Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.
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OSE_1309_part1_Layout 1 9/6/13 12:31 PM Page 43 STAFFING Arthur E. Casey, CASC Take Your Team From Good to Great 3 opportunities to make your staff the best they can be. H ave you asked yourself if your employees are truly competent? Do you know the strengths and weaknesses of each staff member? Do you take steps to develop and support their individual skills, abilities and job performances? Quality education is often lacking due to cost and time constraints, but by always looking for and capitalizing on teachable moments, you'll inspire workers to better themselves and your facility. Let's explore 3 key ways to tap into the true potential of your staff. Use competency reviews to ID areas for improvement You likely conduct initial orientation and competency reviews as new employees work through all of the operations of your facility, and specifically through all of the functions of their positions. In addition to the orientations, you conduct annual competency evaluations as part of their performance appraisals, perhaps relying on generic forms for documentation. The forms are often adequate for noting that evaluations were completed, and in most cases managers note employees are 100% competent in the required skills. But if every employee is fully competent, how can you further their education? Use of a generic form typically glosses over analysis of individual needs of the staff. Everyone has areas that can be improved upon or knowledge that can be expanded. The required functions of evaluation and competency reviews present opportunities to identify specialized, focused training that would benefit not just the employee, but the facility as well. Use the evaluation process to help identify those TEACHABLE MOMENTS Employees should be truly tested each time they're evaluated so areas of needed improvement. Set up a 1 to 10 their skills and knowledge improve. competency scale instead of using a boilerplate 1 S E P T E M B E R 2013 | O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E 4 3