Lately, we have been exploring and writing about key factors that make a medical practice successful. One of those recommendations that we’ve skirted around is employee engagement. Any successful leader knows that fostering the right work environment and providing meaningful opportunities can prove to be key to developing a strong team of professionals.
It is extremely important for leaders in your organization to understand the value of employee engagement and to have the tools to affect your practice in a positive way.
At NP PA Recruiters, not only do we recruit talented Nurse Practitioners (NPs) and Physician Assistants (PAs) for clinics nationwide, we also offer sound advice that can help any practice continue to grow their business.
Today’s topic embraces the concept of employee engagement and the manner in which it can lend itself to help you build a better practice.
Employee Engagement Defined
Employee engagement is defined as an approach in the workplace that:
- Fosters the right conditions for all staff members to give their best each day.
- Creates commitment to the practice’s goals and values.
- Contributes to the practice’s success.
- Enhances the well being and experiences of team members.
This means that the right conditions can provide your NPs and PAs with a clear vision of how they can contribute to making your practice successful while promoting a sense of achievement. Successful employee engagement will increase their satisfaction with their job and help you with retaining quality staff.
An engaging atmosphere includes a number of aspects including quality leadership, development of goals, conducive work environments, and meaningful interpersonal relationships.
1. Use coaching as a motivator.
Coaching often can steer an NP or PA’s approach to their jobs. Some hospitals, like the Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids, encourage their managers to plan coachings that reinforce good behavior already performed, coupled with suggestions and areas to improve.
Waiting for an annual review to provide crucial feedback to an employee is often inefficient, while conducting frequent coachings to provide real-time feedback can stir positive results. A simple check-in conversation between managers and employees once a month can do wonders for your practice.
When this is done right, employees are able to adjust much more effectively, their annual review is no longer a surprise, and they feel less blindsided by any criticism.
2. Combine your NP’s and PA’s goals with coachings to generate positive results for both managers and employees.
Check-in conversations can cover what the employee is doing well and what kind of difficulties they are encountering. Tying in goals with coaching is imperative to employee development, and the easiest way to do so is by drawing these goals from your employee’s job description.
Manager coachings help align the employee’s goals with the practice’s expectations in a realistic manner. The most effective coaching reveals details regarding the goals the employee has and their performance to date while also promoting accountability and helping to implement action plans for improvement. Employees feel more in control when their coachings are related to reaching goals. This ultimately promotes employee engagement.
3. Use technology for the sake of ease and structure.
A practice can get pretty hectic, and when trying to coach an employee during the chaos, it is easy for managers to lose their train of thought. This can be detrimental when relaying important feedback.
Technology, like a performance management system or software, can offer structure to a hectic environment. Tracking data and information, a performance management system can provide convenient reference points for managers to identify and perpetuate the staff member’s positive growth. It can also be used as a central point to jot down notes about employee behavior, which can then be used to create mini-action plans for areas that need improvement.
Lastly, the performance management system can provide feedback that is accessible online for employees.
Not only does this reinforce strong communication skills between managers and employees, a performance management system can be the tangible evidence of a job well done. This real=world data can prove to be the system employees need to gain a feeling of self-accomplishment, and thus keep them engaged in their work and with the practice.
It also promotes employee engagement with your managers, as their job to help develop their NPs and PAs is made easier with this tracking system.
There is no doubt that technological advances like a performance management system can make an NPs or PAs job much easier to track.
Even though coaching can be quite effective for enhancing employee engagement and performance, all the coaching in the world won’t increase employee engagement without recognition.
An employee reward system is the perfect way to show that you actually care about your staff as they reach their own goals and those related to your practice.
An employee of the month celebration can encourage others to strive for that position as well because it recognizes their hard work. It doesn’t have to be a big event either. Something as small as a “Thank You” note from the manager, gift cards, coupons, and the like also promote employee engagement.
Recognizing a job well done is paramount to employees within the healthcare system, as that attitude cascades to the patients they take care of which, in turn, leads to better HCAHPS scores.
Running an engaged practice starts with hiring the right talent. Let NP PA Recruiters help you find the right nurse practitioner or physician assistant.
Get your practice’s success started with the help of your friends here at NP PA Recruiters.
For more information on how we can benefit your practice, contact us at (956) 772-1400 or (214) 351-3880 today.
