All leaders, regardless of their origins, agree that certain leadership skills must be learned thus all leaders can benefit from leadership training. However, not all leadership training programs will deliver the long-term results you desire. When choosing a program to train your leaders, make sure it includes the following vital skill sets.

1. Empowering Others

A leader’s ability to empower will have a significant impact on driving business results. The best leader knows how to make staff shine, by delegating responsibilities according to each staff member’s strengths and weaknesses. An effective delegation model exists and can be taught. Other aspects of delegation can be taught during training as well, including how to:

• Empower with clarity
• Define span of freedom and responsibility in executing tasks for direct reports
• Ensure staff take personal ownership for delivering on commitments

The key takeaway from this leadership training topic is that leaders will know how to best nudge their staff to get results.

2. Leading Meetings

This may seem like a superficial skill to focus on, but leading effective and productive meetings is one of the most important skills a leader needs to have. Consider how many meetings are run daily in an organization – almost all meetings will be run by someone in a leadership role. You need to step back and consider how effectively organized those meetings are and look at the productive outcome. Training on how to lead meetings include skills building in:

• Getting everyone involved and participating in the meeting topic
• Managing meetings effectively, so each member is heard
• Getting to the main meeting points quickly
• Staying on time and on task
• Focusing on core objectives and limiting distractions
• Generating actionable results

3. Managing People

Managing people is part of leadership, but it’s a part that may not come naturally to leaders. In almost every job, people skills are every bit as important as technical, or hard skills. Luckily, people management is another skill that can be taught. The first step is being open to training itself. The next is to practice what is learned. Through training, leaders learn to:

• Manage and overcome interpersonal conflict
• Help staff with their own goal setting, time management, and collaboration challenges
• Encourage staff to diagnose their own performance
• Garner a culture of accountability for their team

4. Soft Skills

While we spend large portions of our careers learning the hard skills required to completing tasks and doing our jobs, it is essential that leaders also have training in “soft skill” areas. When seeking leadership training, ensure the curriculum has components targeted specifically to personal and soft skills building for leaders. While technical skills are important, soft skills are crucial to career success as a leader. Soft skills building for leadership training should cover:

• Building effective relationships
• Communicating clearly
• Listening actively
• Thinking creatively

5. Specific Skills Training for the Needs of Your Organization

While you can’t know exactly what the future will bring, there is one thing you can train leaders to face: Change. Even seasoned leaders can benefit from training for change management. Even if you’re not undergoing a complete culture transformation, leading through change is still important even for smaller initiatives like changes to software and systems.  Training here will include:

• Best ways to educate others about a change
• How to choose whether to try a different change tactic
• How to assess your own impact toward change
• Methods for providing constructive feedback

Leadership training topics and programs vary; make sure your leaders are receiving the best leadership skills training by looking at the training topics included within the curriculum.

Contents

• Teamwork and Collaboration
• Ethics and Integrity
• Adaptability
• Innovation and Continuous Learning
• Communication
• Emotional Intelligence
• Leadership

Introduction

Today’s business challenges compel organizations to identify new, more creative ways to enhance shareholder value and the customer experience. As a member of the C-suite, you bear considerable responsibility for building a productive workforce and high-performance culture. Moreover, you want that accountability to go beyond the C-suite and filter through the rest of the organization. In the PWC 2017 CEO Survey on Global Talent, 77 percent of CEOs expressed concern about the availability of core competencies such as creativity and innovation among their workforces. You don’t have to be among them. A focus on the development of seven core competencies can ensure you are building a workforce that possesses the skills you need for short- and long-term success.

1. Teamwork and Collaboration

You probably already recognize that collaboration among employees yields high idea generation and more efficient problem-solving. Tools such as Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud technology provide more seamless ways for employees to collaborate and leverage each other’s strengths. Other solutions that will drive productive teamwork throughout your organization and go beyond technology include training initiatives that help you identify and duplicate the qualities of your existing high-performance teams. Furthermore, you can support employee teamwork and collaboration by building a culture that not only places value on effective teamwork, but also trains employees to be better problem-solvers and communicators within a team environment.

