Influential Leadership

Together With

Good morning.  Welcome to the 6,342  subscribers spending a few minutes with us each Friday morning.  If you enjoy reading our insights, we would appreciate it if you shared this newsletter with your colleagues and community leadership team.  They can sign up through the subscribe button above.

For those of you who are new to NHA Stand-Up, we are a weekly newsletter full of actionable tips and insights written by senior living leaders for senior living leaders.  We are building a community of operators to share best practices and bring out the best in each other for our residents and team members.

Elevate your leadership

I read this excerpt from a piece written by Lillian Moore the other day and featured in a James Clear newsletter, and it hit home with me.  It's a great reminder of our responsibility as leaders to bring out the best in people by understanding what drives them.

"A few months after my husband and I moved to a small Massachusetts town I grumbled to a resident about the poor service at the library, hoping she would repeat my complaints to the librarian. The next time I went to the library, the librarian had set aside two bestsellers for me and a new biography for my husband. What's more, she appeared to be genuinely glad to see me.

Later I reported the miraculous change to my friend. "I suppose you told her how poor we thought the service was?" I asked.

"No," she confessed. "In fact—I hope you don't mind—I told her your husband was amazed at the way she had built up this small town library, and that you thought she showed unusually good taste in the new books she ordered."

I remember the feeling when I knew I had hit a milestone with my leadership.  It was the year I no longer needed to mention "corporate" or my boss's name when driving progress in my community.

It was utterly freeing knowing that I had built the relationships needed to influence real change and action with my team.  We were moving forward together as a unit, motivated by the belief that we could accomplish anything we set out to do as a team.

Personal accountability and humility are at the core of influential leadership.  

If you're struggling on this front or want to improve, here is one easy step you can take.

With your team, share what you're most proud of during the week, and then share where you could have done better.  Ask your team for guidance on improvement moving forward.

"How would you have handled it if you were me?"  How could I have done better?"

After a few weeks of setting the stage by sharing your own experiences, ask your team the same questions during your 1:1s.

"What are you most proud of from this past week?"  Where do you feel you could have done better?"

The results are magical.  What you will find over time is your leader's personal accountability elevating to new heights.  Self-managing their performance and asking for your feedback throughout the journey.  As your relationship strengthens and they share more feedback on your performance, you will receive powerful insights into your actions and leadership style.

Underneath it all, a trusting and honest relationship will form.

The proper foundation of influential leadership.

So, when's the last time you uttered the words "Corporate wants us to...?"

Together with OnShift

The massive workforce shortage in long-term care and senior living continues to wreak havoc in our communities. In fact, 35% of respondents in OnShift’s Workforce 360 research indicated that their organizations have had to limit admissions or move-ins due to staffing shortages. There’s no question that many organizations are relying on agency labor as well as overtime (76%) to help fill the gaps during these difficult times.

While these strategies can be most effective in a pinch, there are additional ways to ensure more consistent staffing by optimizing the assignment of internal team members. Many of OnShift’s provider customers have improved their overall staffing efforts by leveraging some key best practices.

- Monitor employee utilization - Track employees’ scheduled hours versus their maximum availability to identify untapped resources who may be available for some additional hours or shifts
- Establish an internal staffing pool - Internal staffing pools allow designated employees to be plugged into the schedule when and where they are needed most. Establishing this type of team can also offer a competitive hiring advantage.
- Post schedules in advance – Post schedules in advance, typically at least a month out, to give staff ample time to plan for their lives outside of work, while also allowing them to pick up additional shifts.
- Share staff across communities - Consider cross-trained employees who are eligible and willing to be scheduled within different roles or departments in which they are qualified. In addition, larger organizations can expand this to sharing staff across locations. Assigning employees across nearby communities can better balance staffing needs across the entire organization.

OnShift is a partner to the long-term care industry and their workforce management software streamlines these processes with modern scheduling and time & attendance that offer flexibility, cost efficiencies and an innovative employee experience. Be sure to check out these best practices in OnShift’s helpful guide, Cracking the Code on Agency Costs.
 

About OnShift

OnShift’s next-generation human capital management platform fundamentally transforms the relationship between healthcare organizations and their employees. Our innovative approach to recruitment, hiring, workforce management, pay, and engagement fosters a culture where people want to work. That’s why thousands of healthcare organizations rely on OnShift’s integrated suite of software and services to dramatically reduce turnover rates, decrease costs and improve the quality and continuity of care. For more information, visit OnShift.

Grab your coffee and make it a great day.  We appreciate you and your dedication to your team and residents. -Thank you!

Interested in sponsoring a newsletter?  Reach out to us at newsletter@nhastandup.com.