Developing Efficient Processes to foster Healthcare Success

The healthcare industry is facing several challenges in the aftermath of the pandemic—the great resignation of the workforce, the impact of changes in regulations, and the limited access to care for many vulnerable populations. Today, many healthcare organizations do not have the modern technology, optimized processes, or the capacity to retool to meet the needs of this new age. Healthcare processes are key to quality actions and outcomes across the care delivery continuum. In addition, technology is being positioned at the center of client engagement, especially as many clients are relying on handheld devices to communicate with their clinicians.
The solution? Process improvement. This article demonstrates that process re-engineering is a key component for transforming the healthcare industry.

What does this mean?

Process improvement is an essential part of improving patient outcomes and simultaneously lowering costs in any industry. This can be done by identifying efficiency gaps in the existing processes by assessing the current state against desired future—which should be aligned with the organization’s priorities. Additionally, a manager’s responsibility is to build/change processes to close the gaps, monitor the result of these changes, and tweak as necessary to achieve the intended objectives.
Healthcare professionals have been using tools like Six Sigma for years now, but it’s only recently that we’ve seen an increase in its use within the healthcare industry—maybe this is being influenced by the widescale introduction to the value-based care model. Process improvement and optimization are inextricably related to better results and lower costs.

The roles of strategy, skillset and competency, culture, and sophisticated analytics in a healthcare organization’s ongoing readiness and transformation cannot be overstated. Below, we have outlined eight steps to nurture and optimize the processes in the healthcare organization.

8 Steps for Managing an Efficient Health Care Organization:

Step 1: Develop a shared vision for process improvement
Step 2: Establish a shared understanding of process metrics
Step 3: Create a common language for the process improvement
Step 4: Engage and train employees in the shared vision
Step 5: Build employee’s knowledge and capabilities to advance the program
Step 6: Leverage technology to improve data capture and analysis
Step 7: Generate data to assess the level of success of the program
Step 8: Use analytics to support continuous improvement

Step 1: Develop a shared vision for process improvement


A shared vision is a clear statement of what you want, why it’s important, and how you plan to accomplish it. It’s a good idea to start by identifying the most important business problems that your process is trying to solve for your organization. Then consider what the ideal outcome would look like in each case. Your team needs to be aligned with the goals of your improvement process. This means that everyone understands what changes need to be made and why those changes will help them do their jobs better—and it also means that they understand how their part in the process fits into the bigger picture.
You can accomplish this by clearly identifying what success looks like at each step, and then creating a plan for reaching those goals. It’s also important to understand what success looks like for your organization as a whole. This means looking at the company from different angles, such as customer satisfaction, employee retention rates, and productivity levels. A process improvement project is useless if it doesn’t lead to better outcomes in these areas—and it can even be harmful if it leads to negative consequences that outweigh any benefits you might have achieved.

Step 2: Establish a shared understanding of process metrics


Process metrics are measurements of how well we’re doing what we set out to do. They can be quantitative or qualitative; examples include cycle time, lead time, and throughput. The goal is to use these metrics to understand how our process works so that we can improve it. When we have a shared understanding of the goals, processes, and metrics in place, then everyone understands what they need to be measuring and why it matters. Process metrics are measures of how well your process is working.
They can be specific to each step in the process, or they can be more broad-based indicators of how well your project is doing overall. For example, you might have a measure that tracks the amount of time it takes from when work enters a queue until it’s completed. Or perhaps you want to know how long it takes for someone to make a decision about whether or not something is ready for release.

Step 3: Create a common language for the process improvement


Process improvement is not a matter of simply taking a process and making it better. Instead, it’s about creating a common language for defining, measuring, and improving processes. The first step to building a common language is to define what it is we mean by a process.
The best way to do this is through the 5-why method, which helps us understand why something happens by asking “Why?” five times in succession. For example, we can ask “Why did the process fail?” to get an answer like “The tool didn’t work.” The next question would be “Why didn’t it work?” and get an answer like “There was a bug in the code.”
We continue asking why until we reach a point where there is no more reason for failure—or at least no more reasons that we can identify on our own without help from those who understand how things really work. This process can be very useful for understanding why a problem occurred, but it’s not always effective.

