Workplace culture is like the foundation of a building. Without it, the building will crumble, but with solid foundations, it will stand tall long into the future.
Further, workplace culture is far more than a friendly atmosphere. It provides the foundation for building your successful practice and business. Culture impacts every level of a healthcare practice, from employee retention and productivity to how your team treats your clients – all of which also affect your bottom line.
One example is for you to think of the amount of time, money and resources that go into recruiting and onboarding new team members. With a strong workplace culture, you can increase employee satisfaction, leading to higher staff retention and a lower turnover rate, saving you money on recruiting and ensuring a long-standing and experienced team.
But how do you create a strong workplace culture within your practice?
These are several strategies you can implement to create a strong workplace culture. We’ve compiled a few to get you started, but it’s worth noting that every practice is different, and what works for others may not necessarily work for you. However, trialling initiatives and measuring the results is a great approach when developing workplace culture. Before implementing, you could also speak to some of your longer-standing team members for their input on team-building ideas.
Put in the effort, show you care, see which strategies get the results you’re seeking, and soon you’ll see results in the form of a more welcoming, happy and productive workplace.
1. Define your values and mission.
What values do you, as a practice, strive to uphold? What is your company mission? What is your purpose?
With these determined, share them with your team. People thrive on a common purpose to work towards. Sharing your values and mission fuels your team, providing the motivation and passion for working hard in what they do to fulfil that ‘big picture’ purpose – and you’ll create a more engaged and dedicated team.
2. Hire with care and focus on diversity.
Your people make your culture, so invest the time and care into finding the right people. This doesn’t mean hiring people you can be friends with but prioritising diversity, passion for the work and a history of achieving results.
Diversity in the workplace can be a solid asset for your practice as it fosters a sense of inclusivity and acceptance and can be a tangible asset to a business. A diverse workforce offers diverse professional and life experiences, contributing to more innovative ideas, better problem-solving capacity, and a greater sense of workplace inclusivity. In a more clinical context, it also provides the opportunity for clients to connect with and relate to their clinician in a more meaningful way.
And after all, when your client base is diverse, it only makes sense that your team be diverse too so that you can provide the best care possible.
3. Create a strong base of communication.
Communication is integral to creating a healthy and productive workplace. Therefore, where possible, practices should facilitate team members raising concerns and ideas, asking questions, sharing their professional opinions, and providing feedback to colleagues and managers. This opens the floor for strong communication between all employees and allows team members’ voices to be heard in a safe environment. Providing regular team meetings and making yourself available for one-on-one chats is a great way to build the foundations for strong workplace communication. However, it’s important to note that it’s not enough to listen to your team - you’ll need to follow up with action and keep them in the loop.
4. Provide recognition and celebrate your team members.
Recognise and celebrate your team’s hard work and achievements – as individuals and together. This provides a sense of appreciation and encourages team members to perform well. This is especially important in the healthcare sector, where clients and patients need to know they’re receiving the highest level of care possible and to see that their clinicians and their support staff really care.
5. Plan regular social events.
Humans are social beings, and offering social events for team members to bond and build meaningful professional relationships can play a significant part role in creating a strong workplace culture. Ideas include after-work drinks, bowling, movies, yoga and art classes - the possibilities are endless - plus team lunches and birthday celebrations to allow your team to bond more casually and socially.
According to research done by Deloitte Australia, 94% of executives and 88% of employees find that a distinct workplace culture is important to business success. So, ensure you invest the time and resources into developing a strong workplace culture, and you’ll have the foundations to build a successful and long-standing practice, and create a motivated team dedicated to providing the best care possible to your clients.
The Augmentum team provides a broad range of consultancy and management services, supporting healthcare business owners and decision-makers in key areas, such as strategy development and action planning, building effective foundations and teams, keeping your finger on the pulse, and driving growth and success.
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