FEATURE
cess, Post says, preparation for these assessments must occur before inter- views start. “An ASC must first under- stand its culture before it can deter- mine whether someone has the soft skills necessary to succeed within that culture. An ASC should strive to hire people that align with its culture. Just because a candidate is a superstar on paper does not mean he or she will fit well on the ASC’s team. In fact, a per- son who is not a good fit may cause significant disruption and damage to the team.”
During interviews, Vande Leest
Consider these tips BY ROBERT KURTZ Assess and Improve Your Team’s Soft Skills
F
or an ASC to thrive, its staff must possess essential “hard” skills or
the knowledge and technical exper- tise necessary to fulfill specific job responsibilities. For staff to get their jobs done and done well, however, says Lori Post, director of human resources for Medical Consulting Group, in Springfield, Missouri, “soft” skills are equally important. Soft skills, says Greg Zoch, part-
ner and managing director with Kaye- Bassman in Dallas, Texas, are gener- ally interpersonal or people skills that some people seem to possess natu- rally but most must work to develop over time. Examples he cites include effective communication, teamwork, flexibility, time management, work ethic and problem solving.
“In a hospital, someone with good hard skills but poor soft skills can often find a role where they will
work independently and contribute,” Post says. “But ASCs, where every- one tends to have more than a sin- gle job, typically flourish when all employees work as a team.” An
ASC’s management team
needs to make soft skills a priority when hiring and undertaking efforts to improve staff performance, says LoAnn Vande Leest, RN, CASC, chief executive officer of Copper Ridge Surgery Center in Traverse City, Michigan. “If your leaders do not fully embrace the importance of teamwork, work ethic, prob- lem solving and communicating appropriately and effectively, then they are doing a grave disservice to your facility.”
Evaluating Skill Level While evaluating soft skill lev- els begins during the interview pro-
22 ASC FOCUS JANUARY 2019 |
ascfocus.org
advises, ASC managers should ask open-ended questions that offer can- didates an opportunity to demonstrate their soft skills. “Consider questions such as, ‘How do you know when you have done a great job?’ ‘What frus- trates you most at your current job, and what you do about it?’ ‘What are some examples of times where you received or gave effective feedback from/to a co-worker?’”
Ask candidates to list the soft
skills they believe are required for job success, Zoch suggests. He also acknowledges that that soft skills can be difficult to assess effectively dur- ing interviews. “They are more eas- ily identified in current teammates by watching how they navigate problems and handle charged situations.”
emotionally In addition to observing interac-
tions, Vande Leest says, soft skill assessment of current staff occurs through reports of conflict as well as patient and physician feedback. “These all provide us with the oppor- tunity to coach our employees to understand how they are behaving and help them understand what our expectations are for how they will behave. It works to increase their emotional intelligence, which bene- fits the team overall.” In the ASC industry, annual employee reviews receive significant
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38
