Alignment and accountability
Set expectations for all employees
Organizational alignment means getting the right people on the bus, putting them in the right seats, and removing anyone who doesn’t belong. Hospital leaders are responsible for translating the organizational mission for every level of the organization, as well as defining the brand’s core values and expected behaviors. These are the brand pillars; the support for your brand position. Core values are non-negotiable and everyone is held accountable.
Create incentives for appropriate behavior
Working with department directors and managers, the CEO and C-Suite executives translate the mission into measurable performance indicators for functional areas of the organization. Depending on the hospital’s competitive position, it may mean tracking clinical outcomes, time-based service goals, patient satisfaction measurements or other metrics that weigh staff performance against the organizational goals. Measurable performance indicators hold everyone accountable – department directors, managers and staff – and give every employee a yardstick to track their results.
Employees who live up to the brand, those who demonstrate the desired behavior and contribute to the organizational goals, should be recognized and rewarded. To sustain this positive behavior, organizations may develop ways to compensate or incentivize employees who live the brand.
Create consequences for people who refuse to comply
With accountability comes the need for consequences. Those who fail to live up to expectations, or flat out refuse to participate, should be identified and disciplined. If they continue to behave inappropriately or contrary to organizational objectives, more serious consequences should be enacted, culminating in termination.
Of course, it’s not always easy to balance model employees with the real world of healthcare delivery. Sometimes, you have to make temporary concessions in core values to keep a unit staffed or to fill an essential role, but it’s amazing how much damage a rogue employee can do. In a time of social networks and word-of-mouth endorsements, any staff member who doesn’t live up to the brand can single-handedly bring down an organization’s reputation. The key to alignment is getting ALL employees working toward one goal, and violation of core values is cause for dismissal.
In conclusion…
What sets one healthcare brand apart from another is its unique patient experience. Delivering a consistent patient experience takes shared values and a common purpose. Marketing plays an important role in defining the organizational mission, communicating the expectations and helping every member of the team understand and live the brand promise.