2. Ethics and Integrity

A recent study of ethical trends among CEOs noted increased public scrutiny of C-suite executives and their ethical (or not) behavior. You want your employees and your customers to know that you are committed to doing the right thing, whether it’s in how you approach new business opportunities or how you treat employees. Therefore, ethics and integrity should be woven into your culture and reinforced with coaching and training that helps every individual understand your commitment to ethical behavior.

3.  Adaptability

In today’s ever-changing business landscape, individuals who can shift their behaviors and mindset to align with changes in work culture and environment are more valuable than ever. As your organization grows, your systems and processes will advance in complexity as well. You need your workforce to not only adapt to those changes but in some cases lead the change. As new technologies such as big data, AI, and robotics continue to change the way people work and interact, your workforce will benefit from tailored employee development experiences that will strengthen their change management capabilities and provide the tools needed to adapt to shifts in their work environment.

4. Innovation and Continuous Learning

Organizational growth is the outcome of innovation and a commitment to doing things faster, more efficiently, and with greater value to the customer. When a business challenge requires an innovative solution, you expect employees to consider new processes or technology and be willing to step into the unfamiliar. But can innovation and creative thinking be taught? The answer is yes—with the right tools and environment, you can transform your workforce into a powerful hub for innovation.

5. Communication

The perennial employee development challenge is how to help managers and employees communicate better, with greater clarity, honesty, and effectiveness. Individuals can become better performers if they know how to actively listen to understand colleagues and customers better. Also, people managers need to develop strong communication skills in order to convey performance expectations and solicit and deliver feedback effectively. As a leadership team, you can make communication skills training a key component of your employee development efforts.

6. Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence 2.0 co-author Travis Bradberry found that 90 percent of high performers exhibit high emotional intelligence. You may have seen within your own workforce how individuals with a high EQ (emotional quotient) are able to overcome difficult personalities, and seem to effortlessly guide the behavior of others without ruffling feathers or aggravating egos. These are the types of behaviors that employees can learn to emulate as they engage in activities that challenge them to practice empathy and patience with coworkers.

7. Leadership

You are likely already aware that perhaps the single most important employee development area that supports organizational capability is effective leadership. Strong leaders empower others to be effective collaborators, communicators, and decision-makers, which will, in turn, provide you with a competitive advantage in times of growth and change. When you partner with HR and a trusted leadership development partner, you can provide leadership development experiences and training that will help to build strong leaders at every level of the organization.

Use Experiential Learning to Address Key Areas of Employee Development

These seven employee development areas can be targeted through a practical competency framework, and aligned with an experiential training program that will help individuals learn by doing. Strong leaders aren’t created by accident but through relevant experiences delivered in a context that encourages learning and further development. With experiential training, your employees engage in employee development that drives lasting behavior change and sets the organization on a course for success and further growth.

Being a good leader requires more than being a high performer yourself. You must also be able to motivate others to achieve their greatest potential by empowering them and holding them accountable for their responsibilities.

Gallup’s Re-Engineering Performance Management report indicates that employees in the U.S. who are either not engaged or are actively disengaged cost companies between $960 billion and $1.2 trillion per year, demonstrating that a lack of motivation among employees means money lost for your organization. The report also says that only two out of every ten employees strongly agree that their performance is managed in a way that motivates them to do outstanding work. This is a strong indicator that leaders need to do better. Additionally, only 21 percent of employees strongly agree that their pay and incentives motivate them to achieve their goals. Increasing pay is a quick answer, not a long-term solution.

What is critical thinking? Critical thinking is a process of objective evaluation of facts and the consideration of possible solutions to problems. According to the Foundation for Critical Thinking, the concept dates back to early methods of questioning to achieve knowledge practiced by the Ancient Greek philosopher Socrates. Today, organizations value critical thinking as a means to greater innovation and improved problem-solving. In fact, the skill is deemed so important that a survey of leading chief human resource officers conducted by the World Economic Forum found that critical thinking will be the second most important skill in the workplace by 2020, second only to complex problem-solving skills.

