Tune in to Moments Move Us Episode 23: The Power of Personal Connections in the Workplace with Erik G. Wexler
Wambi has been named one of “Best Fit” Mental Health Services & Solutions by ANA\California.
Real-time recognition is the driving force of the Wambi platform. Our holistic solution impacts patients, frontline staff, and every member of your organization.
Our innovative employee recognition solution leverages gamification to positively transform the employee experience. Calculate your ROI, explore data insights, and read more about our success stories.
New Podcast Episode: Reflecting on Moments of Connection with Rebecca Coren
“R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Find out what it means to me.” Aretha Franklin was onto something in the sixties. Over fifty years later, we’re still learning what respect means. According to the Medscape Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2023: “I Cry and No One Cares,” respect has an extensive impact on burnout and depression. When surveying more than 9,100 physicians, 36 percent cited “greater respect from superiors and coworkers” as a measure that would help most with their burnout.
As health systems across the country face seemingly insurmountable challenges with staffing, rising costs, and budgets, respect is something that can be provided for zero cost while significantly improving workplace culture for over one-third of physicians. There has never been a more important time to build a culture of respect, but this requires involvement from all levels including executives, leaders, managers, and team members.
1. Lead by example
“If we’re not doing it as leaders, our team members certainly aren’t going to do it,” shared Zane Zumbahlen, Chief Human Resources and Talent Officer at Cancer Treatment Centers of America. Leaders must take the initiative to authentically demonstrate the importance of respecting and valuing each team member. They set the example and need to hold themselves accountable. This includes delivering on their promises and endorsing organizational values with their words and actions.
For many healthcare organizations, Wambi has become a place where leaders feel comfortable being vulnerable and sharing personal stories. They are encouraged to show their authentic selves by sharing videos, using emojis, and writing comments in an environment where they feel safe. By sharing more personal stories, leaders build deeper connections with their teams and make staff feel more valued.
2. Foster open communication
Curiosity, transparency, and vulnerability all play a role in creating an environment with open communication. Since each member of an organization brings a diverse perspective, ensure that their feedback is included to help everyone feel like they belong. As a leader, be transparent with your colleagues and provide channels that foster communication and connection.
To build trust and stronger relationships, leaders need to break down barriers with frontline workers. By respecting your associate’s honest thoughts and opinions, you will better understand their challenges and create a community of support. View each interaction with your team members as a chance to better understand their perspectives and improve your relationship. By creating space and providing the time for your team to freely express their honest thoughts and opinions, team members will feel like their voice is respected.
Looking for an easy way to integrate open communication into your everyday experiences? Start by knowing and using the names of all members of the team. This simple practice often goes forgotten for the sake of time or efficiency. However, in The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande, Gawande found that making introductions before surgery led to a 35 percent decrease in the average number of complications and deaths. This was attributed to the “activation phenomenon.” By having the chance to voice their names, people were more likely to speak up later if they saw a problem. Calling someone by their name not only builds a culture of respect but has proven psychological impacts that can improve patient outcomes.
3. Celebrate and recognize accomplishments
Recognition for a job well done is the highest form of respect. By honoring and appreciating hard work, you are demonstrating that you respect your colleagues’ time and talents. Team members feel seen and valued when leaders acknowledge them. With Wambi’s culture transformation solution, leaders acknowledge meaningful moments and share gratitude while uplifting and inspiring their teams.
As a gamified platform, employees complete challenges, send and receive Wambis, and engage on the system to fill their progress bar. Once this bar is full, they unlock surprises, reinforcing the importance of building a culture of respect. Wambi can also be a useful tool for accountability. Real-time data and insights help leaders track progress and engagement to see how their team members are participating within the platform. By integrating Wambi into business KPIs, you can ensure all members of the team are working to build a more respectful culture.
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4. Practice empathy and compassion
Compassion begins with empathy. Take time to actively listen to your colleagues to better understand and identify with the struggles they face. This includes gaining perspective on their challenges, both inside and outside the work environment. Consider hosting training sessions to help your team build their muscle of compassion and forge emotional connections.
