HR Professional - December 2007/January 2008 - (Page 23)

ON ME S SAGE B Y S Y LV I A H A L L I D AY CORPORATE PEOPLE INITIATIVE ENGAGES STAFF AND REVITALIZES CULTURE orporate culture is the bedrock of an organization. For St. Michael’s Hospital, a Toronto Catholic teaching hospital, a distinctive mission and values-driven culture has long been a key differentiator for both employees and the community. Over the years, however, influences such as a challenging health-care environment took their toll on the hospital’s culture. Evidence suggested an erosion of staff engagement and a drop in satisfaction levels. In response, St. Michael’s developed a strategic, three-year corporate people initiative designed to implement systemic change and reinforce the organization’s unique culture. The intent was to directly engage employees, giving them an active voice and ownership over creating ways to enhance the hospital’s work environment and future. Since launching in 2005, more than 250 frontline employees and management volunteers have come together through task forces and project teams to create, develop and implement 50 recommendations. While the suggestions themselves are practical workplace improvements, the key to success has been in engaging employee commitment through the project’s cross-organizational team structure and a dedicated communications campaign. C its inception, the initiative was given a designated people-focused brand that used a series of employee Polaroid portraits for its logo and visual supports. Wherever possible, information pieces, equipment or services supporting a recommendation directly credited the project or boasted a “Brought to you by the People Strategy” logo. The campaign used a mixed media of communication tools—newsletters, posters, town hall forums, manager briefings, videos and special events—to deliver frequent, reader-friendly news highlighting achievements and project team updates. A people strategy site was added to the hospital’s intranet and included a milestone-tracking calendar listing each recommendation as it came to fruition and an e-mail channel for questions and feedback. Two outreach components—people strategy ambassadors and Java with Jeff—were developed. The ambassadors, a group of 30 front-line employee volunteers, actively represented the people strategy at staff meetings, fielded feedback and ensured distribution of information. Java with Jeff brought together the CEO and a small group of staff from an individual department for an informal discussion once or twice a month. These popular two-way feedback channels have since been adopted as regular communication methods. Dynamic people-focused brand An initiative of this magnitude can be fraught with challenges including ensuring the engagement of the organization’s subject experts and process owners responsible for sustaining momentum and ongoing executive commitment. In recognizing this, the people strategy’s senior project management team developed a simple but structured project framework, which mapped out workflow and resources for frequent team meetings, update reporting and an approvals process. The hospital also assigned an executive sponsor to head up each one of the strategy’s three umbrella themes— environment, leaders, future—under which the various project teams fall. A proactive communications campaign was essential to maintaining project momentum. At w w w . H RT houghtLeader. c om Improvements in staff engagement The people strategy’s achievements have brought about tangible workplace results through the implementation of new technology, equipment and security programs, work/life balance initiatives, a new leadership development focus, and enhanced, client-focused recruitment practices. On a more qualitative level, the hospital’s recent staff survey showed significant improvements in engagement and awareness of and agreement with the mission and values of the organization. There has been a revitalization of culture with open collaboration between all business and operational units, due in part to the project’s design of cross-functional teamwork. Sylvia Halliday (halliday@smh.toronto.on.ca) is vice-president of human resources at St. Michael’s Hospital. D e ce mb e r 2 007/J a n u a ry 2 008 23 http://www.HRThoughtLeader.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of HR Professional - December 2007/January 2008

HR Professional - December 2007/January 2008 Contents Editor's Letter Contributors Leadership Matters Website Did You Know By the Numbers Technology Study News: Ontario Regulatory Enforcement Compensation News: Postponing Retirement Legal Compensation On Message Public Image Ltd. Building Brand Equity Research Strategy HR 101 Interview with Marshall Goldsmith Off the Shelf The Last Word

HR Professional - December 2007/January 2008

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