The Center for Geriatrics team realized there was room to improve on employee engagement, according to unit-level results from the January 2016 Gallup Survey conducted at all UNT System campuses.

Joanne Mize, Executive Director of Operations, asked herself, “How can I use these results to improve patient care and help us achieve our See 2020 strategic plan?”

Mize’s team helped her figure it out. Subhada Prasad, Project Coordinator, led the engagement effort—first reviewing the resources listed at the end of this story.

Janice Knebl, DO, Chief of the Center for Geriatrics and Interim Chair for Internal Medicine, was immediately on board with the project, empowering the team and providing the tools, support and encouragement needed.

“I can say that it seems to be working,” Prasad said. “Despite a year of intense change, people who were scared to say anything now are better at giving input. We’re seeing a lot of grassroots leadership. And we’re seeing those positive changes among faculty and staff members, in the clinic, within education and in our research. It’s still a work in progress, and it always will be. But we’re making headway and, overall, the team is much more engaged, leading them to perform at a higher level.”

Mize agrees.

“I am very proud of our team members for their personal commitment in making the Center for Geriatrics a high-performing great place to work,” she said. “They invest their personal time, often during their lunch hour, to improve our environment and help support each other. We are grateful for their passion.”

Mize said she’s seeing many positive changes as a result:

• More cohesiveness in the clinic teams
• Increased ease in how the sections within the Center for Geriatrics work with each other
• Greater collaboration all around

Here’s how they did it, using five easy-to-implement, common-sense steps.

1.Conducted a Design-Thinking session to ensure they thought through all aspects of the issue with help from Jessica Johnson in the Office of Strategy and Performance.

2.Surveyed the 55-member Geriatrics team, focusing on:

• What’s working well?
• What needs to improve?

3.Created a new committee (led by Prasad) representing all sections and levels in the department, the Geriatrics Strategic Planning Committee. One of the committee’s first tasks was to review the Geriatrics survey results. Members determined these priorities for improvement:

• Communication
• Recognition
• Professional development and growth
• Inclusive social activities

4.Conducted a second survey asking for suggestions on the committee’s ideas for improving engagement.

5.Implemented improvements like these:

• Communication
  
  • Creating an “onboarding” binder to help new team members get quickly up to speed.
  • Establishing an anonymous “suggestion box.”
  • Installing bulletin boards in the break room that draw attention to key departmental events, as well as personal milestones, such as upcoming weddings and birth announcements.
  • Improving communication about potential dates when vendors may provide meals for the staff.
• Recognition
  
  • Conducting quarterly Employee of the Month recognitions. Candidates are nominated by their peers and selected by the GSPC. In the future, GPSC is looking for a committee outside the Center for Geriatrics to select the honorees
  • Posting employee spotlights posted on bulletin boards.
• Social
  
  • Creating walking groups.
  • Conducting consistent birthday celebrations.
  • Creating a more pleasant environment in break rooms to make it more inviting for team members to congregate there.
  • Hosting potluck meals (“This team loves potlucks!” said Prasad.)
  • Presenting good-natured, fun awards. (Knebl earned the “Pig Pen” award in honor of her messy desk. Kara Cizek, Clinic Service Representative, received the “Social Butterfly” award, while Robin Nabors, Licensed Social Worker, and Sarah Ross, Assistant Professor, shared the “Pen Stealer Award” for being most likely to walk off with other people’s pens.)
• Professional Development and Growth
  
  • Enhancing communication about professional development opportunities such as mentoring and health topic seminars.

Sarah Ross, DO, said, “I definitely see the benefit of these activities.Ideas for other teams in promoting employee engagement is to have a variety of activities, make them fun, have leadership involvement and support, help employees feel valued and include as many people as possible. And having service-oriented opportunities is great–for us that would be the Alzheimer’s Association Walk.”

The next Gallup Survey will be conducted later this month—Jan. 29—and Prasad’s team is hopeful results from that survey will show significant improvement. Said Prasad: “We will use this feedback to measure our progress and determine what we need to focus on.  Informally, though, I can say the overall vibe in the office is more positive.”

If you’d like more information on how to use the Gallup Survey results to improve your team’s engagement and performance, you are invited to take advantage of these resources:

• Employee Engagement Toolkit
• Engagement Resources for Managers and Leaders [Note: Please login to this SharePoint site using your UNTHSC email address and password]
• Forbes magazine story on engagement

Anyone with questions may email Engagement@unthsc.edu.