Have you thanked your staff today, for yesterday?
Everyone likes positive feedback and now is another great opportunity for it. Every year at this time I gather all the names of the individuals in my departments that have not called in sick from December through April and present each employee with a pair of movie tickets.
This is done openly at our monthly department meeting with all the staff present. It has become such a tradition that it's not the movie tickets that they are looking for but the recognition!
We all know that a positive word or gesture goes a long way. One of my supervisors even told me last winter that a group of staff members said they were doing their best to be part of the "Movie Ticket Group."
In another hospital, I had an end of the peak season celebration, complete with dinner brought in from a local restaurant. I was able to obtain funds from my administration to purchase door prizes that included DVDs and portable CD players. We then placed everyone's name in tumbler and drew out the winners. We held the celebration in the hospital auditorium so no one missed it.
Here's something else I bet you never thought of... When was the last time a member of your family received a personal letter from your boss thanking them for the time that they allowed you to spend away from them to work for the hospital, department or organization? Just try that and see what would happen!
I did it and received wonderful letters from the spouses and comments from the employees themselves.
The point is that your staff needs to be recognized! Their families need to know their time away from them is saving lives and valued by you and your organization! Just let them know, from the heart!
Till we Blog again,
-- From the Director's Chair, Scott