Key Takeaways from the August Panel Discussion

September 1, 2021

This month’s webinar focused on a very important topic: your people.

KanTime, Swift Medical, SimiTree, and Intrepid USA teamed up to discuss retention, reimbursement, and regulation.

Retention is Vital 

Let’s be honest: last year was terrible for so many. No one is eager to sign up for a repeat. Through the thick of it though, we realized the importance of having intention with the people and businesses we work with.

Due to that realization, companies need to focus on their employees in a very different way than many businesses have previously done.

Burnout is real and leaders need to figure out a way to retain qualified staff in their organization. 

A few examples leaders can do to retain their employees are:

  • Communication:

    • More meetings with their team members, weekly updates, making sure everyone is on the same page
  • Culture

    • Make it genuine. A place where your employees want to come to work every day and love what they do
  • Wellbeing

    • Encourage employees to take their PTO, turn off their emails on vacation, and help your employees feel supported professionally and personally. 
  • Knowledge Investment:

    • Studies have shown that personnel that is confident in their job requirements stay longer.

Why Leaders Should Invest in Their People

Leaders need to invest in their employees. If an employee feels like they are cared for, heard, and can confidently perform their job, they can do wonders for your organization. 

50% of a leader’s job is to be a counselor to their employees. They need to be there for their employees and empower them. Leaders can’t lose interest when challenges occur. They need to focus on their employees because they are one of the most important assets in an organization. 

Confidence is Key

There will always be hardships and challenges, but leaders need to focus on their people during those tough times. When employees are confident and have the tools/resources they need to succeed, their satisfaction and engagement levels will skyrocket, as well as your organization. 

Leaders need to make them feel important. 

For example:

  • Recognize your employees. Whether it is incentives, challenges, or recognition, leaders should make employees feel like they belong. 
    • When employees receive recognition, badge, bling, etc, it means something to them and gives them a boost of confidence. 

 

How To Fail Fast and Why It’s Okay to Fail

No one wants to fail. It’s scary and frightening, but what if I told you that it’s okay to fail? 

One of the key takeaways from this webinar that is important to remember is: it’s okay to fail. 

Leaders should encourage their employees to fail faster (this doesn’t mean failing all the time). Failing faster means that it’s okay to fail sooner rather than later so that your employees learn from their mistakes. Many times people are afraid to fail in their job. They worry if they make one mistake then they might be fired. Leaders need to encourage in their work culture that failure is how employees learn and mistakes happen. We are all human.  

Books Recommended by Our Panelists

 

Q&A from Webinar 

  • How do you balance the employees’ first dynamic of taking care of your team but also balancing the different approaches and making sure you’re still honoring the board commitments. Where is the dynamic at?
    • John: Our big core value is to reward the doers and we have not done enough of that. I have flat out told my team we haven’t done it enough so as we capitalize our business and receive new private equity money we are working with our private inquiry partners, and that’s how we are choosing who we want to have. If it’s all about them and receiving an ROI instead of understanding how you build true long-term value we aren’t their partner because we want to invest in things that are different. If we hit our dart target everything over that initial budget number we should gain/share with our team. We are rewarding not only the doers but the stayers.
  • How do you make tech rollouts easier and make the process smoother?
    • Carlo: At Swift, we don’t employ technologists to roll out software with our customers. The team is led by exclusive nurses who are all wound care certified. They have lived the experience of rolling our software enterprise-wide and most importantly empathizing with customer pains and making sure that it fits and tracks to success.
  • What are the professionals looking for in an employer, specifically the millennial generation?
    • Eric: 
      • Flexibility with a job. The pandemic proved that we can be more flexible with time.
      • People want to be developed. Develop your team’s top performers. People who want to develop as a professional. Are you finding ways to develop your teams internally and externally? (especially front line clinicians)
      • Dynamic leadership. People are looking for dynamic leaders. Only about 20% of the historical leaders are seen as boring. The other 80% are dynamic. The better leader you are, the more people are going to want to work for you. 

 

A Peek Inside All the Fun During the Panel

Chat Box Comments

From Dana Scott to Host and Panelists: 

I agree with the “we are in this together” frame of mind. Finally, people in leadership are beginning to realize that Everyone within the organization is important. No more “us versus them” Leadership versus frontline” mentality.

From Greg Lotz to Dana Scott, Host and Panelists: 

Dana, can you share any specific examples of things that have changed for the better?

From Dana Scott to Host and Panelists: 

More team meetings, more often even if the meeting is only 20 minutes. Once a month overall all organizational meetings. Upper Leadership communicating what they know but more importantly, telling everyone what they don’t know. Just admitting that they don’t know, but keep everyone updated.

From Kim Spence to Host and Panelists:

Communication is key!! Communication helps build confidence!

From Steven Peterson to Host and Panelists:

John did you financially incentivize clinician improvement in scoring, timeliness

From Greg Lotz to Steven Peterson, Host and Panelists:

From experience in many types of business, you don’t have to attach it to money. I don’t know whether John did or not, but people want to see their names at the top or get the gold star; it works, it does.

From Steven Peterson to Host and Panelists:

Greg- I agree and feel that recognition and competition can drive change. How to sustain over a long period?

From Greg Lotz to Steven Peterson, Host and Panelists:

Here’s an example I used – and John it seems similar with a badge – but I have run colleges, and the ones that achieved the growth, got a foil gold star from Hobby Lobby they put on their wall. I did this for years and had to eventually come up with something they could trade in the stars for a special one. It doesn’t take a lot of money to bring out people’s desire to be recognized.

From Linda Scott to Everyone:

Great leadership conference! I heard this loud and clear–keep it simple! People first! THANK YOU!

If you would like to watch the full webinar click here

Want to learn more about KanTime? Feel free to check out our website, or request a demo today! 

If you would like to learn more about SimiTree, Swift Medical, and Intrepid USA feel free to check out their websites, or we would be happy to introduce you!

Ready to see How better Happens?

Request a Demo

We Think You May Also Like

BLOG

OASIS-E Spotlight: Nutritional Approaches

Making sense of CMS guidelines is more challenging than ever after the launch of OASIS-E and the abundance of changes that go along with it. KanTime’s OASIS Spotlight series will spotlight specific OASIS items to simplify the ruling and help clinicians significantly improve their understanding of OASIS so they can move forward with accuracy. K0520: […]

BLOG

How Hospice Care Facilities Can Retain Talent During Hard Times

Hospice care facilities are currently encountering distinct hurdles when it comes to recruiting and retaining skilled staff members. Industry-wide staffing shortages and high healthcare worker turnover coupled with a growing senior population are putting significant pressure on the home health industry. Agencies wishing to combat these issues need modern solutions that can meet the evolving […]

BLOG

OASIS-E Spotlight: Pain Interference with Day-to-Day Activities

Making sense of CMS guidelines is more challenging than ever after the launch of OASIS-E and the abundance of changes that go along with it. KanTime’s OASIS Spotlight series will spotlight specific OASIS items to simplify the ruling and help clinicians significantly improve their understanding of OASIS so they can move forward with accuracy. J0530 […]