January 11, 2024
If you could take just 30 minutes from your busy work week, close your office door, exhale, and think about something you could do easily to engage your teams, would you do it? A series of virtual sessions on leadership strategies to engage your careforce—Leading With Purpose: 8 Practical Strategies for Engaging Your Careforce—allows you to do just that. The first one is scheduled for this Thursday, January 18, at 4:30 PM ET.
“What is unique about this series is that it is really meant to create a community of leaders coming together to codesign and think about what approaches work and share ideas and applications,” said series leader JoAnne Reifsnyder, PhD, MSN, MBA, FAAN. “We will address 8 topics specifically geared for leaders and leadership focusing on practical strategies to attract, enliven, engage, and retain the careforce.”
The series is designed to complement the More of a Good Thing discussions. Started in 2022, the program expands on the already successful, evidence-based 4Ms Framework of the Age-Friendly Health System to address staff needs and well-being.
The sessions are intentionally limited to 30 minutes. “We wanted to make it possible for people to participate in these sessions without spending a lot of time that could be dedicated to resident care and other tasks,” Dr. Reifsnyder said. Each session will include a tool, some coaching about how to use it, and a mechanism for sharing how things are going. Leadership topics are key, noted Dr. Reifsnyder, as “the secret sauce in a health-care work environment has always been leadership. The program will be conversational in nature, and everyone will have an opportunity to share their insights and experiences.”
While leadership is a common thread throughout the sessions, Dr. Reifsnyder and others will address various topics. For instance, she said, “One session will focus on talking with staff about purpose.” While that may seem like a low priority to some, she stressed, “There is good evidence to suggest that talking about purpose in the work environment has a positive effect.”
Dr. Reifsnyder further noted that how we connect with our teams is a strong part of engagement and retention. She said, “I had a conversation once with a colleague where I told him, ‘You are enough.’ He remembered that, and it stuck with him.” She cautioned, “We can’t say things casually or just for effect, but when we are authentic and connect heart to heart, it can make a powerful difference. And it’s not difficult or time-consuming.” Strong evidence also indicates that team members are less likely to leave when they feel valued and appreciated. She further emphasized that we are committed to person-centered care for our residents/patients, but we also need to apply this concept to our careforce and colleagues.
Despite her own busy schedule, Dr. Reifsnyder is excited about this series. “No one is too busy for things that really matter to them, and this is how I want to spend my time. Talking and listening to people about their pain points in leadership is important,” she explained, not because she has all the answers, “but because the opportunities to share and collaborate are priceless.”
