FEATURE
attention, Post says. “Accreditation agencies consider those reviews the way we make sure the staff we hired are doing their jobs well. I, [how- ever,] think reviews should be done more often and not so formally. Con- sider treating every day as an infor- mal employee review process. We can plan and practice all we want, but no day in an ASC is ever perfect. Watch how your people react, inter- act, problem solve and communicate throughout the day to make that day successful or not.”
Improving Skills To help team members strengthen their soft skills, Zoch advises hold- ing incident-review meetings. “A group discussion—or even individ- ual discussion, if more appropri- ate—about an incident or hypothet- ical scenario can be an effective way to help train and develop the team and share what great soft skills look like.” Ask questions like, ‘What do you think happened here?’ ‘Where do you think this person is coming from and what could be driving this behavior?’ ‘What alternate ways of handling this situation can you think of?’ he suggests. Meetings like those proved bene-
ficial for Copper Ridge Surgery Cen- ter when its staff experienced a gen- erational conflict, Vande Leest says. “Some of our more seasoned nurses were being critical of the less sea- soned nurses. Our team leaders met individually with each team mem- ber from both segments. The lead- ers laid out the expectations around communication, work ethic, team- work and problem solving and how they would hold staff accountable to those expectations.” Consequently, the team is now more cohesive and respectful, and more willing to help one another to learn, she says. “Our leaders have done a great job of modeling posi-
An ASC must first understand its culture before it can determine whether someone has the soft skills necessary to succeed within that culture. An ASC should strive to hire people that align with its culture.”
—Lori Post, Medical Consulting Group
tive and effective soft skills and com- municating them to staff members through one-on-one meetings.” For individuals who appear to sig- nificantly lack the types of soft skills you desire for staff, consider pairing them with mentors, Post says. “Iden- tify who on your team strongly proj- ects those soft skills that you value. When interviewing candidates, have a possible soft skills mentor already in mind in case you determine such support would be worthwhile.” This is particularly useful in a larger center, where this process can help someone settle into their role and find their ‘fit,’ she says. “Small cen- ters are more intimate, so you will likely see more informal mentoring because new staff are immediately pulled in as part of the team.” Role playing can be another worthwhile approach to bolstering
soft skills, Zoch says. “Assign one person to play an unreasonable or stressed-out person and another per- son to play the individual in charge of managing the situation. This can be a fun and instructive exercise.” Soft skills often improve natu- rally when everyone is aligned with the ASC’s culture, Post says. If you poll the owners of an ASC about how they would describe their facility’s culture, their perspective might be completely different from manag- ers and employees, she says. “That can be problematic. It may take a while and require a lot of work, but you will want to firmly establish your ASC’s identity and make sure everyone understands and buys into it. This is how you will pull a team together for the betterment of every- one who works at and comes into the ASC.”
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