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Good morning. Today, we’re covering a critical aspect of leadership within skilled nursing and senior living operations: the constructive evaluation of failures. Failures, though often stigmatized, are invaluable learning opportunities that, when analyzed effectively, can lead to substantial improvements and innovations in your facility or community.
Instead of treating symptoms of issues as they arise, wise leaders dig deeper to treat the root causes, ensuring long-term solutions and healthier organizational dynamics.
Elevate your Leadership
Let's explore essential questions that skilled nursing leaders should ask when evaluating a failure, inspired by a holistic approach to problem-solving.
1. As the leader, what could I have done differently?
Every exploration of failure should start with self-reflection. Leadership sets the tone for the entire operation. Consider whether your guidance, communication, and expectations were clear and realistic. Reflect on your role in the situation: Did you provide the necessary resources and support? Was your vision adequately conveyed? Understanding your part in the failure is pivotal to driving positive changes and preventing similar issues.
2. What output fell short?
Consider your skilled nursing facility as a complex system where people, processes, and technology converge to produce outcomes. These can be in the form of patient care standards, operational efficiencies, or team performance. Identify the specific areas where the output fell short. Was it in the quality of care, the volume of service provided, or the cost-effectiveness of the operations? Pinpointing the exact nature of the shortfall is the first step in understanding the underlying issues.
3. Who is responsible?
In any operation, clear accountability is crucial. Identify who was directly responsible for the areas where shortcomings occurred. This is not about assigning blame but about understanding roles and responsibilities. Ensure that roles are clearly defined within your team to prevent confusion and overlap, which can often lead to failures.
4. Do they know what excellent looks like?
Success in any field requires a clear understanding of what excellence entails. In the context of skilled nursing, this means knowing the standards of patient care, operational efficiency, and staff performance. Assess whether the individuals responsible for the failed area have a clear, measurable definition of success. If not, it's crucial to provide the necessary training and resources to align their efforts with the facility's goals.
5. What broke?
Failures are rarely due to a single cause. They often result from multiple, interrelated issues. Break down the failure into its component parts to understand what went wrong at each stage. Look for patterns, new elements, or bottlenecks that could have contributed to the problem. This comprehensive analysis can reveal the most effective points for intervention.
6. Why?
Digging deeper into the reasons behind a failure can uncover underlying problems that are more significant than the immediate issues. Encourage your team to move beyond surface-level excuses to understand the root causes. This may involve asking "why?" multiple times until you arrive at the fundamental problem.
7. Who should do what differently?
Ultimately, the goal of evaluating failures is to foster growth and improvement. Once you've understood what went wrong and why conclude your analysis with clear, actionable steps. Assign responsibilities and set deadlines for implementing solutions. This not only addresses the current failure but also strengthens your team's ability to prevent similar issues in the future.
8. What part(s) can we celebrate?
Failure and innovation go hand in hand. In evaluating failures the last thing you want to do is create a culture where your team shies away from looking for a better way to accomplish something. If failure comes from attempting
something new and was done with buy-in from the team celebrate the effort and intention.
Remember, the journey towards improvement is continuous and requires a willingness to adopt different approaches. As Abraham Lincoln wisely pointed out, preparation and foundational work are key to achieving desired outcomes. Embrace these questions as tools for sharpening your leadership and operational effectiveness, ensuring your community not only overcomes current challenges but also fortifies itself against future setbacks.
By incorporating these evaluative questions into your leadership approach, you can transform every failure into a stepping stone towards success. This reflective process is not just about fixing what went wrong but about building a stronger, more resilient operation that thrives on continuous improvement and exceptional care.
Whenever you're ready, there are a couple of ways I can help you.
- Leverage our partnership with CEUSrEZ and purchase NAB-approved, online, self-paced, continuing education courses at a 20% discount here.
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- Coming soon in
March 2024. Stay tuned!