Critical thinking is important because it helps individuals and teams more effectively diagnose problems and identify possible solutions that aren’t entirely obvious at first. In addition, critical thinking can help resolve conflicts in the workplace. When individuals consider a range of possible approaches to solving a problem rather than relying on bias or snap judgments, they are more likely to arrive at a better solution.

Ways to Promote Critical Thinking in the Workplace

Some ways you can promote critical thinking in the workplace involve making changes in your workplace culture; others involve training. Here are five ways to encourage critical thinking in your organization.

1. Hire and Promote Critical Thinkers

An important first step to building organizational strength in critical thinking is to hire individuals who are already strong in that area. Behavioral interviewing is an effective way to gauge a candidate’s strengths in critical evaluation and analysis. In addition, when you make critical thinking a desired competency for leadership and promotion, you begin to build a pipeline of talented critical thinkers.

2. Build a Culture of Learning

It’s critical to create an environment where the behaviors related to critical thinking are a natural part of your company culture. Some of the ways you can build and support  a culture that stimulates critical, objective analysis include:

• Incorporating “lessons learned” discussions after the conclusion of important projects, during which employees have the opportunity to look back on areas where more critical thinking might have been helpful in improving a project’s outcome
• Creating an environment where tough questions are welcomed and employees are encouraged to talk through alternatives openly
• Developing a routine or protocol for decision-making that encourages critical-thinking behaviors such as exploring possible solutions to a problem, exploring bias, and considering the consequences of different proposed solutions

3. Avoid Jumping to Conclusions

Another way to promote critical thinking in the workplace is to avoid jumping to conclusions. Instead, approach a problem by first developing a common understanding of the challenges it presents. According to a recent helpful article, these are a few ways to accomplish this:

• Ask questions about the origin of a problem and how it evolved
• Define the desired outcome before settling on a solution to the problem
• Avoid overthinking possible solutions, which can slow down the problem-solving process and undermine disciplined thinking

4. Create Internal Forums

Sometimes the simple act of talking things out can help to spur the critical, objective analysis of problems. When individuals have a forum for addressing and discussing one big problem or a series of related problems, they generate new ideas, share pros and cons of certain solutions, and take advantage of opportunities to collaborate with coworkers on creative solutions to workplace problems.

5. Teach and Train

Leadership development and teamwork-skills training can help build employees’ critical thinking strengths by encouraging a mind-set and skill-set change. As individuals learn new behaviors, they begin to see broader problems and solutions that exist beyond their individual roles and consider the larger picture when looking at a problem.

Experiential learning  works particularly well in promoting critical thinking because learning by doing encourages a critical skill set. The immersive nature of an experiential approach keeps employees fully engaged so that they continually use their critical-thinking and problem-solving skills.

Build Critical Thinking in the Whole Organization

Critical thinking is more than a desirable soft skill; it’s a valuable competency that is the basis for innovation and problem-solving. When properly cultivated in the workplace, critical thinking can help individuals and teams overcome challenges and meet business goals. Although there’s no magic bullet that will increase critical thinking in the workplace, a variety of activities in combination can effectively promote it. When you build a culture that promotes and values critical thinking, your organization as a whole will see greater results and outcomes.

Leaders are responsible not just for managing and leading talent, but also for helping individuals develop and grow so that they can perform to their potential. Though most leaders would agree that developing talent is important, training alone is not enough. Leadership requires not only setting expectations and providing feedback, but also positioning employees for success and providing an environment that encourages continuous learning and performance improvement. Here are four things leaders can do to develop organizational talent that reaches their full potential:

Delegate

Leaders can make considerable progress in developing talent by delegating tasks that challenge these individuals to try something new. Delegation doesn’t mean just handing off a task to someone, but going through a process of discussion, explanation, and coaching to help the person learn and perform at a higher level. Leaders can identify which responsibilities to delegate (and whom to delegate them to) by communicating expectations, providing regular feedback, and then trusting individuals so that they can take accountability for the outcome of the delegated task. As individuals take on more newly delegated responsibilities, they will grow more confident in their ability to perform at a consistently higher level.

