7 Strategies of a Highly Effective Culture: Building a High Performance Healthcare Culture

Bruce:

Welcome everyone. The purpose of today’s session is transformation—helping you and your organization improve how you operate and engage your teams.

Our guiding philosophy is kindness and care. What you give is what you get back, and building respectful, positive relationships is essential to organizational success.

Michele Matt:

Thank you. Let’s start with a fundamental challenge: finding and keeping employees.

Even before the pandemic, engagement and retention were difficult. Now, the challenge is even greater. Negativity in the workplace reduces morale and impacts overall performance.

Improving employee engagement directly improves patient experience, customer satisfaction, and outcomes.

A key insight: employees may say they leave for pay, but most people leave because of unhealthy workplace cultures.

Today, I’ll walk through seven strategies to create a highly effective, engaged culture.

1. Clarity

Organizations must clearly define their mission, vision, and values. Employees should understand these and align their work with them.

Clear communication, updated job roles, and strategic planning are essential.

2. Code (Standards and Behavior)

Organizations need consistent processes for hiring, onboarding, and managing performance.

Clear expectations for behavior and professionalism help build consistency and accountability.

3. Creativity

Employees should be empowered to share ideas and improve processes.

Using structured problem-solving methods encourages innovation and strengthens engagement.

4. Consistency

Behavior and processes must be reliable and repeatable.

Consistency improves outcomes, including patient experience and organizational performance.

This is achieved through clear policies, communication, and accountability systems.

5. Coaching

Leaders must actively develop their teams.

Ongoing feedback, mentoring, and performance development ensure continuous improvement and growth.

6. Conflict Management

Conflict is inevitable. Organizations must have processes to manage differences constructively.

Strong teams build trust, communicate openly, and resolve issues collaboratively.

7. Celebration

Recognition and appreciation are essential.

Celebrating achievements—both large and small—builds morale and reinforces positive behavior.

Key Insight on Culture

Culture is defined by how people interact with each other and with customers.

Organizations typically fall into one of three categories:

• Control culture (high oversight, low empowerment)
• Abandonment culture (low direction, low accountability)
• Collaborative culture (balanced leadership, teamwork, shared ownership)

The goal is to move toward a collaborative culture where employees work together effectively and feel valued.

Final Message

Culture drives behavior more than policies alone.

Improving culture leads to higher engagement, better performance, increased retention, and improved patient outcomes.

Focus on building a culture where people feel supported, valued, and motivated to contribute.

Thank you for your commitment to improving your organizations and supporting your teams.