Professional development

Create an empowering workplace

By Thomas Davis, DNAP, MAE, CRNA

The times they are a changing. Not long ago, applicants who lined up to compete for healthcare jobs hoped to be the lucky winner of the coveted position. Now, due to many factors including COVID burnout, healthcare organizations are competing to attract candidates to fill the void created by open positions. More than ever, employers are seeking ways to retain current workers while creating a positive reputation that will attract additional qualified people. In short, organizations have a new focus on implementing employee friendly activities and have discovered that professional development is a core element of a preferred workplace. Investing in all aspects of worker growth improves morale, engagement, productivity and retention.

Writing for Insperity, author Celenia Estime identifies the following as characteristics of a great workplace:

A sense of belonging
A sense of purpose
Allowing employees to have fun
Provide an opportunity for development and advancement

Clearly, Celenia is in alignment with other writers who tout professional development as an essential component of a highly desirable workplace.

The Gallup organization has been collecting information related to staff engagement for several decades and have refined their engagement assessment tool to 12 basic questions referred to as the Gallup Q12. Savvy employers note that many of the twelve questions are designed to generate positive responses from workers when the organization has an ongoing commitment to the professional development. These questions from the Gallup Q12 that support the importance of a robust professional development program.

In the last seven days I have received recognition or praise for doing good work
My supervisor or someone at work seems to care about me as a person
There is someone at work who encourages my development
At work, my opinions seem to count
The mission or purpose of my company make me feel as if my job is important
In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress
In the last year I have opportunities to learn and grow.

The Gallup team know that affirmative responses to these questions indicates that the team is highly engaged in their work and are likely to be both productive and loyal to the employer.

At this point, you may be all in for professional development but unsure about where to start. If your workplace does not have an ongoing staff development program, step up and look for opportunities to learn new skills and to share your knowledge with your teammates. An active combination of teaching, coaching, and mentoring will provide opportunities for personal growth for you and your colleagues as you learn and grow together.

“You will get all you want in life if you help enough otherpeople get what they want.”

~Zig Ziglar

In a podcast interview with Richard Wilson, CRNA, the importance of teaching, coaching, and mentoring are discussed. Although there is overlap between the three approaches, Richard discusses the subtle differences and offers insight into how to effectively apply each approach to introduce professional development to your workplace. Click on the podcast at the end of this article.

Teaching is designed to impart academic information and instruction to a group of learners. In most cases, the material is presented in a pre-determined manner and is designed to fulfill a specific need. Teaching is often confined to working with neophytes in the classroom however when best practice guidelines are updated, opportunities for teaching arise for experienced workers.

Coaching occurs in the actual work environment and is often an extension of the classroom. Typically, the coach builds on classroom knowledge by using his/her experience to teach hands on skills to less experienced people on the team. As Richard points out in the podcast, coaching moves the learner from understanding concepts to acquiring the skills necessary for completion of a task. When a leader arranges for an experienced person to coach a new member of the team, both the coach and the new hire have opportunities for professional growth.

Mentoring is a special relationship between two people in which the senior, more experienced person helps the underling define a vision, develop a plan, and achieve a goal. Mentoring goes beyond teaching and coaching by introducing elements of professionalism and networking to the process. The mentoring relationship is built upon trust and often develops into a lifetime friendship between the two individuals.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed. It is the only thing that ever has.”

– Margaret Mead, American cultural anthropologist

Professional development is the ultimate win/win for the organization, frontline leaders, and individual workers. By actively engaging workers to participate in professional development, an important step is taken toward creating a preferred workplace that will attract and retain the best employees. Author Trevor Antley notes the following as positive outcomes related to professional development:

Professional development expands your knowledge base.
Professional development boosts confidence and credibility
Professional development increases earning potential and hireability
Professional development can provide networking opportunities
Professional development keeps professionals current on industry trends
Professional development can open the door to future career changes

Congratulations if your workplace encourages and supports professional development because you landed a great job. However, when the boss does not provide avenues for personal growth it is time to step up and be a leader regardless of your seniority or position in the workgroup. Stay current with professional literature and freely share your ideas with your colleagues. Establish both formal and informal times to share what you have learned by teaching and coaching. Volunteer to be a coach for new hires and seek coaches for yourself when you want to learn a new skill. Seek out a mentor who will help you move into a leadership role initially in your workgroup and later in the organization. Look outside your organization and consider completing an advanced degree or gaining certification in a related area such as ultrasound nerve blocks or pain management. Finally, listen to the advice provided by Richard Wilson in the podcast.