Coach and Mentor

Coaching isn’t limited to a one-on-one relationship established only for that purpose. In fact, leaders have opportunities to coach their people on a daily basis, and can often provide useful in-the-moment coaching that helps to accelerate employee development. Coaching is more than giving advice and suggestions for improvement. It requires first making a connection and showing employees that you care about their development and aspirations for growth, and then providing opportunities for them to learn and grow. Managers can coach and mentor by regularly asking employees about their career aspirations, discussing options for training, and identifying assignments and other opportunities to learn. Once leaders have established a connection with individuals, they can more effectively provide coaching that includes observing employee behavior and communicating helpful strategies for skill building and development.

Set an Example

The behavior of leaders can have a major influence on employee behavior. One survey found that 42 percent of new managers developed their management style by observing a previous manager. Leaders can find success in developing talent by focusing on continuous improvement and showing others through their own example the importance of developing leadership strengths. Leaders who demonstrate a desire to become better through leadership development and building their skills in other areas show through their example the value of expanding and growing as a professional. When employees see leaders sharpening their own skills, they are more likely to follow that behavior and seek out development opportunities for themselves.

Identify Targeted Training

Training that targets a specific area, such as communication, teamwork, or leadership development, can give employees the necessary building blocks to consistently perform at a higher level. However, training delivered in a vacuum won’t produce much in the way of results. Training activities should mimic the real world in order to offer maximum value to employees and teams. Experiential learning is an ideal choice for developing talent because it allows employees to learn by doing and includes exercises that parallel real challenges employees face at work. When employees can see a strong connection between what they learn and practice in training and what they experience at work, they’re more likely to use newly learned skills on the job.

Talent development is a necessary component of ensuring your workforce possesses the skills and knowledge required for future growth. Helping employees learn and grow requires a combination of targeted training and support from leaders to help employees achieve their aspirations and perform to their potential.

It’s no secret that employee engagement is a key concern for organizations; studies show that an engaged workforce supports growth through a range of benefits, including higher productivity and profitability, lower turnover, and more satisfied customers. However, despite the value of an engaged workforce, only one in three US employees is engaged, according to Gallup surveys.

Organizations that focus on learning and development (L&D) can make important strides in supporting both higher employee engagement and company growth. Providing employees with key learning and development opportunities not only builds capable, confident employees, but research shows that learning and development is a key driver of engagement. For example, In one study, 80 percent of surveyed employees said that learning and development opportunities would help them feel more engaged at work. Here are four reasons why learning and development drive employee engagement and growth.

L&D Improves Employee Retention

Investing in employee learning and development shows employees they are valued. When people feel valued, they are less likely to leave the organization. According to the LinkedIn 2018 Workplace Learning Report, 94 percent of employees said that they would stay at a company longer if it invested in their career development. As a company invests in the growth of its people, employees see that they can accomplish their personal growth goals within the organization, and they subsequently grow in their commitment to the company and its goals. Some examples of learning and development initiatives that support employee retention include:

• Training opportunities at various stages along specific career paths
• Skill development courses that appeal to a range of employee interests and learning styles
• Promotional opportunities that are linked to mastery of key competencies

L&D Ensures a Strong Leadership Pipeline

For an organization to grow and achieve its succession planning goals, there must be a strong pipeline of leaders ready to fill key positions. Learning and development ensures that new and existing leaders possess the knowledge and skills required to lead others. Training and development opportunities that build leadership competency include:

• Leadership development that teaches individuals how to lead themselves and lead others
• Training in soft skills such as critical thinking, communication, and teamwork
• Stretch assignments and rotational opportunities that expose individuals to new processes and people

L&D Helps Prepare an Organization for Change

Change is inevitable for any organization, but having employees who are equipped to navigate the waters of change increases the likelihood of success. By providing employees with learning experiences that help them embrace shifts in strategy or revised work processes, the organization won’t be crippled by change, but will instead be able to effectively leverage change in order to grow. In addition, learning and development programs give leaders the tools to prepare their team for change and help all employees approach change with confidence and a positive attitude.

