have about rounding is pretty simple. What gets scheduled gets done. If you leave rounding off your calendar with the hope of fitting it in, it won’t happen. But if, on the other hand, when you block time, it is far more likely to get done.
Several nurse leaders I coached throughout 2023 reported that by blocking time, other people couldn’t schedule them for meetings. They also reported much higher job satisfaction when they spent more time with their team members.
I applaud organizations that enforce no-meeting times to ensure leaders have quality time to round and meaningful interactions in their departments or just have “think time.” If this isn’t a practice in your organization, block time for yourself for rounding. Then, reflect on how you feel after having quality interactions. Chances are you will feel more fulfilled, and your team will benefit, too.
Learn more about connecting with and engaging your staff with our 8-week course, Be the Leader Nobody Wants to Leave. Contact us today at (866) 686-7672 or info@baird-group.com to learn more about individual and group rates.
Tags: Healthcare Leader, Rounding, time management
