It's About Respect

In this past week, my local paper has laid out a series on the state of our province's hospital system.  Called "Condition Critical", it shed some light not only on the challenges our provincial health care system faces but also helped identify how we got here and how we might extricate ourselves.  If you haven't seen or read all or part of the series you can catch up by pasting the following link to your browser and catching up:  http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/condition-critical/index.html

To many of us in embedded in the healthcare system for any length of time there may in fact be few surprises in the articles.  Moreover, the situation is likely not unique to Alberta or even in Canada.  Other jurisdictions have struggled with similar challenges in healthcare and in other parts of the public sector.  It's easy to build infrastructure, cut the ribbons, gain the short-term political points but far less easy to manage the year-to-year operational challenges and legacy effects down the road.  Even the private sector has dealt with similar issues over the years as they change and consolidate services as demographics, technology and other business factors dictate.

My focus is less on the reality of an overbuilt and unsustainable hospital infrastructure than on one particular aspect of the story relating to how hospital maintenance needs were evaluated and then how they were ranked in receiving maintenance dollars, capital upgrades or slotted for replacement.  The Edmonton Journal states (underline is my emphasis):

"A five-month investigation by the Journal found the province’s infrastructure rating system is convoluted, lacks transparency and is subject to manipulation behind the scenes. Instead of providing objective measures of facility need that can be shared with the public and used to determine funding priorities, the system appears influenced by frequent changes in methodology, inconsistent practices and political whim — most of it applied outside of public view."

I place this assertion in the context of an initiative that was announced the week prior where the government announced it's intent to reform Alberta’s public service to "...address 'shocking' turnover, low morale and a host of other very significant problems."  Giving credit where credit is due, Premier Jim Prentice identified that “[t]here have been employee surveys that show the morale of the civil service is low, and that there has not been a healthy relationship between elected representatives of government and the civil service."  He went on to state "[t]here has clearly been a very high level of turnover and churn, and I actually found the numbers quite shocking."  He added, that inexperience at senior levels was also a concern.

For those who have been in the civil service the factual statements come as little or no surprise.  I don't doubt that to one degree or another this same set of statements could be applied to provincial and federal employees across Canada.  In addition, some of the challenges facing our civil service bedevil our private sector - higher than desired levels of turnover in staff and inexperience at senior levels.  Succession planning, particular as the baby boomer generation starts to exit the workplace, is a concern for every sector.

So what's the solution to this sad state of affairs? I believe it lies in and is recognized by the statement that suggests there has been an unhealthy relationship between elected representatives of government and the civil service that has also established a culture where it is ok for the public and media to dump on civil servants.  More plainly and fundamentally it comes down to respect - or rather a lack thereof - for the effort, skill, ability and expertise of our civil service employees.  Having been a civil servant for only a couple of years and having worked in the public sector for 25 years, I can personally relate to issues of lack of respect - chasing one's tail on suspect initiatives, trying to rationalize political (small p or otherwise) decisions, having one's suggestions or input requested and subsequently dismissed, and being thrown "under the bus" when it suited other political or "leadership " agendas.  These actions hardly smacked of respect and certainly do nothing to support engagement and retention of staff.

Harvard Business Review just recently concluded a study in which it surveyed nearly 20,000 employees around the world.  Their focus was on assessing factors that impacted on employee commitment and engagement.  Their finding - respect from leaders towards their staff was the single biggest factor impacting employee satisfaction and engagement.  Those staff that felt respected by their leader(s) reported 56% better health and well-being, 89% greater satisfaction with their jobs, and 92% greater focus in their roles.  They also reported 55% more engagement with their organizations.  The results for those staff who did not feel respected by their leader(s) were also similarly clear - less engagement, more turnover, less focus, lower productivity, greater absenteeism and disability.  

There's a clear cost to government - and any organization - in not demonstrating respect for those who work for us.  Without the right number of engaged and skilled staff we clearly can't deliver on our organizational mandate.  The cost of turnover and absenteeism should be self-evident.  So if this government, or any government and business, is truly interested in reforming their workforce and the workplace culture it has to start by promoting a culture of respect.  In this particular case, that effort has to start at the top.  Our elected officials need to be leaders in changing a culture where it has been OK to vilify public civil servants, casting them as them as villains in some of the challenges facing the public sector, and throwing them under the bus when it is politically convenient.  The issues described in "Condition Critical", where decisions on hospital maintenance and replacement are made behind closed doors and may in fact discount the input of "bureaucrats", does not currently foster a culture of respect and engagement.

Until such time as government and business leaders are truly prepared to hire, reward and support staff on the basis of their skills, ability and passion for the work to be done they will continue to be plagued with high levels of turnover, low levels of morale, and decreasing capacity to actually meet ever more challenging demands.

It's About Leadership and in this case It's About Respect.

______________________________

Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
TEC Canada Chair/Executive Coach/Senior Consultant
hadubiak@wmc.ca

Helping leaders realize their strengths and enabling organizations to achieve their potential through the application of my leadership experience and coaching skills. I act as a point of leverage for my clients. I AM their Force Multiplier.