L&D Supports Better Teamwork and Collaboration

When people come together as a team, there’s no guarantee they will communicate, share information and resources, or remain committed to team goals. However, learning and development initiatives increase the likelihood of effective team functioning. These initiatives teach individuals how to communicate, resolve conflicts, and support one another, helping them contribute more effectively to organizational growth. Moreover, when team relationships are more positive, employees are also more engaged. In a SHRM report, 77 percent of surveyed employees named relationships with coworkers as an important driver of their engagement. With the knowledge and skills to be productive members of a team, individuals can better support the success of the organization as a whole.

By investing in the growth of employees, you fuel company growth. Learning and development opportunities provide employees with the experiences and skills necessary to support organizational goals. By improving employee retention, engagement, and the effectiveness of leaders, learning and development programs ensure a workforce that is capable of supporting the organization into the future.

Meetings are an important way to keep your team in sync and your initiatives running smoothly. Whether you need to share information, gather feedback, or make decisions, there are a plethora of positive effects of having weekly staff meetings.

So, what makes a meeting effective? According to a leadership lesson presented by the Association of American Medical Colleges, “Effective meetings allow for open conversation that draws upon each members’ knowledge, skills, and perspectives to solve problems and to support one another in achieving the collective goals.” This may seem like a simple definition, but it takes skill to consistently run meetings that fit that description. The better your leaders are at running effective meetings, the more you will witness the following four benefits within your organization.

1. Increased Engagement and Collaboration

When led well, meetings offer each person the opportunity to participate and provide input. To engage each individual, effective facilitators focus on asking questions and guiding the conversation so that everyone understands that their perspectives and ideas are valued. These discussions can even spark collaborative brainstorming sessions that produce new ideas and creative solutions.

Practical Tip

When preparing for a meeting, create a list of questions that will help stimulate discussion. If there are particular people who don’t regularly speak up, ask them to share their input with the group.  

2. Increased Accountability

A good meeting leader is skilled at creating an environment in which everybody feels that their contribution is valued. This helps make participants feel more comfortable taking on assignments and makes it clear that every task has an impact on the project as a whole. Committing to a task in a meeting often has more weight than doing so in a one-on-one situation or via email. When saying “yes” to an assignment in a meeting, individuals feel more accountable to the group and are more motivated to complete their piece of the project. Capturing action items and responsibilities in the meeting also increases personal accountability because the team will be able to review the task assignments in the meeting notes.

Practical Tip

Conclude every meeting by summarizing the list of action items, including who is responsible for them and when the tasks are due. After the meeting, follow up via email or your project management tool to reinforce the commitments that were made.

3. A Shared Sense of Purpose

Clearly stating the purpose of the meeting and providing an agenda in advance ensures that everybody is on the same page about why it is being held and what they need to do to come prepared. A skilled leader then uses the agenda to keep the discussion moving in the direction of the team’s goals. Sharing the agenda and goals with the team provides a shared sense of purpose because everyone understands the importance of the meeting and why they have been included. This shared purpose is motivating both during the meeting and after, when the team disperses to work on their individual action items.

Practical Tip

When inviting people to a meeting, provide an agenda within the invite that clearly defines the meeting objectives. During the meeting, if the conversation starts to wander, circle back to those objectives to keep the meeting on track.

4. Opportunities for Personal Growth

A truly effective meeting creates opportunities for each person to develop important skills. The facilitator is refining their leadership skills by practicing effective communication techniques and motivating the group to be accountable for their commitments. Participants are able to witness the benefits of a well-run meeting and adopt the skills and behaviors modeled by the leader. An effective meeting also enables participants to challenge themselves and try something new. When tasks are being discussed and assigned, participants can volunteer to take on the work that interests them most. Even if they have limited knowledge or experience, they can join a group that will allow them to learn and develop their skills in that area.

