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Good morning. Today, let’s explore an essential leadership insight with our topic: “Don’t Be the Easy Button.” This concept encourages leaders in skilled nursing facilities to rethink their approach to problem-solving and decision-making within their teams. Use it as an opportunity to reflect inward and take a hard look at your decision-making tendencies. Are you teaching your team how to work towards solutions, or are you teaching them to look to you for every solution?
But first, caring for a hundred residents with too few nurses wouldn't be so hard if every nurse knew ahead of time exactly where to be, when, and why. Learn more about Tapestry Health, our sponsor, HERE.
Elevate Your Leadership
The Pitfall of Being the “Easy Button”
In our daily workflow, we are frequently approached with problems needing swift solutions. It’s tempting to quickly provide answers or make decisions yourself. This response can certainly feel efficient, and admittedly, it can be quite gratifying. After all, solving problems can reinforce a leader’s sense of competence and authority. However, this approach often leads to a counterproductive cycle where staff continuously rely on their leader to solve their problems, inhibiting their ability to think independently and grow professionally.
Solutions are offered with positive intent but the reality is, you're serving your ego more than your team's development.
Why You Should Avoid Making Decisions for Others
Each time a team member brings a problem to you and you provide the solution, you potentially miss a valuable training opportunity. By consistently being the decision-maker, you inadvertently train your team not to make decisions. This dependency can be detrimental in a field as critical as skilled nursing, where quick, confident decision-making is often required from every level of staff.
Cultivating Decision-Making Skills in Your Team
1. Encourage Autonomy: When presented with a problem, resist the urge to immediately offer a solution. Instead, ask your team member, “What do you think we should do?” This question encourages them to use their judgment and demonstrate their knowledge or research skills.
2. Evaluate Proposals: If they propose a viable solution, support them to carry it out. This not only boosts their confidence but also reinforces their problem-solving skills. If their solution isn’t feasible, instead of dismissing it outright, discuss the reasons and help them understand what might work better. This educational approach helps them learn from the experience and better prepares them for future challenges.
3. Provide Guidance, Not Answers: Instead of providing answers, offer guidance. Help them analyze the problem and think through possible solutions. Ask guiding questions that lead them to consider the implications of different choices. This method helps develop their analytical and critical thinking skills.
4. Create a Learning Environment: Encourage a culture where asking questions and seeking advice is welcomed, but where the primary aim is for each individual to arrive at their conclusions or solutions. This environment fosters growth and learning, making your team stronger and more versatile.
The Long-Term Benefits of Empowering Your Staff
By stepping back from being the “easy button,” you empower your team to develop crucial skills that are vital in the healthcare environment. This empowerment leads to a more competent, confident, and autonomous workforce capable of handling complex situations with or without direct supervision.
As a leader, your goal should be to develop a team that can function efficiently in your absence and handle crises confidently. Remember, every problem brought to your desk is an opportunity for development, both for your team and for you as a leader. Next time you’re tempted to be the “easy button,” pause and consider the long-term benefits of empowering your team to press their buttons.
Partners We Love
Together with TapestryHealth
TapestryHealth has been in the news a lot lately. One thing they don’t do is stand still or let technology get ahead of them or their clients. And that’s one of the things that I really love about this company.
Let’s face it, there are a lot of companies now that are touting their advanced technology. Tech is driving the market to new heights and healthcare is a natural for tech advancement. But just because something is labeled “technology” doesn’t automatically mean it will solve an issue for you in your facility. Tapestry does that. They do the vetting of every technical advancement that might be useful, and they do it from the standpoint of experienced SNF administrators, clinicians, and owners. For technology to work in a SNF, it needs to be affordable to install, profitable to operate, easy to learn and use, and it needs to help facilities deliver better care.
When Tapestry decides to incorporate some new technological advancement into their proprietary platform, it has been tested against each of one of these criteria, and passed with flying colors.
Here’s the proof: Tapestry installs their system at no cost to the facility, so it passes the Affordable Installation test. Tapestry’s technology doesn’t cost the facility anything to operate, and they generate increased reimbursements everywhere they’re used, so they pass the Profitable to Operate test. The learning curve is as simple as turning it on. Everything happens behind the scenes so that what your staff sees is smart, accurate, actionable direction on where to focus their efforts. That’s the Easy to Learn and Use test. And Tapestry Complete is proven to help reduce hospitalizations, provide better care to higher acuity patients, and increase customer satisfaction. Straight As on every test.
You can check them out HERE or you can Call, Text, or WhatsApp 845.694.7288
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.
- Use our free AI-powered Chatbot trained on all 900 pages of CMS Nursing Home Regulations plus proprietary processes and information from decades of skilled nursing leadership experience. Click here.
- Coming soon in May 2024. Stay tuned!