Sometimes we need to take a different approach and ask “What are the symptoms?” The word symptom means something that indicates an underlying problem, so this question helps us identify what is actually happening in our system without getting bogged down by details. You can also ask why from the opposite direction, starting with a goal and moving backward. For example, if our goal is to ship a product on time, we can ask how the workflows through each step of the process and why it takes as long as it does.

Step 4: Engage and train employees in the shared vision


Process improvement is a team sport. The more people who are engaged in the process, the better it will be. You’ll want your employees to take an active role in identifying problems and developing solutions. Engaging employees in process improvement is important in ensuring that they take ownership of the new system. This can be done through training sessions, which should be as interactive as possible so that participants have a chance to ask questions and offer their own suggestions.
It’s also important for managers to encourage employees to talk about what works well with current processes and how those might be incorporated into any improvements they make. Finally, it’s important to keep an open mind when initiating any process improvement program. You may have a specific idea of how things should work, but your employees are likely to have different ideas—and they may be right! It’s important to listen to their input and take steps toward incorporating their suggestions into the new process.

Step 5: Build employee’s knowledge and capabilities to advance the program


Process improvements can be an important part of any organization’s strategy. However, they can also be difficult to implement successfully. It’s important to take the time to do it right, starting with building the right capabilities in your employees. One way to do this is by training them in the tools and techniques that are most effective for process improvement projects. Build capabilities through your training program.
By building a culture of continuous improvement in the organization and encouraging employees to think about how they might improve work processes on their own, you’re setting them up with the skills and knowledge they need to make improvements on their own. When employees know that process changes are welcome and encouraged, they’ll be more likely to suggest improvements when they see a better way of doing things—and this helps keep your organization agile as well as efficient.

Step 6: Leverage technology to improve data capture and analysis


Technology can help to improve processes in many ways. For example, it can help with data collection, analysis and reporting; identify opportunities for improvement; provide information on the variation between practices; improve communication between staff and patients, and enable better patient interactions. Technology can also help with workflow mapping so that staff knows how their work fits into the overall system.

Step 7: Generate data to assess the level of success of the program


Data is a key input for improving processes. For example, it can help identify the best ways to collect and analyze information; identify where improvements are needed; measure outcomes; and benchmark practices against others. As a rule, the more data you can gather and analyze, the better. Data should be gathered from all relevant sources – including medical records, laboratory results, and clinical outcomes – and it can be used to create dashboards of key metrics. This will enable staff to see how their practice compares with others in terms of quality of care, efficiency, and other measures.

Step 8: Use analytics to support continuous improvement


Analytics is a great way to help your organization perform continuous improvement. By looking at your data, you can see where improvements are needed and develop a strategy for addressing them.

For example, if your company has sales goals that aren’t being met, analytics can help you determine which areas of the sales process need attention—and provide recommendations for what improvements should be made. In addition to helping improve on-the-job performance across all areas of business operations, analytics also provides valuable insight into how effective training programs are working in practice. By measuring how well employees are learning new skills and applying them in their day-to-day work lives, you can identify what types of training strategies work best for different people.
One of the biggest challenges in a business environment is having enough data to support your decisions. You may have a lot of data, but do you know what it means? Do you have the tools and expertise to analyze it effectively? If not, then investing in analytics could be one way to improve your ability to make good decisions about improving processes.

Conclusion

No doubt, Processes are the way things happen in healthcare. They drive actions, outcomes, and financial performance across the health system. Maximizing process quality, which is swiftly becoming more significant as a driver of care delivery and organizational performance in uncertain times, will enhance the success of any healthcare organization.

For many companies, the post-COVID recovery continues to be slow progress. At the heart of companies’ struggle to revive their profitability is the high turnover of talent. The job market is highly competitive with more employees quitting their jobs and moving to organizations that provide them with the opportunities and environment they desire, and some employees are just being their own bosses. 

Without the right talent pool, your company will not be able to provide quality care and outperform the competition. A widespread truth is a fact that HR and talent functions must be constantly evolving to attract fresh talent and keep high potential and committed individuals on staff.  A committed, motivated, and fulfilled workforce helps your organization to grow, and are often your best brand ambassador.  

But how do you achieve this level of engagement? The answer is talent optimization!  

What is talent optimization? 

