If you are like most leaders in healthcare today you know that the quality of care you provide is directly impacted by your team’s effectiveness and your staff’s experience. And yet unfortunately many leaders don’t have the tools they need to affect real improvement in their team’s dynamics and performance.

This is why we are offering our 5 Simple Steps to High Performance Healthcare Teams as a complimentary webinar for the first time. Based on over 25 years of research and on the book, Improving Healthcare Team Performance, you will learn how you can use the 5 steps to:

• Create greater communication, respect and trust among your team members
• Create greater accountability for team performance and the quality of care
• Reduce and prevent conflict
• Improve staff morale and create greater engagement
• Create a better functioning and more collaborative team that is focused on two key priorities: creating a positive staff experience and delivering exceptional patient care

You will walk away with a concrete plan to begin to strengthen your team’s effectiveness right away.

The post 5 Simple Steps to High Performance Healthcare Teams appeared first on SpriggHR.

Let’s face it, no one is infallible. We all have personality traits and types which cause us to act in specific ways when things are not going as well as the could.

There are some simple steps you can take to recognize and counter negative impacts of these traits.

• Understand yourself: Sounds simple enough right? Well, actually, recognizing your own personality issues can be a big challenge to many employees and managers. Knowing when you are performing at a top level and when you are getting in the way of your organization gives important insights into the best strategy to improve business performance.
• Get a fresh pair of eyes: Let’s face it, when a leader has been in a role for a long time it can become difficult for them to identify areas where change is needed to improve performance. Sometimes it can be extremely beneficial to get an independent and objective view of the situation.
• Keep it real: Often leaders come unstuck during challenging times and deny the reality of the business situation. Ongoing denial can be a big cause of inactivity and lack of direction. Keep it real and accept the reality of where the business is at. This will help you get to a position where you can create a performance improvement strategy.
• Seek external support: Sometimes a specialist consultant or coach can be the right choice to help your performance and momentum.
• Get a plan: A company’s success is based on the strength of its strategy and the leader’s ability to implement it. Team Chartering can help executives with strategy and implementation.

Want to learn more? Contact Sprigg to learn how our experts can help you understand how your personality may enhance or hinder your business, how to use your personality to best effect and how to create an powerful performance improvement strategy.

The post Business Performance: The Impact of Personality appeared first on SpriggHR.

Sprigg’s very own HR thought leader, Jilaine Parkes, will be the guest on tomorrow’s Career Buzz radio show.

The popular show is produced and hosted by Mark Franklin, Leigh Anne Saxe, Angela Fitzpatrick & Melissa Rodway.

Since 2006, Career Buzz radio show has been empowering lives, enriching careers and energizing organizations.

Mark and his team will be discussing Jilaine’s career journey and how and why she rose to become the President of Sprigg.

The one hour interview will also consider Jilaine’s unique perspectives on talent management and the development of cloud-hosted performance management software in helping small and medium sized businesses streamline efficiencies and improve people development.

The post Sprigg President to Talk on Career Buzz Radio Show appeared first on SpriggHR.

When organizations invest in talent management strategy that drives higher productivity, and better results, they have a lasting competitive advantage in their people.

Here are some of the KPIs we notice when discussing the merits of improved talent management with our customers:

1. Increased productivity: the top performer differential is 2.5 to 10 times that of an average employee (Sullivan, 2008). Other studies of knowledge intensive organizations, like IT or healthcare, have shown that the gain can be as much as a 100 to 200 percent.
2. The more top performers you have, the greater the productivity: Hiring better people to fit into the organization and nurturing your existing top talent are key.
3. Improved organizational readiness: 70 percent of organizations have an insufficient pipeline of talent for critical jobs (Charan, 2008).
4. Lower costs: Implementation of employee and manager talent management self-service processes results in an average 20 percent reduction in HR transaction costs (CedarCrestone, 2008).

The post Building The Case For Talent Management appeared first on SpriggHR.

Before you set up your company incentive program, be sure to review this checklist and get all of your information together to ensure a smooth launch and ongoing success.

