Establish the right systems
Creem’s second key to a game-changing culture is putting systems in place that recognize and reward the entrepreneurial behaviors that will make front-line employees self-starters.
“It seems like every year we have to do more with less, so we try to create a spirit of empowerment and entrepreneurialism so that we can always find new ideas and different ways of approaching old problems,” he says.
That sounds good, but, again, with 2,000 people, he doesn’t have time to sit down for quarterly reviews with everyone to discuss that. Still, he can start the process by telling hospital employees times are different and then take the opportunity to share and reward those who exemplify the systems he’s trying to put into place.
“We try to create reward and recognition programs where we can celebrate managers and employees who have come up with new ideas. … We also just want to highlight and celebrate people who are trying to do new and innovative things throughout the hospital,” he says. “So the more we can identify the kind of behavior we want to model and make it visible to our employees, the more they can learn what behavior we’re rewarding and promoting.”
Those steps are done through things most companies do: newsletters, company meetings, meetings with middle managers, town halls, etc., but the key is to do it consistently — as in every time — and to specify the behaviors you want. With that, highlighting the rewards helps. For example, USC has a strategic partnership with the Los Angeles Dodgers and gives away game tickets to employees with other rewards and awards during high-profile hospital celebrations like Nurses Week.
“During those weeks of celebration, we have the opportunity to give awards to employees that exemplify the values and virtues that we are holding in the highest regard,” he says.
You also want to get it started by being a touch point. While Creem wants his managers to handle the overall leadership, the early stages of empowerment mean you have to hear thoughts on daily systems that are out of whack. Empowering people means you have to give them tangible ways to see they have a voice. Creem gives everyone at the hospital his e-mail and tells them to shoot him ideas. But don’t think that just letting employees touch base with you will do the trick. If it’s an issue best handled by someone else, Creem forwards it on. Still, responding is important.
“It’s really important to respond to every e-mail,” he says. “And let them know that we’re going to try to push forward this idea or maybe try to explain what else is going on in the organization that would give them a different viewpoint, give them more information to work with as to why certain things are the way they are.”
When you’re doing that, any piece of information that you take and use must be publicized.
“Certainly, with respect to minor changes in benefit structure or some policies that we were implementing, we talked about how voices of the employees have helped us stay on the straight and narrow,” he says.
For the record, people won’t immediately bang down your door with ideas. At USC, Creem got about 200 e-mails from employees during his first 45 days. But the more you respond, the more momentum you’ll create. Further, building that momentum takes some personal stories that people can take to the masses. Early on at USC, Creem had a nurse come to him about an initiative for a patient program.
“She came all the way over to my office to drop off a letter — she was a little bit nervous to talk to me — but we ended up talking about it anyway,” he says. “I saw that she was nervous, so I decided that we should have a talk about some of her ideas and she wanted to be involved. So these are the kind of things that I see throughout the organization that make me realize it’s working, it’ll take root, (but) it will take some time.”
Doing those things helped in the first steps at USC: They didn’t lose one employee the day of the ownership transition.
“With a new CEO, some new managers, I don’t think everyone understands what response they might get,” he says. “But my sense is that the spirit is lifting. People are becoming more vocal.
“The word is getting out that we’re approachable and that we’re eager to hear from everybody. And I think slowly we’re starting to hear from everybody.”
How to reach: USC University Hospital, (888) 700-5700 or www.uscuniversityhospital.org; USC Norris Cancer Hospital, (800) 700-3956 or www.uscnorriscancerhospital.org