In the lead

Investment in continuous
improvement

When staffing industry customers procure services, they have many options, so
customers must be satisfied or else they
will defect to a competitor, and there’s
certainly no room for error when contracting health care personnel care for
patients. Nowakowski says that continuous improvement and continuous investment go hand in hand, because error reduction and client retention allow CEOs to
reduce overhead and rework costs, which
frees up investment funds.

“Quality and continuous improvement are
the fabric of the organization,” Nowakowski
says. “To create a culture of continuous
improvement, CEOs have to constantly talk
about the importance of quality, monitor metrics and quality ratings, and provide staff with
incentives that support the quality mission.”

To demonstrate her commitment to quality, Nowakowski explains each of her decisions to the company’s staff by illustrating
how her choice supports her commitment to
quality, especially when her decision supports quality but not increased revenue. For
example, Nowakowski says she could lower
the selection criteria for contingent staff,
enabling recruiters to fill more requisitions,
but that would send the wrong message
about the importance of quality to the team.

In addition, AMN Healthcare conducts
anonymous quality surveys among client and
contingent professionals and Nowakowski
monitors those results along with data that
measures the company’s basic deliverables,
such as the percentage of filled orders, completed assignments and order cancellations.

She also uses feedback from client and
contingent worker focus groups to craft
the company’s investment strategy. AMN
Healthcare maintains 20 different Web sites
geared toward the recruitment and professional education of each brand’s contingent
workers. The company’s latest investment,
supported by focus group feedback,
enhances each site’s social networking capabilities, creating a portal that will get into the
lives of the health care professionals.

The concept and the investment decision
were partly influenced by industry leaders
outside of staffing. Nowakowski says she
learns from observing what leaders do in
all industries to keep their companies in
the lead.

“We watch Nike and Google and bring
some of their best practices to the table
here,” Nowakowski says. “I think CEOs can
learn a great deal from looking outside their
own company and industry for ideas and
what keeps them ahead of the competition.”

Under Nowakowski’s leadership philosophy, there’s no doubt that growth requires
capable people and ongoing business
investment, but she says those things are
even more important if the CEO wants to
maintain an industry leadership position,
which is garnered through a blend of
organic and acquired growth.

“While I think long-term investment is vital
to sustaining growth, so is remaining steadfast with your values,” Nowakowski says.
“As time goes on, strategies will evolve, but
a commitment to respecting the individual,
quality and continuous improvement are
the things that keep companies at the top of
their game over the long haul.”

HOW TO REACH: AMN Healthcare Services Inc., (866) 871-8519 or www.amnhealthcare.com