Click here to listen to the Podcast

Tom is an experienced leader, educator, author, and requested speaker. Click here for a video introduction to Tom’s talk topics.

Take charge of your professional development

By Thomas Davis, DNAP, MAE, CRNA

A common theme of my leadership articles is emphasis on the importance of creating a preferred workplace. Both healthcare and business management literature reinforce the connection between employee engagement/productivity and working in a favored environment. Among the foundational elements of a great workplace is professional development where the employer actively seeks avenues for employees to gain new professional skills.

Unfortunately, not everyone works in a preferred workplace. If your employer does not promote expansion of you career skills, you have three choices; 1) stagnate with the status quo, 2) find a new job, or 3) step up and take charge of your own professional development. For workers who are tied to their community and unable/unwilling to move, option 3 is the best choice.

When the employer can’t or won’t, step up and take charge

Personal development begins with awareness of its importance and a sincere desire to gain new knowledge and skills independently when it is not promoted in the workplace. Writing in the blog rgpm, author Elizabeth Harrin offers the following tips for starting your own personal development program.

Make self-improvement a priority. Set a goal for improving your work skills and make it specific. “I’d like to get better at” doesn’t cut it. State the new skill that you intend to develop or the current skill that you intend to improve and then follow with “as evidenced by” and state specific milestones along the pathway to accomplishing the goal.

Be the best at what you do. As busy healthcare professionals, we get into a routine workflow and robotically move through the day as efficiently as possible. Take time to reflect on what you currently do and find ways to do it better. For some it may involve organizing the workspace and for others, it may be improving interpersonal relationships with patients or colleagues. Regardless, be the best that you can be.

Solicit feedback. It is human nature to revel in praise and wilt in the face of criticism, however, self-improvement comes from a “make me better” attitude where honest feedback is important. In my practice, cataract patients are usually scheduled to return to have the second eye done. After the first eye I always ask, “when you come back, what can we do differently to make your experience better?” At the end of the day ask your perioperative team, “do you have any suggestions for things that I can do to help your workflow?” Listen, learn, and don’t push back.

Get a mentor. It may be a colleague or someone up the chain of command but there are others who are skilled at the area that you want to improve. Tap into their expertise and form a mentoring relationship with someone who truly wants to help you gain new skills. In addition to personal growth, you expand your network and may even develop a friendship that will continue throughout your career.

Become a trainer. Your employer may not have a professional development program, but they often introduce new technology to the workplace. When new equipment or computer programs are introduced, volunteer to be a super-user and be the first to master the needed skills.

Earn a degree/certification. Opportunities abound for healthcare workers to gain certification in specific areas of practice such as ultrasound guided regional anesthesia or pain management. In addition, advanced degrees including a doctorate degree are offered online and provide abundant opportunities for personal growth.

Taking charge of your future is empowering

Personal growth in the workplace often involves a series of low-key behaviors that boost your sense of self-worth and your value to the organization. Put differently, you don’t have to receive advanced training in new skills to experience personal growth. The management blog career Contessa offers additional tips for creating your own professional development plan.

Organize your life. Remove the clutter from your workspace, create a calendar with a daily block of time for self-help initiatives, then make a list of things to accomplish each day. End your day with a feeling of accomplishment as you review the items that you completed and checked off the list.

Create goals. Be realistic and ensure that your goals are both attainable and things that you will commit to accomplish. State the desired outcome and make a list of tasks that must be achieved in route to your goal.

Talk directly to management. Sometimes it’s not that they don’t want you to have professional development, rather, production pressure has kept managers too busy to focus on your needs. An honest and open discussion will let them know that you desire growth in the job and position you to be selected to manage the next project.