As one of Wambi’s five core values, compassion is woven into the company culture and the platform alike. We approach every interaction with compassion, and this correlates to respecting the feelings of others. With the platform, there are a variety of different designs to fit the need of any moment. Sending a Wambi can demonstrate how you honor the experiences of others.
Showing respect costs nothing, but its impact can save millions. Next time when you ask your team, “What do you need” you can remember Aretha, R-E-S-P-E-C-T (just a little bit).
Respect is just the beginning of fostering an environment of collaboration and engagement. If you’re interested in finding more ways to reduce burnout and turnover to improve patient experience and organizational margins, let’s connect!
“I’ve really been thinking about, ‘how do we leverage technology?’” shares Linda McHugh Hackensack Meridian Health’s EVP, Chief Experience and People Officer. This is a question that healthcare leaders across the country grapple with each day. Whether searching for more digital interaction with patients, supporting frontline caregivers, reducing administrative tasks, or automating scheduling, there are countless options to consider for leveraging technology.
However, there are no easy fixes when implementing a new digital innovation. The onboarding and training process can be lengthy, and leaders need to avoid adding “one more thing” to their teams’ plates. Therefore, when considering new technology projects, we need to ensure there is internal alignment and create a clear strategy.
Corewell Health’s Chief Digital and Information Officer Jason Joseph and Manipal Health Enterprises’ Deputy CIO Shuvankar Pramanick both agree that the first step in implementing any new technology is creating a clear strategy that aligns with business goals. This requires a detailed understanding of the current environment and its complexities. This also helps create a clearer path to the goals that the technology serves to achieve. Pramanik believes that “By aligning projects goals with broader organizational goals, you can create several more opportunities for the organization.”
Decisions on technology that impacts an entire health system need to be supported by the entire health system. This requires alignment between leadership and frontline staff. Executives that have a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by frontline caregivers, will be better equipped to leverage technology that supports their pain points. Without taking the proper steps to consult with and educate staff, a cultural issue could worsen. Practicing active listening and being authentic are just two tactics to strengthen relationships with frontline staff, which will lead to improved internal alignment.
Richard Zane, MD and CIO at UCHealth shares, “Technology, at the end of the day, is a tool, and the delivery of healthcare relies on people, process, and tools. No matter how cool, new, or sexy a technology is, if it isn’t used and just sits on a shelf, there is nothing special about it.” To make lasting changes with new technology, there must be continued engagement. Wambi’s culture transformation solution boasts 80.7 percent average utilization due, in large part, to its user-friendly interface.
To engage all key stakeholders, Wambi incorporates a formal change management strategy into each aspect of the pre-deployment and onboarding process, complete with recommended tools, resources, and value-added activities for clients to be successful.
Ready to see how leveraging Wambi’s culture transformation solution can impact retention, work satisfaction, engagement, and culture? The Wambi team provides a first-class customer experience to any organization preparing to roll out the culture transformation platform. Download the Onboarding Overview to learn more.
During a recent Moments Move Us episode, Linda McHugh, Executive Vice President, Chief Experience and People Officer at Hackensack Meridian Health, shared, “We have to be … strategic partners with our frontline caregivers and their leaders to really understand what their needs are and how we can help them grow and thrive.”
Leaders across the healthcare industry understand the importance of connection among their teams. However, according to a McKinsey study, “80 percent of frontline employees say that their company provides few connection opportunities at work.” Without strong relationships, networks, and mentorship, the retention crisis continues to impact the healthcare industry. The question remains: How do we build strategic partnerships with frontline caregivers?
To break down barriers, leaders must be open to adjusting how they engage with their teams as well as the cultures they model in order to shorten the distance between themselves and their frontline workers.
Practice Active Listening
Active listening is the process of “listening to understand.” An active listener’s goal is to receive and understand the speaker’s emotional experience, beliefs, and perspective—to hear the words and their intent and meaning. This requires being fully present, giving the speaker your undivided attention, asking them open-ended questions, and practicing empathy. It’s also important to pay attention to non-verbal cues, like body language, tone, and facial expression (both the speaker’s and your own). By creating space and providing the time for your team to freely express their honest thoughts and opinions, you will better understand their challenges while building trust and stronger relationships.