Practical Tip

To help individuals learn new skills, pair newer employees up with more experienced team members and give them a challenging task to complete as a team. This enables the less experienced individuals to learn from the expertise of their partners and gain new skills in a supportive and productive way.

Conclusion

While this is not an exhaustive list of all the positive effects of having weekly staff meetings, it does give you a clear indication there are many. In addition to keeping everyone on the same page, well-run meetings also help increase engagement, collaboration, accountability, and personal development. However, not all leaders possess the necessary skill set to run an effective meeting. Fortunately, this can be taught and honed through training and practice. To learn more about planning and running meetings in your organization, download our free guide, A Guide to Running Effective Meetings.

Delegation in leadership not only helps get things done, but it also empowers employees by giving them greater autonomy. No leader can do all things at all times, and delegation is a key tool for boosting team and organizational performance and efficiency. A Gallup study found that companies led by CEOs who were strong delegators achieved a higher overall growth rate compared to companies whose CEOs delegated less.

Great leadership has many components, and delegation is an important factor for maximizing employee contributions and increasing productivity among all members of a team. Here are four reasons why delegation is essential for effective leadership.

Frees up Time

Achieving the right balance between the strategic and the tactical is important for any leader to be effective, especially with the many demands on their time and attention. In a survey conducted by the Strategic Thinking Institute, 96 percent of leaders said they lacked time for strategic thinking. When leaders delegate certain tasks to others, they become free to focus on higher-value activities and use their time more productively. Delegation not only gives leaders time for strategic thinking, but it also allows them to focus on other tasks that only they can perform, such as leading and coaching their teams. As outlined in a Harvard Business Review article, one team leader adopted a strategy of delegation and made the shift from simply being busy to being productive.

Encourages the Prioritization of Tasks

Delegation starts with determining which tasks can be delegated and which can’t. Prioritizing tasks helps leaders determine the most critical items to be delegated and who should perform them. One tool for developing a prioritization system for delegation is the Urgent vs. Important Matrix. Using this matrix, leaders can categorize tasks based on their time sensitivity and importance. Tasks or decisions that are less important but urgent, such as responding to a routine request from another team, can probably be delegated. Tasks that are both highly important and urgent might also be candidates for delegation as well, but perhaps to a more experienced member of the team.

Empowers Employees

Delegation empowers employees by enabling them to demonstrate their capability to take on new work. When individuals step outside of their typical day-to-day activities and have the chance to take on new tasks or get involved in decision-making, they become more invested in the outcome of their delegated responsibilities. Delegation helps people recognize their importance to the team, which fosters a deeper sense of commitment and engagement. Leaders can build a sense of empowerment among employees by delegating in areas such as:

• Project management—ask a member of the team to write the first draft of a project proposal.
• Client relations—select a member of the sales team to gather client data and background reading ahead of a client meeting.
• New system implementation—pick a couple of employees to test drive a new system and report back to the team with their findings.

Supports New Skill Development

Delegation builds new skills among team leaders and their direct reports. It gets newer leaders into a rhythm of accepting responsibility for outcomes without feeling that they must take on every single task themselves. When leaders learn how to delegate effectively, they are building competency in setting expectations, providing feedback, and ensuring accountability in others. For individuals who have responsibilities delegated to them, they have opportunities to learn a new process or interact with team members they might not deal with normally. These new experiences help them build skills in areas such as project management, teamwork, and communication.

Delegation involves more than just doling out tasks to other members of the team. Effective leaders carefully consider what to delegate and to whom, and understand how delegation makes their team more effective. Leadership development is a great way to teach leaders how to leverage delegation for improved productivity, empowered employees, and skill-building.

Time management is a skill, which means it can be taught, learned, practiced, and refined. As with any skill, it takes effort to improve, especially because getting better at time management often requires learning new behaviors. However, the effort is well worth it because when your time is managed well, you can be more productive and perform at a higher level. Work on these five time management habits to create the space you need to complete more work in a day.

