The importance of empathy and compassion in driving service excellence and high performance cannot be overemphasized. All healthcare organizations want their providers and staff to show compassion and kindness toward patients at all times. To achieve that goal, leaders need to show compassion and kindness to all who are associated with the mission of the organization. Empathy and compassion operate at three levels:
- At the cognitive level, we tell the other person “I understand you.”
- At the emotional level, we tell them “I feel for you.”
- At the behavioral level, we say “I want to help you.”
Generally speaking, the first two levels refer to empathy, while the third level refers to compassion, which involves action. It is important to note that empathy/compassion is not a substitute for quality clinical care. It is both clinical excellence and empathy/compassion that deliver the best outcomes. How can leaders demonstrate empathy/compassion? One example, especially in the current remote work environment, is to start every Zoom call or in-person meeting by sharing with team members how the leader is taking care of themselves outside of work. The leader can then proceed to asking the team members: “What have you done in the last week to take care of yourself?”
Research has shown that in long-term healthcare teams that are characterized by compassion, employees report increased satisfaction and teamwork, reduced absenteeism and less emotional exhaustion. As a result, the patients cared for by these teams are in better spirits, have a higher quality of life, experience increased levels of satisfaction and make fewer trips to the emergency room. The COVID-19 pandemic greatly contributed to an increase in burnout levels among all healthcare team members. The evidence is clear that preventing and reducing burnout should be based on empathetic and compassionate leadership.
Mercyhealth in Janesville, Wis., a 2008 recipient of the Baldrige Quality Award, described its implementation as follows:
[Our] approach inverts the traditional, top-down management style; thus, organizational leaders become facilitators whose role is to serve those who provide value to patients and other stakeholders … Senior leaders’ personal demonstration of commitment to the organization’s values is a critical element in the transformational leadership approach. With this underlying philosophy, the executive council has adopted the following best practices:
- Frequent, open and honest communication. Executive council members bring issues to weekly (or more often) meetings for full discussion, supporting integrated system strategies.
- “Cruising and connecting.” Members engage in administrative rounding daily or weekly, connecting with partners to seek out new ways to better serve their needs.
- Personal renewal and connections with patients and customers. Members perform line work alongside staff periodically and review patient complaints and adverse outcomes daily.
- Monthly luncheons. Members conduct small group sessions with members of their accountability hierarchy to promote two-way communication.
The Mercy program is noteworthy for several reasons. First, it deliberately contrasts with the traditional command-and-control perspective. That perspective is so deeply rooted in the American workplace that most employees and all leaders must be carefully taught about the new model and how to work effectively within it. Second, the Mercy approach requires managers to make frequent, direct contact with workers and customers and to seek out new ways to serve their needs. Third, it expects the organization’s senior leaders to roll up their sleeves and work alongside their teams. Fourth, it includes systematic support for the leaders themselves. The executive council must respond to its members’ concerns and seek integrated system strategies. Fifth, it expects all leaders to demonstrate commitment to the organization’s values.
The Mercy approach builds service excellence by trusting employees and making that trust explicit. Managers at high-quality healthcare organizations work to remove the frustrations and conflicts that employees face, freeing employees’ energies to improve patient care. They convert healthcare organizations from transactional to transformational cultures by focusing on the mission, promoting the values, increasing empowerment and addressing the most promising opportunities for improvement. They identify and copy excellence.
By identifying teams that are ready to move forward and supporting them, management demonstrates the transformational potential and increases skill in making the transition. Leaders’ actions also provide compelling evidence of the strength of the healthcare organization’s commitment and the power of the transformational approach. The transition snowballs. The bold volunteer, the perceptive follow and the crowd join in. The focus on identifying evidence-based excellence is central to transformational culture and in contrast to the transactional focus on “fixing problems.” It has a profound effect on empowerment.
Editor’s Note: This content has been excerpted from the book The Well-Managed Healthcare Organization, Tenth Edition. It has been edited for length. Are you studying for the Board of Governors Exam? Don’t forget to pick up your copy as part of the Board of Governors Exam Study Bundle.