In my work with nursing managers who want to improve employee engagement, one of the most common questions I get is, “How can I possibly connect with all of my staff when I have so many people reporting to me?”
According to the Emerging RN Leader blog, “the average nurse manager supervises around 65 FTE direct reports.” There’s no doubt that having this many direct reports presents challenges for nursing managers. Fortunately, these challenges are surmountable if you work on the 3 C’s of Connecting.
1. Consciously Connect
2. Consistently Communicate
3. Curiously Care
In this article – the first of three – the focus is on the first “C”: Consciously Connect.
Consciously Connect
What defines a positive connection with a direct report? When it comes to engagement, a positive connection is achieved when you help those on your team. Employees are engaged when they are satisfied, energized & productive. When you, as their leader, help them identify what that means to them and provide opportunities for linking their day-to-day work to it, this drives positive connections.
When you really get to know the staff, you create opportunities to better understand their internal motivators. You better understand sources of frustration and sources of joy. It’s not solely your job to motivate someone else or remove all the frustrations. It is your job to act as a partner.
In this partnership role, seek to understand the joys and frustrations, and then help folks acquire the skills to connect with them on their own. At the same time, work to remove obstacles and provide positive reinforcement. Working together, engagement improves. Hopefully, creating positive connections is part of what makes you feel satisfied, energized & productive so this is something you enjoy.
Start by Being Present
Be present – both physically and mentally. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the day to day fires that need to be put out. While spending time on your units, be mindful of what is happening right before your eyes. Stop and breath. Observe your surroundings with fresh eyes and ask yourself these 3 questions.
• What is the body language of the team saying?
• Is someone struggling but afraid to speak up?
• Are people supporting each other as a team?
When you are present and paying attention, you have the opportunity to connect with individuals at a deeper level. Give yourself permission to slow down and take it all in. If you don’t make a conscious connection now, you’ll probably end up dealing with the after effects of problems that are simmering below the surface later.
Show up on all shifts.
You know it’s true. Managers with high levels of engaged employees report that they flex their schedule to show up for night shift on a regular basis. And by “showing up”, I mean for longer than shift report.
How can you flex your schedule to allow for at least one day a week to come in early or stay late? Talk to your boss about your plans and get his or her buy-in so you don’t end up burning your candle at both ends. Look at what other nurse managers are doing in your organization that’s working when it comes to flexing schedules. Suggest having one day a week with no meetings so leaders can spend more time with both shifts.
When you come in to spend time with night shift, avoid the temptation to hang out in your office to get caught up on emails and other project work while things are quiet. It’s easy to think, “they will come to me if they need me”. Remember, your goal is to make conscious connections. Your goal is to spend quality time (so cliché and so true) with each member of your team…all 65+ of them. Get out of your office, put on your scrubs and head to the floor.
Open Door Policy & Rounding
Open door policies and rounding are good ways of connecting with employees but both have a reactive element to them. They are chance connections. You are rolling the dice that you and your direct report will be engaged in the conversation enough to make the real connection.
With an open-door policy, employees drop in on you when you are in the middle of something else so there’s a sense of interruption that accompanies the conversation. Some folks are fearful of interrupting you and won’t stop by. When they do, you aren’t prepared and employees can tell. Many of us are good at shifting gears to stop and listen and that’s a great first step – but others have a harder time making the switch. On a positive note, many times, the drop-in visitor simply wants a listening ear and some empathy for a tough situation. You can provide that and more so advertise your open-door policy.
Keep rounding with your staff and understand that in this case, you are the interruption. Members of your team are working and you are getting in the way of what they need to get done. You can make a connection and ask questions about the person’s family, how his or her day is going and about tools and resources they need. Just understand that you are the one in the proactive mode and they are reacting to your questions so the answers are off the cuff and may have a “flavor of the day” component to them. Look for trends and keep track of what you are hearing to help make these conversations more meaningful and see if common themes emerge over time.
Schedule 1:1 Meetings
The most effective way to create positive connections with direct reports is in one-on-one meetings. When you put one-on-one meetings on your calendar and theirs, you are creating conscious connections. Both of you have time to think about what you’d like to discuss and prepare. With 65+ direct reports a quarterly one-on-one meeting is realistic. I’m talking about 20 minutes behind closed doors (or virtually) with no interruptions and your undivided attention.
Not sure what to talk about? Check out the free leadership resources at www.HealthcareEmployeeEngagement.com. There you will find a one-on-one meeting grid with agenda items for discussion. You’ll also find the Satisfaction Snapshot™ tool for consciously connecting with what’s important to your direct report and how satisfied they are with each element. This tool is a conversation changer that helps you elevate the conversation about engagement in a positive and productive way.
That’s it for Consciously Connecting. In the next article, we will focus on how to Consistently Communicate with direct reports despite a large span of control and a very busy schedule. Time to stop reading and start connecting.
Vicki Hess, RN, is your go-to resource for transforming employee engagement at the individual, department or organization-wide level. As the author of four books, creator of the Engagement Excelerator Virtual Coaching Program, Certified Speaking Professional (CSP), trainer and consultant; Vicki inspires healthcare leaders and staff to take action in a real-world, relatable way. Organizations that implement Vicki's ideas experience increased engagement, productivity, safety, quality, retention, patient satisfaction, creativity and more. Access free tools and resources when you visit www.HealthcareEmployeeEngagement.com.