Douglas W. McNeill knows better than to think that one day he’ll hear a magical click as his corporate culture snaps into place.
More likely, he’ll spend his entire leadership lifetime making tiny adjustments to keep the 1,913 employees at Atrium Medical Center on track. The president and CEO even has a name for those little nudges, and identifying those “coachable moments” is a key component to how he develops his employees every day.
Sure, caring for patients is inherent in the health industry. But McNeill — who served as the president and CEO at Middletown Regional Hospital for 14 years before it moved and donned the name Atrium in December 2007 — realizes that you have to care for employees, too. By staying on the lookout for learning opportunities and encouraging his employees to adopt the same awareness, he can keep them equipped with the tools they need.
“Culture is not like making a cake, [where] at the end of adding all these ingredients, you have a final product and you’re done,” he says. “Culture is really a lifelong exercise because circumstances, the environment, the organization and different generations of people are changing all the time. And therefore, organizations have to keep adapting.”
McNeill — who led Atrium to 2008 revenue of $233 million, up from $184 million in 2007 — keeps communicating the expectations that shape the changing organization.
But it’s not just lip service. After all, he’s not the kind of coach that orders his team to run laps while he loafs on the sidelines.
“The most effective way you teach people after you set the expectations is walking the talk,” he says. “They’ve got to see you do it. And then you have to take a genuine interest in helping others along the way.”
