Building Organizational Resilience

Editor’s Note: This content has been excerpted from the book Navigating the Healthcare Workforce Shortage: How to Safeguard Your Organization’s Most Important Asset, by Tresha D. Moreland, FACHE, and Lori Wightman, DNP, RN, NEA-BC. The content has been edited down for length. Order your copy now through Jan. 7, 2022, and receive a 20% discount when you use the promo code HOLIDAY21 at checkout.

Organizational resilience is the ability to anticipate crises and respond effectively to disruptions, even when they are unexpected and severe. The onslaught of the COVID-19 storm no doubt highlighted for many leaders the need to build a more resilient organization and workforce.

Here is a 10-step process that will help prepare your organization and build the strength and resilience necessary to successfully navigate challenges, abrupt shifts in direction and crises.

STEP 1: Do Your Personal “Pre-Work”

It is hard to lead teams and organizations effectively when you are fatigued, burned out, anxious or fearful. The ability to man­age your own fear and anxiety and to muster courage is critical during a crisis. It is also important to maintain your own health of mind, body and spirit . . . all the time. You must be centered and lead with a clear mind and heart.

STEP 2: Develop a Resilient Workforce

Developing a resilient workforce is at the core of navigating a crisis or stepping up your attraction and retention processes. This work can be viewed through three lenses:

• Employees—Building a resilient culture requires ongoing nurturing and support of all who work in the organization. A supportive culture will encourage and develop resilient employees.
• Leaders—It is important for leaders to balance crisis with resilience, reflection and support, so they can show up with courage and in alignment with the organization’s mission, vision and values.
• Mission and Values—Savvy leaders will resist convenience hiring and take the time to hire individuals who are aligned with the organization’s mission and values.

STEP 3: Develop Authentic Relationships

Authentic relationships are based on trust. Trust forms when people feel safe in sharing their ideas and thoughts and do not fear being judged unfairly. Sit back and observe your team in earnest. What are some signs of authentic relationships? Employ­ees ask questions in a way that builds positive energy and sup­port. Labels, biases and assumptions are checked at the door. People listen with their full attention, rather than focusing on emails and smartphones.

STEP 4: Communicate Strategically and Effectively

A well-designed and well-executed communication strategy runs deep, wide, early and often. It is timely, truthful, consistent and coordinated. Visibility of leadership is the norm and may involve frequent forums, town hall meetings and rounding. Leaders should be reg­ularly engaged in visibility practices before a crisis happens.

STEP 5: Develop Leaders at All Levels of the Organization

Here are some tips to ensure a prepared and resilient organization:

• Don’t save training only for executives—front-line leaders are the ones putting strategy into action.
• Cross-train employees and develop methods to deploy training throughout the organization so all employees understand expectations.
• Build a portfolio of virtual learning opportunities that are always available and updated at sufficient intervals.

STEP 6: Invest in Technology Platforms That Can Adapt Quickly

Healthcare organizations are fortunate that the government lifted legislative constraints to enable healthcare systems to expand their use of telehealth tech­nology. In addition, technology allows leaders to engage and develop remote workforces. Technology can also be used to recruit talent using virtual platforms.

STEP 7: Refresh Your Emergency Management Training and Team

The following recommendations will help you recheck and refresh your emergency management policies and programs:

• A response structure must be created in advance of a crisis.
• Leaders at all levels should be trained regularly on emergency management principles and roles.
• Periodic scenario planning should be conducted to ensure emergency management procedures account for events that have not been practiced (e.g., civil unrest, additional virus outbreaks).

STEP 8: Evaluate Financial Stewardship

Having a strong, disci­plined regime for financial alerts will enable organizations to better deal with economic downturn when the cost of labor continues to go up. There are many ways to improve margins without reducing staff and risking outcomes. Start by asking yourself:

• Is the organization good at flexing to service demand?
• Do you have a workforce optimization strategy? If so, is it focused on reducing costs rather than hours?
• Does your organization have a financial stewardship position in place before a crisis?

STEP 9: Maintain Safe and High-Quality Services

Having a strong reputation for quality of care before a crisis will help soothe patient concerns and continue to attract a strong workforce. Cross-training is vital for organizations to be resilient and respon­sive to crisis situations. Data transparency is also vital to both employees and the com­munity. Understanding healthcare data and metrics and how they apply personally will help employees and community members make health decisions based on facts.

STEP 10: Create a Culture of Innovation and Creativity

Innovative approaches to empow­ering employee creativity during the pandemic came in handy for many healthcare systems. Engage front-line employees in process improvement, work­flow redesign and the development of solutions. Make it safe for employees to solve problems (and sometimes fail) as they come up. You will need all levels of the organization responding in a crisis with empowerment, know-how and creativity.

These 10 areas may seem like priorities that organizations would have had in place before the pandemic. However, the crisis has given us a new lens through which to examine our priorities. The sheer demand for healthcare services and the continuing strain on our workforce require us to adjust our priorities to ensure we emerge from the crisis ahead of the workforce shortage storm.

Tresha D. Moreland, FACHE, is a business adviser, executive and the founder/CEO of HR C-Suite LLC. Lori L. Wightman, DNP, RN, FACHE, NEA-BC, is CEO of Bothwell Regional Health Center, Sedalia, Mo.