Culture Catalyst Blog & Articles

Policies and Procedures vs Compassion

Every organization needs policies and procedures to ensure high-quality, safe care. Yet, policies can get in the way of being reasonable if we aren’t careful. When to follow, and when not to follow, policies can be difficult, especially when trying ...

Balancing Skill With Patient Experience

Many healthcare positions require a high degree of technical skill, but balancing skill with patient experience is a skill unto itself. This is especially true in direct patient care. After all, if you mess up an important technical task, you could hurt ...

Do Small Things in a Great Way

It’s no secret that small things add up quickly when it comes to the patient experience. Because high-quality and safe care is assumed by the patients and residents, it is often the small acts of kindness that stand out the most. Throughout ...

You Asked For It – Now What?

It’s no secret that businesses fare better when they actively seek employee input. In a recent survey, 38% of workers admit they tend to lack initiative on the job when leaders routinely dismiss their ideas. (1) Billions of dollars are spent ...

How Do You Measure Emotion?

It can be tough to measure emotion. We send out patient surveys and comb the data for clues as to what we can do to improve our care, but at the end of the day, it’s not just the logistics ...

Blind Spots Can Fuel Bias in Healthcare

During a recent coach training, the participants and I had a lively discussion about how blind spots can fuel bias in healthcare. As part of their training, participants shadow hospitalists on inpatient units to assess interactions. They also give feedback ...

In healthcare, culture speaks louder than words

We’ve all heard it said that actions speak louder than words. But when you think about it; your organizational culture speaks louder than any ad, recruitment brochure, annual report or mission statement. It’s your culture that drives employee behaviors, determines ...

3 Questions to Ask Before Assuming Bad Attitude

3 Questions to Ask Before Assuming Bad Attitude   I was coaching a new manager who said she was getting really frustrated with the bad attitudes of her team. She wanted them to deliver better customer service and felt they were being ...

Engage the Heart to Engage Employees

Engage the Heart to Engage Employees   The term “hardwiring” is a familiar one in the healthcare industry and typically focuses on consistent behaviors rather than employee engagement. There is merit in hardwiring behaviors for consistency, but it’s equally important to “heart ...

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