The world of healthcare is an ever-changing industry and what might have made practices successful just a few years won’t necessarily work now. More and more practices are realizing that their clinic’s longevity starts with the individual performances of their nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs).
At NPPA Recruiters, we take pride in supplying fresh talent that can help practices turn into more productive ones. Our commitment to providing top-tier NPs and PAs to clinics is built on a thorough understanding of the industry and best practices. Your partners at NPPA Recruiters would like to offer you a few tips to improve your employee performance and help you build a profitable clinic.
1. Consider How Positive Performance Starts In The Hiring Process
At NPPA Recruiters, we recommend nothing but the best candidates for your practice, but with other recruitment agencies, you may be getting a candidate that isn’t the right fit for your agency. One tool that can be crucial during the hiring process is a behavioral assessment. This method of recruitment gives you insight into a recruit’s personality and social skills that you might not find on a resume.
Hiring the right fit, who has goals aligned with your practice, will nurture a sense of team while improving new recruits’ and current staff performance naturally.
2. Define Goals Clearly
Simply put, employees perform better when they have clearly defined goals. During your next performance reviews, consider discussing actionable items employees can take to help reach your practice’s goals.
But be aware that telling employees that you want to improve patient satisfaction simply does not cut it. An actionable goal could be like setting a practice standard where every patient should be seen in a certain amount of minutes. Patients that are served in a timely manner feel that their time is being respected.
This type of clearly defined goal leads to real-world success.
3. Adopt a Strengths-Based Approach
According to Gallup, 61% of employees who feel their supervisors focus on their strengths feel engaged with their work. On the other hand, 22% of employees who reported that their manager focused on weakness were disengaged.
By celebrating employee strengths, your managers and supervisors can help nurture and develop key areas that improve performance. Coach your leadership to do the following:
- Don’t assume that your employees are aware of what their strengths are or that of their coworkers.
- Discuss ways in how to implement these strengths in a team setting to achieve objectives from a team perspective.
- Help your employees by aligning their talents to meet the expectations of their roles.
- Discuss their strengths during performance reviews and evaluations, and help them set goals based on these strengths.
- Consider having strength-based training for your management.
In the long run, adopting a strengths-based environment improves performance, both in quality of care and in terms of the practice’s success. Keep in mind, however, that there are no quick fixes to changing the practice’s performance culture. It requires a lot of hard work and dedication.
4. Constantly Improve Communication
Communication is more important than people realize, and yet, setting a protocol without an adaptive mindset is just as good as not having any communication at all. A good communication system is the backbone of any successful practice and is the cornerstone to employee performance and engagement.
While annual reviews and evaluations are pivotal in employee development, don’t wait for those opportunities to address behavioral issues or work violations. A clear path of communication between supervisor and employees – and vice versa – must exist to eliminate misunderstandings.
It bears repeating: high engagement and employee performance go hand in hand.
5. Employee’s Performance is the Practice’s Performance
Annual reviews and evaluations are great for employees to obtain feedback on their work. But it doesn’t have to stop there. You can use these same reports to get an overall idea of how your practice is doing in terms of performance.
6. Always Be Willing to Improve
In the car industry, there is a term known as “Lean Methodology.” In Lean Methodology, a company focuses on cutting waste and concentrates on the needs and desires of customers.
In a medical practice, the same philosophy can be implemented with patients, focusing on their wants and needs while eliminating wasteful and duplicated processes. To do this, coach your employees to make comfort, compassion, and convenience a priority for all patients.
Implementing the Lean Methodology in your practice can do wonders for employee performance and production.
7. Celebrate Employees’ Achievements
You should never skimp out on this one. Employee recognition is a must, as it boosts employee morale, which in turn boosts performance.
According to Gallup, employees that receive regular recognition have an increase in productivity, loyalty, engagement, satisfaction, and longevity. It can even keep your employees safer, as it decreases accidents on the job.
Sometimes it’s the little things that matter most. Something as simple as a “Thank You” note for your employees who go above and beyond—like excellent patient care or keeping their office clean—is a great token of appreciation.
If you really want to show appreciation for your employees, however, perhaps a bigger, more formal token of appreciation is in order. Establishing an employee recognition program that recognizes a job well done with a banquet, gifts, or a certificate, can really give employees something to push towards – boosting their performance in a positive way.
Make sure you communicate this program to your employees and that you actively host one multiple times a year. Partnering with your marketing or creative team can pump new and innovative ideas for employee recognition, keeping this program fresh.
Remember that employee recognition programs are not a “set it and forget it” kind of incentive.
The first step to building a highly successful practice is reaching out to NPPA Recruiters so that we can find the ideal NP or PA for your clinic or hospital.
There is no cure-all or magical time machine that enables practices to generate positive performance results from their employees in a timely manner, but implementing these tips as soon as possible can get your employees well on their way to success.
For more information on how we can better serve your practice, take the first step, and contact us at (956) 772-1400 or (214) 351-3880 today.