Talent optimization is simply a process of aligning your business strategy with people strategy for optimum results—in essence, your organization’s ability to increase the impact of your programs through enhanced employee satisfaction, without jeopardizing your organization’s goals and values.  Business leaders leverage talent optimization frameworks to create effective talent acquisition and management plans, manage talent risk and liabilities, and introduce technology to support the streamlining of their talent operations.   

The four key strategic areas of talent optimization are: 

  • Talent acquisition  
  • Talent retention  
  • Succession planning 
  • Strategic talent planning 

To maintain a competitive edge, you must implement talent optimization strategies that align with your business strategy. A happy employee results in an increase in ROI, retention rate, and productivity (we can make this a quote asking readers to click for a retweet in the article)

Top 3 retention-focused talent optimization strategies that work and how to implement them 

There are several strategies to use in optimizing your talent retention, but we will be sharing just three in this post. Let’s get into it. 

Offering the right incentives 

Incentives mean a lot to employees. From bonuses to rewards, fun gifts to profit sharing, you name them. These incentive programs are essential in boosting employee productivity, performance, and morale. Why is this strategy important? The Predictive Index 2022 report shows the No. 1 driver of retention is benefits. According to a report from Gallup, highly engaged employees are less likely to leave an organization that appreciates them and encourages their contribution.  

Companies are often challenged when it comes to developing captivating incentives and employee perks. How do you know and choose the right incentives that are aligned with your workforce growth and engagement? It is important to understand this process to avoid activations that look good but don’t work.  

PRO TIP: If it isn’t helping your workers improve in areas they desire to grow; they will accept the incentive and still leave anyway. Performance Reviews and Surveys are a great solution to pair strategy and professional development goals. 

How to implement this strategy: Collect adequate people data: 

Data is very crucial in making an informed business decision. Start by collecting data about your workers to understand their needs, strengths, skill gaps, cognitive abilities, culture fit, knowledge, personality, and personal goals. This process starts before you post that opening on job boards, right through to after you’ve acquired the talent. The employees can also help you to answer the incentive question, just ask them what they want.  

Evaluate their performance and analyze the data you’ve collected. With the information you have, you can make decisions on the best and most impactful incentives to offer—don’t be blindsided, ultimately, any incentive program should advance your business strategy. 

This talent retention strategy works and leads to low turnover. 

Blog Link: Creating Measurable KPIs that Strengthen Your Workforce  

Anchor Employee Survey Services 

Training and upskilling 

The importance of training cannot be overstated. The stats are available to confirm how vital this is for employees. One of the major reasons people quit their jobs is the lack of career advancement opportunities and training. This downloadable  Report shows that “retention rates rise 30-50% for companies with strong learning cultures”. 

Training and upskilling are optimization strategies you can use to keep your employees engaged and motivated. Set up a learning culture that fosters their growth. It can be quarterly training programs, and workshops like [Anchor LMS] that assist in improving their skills. The more they improve, the more confident they become and the more effective in their role. This translates to revenue increase and retention rate. 

READ: 5 Easy Ways to Motivate Caregivers to Refresh their training 

As stated in the first point, use data analytics to determine the appropriate training for your workforce and prepare them for the future. You are at liberty to tweak this strategy on an ongoing basis. 

If you need professional support visit our talent optimizer page for further action. 

Developing A Growth Mindset in your employees 

According to Harvard Business Review, “personnel at organizations with growth mindsets are 34% more likely to experience a strong sense of commitment to the company”. A growth mindset is essential for employees who want to be successful in their careers. This mindset involves a belief that one’s skills and abilities can be developed through effort and dedication.  

With a growth mindset, employees are more likely to be motivated to learn new skills and to persist in the face of challenges. They are also more likely to be resilient in the face of setbacks. Organizations that foster a growth mindset among their employees are more likely to be successful. Such organizations create an environment that supports learning and development. They also provide opportunities for employees to stretch themselves and take on new challenges. 

Employees with a growth mindset are better equipped to deal with change and adapt to new situations. They are also more likely to be innovative and embrace new ideas. 

Organizations that encourage a growth mindset among their employees are more likely to be successful in the long term. Such organizations create an environment that is conducive to learning and development. They also provide opportunities for employees to challenge themselves and take on new responsibilities.  

