In this special Speaker Series, Becker's Healthcare caught up with Shannon Lingwall, revenue cycle manager at the University of Utah Health Hospitals and Clinics in Salt Lake City.
Ms. Lingwall will speak during the Becker's Hospital Review 4th Annual Health IT + Revenue Cycle Conference on "To Develop Your Business, You Must First Develop Your People: Investing in Employees for a Stronger Organization," at 9:05 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 22. Learn more about the event and register to attend in Chicago.
Question: Can you share your best advice for motivating your teams?
Shannon Lingwall: Getting out of the office has been a huge motivating factor for my team. On occasion, we have met at my house in our jeans and comfy sweatshirts to work on a new training module. This allowed us to shut out the extra noise and really dig into our work. We have been able research the latest topics and even get inspired by board games and current trends to add creativity and variety to our new activities and trainings. I have seen the true efficiency in getting away from distractions in the office. We are able to expedite the entire process and complete a module build in two days rather than in two weeks when we are in the office shuffling various demands. Whenever we have a deadline or time crunch, we head away from the office to focus and get our creative juices flowing!
Q: What's the best thing you've read lately?
SL: I recently read Leadership & Self-Deception: Getting out of the Box by The Arbinger Institute, and I instantly loved this book because it teaches about our mindset toward people and how we react to others. When we are outside of the box, we are not really considering others’ feelings. When we make excuses or accuse others, we are viewing them more as objects and not people. One key factor is to not think of yourself as being more important than other people. This concept can appear basic, but it is very powerful. The book references an example of accountability [with] a very holistic approach: A supervisor took accountability for a project that was not completed with the most current information. She said that she had a feeling to ask if they had checked the pocket book status many times along the way, but she neglected to do so herself. So, she felt that she had the same amount of accountability as everyone else working on the project. I love that this book devotes an equal amount of time discussing both the professional and personal aspects of life. These types of books can typically focus on only professional relationships, when balancing both is central to true happiness. I am a firm believer that when things in our personal life are going well, it translates into better outcomes at work
Q: How do you promote innovation within your organization?
SL: People feed off of innovation! When we see a new innovative initiative, it gets our minds spinning and really opens up a world of possibilities. As a training team, we recognized the need to get people using Pulse, our health science intranet. There are limitless amounts of information pertinent to our institution right at our fingertips, but we just weren’t using it. We thought that by making a music video about Pulse we could get a little jingle stuck in everyone’s head. It worked! The Pulse usage for our department went up 56 percent in the first month after our debut single “Pulse It” was released! This was truly an innovative way to get people to use their resources, and the ideas keep coming. Our chart topper has become the foundation for other Pulse initiatives such as team sites and interactive workflows, and it has become a widely used resource across our organization!