Tune in! Don Antonucci, CEO of Providence Health Plan, is on Moments Move Us
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: The Three Cs of Leadership: Caring, Communication, and Curiosity with Don Antonucci
Organizational restructuring and workforce reductions are challenging, stressful, and emotional topics for any organization. From rising prices and budget cuts to technology innovation, there are countless reasons for adjustments to the workforce. According to a recent report, the healthcare industry has made the third-most job cuts out of 30 industries (behind technology and finance.) In the first quarter of 2023, there was a 65 percent increase in job cuts in comparison to the first quarter of 2022.
As a leader in healthcare culture transformation, Wambi has compassionately supported multiple organizations through these transitional periods.
A change in organizational structure can result in a shift to a less positive culture. Because of this, leaders need to identify opportunities to help maintain and boost morale. A study of Wambi users from a large regional healthcare system demonstrated a 37 percent increase in positive sentiment and a 26 percent decrease in negative sentiment after only six months of utilizing the platform. These promising metrics demonstrate that it is possible to establish a successful organizational culture when there is a consistent process in place to do so. This is helpful for organizations facing the difficult decisions of reorganization or workforce realignment.
Additionally, organizations need to prioritize the well-being of their employees. Wambi brings a fresh perspective to providing encouragement, inspiration, and support and was determined to be a “Best Fit” solution for mental health by American Nurses Association\California.
Ways you can ease your organization’s transition through workforce challenges with the help of Wambi:
Receiving feedback 1:1
During any form of organizational restructuring, it is expected that team members will have many questions. Leaders and managers need to encourage open and honest feedback on a 1:1 level. Establishing a safe space for individual conversations can promote open communication, which is essential for building a culture of respect.
Another way for leaders to gain honest feedback is through an organizational survey with questions on job satisfaction, retention, purpose, company integrity, and overall recommendations. These anonymous surveys can be used to address trends in sentiments across the organization, highlighting opportunities for improvement.
Wambi makes it easy for staff to communicate their sentiments on a continual basis through platform Check-ins. This quick, anonymous question is displayed on Wambi newsfeeds quarterly and can be customized to fit the needs of your initiative to effectively address any issues.
Create interdepartmental focus groups
Encouraging team members to collaborate cross-functionally will help diversify perspectives and roles. Human resources directors may want to create interdepartmental focus groups to
hear what is being said by employees. Wambi provides a great opportunity to promote these groups and their findings through the platform’s newsfeed, where leaders and managers can share posts requesting involvement or providing updates.
Navigating workplace survivor syndrome and guilt
It’s understandable for team members to experience survivor syndrome or guilt after a significant reduction in workforce. Employees are torn between feeling grateful to still have their job but also missing their colleagues and friends. This situation requires compassion and authenticity, which can be exercised with posts on the Wambi newsfeed to provide helpful resources for team members.
Additionally, the “Everyday Moments” Wambi category has a variety of designs created to acknowledge the often-challenging moments that healthcare workers experience. Similar to an ecard, users can select a Wambi that best fits with the message they want to send. These messages should not simply mask negativity with a smile, but instead focus on realistic optimism, understanding that things are difficult while still noticing positive moments.
Need help getting started? Here are some message suggestions:
An important deterrent of survivor syndrome is showing recognition for team members’ individual contributions.
Feelings of instability might be high after a layoff, even among top performers. Retention challenges often follow, with research showing a 31 percent increase in voluntary turnover following even modest (1 percent) reductions of staff. In light of this, leaders must shift their mindset to “re-recruiting” remaining employees. Leaders should be highly visible and engaged to help reaffirm their commitment to current team members. Expressing gratitude for the work that is being done helps team members feel confident in their roles during periods of uncertainty and change.
Wambi makes it easy for all leaders to gain insight into the positive work happening across an organization by quickly commenting, reposting, or directly thanking team members for these efforts. As many team members are picking up additional work or shifting functions to support gaps, it’s important to ensure these individuals are recognized for their effort and impact. Additionally, you can shine a spotlight on the team members who are stepping up to be leaders in their roles or in their attitude. Actions like these can help provide reassurance and a sense of support during a trying time, impacting engagement, motivation, and retention. At a large academic medical center, there was a 39% annual reduction in nursing turnover among units engaging in more recognition on Wambi.
Sending recognition through Wambi is a powerful way to communicate with team members and show appreciation. Supporting team members happens through messages such as:
Company values are the heart of organizational culture and vision. As a North Star, these beliefs shape the direction and goals for your organization and drive your business forward. They set the tone for your organization and keep everyone aligned on the company mission. During transitional times, reinforcing company values demonstrates commitment and consistency. Values, like a company mission, are the center of who your organization is. Misidentifying or failing to embody your values breeds mistrust and can make employees feel they are working for an organization that is not genuine.
Wambi’s healthcare culture transformation solution helps ensure values continue to remain at the forefront of your organization. Posts on the newsfeed are great ways for leaders to show authenticity, courage, compassion, integrity, respect, responsibility, and trust while reiterating the health system’s purpose. When sending a Wambi, you can select the core values that align best with your message in the platform.
It’s also important to reinforce how team members’ own work connects them to purpose and reorients them back to the mission after a layoff. People find meaning when they see a clear connection between what they value and what they spend time doing. As Harvard Business Review indicates, “The most effective way to do this is to share stories of how, collectively, you are making a positive difference in the lives of real people and communities.” Wambi is key in uniting healthcare workers with their “why” and purpose, which leads to higher levels of engagement. A meaningful note from a patient can be energizing and uplifting; it can also help them to shift focus back to their purpose and remember the value of the work they do.
Understanding that this is a challenging time, Wambi is here to provide support and reinforce the positive culture you want to build at your organization.
Contact us today for more information and ideas on how Wambi can help.
“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.
Learn more about the Wambi platform
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.