Hi and welcome to part two of the introduction to Management and Leadership. My name is Nikki Smith, Director for Member Services at MedAxiom. Here are my disclosures and here are our learning objectives for this portion of the module. We're going to define employee engagement and articulate its significance in fostering a positive work environment, gain insights into best practices for meaningful meetings and one-on-one meetings, recognize and learn to avoid morale killers as a leader, understand and articulate the hiring process, list topics for documentation and understand this as an important practice for a leader, and we're going to learn email etiquette and organization to allow effective communication and time management. People spend more than half of their waking lives at work. Work can be a source of stress and unhappiness or it can be a primary source of identity. Give us a sense of purpose and meaning. So how do we ensure that our employees are engaged? There are as many thoughts and answers around this as there are definitions of leadership and engagement combined. There are numerous definitions out there, but the most widely cited definition of employee engagement states that it's a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind that's characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption. Research shows that high levels of employee engagement can be directly linked to high levels of individual, team, and organizational goal achievement, greater job satisfaction, less turnover, and greater citizen behavior and improved health. If you google how to improve employee engagement, you'll come up with limitless ideas, tools, and suggestions, but there are some resounding themes, and leaders that keep these in mind find higher rates of engaged employees. So your employees need a sense of purpose and value at work. They need clear and achievable goals, a shared commitment to those goals, clarity of roles and responsibilities, clear processes and procedures, and joint accountability. The key to all the themes that I've mentioned is communication. Communication is the single most important tool that you can use to engage your team. So use the seven C's that we described earlier. Decide on a method of communication and then follow that method as you've determined. Be reliable and hold staff accountable. Team huddles are a great way to boost employee engagement. If meetings are meaningful, then employees are engaged. It's important to note that each time that you gather people together and take them out of their roles, it's costing money. So these meetings should be meaningful and provide value to the practice. Here's a list of tips that can help you ensure that you're making the most out of your meetings. Prepare for it. Start on time and end on time. Create an agenda. Define the goal of the meeting. Share important information. Create or brainstorm as needed. Follow up on action items. Throw in some quick fun and encourage questions and feedback at the end. One of the most important things to remember is don't meet if the meeting isn't needed. If there isn't anything to discuss, don't pull people in a room. The other meetings that are important to you and to your team members as you're leading are one-on-ones. To set these up to be meaningful, be sure to let the employee know what you expect at the one-on-one and then when it begins, set a comfortable tone. Talk about something that isn't necessarily business so that you're working on the personal relationship with that employee. And then address objectives and initiatives and goals during this meeting. Again, set expectations and let the employee know what you're looking for. Take the time to recognize their achievements. Tell them what they're doing well and in this private setting is the time to give feedback that maybe isn't so easy to hear. And then at the end of the meeting, you as the leader ask for feedback. What could you be doing differently? What could you be doing better and how can you support that employee in their role? The benefits and meaningfulness of productive one-on-ones can be far-reaching. It helps you improve your relationships with your team. It can foster effective problem solving. This time allows staff to ask questions or ask for assistance on projects or work. It gives them privacy and time to present concerns and ideas that can uncover issues or provide solutions that haven't previously been considered. It increases employee morale. Employees who feel heard most often feel valued. It helps improve performance due to more real-time feedback as well as motivation and inspiration. And it helps you discover employees with high potential. This time may reveal skills, passions, and career goals that you weren't aware of. Delegation and recognition can be great tools that bolster employee engagement. If used thoughtfully, they will help you send the message that you genuinely care about your team and that you're invested in their success. Delegation is a skill that effective and employee-centered leaders use to promote and develop their staff. Some of the benefits to delegation are boosting team and employee morale. It elevates employee ownership and accountability. It fuels motivation and commitment. And it improves efficiency and overall productivity. Now, there are obvious tasks that you aren't able to delegate. Critical conversations with other teammates, evaluations. However, there are several that can be delegated and should be. So, find the appropriate items to be delegated. Find the correct teammates to delegate them to. And then, that's going to allow you to bolster them, make them feel valued, and open up some capacity for you to take on other important roles. The most effective form of recognition is honest, authentic, and individualized to how each employee wants to be recognized. Don't make assumptions that your employee wants their good work called out in an open forum. Ask them. Data reveals that most would prefer an authentic, kind word during a one-on-one or a conversation. Other forms of meaningful employee recognition are award and commendation, reflections on evaluations, gifts or increase in pay, or acknowledgement by higher leadership. Some of these may not be possible in your organization. However, you can influence a culture where good work is called out by leaders and peers. Now, just for a brief moment, let's have a quick discussion about some things that are just as important as doing the right thing, and sometimes have way more impact on employee engagement. And that's what kills morale. Remember, leaders are always on stage. Everyone is watching what you do or what you don't do, always. The way that you communicate, your body language, your professionalism, work habits, and engagement with your team are always on display. Leading takes a lot of self-awareness and self-realization. And so, while you're working on your stage presence, here are some actions to avoid. Poor communication, withholding recognition, reluctance to delegate, favoritism among staff is a sure team killer. Don't say you have an open-door policy and then complain about how busy you are. Be accessible to your staff. Don't complain to staff about your challenges. And certainly, don't talk about staff to other staff. Unprofessional social media posts are also something to be mindful of. And don't take all the fame without sharing the blame. Real leaders are quick to mention their team when they're receiving accolades. And they're also very quick to step up when there's blame. Don't educate by using the trial-by-fire method. Give your employees everything that they need to do the task well the first time. And don't punish those who speak up. And certainly, don't micromanage. If your staff don't feel like you trust them to do their role, how are they going to trust you to lead? Golden rules for leaders. It's the same