Music is transcendent. It can be inspirational, motivational, therapeutic, and cathartic. Great music can be an immediate memory recall, bringing you back to a time and place with only a few notes.
Summer is a great time for building the ultimate playlist. Whether it be for passing time on a road trip, adding to the merriment of a backyard BBQ, or setting the mood for an evening under the stars, the right list of songs can be transformative. However, it is not often that the power of the playlist is applied to the business of healthcare. The ALTIUS team is seeking to change that!
We have compiled some pop culture classics to keep one of our favorite topics, productivity, at the forefront of leaders’ minds. Productivity allows hospitals and health systems to appropriately align staffing with volume demands, promoting more efficient operations by having the right person, in the right place, at the right time, for the right outcome. Having a productivity system in place that routinely monitors performance serves to eliminate waste, reduce costs, and optimize the workforce at all levels within an organization.
The ALTIUS team believes that tying music to productivity is the perfect way to ensure that the principles of effective resource management are routinely applied to decision-making. It also serves to counter the negative stigma and make productivity fun!
- Boston: More Than a Feeling
- Decisions cannot be made on feelings alone; they must be data-driven! Productivity provides the information leaders need to guide their management strategies.
- Survivor: Eye of the Tiger
- Once you have the data to determine how you are performing, setting realistic goals is the key to success. Meaningful productivity targets allow leaders to keep their eye on an attainable prize!
- Britney Spears: Oops! I Did It Again
- Healthcare is dynamic and productivity can be impacted by any number of factors during a particular timeframe. Therefore, monitoring trends is the most effective way of determining what improvement opportunities truly exist. That way leaders can differentiate between an oops and what is happening again and again over multiple pay periods, evaluate, and adjust.
- The Romantics: Talking in Your Sleep
- Do not keep important information a “secret.” Consistent, open communication is critical to any improvement initiative, especially an impactful productivity system. Leaders need to be transparent and forthright with staff on project objectives, changes, and intended outcomes. Staff cannot be expected to infer the details!
- Bruno Mars: Count on Me
- Productivity is not a solo endeavor. To effect any real change, leaders must create a collaborative environment, placing themselves at the core. Teamwork generates buy-in; employees are encouraged to share ideas and are expected to be an active part of the solution. Most importantly, through equal participation, staff can count on each other to reach collective goals.
- Simple Minds: Don’t You Forget About Me
- Most organizations conduct performance improvement projects that become a one-off. Productivity, however, is a continuous process; not a set it and forget it approach. Repeated assessment, updated benchmarking, and routine monitoring are the only ways to ensure continued progress. Making productivity a consistent part of operations ensures that leaders won’t forget about it and strategies remain effective.
- Rockwell featuring Michael Jackson: Somebody’s Watching Me
- No one wants to feel big-brothered, but there is a vast difference between micro-management and accountability. When performance goes unchecked, resources become misaligned and bad practices become habitual. Productivity ensure that someone is always watching, making leaders and staff responsible for managing to the numbers and capitalizing on opportunities to enhance operations.
- Pharrell Williams: Happy
- When an organization lacks control over productivity, the resulting manner in which services are delivered can be a dissatisfier to both employees and patients. Building a healthy work environment through continued performance improvement and workforce optimization helps to ensure that areas are staffed appropriately to the workload for which they are responsible. Productivity creates balance, promoting a happy atmosphere in which employees can thrive.
- Queen: We are the Champions
- In order for productivity to be successful, it needs to be championed. Leaders should encourage operational adaptability, address concerns, and celebrate the wins that performance improvement projects generate. Recognition of the efforts, sacrifices, and contributions made by staff along with a system to reward achievements is important to promote continued participation.
- Carly Rae Jepson: Call Me Maybe
- Having added support is crucial to positive experience with productivity, especially when it comes from an expert source. The advantage to a partnership with ATLIUS is the ability to reach out to our team of skilled consultants and analysts for guidance around industry best practices, adjusting to operational changes, and effective data reporting. The ALTIUS team is always just a phone call or email away!
Whether you follow our playlist or create one of your own, we hope this concept motivates you to rock productivity in your organization! To paraphrase the immortal genius of Sir Elton John, “I hope you don’t mind, that we put down in words how wonderful work-life is with productivity in the world.”
Listen and watch along with the ALTIUS Productivity Playlist here!
ALTIUS offers healthcare organizations the benchmarking and reporting tools as well as the ongoing support necessary to effect lasting change. To learn more, reach out directly at [email protected] or visit our website at www.altiushcg.com.