LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS

You might not need to read this article about Gen Z. Also referred to as Zoomers, this is the generation currently entering the workforce, born between the mid 1990’s - mid 2000’s. If you are already doing the following with all of your employees, regardless of generation, you might luck out with recruiting and retaining them.

If your belief pattern is that you should be perfect, you not only will fail at it, you will miss your greatness. A fixation on perfection robs people of so much that makes life worth living: joy, self-esteem, zest for life, and that feeling of satisfaction that comes from knowing you did well at something.

My office is in Culver’s home town. This place does an amazing business, and it’s not just about the sweet, creamy custard. I heard Lea Culver speak recently at the Sauk County Institute for Leadership, and the pearls of wisdom she shared about their family business journey line up pretty well with leading rural healthcare.

If you avoid delegation for any reason, (you can do it quicker and better yourself, last time they didn’t come through for you, it takes too much effort, you don’t want to burden them because they are busy, etc.), it could be time to make a change. Let the word DELEGATOR itself help keep you on track.

Keep an eye out for an article I’m writing for ACHE’s (American College of Healthcare Executives) Frontiers of Health Service Management (Consider joining if you haven’t!). The summer issue features actions organizations are taking to address workforce challenges. In it I will highlight six RWHC Member hospitals who are doing everything they can to attract and keep great people.

For those who can do their jobs from home, this genie isn’t going back in the bottle, and many leaders are not innately comfortable with this. How will you attract and keep the best and brightest in a changed workplace?

I recently asked our class of newly promoted leaders to submit their questions about performance reviews. Here’s the Q & A for some of them.

“I don’t know anything.” This may not be the best first sentence to get you to read on, but then again, maybe you feel the same way sometimes. No? Am I the only one who is a little lost in sorting out what diversity, equity and inclusion-DEI-all means?

This claim is one of a tiny number of things I am fairly certain about: most people underestimate their impact on others, you and me included. For a variety of reasons, most of us go around assuming that what we do on a day-to-day basis is not that noticed by others. It can be especially disconcerting to adapt to the increased visibility that comes with a higher level leadership title.

I polled myself and the result was: I’m tired and angry a lot lately. NPR confirmed that I’m not alone, reporting (from a poll much larger than my own) that August 2021, was one of the lowest points in our collective “morale” response to the pandemic. Hope lightened our step in early summer when COVID numbers were low. At my workplace we were nearly all vaccinated and being in the building felt almost like old times. Then Delta. And hurricanes. And the ever-growing political divisiveness. Th...