Spend Time in Their Shoes
There is no substitute for first-hand experience. To feel, see, hear, and live through a situation for yourself is powerful. According to Betty Jo Rocchio, Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer at Mercy, this requires leaders to spend time where the work is done. She says, “Going to the front lines and seeing what’s going on really helps you get a good picture of the decisions that you need to make.” Stepping out of the metaphorical ivory tower and into the front lines shows the commitment leaders have for their team members and dedication to providing the best experience for the patients that they serve.
As nurse retention and experience continue to be paramount concerns for health systems, this experience is invaluable. Chief Quality Officer at Duke Health Dr. Richard Shannon says, “Leaders must spend their time focusing on the development of their people, supporting their people, and meeting their needs. The only way to do that is for leaders to get out of their office and go to where the work is done. You have to understand and see the barriers to the work nurses are being asked to do. That’s the only way to understand how badly the front-line people are overburdened.”
Be Authentic
Does your team participate in water cooler conversations? How do you share your personal stories? Creating a space for non-work banter can help leaders show their authentic selves, let team members get to know who they are personally, and form bonds that strengthen workplace culture. Showing a human side as a leader is something Wambi’s CEO and cofounder Rebecca Coren has embraced throughout her leadership journey. During an episode of the Show Up as a Leader podcast with Dr. Rosie Ward, Coren discusses the importance of leading in a “fully present, authentic way.” Dr. Ward agrees about the importance of being your truest self and says, “It is easier to connect with people when you are being who you authentically are.”
Provide Space for Vulnerability
In “Vulnerability is a Strength, Not a Weakness,” we explore how great leaders understand the importance of recognizing powerful human experiences and the role that vulnerability plays within them. By sharing personal stories with your team, you allow yourself to be vulnerable, which gives your team the space to do the same. According to Sylvain Trepanier, Senior Vice President, System Chief Nursing Officer at Providence, “There’s more to gain out of being vulnerable than not.” As a guest on Moments Move Us, he recalls a moment when he was vulnerable with his team and how it opened up an important conversation about mental health that allowed team members to reflect on their own challenges.
Ensure Team Members are Seen
We all want our employees to succeed, but they can’t do that if they do not feel seen. Acknowledging impactful moments and sharing gratitude are great ways to recognize the hard work of team members. In an industry constantly focused on improvement and rooted in negativity bias, notes of appreciation help build a positive culture where employees are celebrated for the things they do well.
Wambi’s culture transformation solution was created to improve the healthcare experience. By building cultures and communities of trust, support, and connection, employees feel valued, a sense of belonging, and are connected to their purpose. With Wambi’s gamified technology, leaders acknowledge meaningful moments and share gratitude while uplifting and inspiring their teams. They are encouraged to show their authentic selves by sharing videos, using emojis, and writing comments in an environment where they feel safe.
By utilizing the Wambi platform, Marshfield Clinic Health System built invaluable connections through leader engagement. After only 90 days of using the platform, 97% of leaders logged in to the platform and demonstrated high engagement rates—posting thousands of comments, reactions, and notes of appreciation. Leaders can quickly see how easy it is to use the Wambi platform and the profound impact it has on organizational culture.
Team members feel seen and valued when leaders acknowledge them. Additionally, team members and leaders who may not see each other daily can connect through the Wambi newsfeed. For example, when a high-level leader comments on a Wambi that a unit team member has received, the recipient feels seen for their work, and the leader gains more insight into the work being done on the front lines. This simple interaction helps close the gap between leaders and team members each day.
We’d love to connect and learn more about your health system’s recognition environment, staff engagement efforts, and culture. If you’re looking to close the gap between your leaders and frontline team members, the Wambi platform can help. Request a demo today.
If you’re adding “Spend more time reading” to your list of New Year’s intentions, Wambi is here to help! Last year, we put together a list of joyful books to gift to friends, family, and colleagues to celebrate the holiday season. Recommended by Wambi team members, these readings showcased Wambi’s core value of joy.
