Building a Culture that Fosters Innovation

In a world of uncertainty, one thing seems to be constant–health care is continually changing and increasing in complexity. Setting priorities and establishing goals when everything is different from what it used to be can feel overwhelming and unattainable. In order to achieve any goal, I believe there are a few components of leadership that must be present to build a successful foundation for our patients, staff, colleagues, and ourselves.

1. Bringing joy to the workplace–meaning those peaks (or peeks?) of happiness and laughter throughout the day: We spend a lot of time at work, so we need to make it a place that is welcoming and fun, where we can find moments of joy. I have instituted a quarterly ‘joy in the workplace’ session for leaders. We do a variety of activities that offer tactical opportunities to bring back to their teams. Additionally, it provides time for the leaders to get together and talk about something outside of goals and business. It is team building and another tool in their bucket to use when addressing challenging items throughout the day.

2. Bringing the human side to leadership: I firmly believe no one comes to work to do harm. Errors will be made, people will be late, and our staff may not respond to a situation the way a leader would like. (When it is a pattern, it must be addressed.) However, starting with curiosity and having a conversation to understand the “why” builds trust, mutual understanding, and the ability to make a connection.

3. Spread rumors, but the good kind: I heard somewhere that 80% of rumors that spread have some truth to them. Providing specific recognition to members of your team, sending a written card home, or having a listening session/focus group on items that you hear are frustrating will get people talking. That talking will lead to rumors, but the kind you want to spread, and shows the team that leaders are human to, we want to support, and yes, we may make mistakes, but we will continue to improve by working as a team

Building the foundation among our teams, both direct reports as well as staff and colleagues, need to be strong in order to allow for innovation and achieve buy-in on initiatives that need to move forward. To make leadership attractive to the next generation, we need to commit to building a foundation that includes a positive work environment. I challenged my team during reviews to do something each quarter that would look/feel different. It changes the conversation, offering a potential new personal goal, along with those that are aligned with operational or strategic priorities.