Company culture part seven: Building a more transparent healthcare organization

Creating an open and honest environment

The more opinions and input your hospital receives from different groups of people, the more it will be able to mitigate issues before they begin. Unfortunately, healthcare organizations can’t avoid all challenges and problems. However, the organizations that are open and honest about them tend to be more successful.

The way to tackle organizational challenges is to approach them head-on without alienating employees. If you keep important decisions or issues from internal teams, then it can create barriers between departments. Employees want to feel safe and welcomed when they’re at work. Openly communicating relevant information will help propel them toward a feeling of warmth and security.  Yes, a newsletter or email blast may satisfy this type of communication, but other more effective tactics will help employees feel included. Whole Foods, the health foods grocery store, has a unique way of keeping staff members in the loop about organizational goals and challenges. It holds town hall-style meetings and includes peers in their hiring process. Overall, to be transparent, it’s important to be open and clear about business goals, identify issues as they pop-up and make sure there are no surprises.

How to take action:

• Meet with employees regularly to discuss upcoming changes, new challenges or goals for your healthcare organization
• Create a forum where internal teams can voice their concerns/appreciation for your hospital or health system
• Relay messages using both traditional communication (face time) or progressive tools such as social channels
• Rotate members of the leadership team to help resolve issues and report back to other admins about the challenges/concerns flowing through other departments

Next week, we will talk about giving employees a sense of ownership. Do you feel like your employees’ voices are being heard? Find out in the next installment of our company culture blog post series.