In this special Speaker Series, Becker's Healthcare caught up with Soyini Coke, principal at Annona Enterprises, as well as host of CEO Exclusive Radio.
Ms. Coke will speak during the Becker's Hospital Review 4th Annual Health IT + Revenue Cycle Conference on "Improving Patient Satisfaction and Service Quality Through Healthcare IT Delivery," at 10:45 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 20. Learn more about the event and register to attend in Chicago.
Question: Can you share your best advice for motivating your teams?
Soyini Coke: Listen, listen, listen. Find out what truly inspires your people. Then, drive those attributes into every aspect of your department or sphere of influence. Develop programming that reinforces the corresponding beliefs. Create displays that enshrine the inspiration all over the hospital. Create rituals that spread the habits that motivate your teams.
Most of all, model inspiring behaviors as a leader. Inspiration happens through conversation and replicating what we see. It's very much "monkey see, monkey do," [and] "walking the talk" is the single most important action you can take to motivate anyone who works for you. While this is simple to say, it's actually quite difficult in practice. No one is perfect, but the people around us do see and acknowledge our earnest efforts.
Q: What do you see as the most vulnerable part of a hospital's business?
SC: Using only a narrow set of approaches to deal with change. There's so much turmoil in the hospital industry: the switch to value-based payment [models,] changing demographics in the workforce, decreasing nurse and physician engagement, mergers and acquisitions. It's a lot for people to metabolize. I would encourage leaders to bring the most innovative and effective tools to bear. Look at what's happening outside of the hospital industry in terms of driving culture and change management.
For example, many companies are using visuals and displays or helping employees focus on their personal higher purpose to anchor them in the mission of their organization. These new approaches motivate their workforce when disruption does happen. Hospitals need go beyond workshops and training when trying to help employees meet change positively.
Q: What's the best thing you've read lately?
SC: Conscious Capitalism by John Mackey and Raj Sisodia. [As described in the book,] "Conscious Capitalism" is a movement in business towards having a higher purpose, conscious leadership, conscious culture and broad stakeholder engagement. This is not corporate philanthropy, social responsibility, sustainability or do-goodism (sic). While those are wonderful, and conscious companies are likely to engage in them, "Conscious Capitalism" is about having purpose and values engrained in the DNA of the business, serving as a guiding light for everything the business does.
It's likely to be one of the defining megatrends of our generation. With millennials entering the workforce and becoming the largest demographic of consumers, businesses will be forced to be authentic [in] their corporate values and drive those values into every aspect of business operations. Moreover, from an empirical standpoint, companies that adopt these principles grow faster and are significantly more profitable.