HR should always bear influence over setting the performance bar. The five steps of performance management that I teach are:
1. Reestablish expectations 2. Give a timeline on which to improve
3. Set consequences( both positive and negative) and make them clear
4. Follow up frequently
5. Apply the consequences( both positive and negative)
Always remember that people have choices. If a person chooses not to improve, even though the opportunity was there, it is the choice that the individual made.
Overall, HR is empowered more as care across the continuum requires HR to set a higher bar of scrutiny and a higher bar of performance.
What do you think are the biggest risks to HR across the continuum?
There are a few risks I’ ve seen. One is geographic risk. Markets are very different. How you recruit, brand, pay, or train might look different across different care settings in different geographies. For example, our Northern Michigan market is very different from our Detroit market. We have to think about what those differences are and adjust accordingly. At the same time, we have to be consistent where needed, and that leads to another risk: consistency.
Consistency across the talent management terrain is very important in certain areas. For example, we began working with a local 4-year degree program and were also hiring 2-year degree nurses with certain qualifications. However, it became an issue of incentive consistency; the 2-year graduate was being paid the same as 4-year degree graduate. There was no incentive for anyone to go beyond a 2-year degree. We have fixed that, and it’ s a great example of how we need to be ahead of the curve.
One other risk is the connection to the community’ s educational institutions. If we are not engaged with those institutions, we risk losing that connection to a steady pipeline of talent and miss being able to influence beyond our own four walls.
What Advice Would You Give to CHROs or VPs of HR:
1. In healthcare there is no more business as usual. Everything has changed and is expected to change more. It looks more like a dynamic business environment. As Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod put it,“ We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’ t yet exist … using technologies that haven’ t been invented … in order to solve problems we don’ t even know are problems yet.”
2. Do not accept the reason of“ that’ s the way we’ ve always done it.” This represents thinking in the past. It may be true that you’ ve always done it that way. That doesn’ t mean it’ s the right way or the best way or the way that we will do something tomorrow. People have to let go of that past and look to the future, and to new ideas. We can’ t rely on the processes of the past to solve the problems of the future.
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