1. Determine the behavior you are trying to change: Increased sales, improved morale, customer loyalty?  What do you want for an outcome?  What is the purpose of the program?
2. Place appropriate value on the desired activity: How many points do you want to associate with each activity (i.e., you will get 10 points for being recognized by a co-worker, or 15 points for selling a particular product).  Is the reward you are giving commensurate with the activity to be performed by the participants?
3. Select an appropriate prize: Is it cash, merchandise, trips, gift cards, company rewards such as PTO? What will have the most impact with your audience?
4. Verify how an incentive is earned: What do participants need to do, and how will it be checked to make sure it actually happened?
5. Determine your metric for success: What do you need to see – increased sales, less employee turnover – that will show that the program is working? What type of reports will you want to view?
6. How often will you pay out awards: Weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, annually?
7. Pilot Program: What groups should you start the incentive program with to work out the kinks and get feedback?
8. Promotion: How are you going to get the word out about the incentive program initially – and then ongoing – to ensure participation?
9. Evaluate: After running the pilot incentive program, what will you look at to retool the program for mass distribution?
10. Launch: Have you got everything in order? Is your incentive program manager fully prepared? Does the program work? Is your incentive award provider geared up and ready to deliver?

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About Jack Martin

Jack Martin, Partner at Payback Incentives, has held a variety of positions over the years in PR, advertising and marketing. In 2005, Jack’s company developed three online programs designed to improve sales, marketing and employee recognition: Payback Incentives (http://www.paybackincentives.com), an online incentive management tool that lets you run multiple programs and connects employees and customers with any award they want; Blue Sky e-Pass (http://www.blueskypass.com), the spot award program that gives employees the gift of choice; and i-Marketing (http://www.i-marketingonline.com), which lets companies control their brand while allowing local customization.

View all posts by Jack Martin →

The post So you have identified talent management solutions? Now for the incentives programme! appeared first on SpriggHR.

Q: What does Performance Plus do and how?

With Performance Plus teams can take a quick, but thorough, check of their performance and take action to leverage their strengths and address any weaknesses impacting their team’s effectiveness.

The process is simple; team members take 10 to 15 minutes to assess their team using the Team Fitness Test, an assessment that measures the 7 Elements of High Performance Teams. The results are then instantly generated and provide the team with a clear picture of how the team is performing against the behaviours and practices that differentiate high performance teams from all of the rest.

Teams then use the development process provided to discuss the results, celebrate team strengths and identify specific commitments to action for improving team performance. The process and templates provided can be integrated within existing team meetings so that team development becomes part of the everyday.  We know that assessments are only powerful if the results can be used to affect change. Performance Plus is designed to do just that.

Q: How did you land on the competencies you measure?

We have been working with teams and leaders across many industries for over 25 years. It became our practice to capture the strengths of the high performing teams we worked with and the weaknesses of poor or average performing teams. Patterns quickly emerged; teams that performed at a high level consistently applied certain practices and displayed certain behaviours that poor and average performing teams did not.

The competencies included in the assessment reflect everyday practices that are non-negotiable if teams wish to perform consistently at a high level. These competencies cross industries and apply to all teams from sales teams to customer service teams and executive level teams to front-line teams. The assessment has been used by hundreds of teams, all of which confirmed the critical nature of the competencies identified in taking their teams to high performance.

Q: The surveys you use are psychometrically tested and reliable.  What does that mean?

The assessment was tested for its reliability by Industrial Psychologists at the University of Western Ontario and was found to be highly reliable, with an overall reliability of 0.95 (reliability can range from 0, no reliability to 1.00, absolute reliability). This means that the assessment can be relied upon to provide a consistent measurement of the behaviours and practices included within the instrument.

 Q: How are the results presented?

One of the main goals of Performance Plus is to provide managers and their teams with the ability to take immediate action to strengthen any weaknesses identified by the team’s assessment. In order to take action teams must first be able to thoroughly understand what the results mean. With this tool you know immediately what your team’s key strengths and key opportunities for improvement are – you know immediately where to focus your team’s attention in order to improve its effectiveness.

As soon as the last person completes the assessment the results are generated and accessible through a private and secure website. The results are presented in a number of formats that clearly depict the specific behaviours and practices that should be focused on for immediate performance improvement as well as those strengths that can be leveraged and celebrated.

Q: Once I have my survey results what’s next?