This year, we’ve compiled a list of books that inspired our Leaders & Lattes members. This small group of passionate female healthcare leaders connects throughout the year to share personal and professional stories, support and learn from one another, and explore ways to create a better healthcare experience for all. Embracing Wambi’s core values of fearlessness and imagination, this year’s list provides guidance and direction for continued learning throughout the new year.
1. The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek
Unlike football or chess, life is an infinite game. There are no finish lines, no winners, and no losers. In Simon Sinek’s The Infinite Game, readers explore ways to build their future, working toward what gives life meaning. For healthcare leaders, this book can help you explore how to guide your teams and build more innovative organizations.
2. Wonder Drug: 7 Scientifically Proven Ways That Serving Others Is the Best Medicine for Yourself by Anthony Mazzarelli, M.D. and Stephen Trzeciak, M.D.
Live longer and live better while improving the world around you. How? By serving others. Dedicate this year to being happier, resisting burnout, and achieving more success by being a giving, others-focused person.
3. Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand in the Sun and Be Your Own Person by Shonda Rhimes
Make 2023 the year you say “Yes!” Shonda Rhimes spent her life saying “No” to invitations, engagements, appearances, and just about anything else, allowing herself to stay safely in her comfort zone. In Year of Yes, Rhimes inspires readers by sharing how her life changed when she challenged herself to say “No” to fear and “Yes” to everything else.
4. Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know by Adam M. Grant
As a leader, admitting when you don’t know something requires showing vulnerability. Embrace the unknown and find joy in being wrong with the help of Adam M. Grant’s Think Again. In this unique read, you’ll learn the importance of rethinking—and how it prepares you to face the ever-changing world.
5. The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
Wambi’s mission is to bring compassion to the forefront of human experience. We achieve this by elevating moments of meaningful connection between patients, team members, managers, and executives to foster a positive workplace culture. With the tagline Moments Move Us™, we understand the power of moments explored in Chip and Dan Heath’s book on the impact of experiences. Discover how moments can change our lives and learn how to create more remarkable experiences in your life and work.
6. The Waymakers: Clearing the Path to Workplace Equity with Competence and Confidence by Tara Jaye Frank
Dedicate this year to driving workplace equity and inclusion with a pathway outlined by Tara Jaye Frank. Full of candid storytelling, data, and case studies, you can learn to be a leader who helps others to thrive. By removing barriers, opening doors, and guiding them toward their goals, you can make every member of your team feel like they belong—a key driver of retention.
7. How Full Is Your Bucket? Positive Strategies for Work and Life by Tom Rath and Donald O. Clifton
How we treat others and how they treat us impacts whether our buckets are full or empty. By sharing kind words, reflecting on positive interactions, and connecting with others, we can fill up our own buckets while pouring into others. Tom Rath and Donald O. Clifton’s How Full Is Your Bucket? is based on this powerful metaphor—commonly used in the Wambi world—and includes findings from a fifty-year study with stories and strategies for bringing more positivity into your life.
8. Patients Come Second: Leading Change by Changing the Way You Lead by Paul Spiegelman and Britt Berrett
The traditional healthcare model places the patient at the center and as the highest priority. In Patients Come Second, Paul Spiegelman and Britt Berrett challenge this structure by shifting the focus to engaging teams first. This unique perspective connects employees to their purpose and equips leaders with the tools they need, creating a better healthcare experience for both caregivers and their patients.
9. When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
After nearly completing his training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. In his profound memoir, Kalanithi attempts to answer the question “What makes a life worth living?” He wrestles with facing death—exploring questions about mortality and relationships between doctor and patient—while finding hope and beauty amid the insurmountable odds.
Looking for more ways you can innovate and evolve healthcare culture in the new year? Wambi’s recognition and culture transformation solution is built on creating a culture of gratitude where team members feel valued. As we look toward 2023 with excitement and anticipation, learn about the importance of integrating gratitude into your New Year’s intentions.