When can we start holding people accountable again? This is a question I frequently receive. It does not mean that there is no accountability. What it does mean is that due to staff shortages, leaders are tending to lower the bar on expectations and accountability. It makes sense. If there are not enough staff to provide service, the business may need to reduce hours. This can lead to not having enough revenue to keep the doors open. Revenue is more important than ever, as for many businesses the cost of goods and labor has increased significantly.
Most of my time is spent in health care. Staffing issues in health care can lead to delays in care and/or less quality in care. Research in health care shows a direct correlation between employee turnover and clinical outcomes. Even if a hospital fills job openings with temporary workers, having lots of new people working can cause stress on the regular workforce. The saying "caught between a rock and a hard place" fits what many leaders are feeling.
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Most people have a desire to do an excellent job. It is not likely that a good worker becomes a not-so-good worker overnight. Instead, factors like short staffing, lack of supplies, rude customers (patients), and intense pressure on them and their supervisor slowly leads to dissatisfaction and burnout.
The pressure on leaders is at an all-time high. More staff vacancies create lots more work. Add to that financial pressure to not lose money as well as high customer service expectations. Innovative technology, while good in the long run, creates more pressure to get everyone up to speed.
Over the years, my observation is that leaders have moved from more of a transformational culture to a transactional culture. A transformational culture is built on trust, a shared vision, a guiding mission and an agreed-upon set of values. It is one for all and all for one. One hears statements like "We are like a family." A transactional culture is based more on "checking the boxes." It is just what it sounds like: "Complete the transaction and move to the next one." This is not all bad if those transactions are connected to the mission, vision, and values and if there are trusting relationships in the organization.
It saddens me that rounding on people to see how they are doing has so often become more of a set of scripted questions, a form of "check-the-box" accountability. I recently shared that the main question to ask if you want to know how a person is should be: "How charged is your battery?" The other is: "How is your work experience?" These two questions will lead to healthy conversations. For leaders, the question to the people doing the rounding is: "What are you learning from rounding?"