The Substance Abuse Treatment Facility (SATF) leadership began a program dubbed World-Class Employee Engagement 1:1 Check-Ins.
Established as a best practice in June 2020, the goal is to create a workplace culture of excellence, appreciation and accountability.
Why meet one-on-one?
- Employee Engagement Check-ins give employees a voice within uninterrupted time reserved exclusively for them. This helps ensure they are getting the appreciation and coaching they need along the way.
- Employees should feel comfortable expressing opinions about their workplace. They should know their opinions, feedback and recommendations are valued/taken seriously by leadership
- Frequent communication between managers and employees leads to engaging conversations between them and helps employees stay engaged in their work.
- A continuous performance improvement process helps employees and their managers stay on the same page.
- Employee engagement is key to organizational performance. This leads to higher productivity and morale, improved work quality, and decreased job turnover.
- The Strategic Business Plan has a goal of “Excellence in People” by improving staff performance through mentoring and accountability checks. “Doing what we said we would do enhances our credibility as SATF’s Healthcare Leadership.”
How do SATF leadership check-ins work?
- The heart of this best practice is SATF Healthcare leaders meeting with their direct reports no less than monthly. They provide undivided attention, recognition, encouragement, mentoring, resources and opportunities to learn and grow, as well as identifying and mitigating barriers to success.
- With the implementation of the Employee Engagement 1:1 Check-Ins, SATF Healthcare is reaping the dividends of investing in the development of an engaged, high-performing workforce strategically aligned with its vision to “deliver world-class correctional health care right here, right now.”
- By implementing the check-ins at other workplaces, supervisors and managers could boost morale, improve employee engagement and productivity, all while improving retention and reducing turnover.
Feedback on the engagements:
- “It has improved communication with my staff in the particular areas that they can directly make an impact on. As well as challenging them to strive to improve their own skills.”
- “The 1:1’s with staff help me to understand the items that need assistance, provide feedback on their strong work, and identify where I can improve as a leader to collectively grow and improve as a program.”
Story by Dr. John Choy, SATF.