Building Healthcare IT Relationships & Developing your Team Brand

During an IT Directors Retreat, I had the opportunity to share my perspective on best practices for "Building Your IT Family". These best practices include ideas for enhancing your teams culture and building relationships amongst the members of your team. I also shared ideas Directors can use to help create an image, or “brand” for their IT teams in the hospital in order to enhance the perception of IT by your customers.

 

Building Team Relationships

• Team Huddles

  • Setup daily/weekly (or anywhere in between) huddles for team

  • If your teams are not in the same office, utilize video conferencing

  • Remember to include ALL IT members in the facility (including dotted line reports)

• 1:1’s

  • Occasionally substitute 1:1's with rounding together or running tickets with your staff

    • this gives you the opportunity to show staff how to compassionately communicate with our customers

  • Start the meeting with a personal and informal touch

    • Ask about family, home projects, "how was your weekend?"

• •Share inspiring stories

  • Encourage your team to share healthcare inspired stories, and don't forget share yours with the team

• Create a fun and welcoming culture

  • Continuously show appreciation with recognition, office fun and team lunches (potlucks are fun and cost-efficient)

  • Promote a safe environment by allowing healthy opinionated discussions

  • Keep your office door open

Creating your IT Brand

• Rounding with Purpose

  • Leaders and staff should round with compassion and intent to better serve our customers

    • Instead of "do you have any IT issues?", ask "is there anything we can do to provide better service for your team?"

• Build Relationships within the Facility

  • Consistently round all departments and the Admin office

  • If we feel a request is not achievable, do not immediately say "No". Instead, try to find out the problem they are trying to solve and provide solutions with understanding of the risks. “Yes...But”

• Nurse Shadowing

  • By shadowing our clinicians, ITG staff obtain a better understanding of nursing priorities and the impact of technology in their daily workflow. Ultimately, how technology impacts our patients.

• IT is part of the facility

  • Facility IT Leaders should participate in leadership huddles, meetings, and service/charity opportunities alongside facility leadership.

  • IT Leaders should encourage staff to participate in facility activities, town halls, and appreciation events.