QUALITY COMMUNICATIONS REQUIRE NOT ONLY TECHNOLOGY, BUT AUTHENTICITY


care, based in Woburn, Mass. In an email interview, he addressed changes in communication during the pandemic and trends that may continue into the future.


D


Q. Did the pandemic bring up any new capabilities in communication or point out any new barriers? A. One of the key themes we heard from clients was how communication changed during the pandemic, especially the move from analog and in-person to digital and virtual. Many clients see these are perma- nent changes or ones that will eventually settle into a new balance with analog and in-person communication. Three areas where this change manifested most strongly were in talent acquisition, resident communications, and in learning methodology. The key shift in talent acquisition was


to virtual interviewing and virtual hiring. Given quarantines and location lockdowns, candidates could not interview in-person, yet organizations still lost people to turnover and therefore had backfill hiring needs. One of the things we immediately did


as a vendor was to add video interviewing directly into our hiring system to enable clients to “see” their applicants during the interview process. This made things much easier for both candidates and hiring man- agers because all the technology was built right into the hiring system itself vs. having to use third-party solutions and their various plug-ins and logins.


When combined with all the pre-existing digital communications support for things


avid Wilkins is chief strategy officer at HealthcareSource, a recruitment and talent management company specializing in health


like email and texting, video rounded out our clients’ ability to transition to an all-dig- ital communication strategy for hiring. And now as things are returning to nor-


mal, many clients have said they expect to continue to offer this option to speed up hiring and provide a more modern and seamless candidate experience.


Q. What were some lessons learned in terms of resident communications? A. Many clients turned to engagement platforms that enable residents to meet with families via video and to keep up with location news via family portals. In much the same way that video provided


a more engaged experience for candidates, resident engagement platforms provided ways for families to stay connected to their loved ones across distance. And like digital hiring, digital communications tools that support family engagement are likely here to stay as they provide more options and a more holistic experience for all parties.


Q. Can you share something you personally learned about communicating? A. I learned that in a crisis, it’s not possible to overcommunicate. Very early, even before COVID was declared a pandemic, I estab- lished a daily check-in with my leadership team to ensure we had a near real-time ability to react to changing conditions and information. This enabled us to respond to emerging


challenges within our teams but also from our clients and external conditions with im- mediate and decisive actions. We cascaded these communication models throughout our sub-teams to ensure that everyone in the company had the most up-to-date intel, so that they too could act with confidence. We also made sure that all our communi-


cations were authentic and personal. If we didn’t know something or we were unsure, we said so. The result of this model was near perfect


clarity throughout the organization at all times about what we knew, what we didn’t know, and what we thought might happen. Our communications became an anchor on which the team relied: In a world of uncer- tainty and unknowns, our communication strategy became a source of certainty and trust.


We made sure our communications were authentic and personal. If we didn’t know something or we were unsure, we said so. The result of this model was near-perfect clarity throughout the organization at all times about what we knew, what we didn’t know, and what we thought might happen.


JULY/AUGUST 2021 ARGENTUM.ORG 27


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  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56