How to implement this strategy: 

Though output is important, the reality is your team will not have the capacity to achieve your desired output without the requisite guidance and skill development. Revamping those job descriptions and ensuring that each employee is clear about the goal of their function, giving them the tools to win.  Inquire today about the Anchor Competency Assessment focused on skill development that will improve output.    

Conclusion 

To thrive in today’s competitive world, you must embrace talent retention as it offers numerous benefits for your business and accomplishes strategies to get your company continually advancing. Optimizing your talents proffer numerous benefits for your business and accomplish the revenue returns you want. The truth is it requires the right talent to lead the charge. 

Front-line employees are the backbone of service delivery. We assist our clients to build the right framework to onboard, source, nurture, and reward the best caregivers. Building a motivated workforce requires that you focus on talent acquisition and talent retention. Get started by learning about our talent optimizer assessment today. 

When the COVID outbreak was in full swing, the importance of an effective and adaptable workforce became rivetingly clear to businesses. When it comes to the successful functioning of any company, regardless of its size, effective methods of communication with employees are a crucial factor and can either contribute to its success or successful survival.  

This is especially true in today’s age where health care practitioners are particularly overworked and overwhelmed, but those working together as a team can help make even more out of their individual skillsets. Increased awareness and attention to finding ways to optimize teams are beneficial, as can be seen with many companies who have learned how to work better together through some simple steps like recognizing important life events like birthdays or making time for quick conversations that lead to valuable insights.  

As a business leader, to develop a talent strategy that is in line with your organization’s business strategy, talent optimization is what you need to achieve that as it outlines each phase in detail. Magic happens when you match your employees’ goals with those of your business, and stimulating your workforce is easier than you first thought possible. Having the right talents in the right roles and doing the right things that meet the organization’s objectives is a gamechanger for your homecare business.  

So, what do you stand to gain when you optimize your talents? 

 “Agility is a critical agent of talent optimisation. Agile thinking helps to perfect the process flows, thus making for a more streamlined engagement of all the talent involved” 

Top 7 Benefits of Talent Optimization 

Here are some of the benefits of talent optimization and why you need to act immediately. 

  1. Lowers employee turnover rate and the related costs of operating understaffed. 
  1. Boosts employee engagement resulting in increased productivity 
  1. Leads to higher revenue 
  1. Simplify the recruitment process 
  1. Helps you understand the best way to align your business goals with that of your workers 
  1. Helps you identify the most appropriate work culture, policies and processes for your team’s success 
  1. Establishing strategic goals with greater accuracy is possible with a better understanding of employee talent. 

Why do you need to optimize your talent? 

Talent optimization, when done right, will provide you with a big advantage against your competitors. It is highly profitable. A 2022 Report by the Predictive Index shows talent-optimized companies are nearly twice more likely to avoid the brunt of The Great Resignation than their counterparts. Companies that used talent optimization strategies saw more revenue increase than others outperforming their peers by 35%.  

Talent Optimization is the framework by which human resources, C-suites, and businesses can best achieve their objectives. With it, businesses can implement strategies to provide better service and ultimately increase revenues. 

Is your company talent-optimized? [ START TODAY

ANCHOR TALENT OPTIMIZER MODEL 

Things to consider when optimizing your talent 

There are a few key things to keep in mind when optimizing your talent pool for a home care agency. Here are a few useful tips.  

Consider the type of care your agency provides:

Are you focused on nursing care, personal care, or a combination of both? This will help you to identify the types of talent you need to be successful. 

Identify your organization structure:

Is your work culture appealing to the talent? Do you have the necessary structures in place? Identifying this will help you gain insight into what you can change or improve to make your agency an appealing place to work in. The ideal organizational structure is one that is in sync with your business strategy. 

Identify the strengths of workers:

Look at your current staff and see where their talents lie. Are there any areas where you could use some improvement? If so, start by recruiting individuals with the necessary skills to fill those gaps. 

Training:

Don’t forget to train and develop your existing staff. They may not be perfect, but with the right guidance and support, they can be an asset to your agency. By investing in your staff, you’ll be better positioned to provide high-quality care to your clients. 

Tips for the effective talent optimization process 

Here are a few things that homecare agencies can do to optimize their talent.  