Ask questions and hone listening skills. Become aware of the issues that are of most concern to management and offer to help create a solution. Listen and learn.

Use positive self-talk. We constantly have an inner dialogue going and often it can take us places that drag us down. Rather than focusing on the negatives, recall the things that you do well, congratulate yourself, and visualize ways to expand those successes in other tasks. Develop an asset-based mentality with a focus on what can be done with the available resources.

Accept responsibility for your personal growth and development

In an ideal workplace, your boss, and your colleagues care about you as an individual and want you to have ongoing opportunities for improvement. If you are in such a workplace, cherish it appreciate the openings that it provides. However, if you are like many others who toil in a less than ideal workplace, free yourself from the bonds of stagnation by using the tips in this article to plan and implement your own professional development plan. Your efforts will pay big dividends as you master new skills and inspire your colleagues to follow in your footsteps. Who knows, you may be the catalyst to bring professional development into your workplace transform the organization from “just another job” to being a preferred workplace.

Tom is an experienced leader, educator, author, and requested speaker. Click here for a video introduction to Tom’s talk topics.

Teaching, coaching, and mentoring; the key to effective leadership

By Thomas Davis, DNAP, MAE, CRNA

In his classic book, The 5 levels of leadership, author John Maxwell notes that in the lower levels, people follow leaders first because they must and later, if earned, because they want to. However, in the modern workplace, truly memorable leaders take the next step and achieve level 4 status by shifting their focus on developing the talents of members of the team.

The Gallup Q12 staff engagement survey is the gold standard for assessing staff engagement in the work environment. Reviewing the content of the survey reveals that aspects of teaching, coaching, and mentoring are present in half of items assessed, which reinforces the importance of professional development in the workplace. The Q12 survey reinforces the concept that teams with Maxwell level 4 leaders who focus on developing the strengths of its members are the groups with the highest morale and productivity.

Take your team to the next level through teaching, coaching, and mentoring

Teaching

Teaching is designed to impart academic information and instruction to a group of learners. In most cases, the material is presented in a pre-determined manner and is designed to fulfill a specific need. Communication is frequently one way and directed by the teacher. Presentation of information is focused on content related to the goal. In the workplace, leaders are called upon to assemble the team, explain changes in policies or workflow, and solicit support from team members. In addition, teaching sessions may be held to update the team on best practice guidelines for various procedures. Depending upon the size of the group, discussions can open the door for feedback however the bulk of the information is presented as one way communication from the leader to the group.

Coaching

Whereas teaching takes place in the classroom, coaching occurs in the actual work environment. Typically, the coach uses his/her knowledge and experience to teach skills to less experienced people on the team. Picture the little league coach who, in addition to teaching baseball strategy and teamwork, works one on one with each child to improve their personal skills at various tasks. In the workplace, the level 4 leader works one on one with team members, or they may hit a home run by matching the lesser trained person up with a senior person on the team who fills in as the coach. In this case the leader not only ensures that the newbie is coached, they also develop the coaching skills of the experienced person assigned to be the coach. In this case, two people walk away with a sense that the leader has an interest in their professional development.

Mentoring

Mentoring is a special relationship between two people in which the senior, more experienced person helps the underling define a vision, develop a plan, and achieve a goal. The relationship is built upon trust and often develops into a lifetime friendship between the two individuals. A key element of mentoring is for the senior person to be committed to helping the younger person achieve their goal. Often, effective mentoring enables the up and comer to become a leader somewhere else in the current organization or with another organization all together. One word of caution, a relationship in which the senior person attempts to build a clone of him/herself is doomed for failure. The key to success is helping the other individual to be the best person that they can be and encouraging their promotion.

“As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others” ~Bill Gates

Frontline leaders are constantly pulled in many directions at the same time and in the chaos of crisis management may find it difficult to carve out time for developing individual members of the team. The savvy leader knows that accomplishing the workload and staff development are not mutually exclusive. Through teaching, coaching, and mentoring, members of the team are trained to pick up leadership tasks resulting in a reduced workload for the leader and more time available for additional staff development. The investment of time and effort spent on developing others improves morale, increases productivity, creates a pipeline of capable future leaders. In addition, it elevates you to “best boss” status. Expanding the capabilities of others is a cost-effective win-win activity for the team and the organization. Step up and capture the rewards of level 4 leadership.

