Elicit input
Many of the risks that boosted Edward ventured into uncharted territories. So it wasn’t a matter of seeing what others were doing and trying to adapt it; it was a matter of doing things differently.
You can’t really prescribe that kind of thinking or train people to stretch to new heights, but you can encourage it.
“The easiest decisions are those that you can base on statistics and on what others are doing,” Davis says. “I find it much more fun to look at the statistics if they’re available but not so much at what others are doing if they’re all doing it the same. That’s where creativity comes into play.
“I don’t know if you can teach creativity or not, and I don’t know if you can make people comfortable taking risks if they’re not a risk taker. What you can do is set the environment for those natural qualities to be utilized. You set an environment where you’re able to use those things.”
The first step is finding employees who are innately comfortable pushing boundaries and innovating. Davis uses behavioral interviewing, or questioning candidates specifically about the characteristics she wants in a position.
“We actually describe the type of behaviors that we want here and try and interview for those, asking people are they open-minded, describe a situation that they were involved in making change, describe some way in which you suggested an innovation and how did you do that,” she says.
Once you’ve discovered naturally innovative people, the next step is establishing an environment where they can shine.
If you want your employees to contribute ideas and get involved in your decision-making process, you have to provide opportunities. A good place to start, especially if you have 4,100 employees like Davis, is with the employees who will be most affected by the decision.
“We involve employees in making decisions and getting their input, and we do that at the unit level,” she says. “If we’re going to do a renovation, we will have the individuals who will be working in that area work actively with us and the architect on how that should be designed.”
Davis offers opportunities for employees to get involved on rotating committees either within their units or in other areas, such as business development or safety. She also organizes focus groups where, along with potential patients, previous patients and their families, employees can respond to ideas she’s considering. But it’s not all abstract talk, especially if the changes will be tangible. For example, she’ll set up mock rooms for staff and patients to walk through, see and feel the changes and respond to how those might affect them.
The key to keeping employees involved is reinforcing their ideas. When you receive input, recognize the employee who gave it with a simple thank you — whether or not the idea will be rolled out.
“That’s where you give positive reinforcement,” Davis says. “If they’re not implemented, that’s not a failure. We show tremendous appreciation and support for people who are willing to come forward with ideas and so people feel good about coming up with ideas. They know not everything can be implemented, and that doesn’t even mean it’s a bad idea, [but] we just have limited resources and time. But it’s fun for people to be a part of the culture and contribute their ideas.”
Fortunately, you can recognize ideas without acting on all of them. Through a Good Saves Program, all of Davis’ employees’ cash-saving ideas are posted online so they can see their ideas whether they are implemented or not.
However you decide to garner input, the underlying lesson is that you give employees a voice — and listen to it.
“You can take a very creative and innovative person in an environment where they would not be able to use those skills and that would be a shame,” Davis says. “The environment here is that we want people to think. We want people to have suggestions and new ideas and to then work within a process so those things that are worthwhile can be implemented.”