Identify skill gaps:

You start by identifying the specific skills and experience that you need from your employees.  

Use an optimized recruitment strategy:

Home care agencies should develop a recruiting strategy that targets individuals with these qualities. Once you have a pool of qualified candidates, you should then focus on selecting the best possible employees through a rigorous interview process.  

Regular in-house training:

Provide employees with ongoing training and development opportunities to help them hone their skills and keep up with the latest industry trends. By following these steps, homecare agencies can ensure that they have the best possible employees working for them. 

Conclusion 

We believe that Talent Optimization is going to revolutionize Human Resource departments, Strategy, and Account Management in the years to come. People-focused strategy is the route to take because your people, your culture, and the relationships that you take time to cultivate are the most valuable assets you have. These ingredients are essential for success.  

Ready to future-proof your workforce but don’t know where to start? Get started by taking out talent optimizer assessments to help you understand where you are and what strategies will work for your home care business. 

We all enjoy conducting surveys, whether for personal reasons or as part of our work. Not only are they enjoyable, but they also give us important information about our emotional and physical well-being. This idea of gathering valuable data through surveys is also applicable in the workplace! Consider employee engagement surveys. These are excellent approaches to determining employee satisfaction levels inside your organization and ensuring that you’re treating your personnel (and your business) fairly.  

What is an employee survey? 

An employee survey is a tool used by organizations to collect feedback from employees about various aspects of their job and workplace. The survey can cover a wide range of topics, from job satisfaction and engagement to company culture and leadership. Employee surveys can be conducted online, via paper surveys, or even in person. The results of the survey can help organizations identify areas where they need to make improvements in order to create a more positive work environment for employees.  

Reasons you should conduct an employee survey 

Here are a few reasons why you should conduct an employee survey. 

  • Helps you discover and measure the engagement level of your workers. Measures employee satisfaction. 
  • Helps you know the key drivers of employee satisfaction 
  • It helps you uncover the skill and knowledge gaps of your employees and areas they need improvement. 
  • Gives you an insight as to what to improve 
  • Gives employees a chance to be heard and involved thereby establishing a two-way communication 
  • Boost employee engagement 
  • By performing employee engagement surveys, you can measure the data for a point-by-point comparison. To understand how your firm performs in comparison to other companies of a similar size, you can look at individual outcomes and compare them with industry-specific data. By using benchmarking, you may also determine whether a problem is unique to your business or affects the entire sector. 
  • Gives you an insight into your workers’ behaviour and helps you predict their chances of turnover in the future 

How to maximize employee surveys with three simple strategies that work 

In order to maximize employee survey participation, employers should consider using a few simple strategies. Here are 3 simple employee survey strategies we believe will give you an optimum result. 

The survey should be Easy and Clear: 

It is vital to make the survey process as easy and convenient as possible for employees by providing clear instructions and a dedicated survey platform. Questions should be comprehensible, short and give room for honest responses. 

Incentivize the process: 

Incentivize employees to participate by offering rewards for completing the survey. Little rewards like buying everyone lunch for completing the survey may encourage them to go on with the exercise. You are at liberty to try any incentive you want. 

Make it anonymous 

Encourage employees to provide honest feedback by ensuring that the survey is confidential and anonymous. Most times, employees are not comfortable sharing their honest feedback in a face-to-face scenario. That’s why an online survey is mostly encouraged. Or use a third-party company to carry out an in-person survey without their identities linked to the results. Ensure you use a method and platform that aligns with employees’ flow of work and what they are most comfortable with. 

What to do after the survey 

Act! Follow up and put your findings into actionable steps. Implementing these responses encourages your employees to share more feedback when another opportunity comes. It helps them know their opinion counts and it also shows you listen and are ready to drive change in areas needed. 

In Summary 

Clarity, anonymity, and leveraging incentives are some of the strategies you can use in deploying employee surveys. By taking these steps, employers can ensure that they get the most out of their employee surveys. Most importantly, it helps you prepare your workforce for the future. 

Let’s hear from you. What are some of the strategies you use and which of the strategies mentioned in this post resonate with you most? 

If you are planning on conducting an employee survey soon but don’t know how to go about it, get in touch with us right here and we’re happy to help! Download our Employee Survey Guide here