that we learned as children. Treat others the way that you'd like to be treated. But for a leader also, remember, your team doesn't work for you. You work for your team. You lead to serve. And lastly, work to be the boss that you've always wanted. Hiring new team members will be one of the most important roles you have. Identifying and selecting the right candidate has an impact on your team, the culture, and the delivery of service you provide both internally and externally. A structured process for the selection of candidates sets you up for success. If you follow the same process every time, you'll have an opportunity to hone this into a valuable skill set, valuable to you and to your organization. A selection process usually includes the following seven steps. Application, screening and pre-selection, interviewing, assessment, references, a background check, a decision, and then a job offer. As the manager, your primary focus will be on screening, interviewing, and the assessment of candidates. A popular rule for interviewing is to speak 20% of the time and listen for 80%. This is where the five C's of recruitment come in. During these three critical steps, you'll be looking for those that meet these criteria. Competency for the role, character, communication skills, is this person a good culture fit for what you're trying to create, and what is their career direction. Those that meet these five C's will then move on to the next steps in the process. Having an interview evaluation form is super helpful at this point. You want the candidate's information, the date of interview, the position applied for, and the interviewer. When you're assessing competency, you're looking for previous experience, what are their qualifications and skills. When you're looking at their communication skills, it's soft skills, problem-solving skills, their teamwork, potential. Character and culture fit, what are their values, what's their work style, what motivates them, and how do they handle stress and conflict. Career direction, where does the candidate want to be in three to five years? Does your role fit into that plan? Use the data that you've gathered to help guide you as you make this decision, so that the process is as objective as it can be. Then move forward. You may need to use your gut to help you decide, but if you follow the process, your gut should be guided based on the data that you've collected. We've provided you with an interview evaluation template in the syllabus for this module. Onboarding is the last critical step to the onboarding process. Here are a few best practices for onboarding. Start getting the new employee set up before their first day. Do they need access to systems, files, or software? Then request it. Do they need equipment? Request it. Email the new hire with the information that they need on their first day, and share an agenda for their first week, and the name of those who will be available as resources to them. Communicate the company's mission, vision, and values. Provide any other information that you expect the employees to be aware of in writing, if possible. And then prepare a collection of new hire resources. Department how-to's, tips and tricks, templates for communication, policies, procedures, and or guidelines. And have an orientation plan with an expected timeline for the onboarding period. Create a checklist to be sure that they have everything that they need for their new role, and use this to follow progress and ensure learning. And then ask employees for feedback. How could their onboarding have been better? Use that information to then improve your process so that you're getting better with each new hire. Feedback and performance. Feedback needs to be timely, it needs to be focused on goals, and it needs to be delivered well. There are two types of feedback, real-time feedback and performance reviews. Real-time feedback can be used consistently during set meetings and as needed. Performance reviews usually occur during set times of an annual cycle. It's important to use these two timings to communicate important guidance, direction, and observations. This is especially important to new employees as they shouldn't need to guess if they're on track or ask if they're meeting your requirements. Many managers struggle with this part of their role. They gloss over issues or withhold words of affirmation and encouragement due to their discomfort with these types of conversations. It's important to remember that clear is kind, so provide feedback, positive or negative, and clearly state why you're sharing it. Documentation can be cumbersome and often can be put off or forgotten. As the manager of the team, practice, or department, it's your responsibility to ensure that there's records kept of important events. These records or documentations are often instrumental in keeping everyone on the same page. Here's a list of a few events you should be mindful of to capture. Disciplinary action, critical conversations, project objectives and owners, meeting minutes, negotiations, contract or vendor agreements, and important emails. Regardless of what you're documenting, there are three components that every manager should know about documenting. Timing. Documenting the event should be done sooner rather than later. The longer the time between the conversation or the meeting and the documentation that's meant to capture it, the greater the chance for error or risk of forgetting. Accuracy. Get as many facts down as possible and in writing. Follow the five W's to be sure you capture all the information. Who, what, when, where, and why. Be careful with the why. That's where most errors occur. Why is usually more subjective and often leads the writer to making assumptions or hypotheses. And then expectation or desired outcome. When documenting any of the topics outlined, make sure you add what the purpose of the conversation or meeting was and what the expected outcome is. Emails are another form of important documentation. So we touched on some of these thoughts when we discuss professionalism and communication, but I'm going to speak to this again in terms of email etiquette because it's important and sometimes an email is the only touch point you have with a stakeholder. You want your email to represent you well. So avoid using all caps. Do not overuse italics, bold, or underlining. Always use a respectful tone. Be succinct in your emails. Say what you need to say and then end it. Be careful with funny. Sometimes funny can be off-putting or not everyone will get your humor. Openings and closings should always be professional. Use a professional signature. Be descriptive and succinct in your subject lines so that people can go back and search your emails or reference it as needed. Have your emails be timely and appropriate. And lastly, proofread, proofread, proofread. Please be sure to check out the video on the syllabus if you'd like to learn more on this important topic. Emails are a form of organization, so be sure you keep them organized so that you can find those documents when you need them. Here's a list of strategies to help you. Unsubscribe and delete unnecessary emails. Use storage categories and folders. Categorize every email. Flag priority emails and handle them first. And then regularly clean out your inbox. If you'd like more information on how to organize your inbox, there are several how-to videos out there on the internet that will help you set up filters, rules, and categories, and automations. Be sure that whatever you decide to set up simplifies the email process for you. And remember, the goal is to organize email documentation and be able to retrieve what you need easily. Thank you for watching this module. If you have any questions, please reach out to academyatmedaxiam.com.

employee engagement

leadership

hiring process

communication

meeting effectiveness