1. Make a schedule and stick to it

Most people use a work calendar to schedule meetings and events. However, you can also use it to block out time to work on tasks. In addition to prompting you to do the work in a given time frame, this lets others know when you don’t want to be disturbed, which can cut down on distractions that reduce productivity. Scheduling tasks also gives you the freedom to silence your phone and close your email app because your time is clearly blocked off as busy.

To get the most from this habit, schedule your tasks around the times that you tend to be most productive. Be sure to start each day by looking at your schedule, not by jumping on the first task somebody asks you about.

2. Set clear expectations and deadlines

When you schedule tasks, it becomes much easier for you to let others know when they can expect the work to be completed. Setting deadlines for every task is a great way to ensure that items don’t consistently fall to the bottom of your list. Although it is important to prioritize, consistently ignoring non-urgent tasks is a surefire way to create unnecessary stress for yourself in the future. It’s common for people to naturally gravitate toward working on the tasks that were most recently assigned, but this isn’t always the best approach.

If you are a manager, set clear expectations around deadlines and work with your employees to help them prioritize tasks. When assigning tasks, let employees know when you expect the work to be done and how long a particular task usually takes so they can better manage their time.

3. Break down large tasks into smaller steps

If a to-do list is made up of large, multi-step tasks or entire projects, it can feel overwhelming to even the most experienced professional. Breaking up large tasks into smaller steps makes it more manageable and allows you to feel like you are steadily moving forward as you check items off your list.

If there is a task on your list that you always skip over because it just feels too big, take a few minutes to break it down into smaller chunks that you know you can tackle. At the other end of the spectrum, don’t allow yourself to stretch out small tasks to take up more time. If something should take just 15 minutes, do it within the allotted time frame and then move on.

4. Take breaks

Build breaks into your schedule. Actually put them on the calendar so you’re prompted to take a time-out during the course of the day. It’s also important to recognize when you need a break, whether it’s scheduled or not. Taking a short break—even just 10 minutes—allows you to return to your work feeling refreshed and more focused.

It can be difficult for employees to feel comfortable taking breaks, especially in a work culture that values busyness. However, being busy is not the same as being productive. Taking frequent short breaks can actually boost productivity and allow you to get more done in your day.

5. Make lists and prioritize tasks

Whether you prefer to use an app or stick with pen and paper, lists are an excellent visual reminder of what you need to get done and which tasks you should prioritize. Using multiple lists for different projects or personal tasks makes it easier to shift gears and focus on the immediate tasks at hand.

Remember that lists only work when you actually use them. It’s not enough to write a list and then never reference it. Keep your lists visible throughout the day so you can cross off tasks that have been completed and be reminded about what to focus on next. The more specific your tasks are, the more likely you will be to address them, so use clear action words to prompt the appropriate activity.

Link time management to productivity

Everybody has different systems for time management, and there is nothing wrong with that as long as they are effective. When considering your own time management behaviors, ask yourself whether they increase productivity. If not, use the five tips above or think of your own ways to adapt your time management practices so you will have more dedicated time to get work done. Read more practical tips in our 8-Step Guide to Time Management & Productivity.

Employee retention is a concern in every industry because employee turnover is costly and disruptive for organizations, teams, and clients. According to a report compiled by Nursing Solutions, Inc., the turnover rate in hospitals right now is 16.2%, with the average cost of turnover for a bedside RN ranging from $38,900 to $59,700, costing hospitals an average of $5.13M to $7.86M each year. When you consider that each percent change in turnover will cost or save a hospital $410,500 annually, it’s clear that employee retention strategies in healthcare are worthy of serious consideration.

However, the healthcare industry as a whole is not sufficiently addressing employee retention. The same report indicates that 85.7% of hospitals see employee retention as a key strategic imperative, but only 43.4% have a formal retention strategy. Additionally, a Leaders for Today survey showed that 37% of healthcare professionals plan to leave their current hospital within the next two years, and 68.6% plan to leave within five years, reinforcing the seriousness of this continuing problem.