Tom is an experienced leader, educator, author, and requested speaker. Click here for a video introduction to Tom’s talk topics.

Hidden Jewels

By Thomas Davis, CRNA, MAE, Lt. Col. (ret)

Follow @procrnatom on Twitter

“I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.”

~Ralph Nader

Wouldn’t it be great if every person you hired already possessed 100% of the skills that are needed to be successful on your team? Perfect candidates do exist; however, searching for those hidden jewels is costly both in terms of time and money. A better option is to look within the existing team and develop their many concealed talents. Here are some reasons to make professional development a priority in your workplace.

Increased Performance. Your work environment is constantly changing as are the demands of the job. Delivering state of the art service requires ongoing education to keep up with advances in technology as well as the knowledge base. Just as your lawn mower blade needs sharpening every spring, peak performance of your staff is dependent upon constantly sharpening professional skills.
Increased engagement. In a preferred workplace there is someone who cares about your professional development. Ensuring that every person on your team has a plan to grow professionally infuses energy and loyalty while increasing engagement of the individual.
Increased retention. You can’t afford NOT to value professional development because it is linked to employee retention. Staff turnover carries an excessive cost both in money and morale. When expenses related to recruiting, hiring, credentialing and onboarding are considered, it may cost 1-2 times the annual salary to replace a licensed healthcare provider. In addition, team morale sags when a respected person departs, and the team is tasked with picking up the extra workload.

Discussing professional development with your employee at the annual performance review builds the expectation of opportunities for personal growth. Without follow-through, the discussion becomes a forum for hypotheticals and promises, and the disappointment that follows erodes morale. Professional development must be more than empty words at a once-a-year discussion; it must become a way of life that yields results for your team. Here are some ideas for infusing individual growth into your team members.

Professional meetings National and State meetings of professional groups are an excellent way to learn about innovative technology and to get updates on current research and best practice protocols. In addition, the gathering of professional peers creates a rich environment for networking. As the schedule permits, encourage your team members to attend.
Online meetings and courses Computer-based learning is an inexpensive alternative to attending meetings in person. Live, interactive webinars allow you to meet online with a group of peers, receive instruction and then have a live two-way discussion with the group. In contrast, pre-recorded webinars are accessible 24/7 but lack the opportunity for interaction. Many Universities offer coursed online that will lead to an advanced degree. For those geographically tied or too busy to travel, computer learning is a viable option. Be proactive and ensure that your team members can opt to use continuing education money to take advantage of online courses.
Mentoring Teaming up with an experienced person who has expertise in a specific area of interest is a practical way to expand skills. Whether your team member desires to update technical skills, practice public speaking, or improve professional writing, there is a qualified person in your organization who will help. Use your network of colleagues to find the right mentor for your team member.
Change jobs for a day A fun and straightforward way to add tools to a workbench is to spend a day working in a different area within the organization. Affirm your team members by helping them expand their professional network by facilitating a job swap for a day.
Professional social hour Set up a social hour for others who share your professional credentials and include people from other organizations. An informal gathering provides the opportunity to exchange information and increase your contacts. Continue by hosting other social events at intervals throughout the year.
Create an individual plan Don’t wait for your boss or your organization to put your future on a platter and serve it to you. Develop your own plan to increase your knowledge, skills and connectedness with others in your profession.

Increasing the skills and knowledge base of your team members is an expenditure of time and money, and a venture into professional development that will yield a high ROI. Professional development is economical and teaching new skills to existing team members pays for itself by providing an increase in productivity and savings from reduced staff turnover. Your organization includes many people with talents yet to be uncovered and cultivated. Among them is a hidden jewel who already exists on your team, ready and willing to be discovered.

Special thanks to my wife and editor, Liz Sanner Davis.

Thomas Davis is a noted leader, educator, speaker and clinical anesthetist.

Build a preferred workplace. Join Tom and a group of healthcare leaders for the values-based leadership webinar. Click here for information.