Abstract
Session presented on Saturday, March 18, 2017: Purpose: Creating a happy, healthy, comfortable workplace is essential to the success of an individual unit. Promotinga culture of collaboration and support can help boost productivity, increase morale, and yield an engaged team. Method: Making purposeful, authentic efforts to create this culture demonstrates a brand of leadership that empowers the team. The efforts & accomplishments of staff should be publically recognized, while improvement opportunities can be discussed as lessons learned to increase awareness and communicate expectations. The challenges inherent in maintaining an engaged staff can be offset by a genuine leadership style that uses reciprocal communication rather than authoritative instructions. Unit leaders should not view themselves as the sole influencer; rather, a team is most successful when the members of that team encourage their peers to grow by setting an example to follow, particularly for those new to the floor or to the nursing role. Efforts should be made to grow and retain top contributors on the floor who are well-liked by their peers. Effective leaders recognize that their team consists of unique individuals, each with different motivators and strengths. Making efforts to build relationships with staff, including regular 1-on-1s and team outings, will allow leaders to personalize direction individually. Getting to know the person, and not just the employee, will naturally cause a selfless leader to have that person's best interest at heart, including a healthy work-life balance. Setting expectations for communication plays an important role; staff are directed to 'close the loop', or respond to requests for assistance by their peers, and follow through these commitments. Additionally, communication is expected to be positive or purposeful; pessimistic, detractive, or otherwise unnecessary negative communication is immediately corrected. Discussion: After inititating these practices, a series of events occur. Employee engagement scores increase by 15 percent, reduction in turnover, clinical ladder advancement occurs, and National Certification accomplishment expands for team members. Evaluation: Application and execution of this project produces a workplace culture wherein staff feel supported by their peers, and they will in turn feel obliged to reciprocate. This ongoing project continues with newly hired staff. Collaboration will continue to be persistent withnursing leadership and review ofoutcomes obtained. Learning Objectives: The learner will be able to identify two activities that promote a healthy work environment. The learner will be able to recognize different motivators for individual contributors.
Sigma Membership
Non-member
Type
Poster
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
N/A
Research Approach
N/A
Keywords:
Team, Engagement, Collaboration
Recommended Citation
Lorea, Yvette; Borden, Rachael; and Hernandez, Mary, "Empowering the Team: An Orthopedic Project Sparks a Change" (2017). Creating Healthy Work Environments Event Materials. 18.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/chwe/2017/posters_2017/18
Conference Name
Creating Healthy Work Environments 2017
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Conference Year
2017
Rights Holder
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Review Type
Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Empowering the Team: An Orthopedic Project Sparks a Change
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Session presented on Saturday, March 18, 2017: Purpose: Creating a happy, healthy, comfortable workplace is essential to the success of an individual unit. Promotinga culture of collaboration and support can help boost productivity, increase morale, and yield an engaged team. Method: Making purposeful, authentic efforts to create this culture demonstrates a brand of leadership that empowers the team. The efforts & accomplishments of staff should be publically recognized, while improvement opportunities can be discussed as lessons learned to increase awareness and communicate expectations. The challenges inherent in maintaining an engaged staff can be offset by a genuine leadership style that uses reciprocal communication rather than authoritative instructions. Unit leaders should not view themselves as the sole influencer; rather, a team is most successful when the members of that team encourage their peers to grow by setting an example to follow, particularly for those new to the floor or to the nursing role. Efforts should be made to grow and retain top contributors on the floor who are well-liked by their peers. Effective leaders recognize that their team consists of unique individuals, each with different motivators and strengths. Making efforts to build relationships with staff, including regular 1-on-1s and team outings, will allow leaders to personalize direction individually. Getting to know the person, and not just the employee, will naturally cause a selfless leader to have that person's best interest at heart, including a healthy work-life balance. Setting expectations for communication plays an important role; staff are directed to 'close the loop', or respond to requests for assistance by their peers, and follow through these commitments. Additionally, communication is expected to be positive or purposeful; pessimistic, detractive, or otherwise unnecessary negative communication is immediately corrected. Discussion: After inititating these practices, a series of events occur. Employee engagement scores increase by 15 percent, reduction in turnover, clinical ladder advancement occurs, and National Certification accomplishment expands for team members. Evaluation: Application and execution of this project produces a workplace culture wherein staff feel supported by their peers, and they will in turn feel obliged to reciprocate. This ongoing project continues with newly hired staff. Collaboration will continue to be persistent withnursing leadership and review ofoutcomes obtained. Learning Objectives: The learner will be able to identify two activities that promote a healthy work environment. The learner will be able to recognize different motivators for individual contributors.