5 Employee Retention Strategies in Healthcare

That being said, addressing employee retention with an ongoing strategy can help reduce turnover, increase patient satisfaction, and improve the overall experience of your employees. Consider these five approaches as you develop or update your retention strategy.

1. Improve Engagement

Low employee engagement in the healthcare industry can be the result of many factors, including unpredictable schedules, excessive overtime, heavy workloads, and a lack of flexibility in the workplace. Though some of these contributing factors may be unavoidable, leadership has the power to play a role in improving hospital staff engagement. Some examples of specific actions leadership can take include:

• Recognizing excellence in patient care
• Celebrating teamwork
• Conducting surveys to learn about the most pressing issues to employees
• Taking action on the results of the surveys
• Doing informal check-ins with staff
• Communicating and managing change effectively and in a timely manner

2. Foster Teamwork and Communication

Teamwork among healthcare workers is an essential element in creating a positive patient experience. Rarely do individual healthcare providers deliver service entirely on their own. Most of the time they operate in teams, and providing excellent patient service requires having the skills to do this effectively. Developing communication skills among team members is essential for reducing errors, resolving conflicts, and creating clarity around task assignments. Good communication between leadership and teams is also important. When leadership is able to clearly communicate expectations and organizational goals, teams are better able to prioritize tasks and understand how their roles fit into the larger hospital strategy. Clear lines of communication also give employees points of contact, where they know they can get answers to their questions.

3. Provide Competitive Compensation

Retaining good employees requires maintaining job satisfaction and engagement among your staff, and compensation is a primary driver in this area. As the healthcare industry continues to grow and the demand for quality employees increases, competitive salaries, bonuses, and other benefits are becoming more important for staff retention.  Given the high cost of turnover, it is the responsibility of leadership to weigh it against the cost of competitive compensation.

4. Give Recognition Where Recognition Is Due

In addition to competitive compensation, there are other ways to reward healthcare professionals for the valuable work they do. Although they may receive positive feedback from patients, it’s also important for them to feel appreciated by their leaders and peers. Ideas for recognizing good work include:

• Annual recognition dinners
• Awards for exceptional service
• Extra time off
• “Shout-outs” or other informal but public communications that recognize exceptional efforts and explain why they are worthy of recognition

Reward and recognition can help drive engagement and contribute to better staff retention. However, rewards can only go so far, especially when an employee feels that they are already compensated appropriately and performing at their highest level. Healthcare professionals want to feel that they are making a difference. For many, this is why they chose this particular career path. Recognizing healthcare staff for their contributions to the patient experience and the organizational goals can go a long way toward keeping them engaged and motivated.

5. Invest in Education and Continual Learning

Ongoing education and professional development can help healthcare professionals improve both their technical and people skills, both of which are essential for providing an exceptional patient experience, improving productivity, and increasing employee satisfaction. Here are two ways to promote continual learning at your organization:

1. Demonstrate a clear growth path: According to the Leaders for Today survey, the lowest-ranked parameter for workplace satisfaction is having the opportunity for career advancement. Having an employee development plan will help keep valuable staff engaged with your organization because they know there will be opportunities for growth in their future.
2. Provide training opportunities: The second-lowest-ranked parameter is having the opportunity to learn and develop new skills. Having a training program in place ensures that employees are being given the tools to help them achieve their career goals, improve the patient experience, and support the organization as a whole.

Healthcare employee retention is a significant challenge to the industry, and employee turnover is not good for anyone involved. It is expensive for organizations, worrying for employees who want a stable work environment, and does not create a positive environment for patients. Addressing some of the largest gaps with these five recommended strategies can help your hospital or healthcare organization reduce employee turnover and attract new, qualified candidates, because your employees, current and potential, will feel valued and excited about being part of the organization. It’s also important to include all employees in these opportunities—encourage everyone in the organization equally to seek improvement opportunities, and ensure they know they have your support.