The following link is from the most recent Town Hall Meeting. The second video, right after GHS360 News, is about our 100 year anniversary. I think it is terrific and I hope you watch it.

After that, if you are interested, you can get a feel for how we did last year with our goals and what we will be working on next year by watching the rest of the presentation. This was done for the night shift and took place on the Memorial Campus.

I welcome your feedback or thoughts.

Mike

I have mentioned in the past that I do Town Hall Meetings every 90 days. Here is the most recent installment. Even though we have up to 1,600 employees attend one of the sessions, that is only a fraction of the 10,000 employees at GHS. This video is made available for those groups or individuals that cannot attend. This is a pretty typical meeting update and the emphasis this go round is Employee Survey Results.

I have shared the quarterly Town Hall Meeting information on my blog in the past. These Town Hall Meetings are an important part of our internal communication and I have included the deck for your review. The majority of the presentation dealt with the results of our employees opinion and there are some neat updates about the community and the economy. However, I want to use this post to share highlights about the survey. My reaction to the results was a combination of disappointment (sadness) and motivation. I wish the results were better and I am energized to improve them next year.

This was the fifth annual survey of employee opinions and the second time that employed and closely aligned physicians were invited to participate. Participation in the survey continued to be strong with 7,842, or 79% of GHS employees completing the survey.

Each year, our survey results are compared to a national health care database including approximately 350 other highly engaged hospitals and systems (comprised of about 850 facilities and more than1.5 million health care workers across the US) answering the same set of questions. When we reference the “National Health Care Average,” we’re talking about the average score of this large database.

Workforce Commitment

Workforce Commitment is the score that we reference in our System-level People Goal and it reflects the degree to which employees are engaged in and committed to the organization. Our workforce commitment score is the combination of a subset of seven questions from the annual survey. Compared to the National Health Care Average, our score of 4.21 (on a 5.0 scale) was higher by a statistically significant difference of 0.05 points. However, the more important story is that compared to our own results from 2010, this score has dropped by 0.08 points. This result is also below the target we set for 2011. This year, GHS ranked in the 72nd percentile of all participating hospitals and our goal was to be at or above the 85th percentile.

Digging Deeper

There’s a lot more information in the survey results that adds perspective and understanding to the overall score. For example, our very highest performing items speak to the how well team members work together; the responsiveness of managers in following-up on concerns raised in rounding; our role as a valued community partner; and our commitment to employee safety. The way our physicians and staff work together is also a real strength for us – and, our employed physicians are one of the most highly engaged professional groups at GHS.

Employees also expressed clear and specific concerns about pay and benefits. Many also reported additional levels of stress related to workload. All three of these issues make sense to me. We’ve made some difficult decisions in the last two years and the Employee Opinion Survey offers every staff member a method for communicating the impact of these tough decisions. In addition, we are an organization that is moving ahead in a rapidly changing environment.

Next Steps

Every year, the survey provides important information that helps focus action planning at the work unit and also for the entire system. I have begun reviewing these results in detail with the senior management team and we’re developing system-level action plans much like many departments are doing with their results. I expect to talk about t system-level planning at the next Town Hall Meetings in August.

I would welcome any thoughts or reactions you may have. If you cannot see the slide presentation above, CLICK HERE to download the PDF.

Every 90 days there is a flurry of activity as I do a series of Town Hall Meetings, this past month I completed my 18th. It is a good way for me to remind myself how long I have been here. Two more to go and I will hit the 5 year mark.

At the beginning of each meeting we showed the following video update. In about 12 minutes, it provides a good overview of what is going on in our system with regards to our Pillars (People, Service, Quality, Growth, Finance, and Academics.

After the video introduction, there is the Town Hall presentation. Here is a copy of that presentation. I believe it provides a great snapshot for where we are in relation to our strategy, goals, changes and challenges.

CLICK HERE if you would like to download the PDF of the presentation, especially if you are using a device that does not allow you to view the presentation in the above player.

Let me know what you think….thanks, Mike