Your next step is to share and discuss the results with your team so that they can celebrate their strengths and commit to actions to strengthen any weaknesses identified. You receive step-by-step instructions for sharing the results and developing the team’s action plan plus a template to maintain team and individual accountability that can be used in any team meeting. The process provided helps ensure your team maintains momentum and keeps team development a priority.

Q: How often should I perform a team fitness check?

The post Powerful Team Assessment Tool Gets Results – Performance Plus Q&A with Nicole Bendaly appeared first on SpriggHR.

Sprigg Software announces the arrival of Performance Plus – a powerful team performance assessment tool shown to identify and resolve specific team performance gaps. Integration of the tool will complement the suite of Sprigg online performance management products currently being used by a wide range of clients.

“We recognize that individual performance is only half of the performance equation,” remarked Sprigg President Jilaine Parkes. “An organization’s success is not only tied to the strength of its individuals, but also to the strength of its teams.” She added that the Sprigg development team was elated to find a product that could be so easily integrate into the existing Sprigg product.

Performance Plus, created by Kinect – www.2kinect.com, is a complete team development system, providing: powerful team assessment via a specially designed survey function; easy to interpret, real time analysis of strengths and weaknesses; as well as targeted solutions unique to each team’s performance gaps. The team assessment tool has been psychometrically tested and validated as highly reliable.

“I can’t wait to show our present and future clients how valuable this tool can be,” commented Parkes, adding that prior to making Performance Plus available, many of the workshops and training materials necessary to assess team fitness could be costly and time consuming for organizations to implement. Performance Plus will be an optional feature within Sprigg, accessible at the click of a button.

The post Sprigg Performance Management Integrates Performance Plus by Kinect appeared first on SpriggHR.

Software designed to make life easier can be our best friend or worst enemy depending on the day and it’s no different for Human Resources professionals looking to technology for the latest advantage in performance management. Knowing exactly what you want the tool to accomplish and keeping it simple are vital for maximizing the chances for long-term success. Here are the top three “DOs and DONTs” to ensure you and your HR software stay on friendly terms, and that you gain the efficiency you desire without losing the human component of Human Resources.

DO – Use Technology for the Following Benefits

Dashboards – Performance management software can be a great way for an administrator to keep a big picture view on the status of team members at various stages in the process. Working in the cloud means information is always accessible from any device with a web browser. This can yield huge time savings for the person previously charged with chasing down managers to complete and submit physical paper forms.

Consistency – Unlike in paper format or in static electronic forms, cloud-based coaching helps to ensure managers follow the same process of form completion and conversation delivery because the software provides a guide from which it is difficult to stray. Those who are new catch on more quickly, and those are not natural communicators have support to deliver more effective coaching.

Document Management – Gone are the days endless filing cabinets lining the walls containing sensitive documents locked away for safe keeping and accessible only by those entrusted with the key. Storing performance management data online allows for seamless controls so that confidentiality has never been tighter, even while accessibility of documents is even easier for administrators regardless of location. Not to mention, you reduce office clutter and save a bundle on the costs to print and store hard copies.

DON’T – Fall Into These Technology Traps

Multi-purpose Tools – Sometimes it is tempting to be drawn in by software that does “everything” (akin to a Swiss Army Knife). While on the surface it sounds great to have endless features at your fingertips, it is often the simpler software that gets used. If the tool tries to do too many things, is difficult to learn or too complex to execute on an ongoing basis, people will simply discard it. Instead, keep it simple and try to find tools that are excellent at completing one or two specific functions, and that are easy to use.

Replacing Human Contact – Software should enhance, not replace personal contact in performance management.  The access to data in the form of charts, graphs and tables can be intoxicating with the promise of all the things that can be “automated”. Remember that performance management is about a relationship and series of conversations between boss and employee. Technology should make that interaction easier, faster and more effective, but not replace it with virtual “high fives” and “atta-girls”.

Technology Without Training – When selecting software, consider how much training and support is offered by the vendor. Even the simplest process will require some training when introduced for the first time.  It’s important to have a great relationship with your software provider before you buy to make sure you feel comfortable about the product, and after the fact so that you are better equipped to bring your team up to speed with the changes.

Leave us a comment and let us know, what other DOs and DONTs have you picked up in the past about introducing technology into your performance management (and other HR) processes?

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