Every person has a purpose

Over the Memorial Day Weekend I was with friends who work outside of health care. In talking about their work there were a number of times when they’d say things like "I just can't figure out where what I do fits into the bigger picture of the organization" or "I know what I do, but I can't figure out what the rest of 'those people' are doing."

It made me start to worry – do any members of the Children’s Specialized Hospital family feel that way?

Now, the one thing I pride myself on is not deceiving myself. I know every day won’t be perfect nor will we always hit 100 out of 100, but it would break my heart to think that some of our employees may not understand why we are here and just how important your personal role is in reaching our organizational goals.

Our goals may change each year but the “why” we are here is always the same. The why: our commitment, if you will, is to deliver patient- and family-centered care in every experience we deliver.

This is a hypothetical example for visual representation only.

Every single person in our hospital can help us achieve this goal. Whether you are in a clinical therapeutic involvement or if you are giving directions to someone who looks lost in our hallways, you are playing a role in delivering a patient- and family-centered experience.

Each year, during our APR, we all set individual E3 (Engage Every Employee) goals. E3 stands for Engage Every Employee. What does that mean? That every employee is engaged in reaching our departmental and organizational goals; that individual goals are linked to the larger goals. 

Take a look at the infographic on the right. This will help you visualize just how important your E3 goals are. Please note, this is a hypothetical example, and the goals listed under the department and the individual are not necessarily goals of one of our colleagues. However, our growth goal is our actual growth goal!

See that? Your individual goals are mapped out to help your department and the organization as a whole reach success!

Looking for a refresher on our 2015 Organizational Goals? Click here and open "2015 Corporate Goals."

The person you are interacting with should get the feeling that you are helping them the same way you would if they were a dear friend or family member. This kind of care you may not get in some health care settings.

While we all have many different tasks to accomplish in our day, it’s all about the alignment; alignment with our commitment to our patients and families, as well as to our goals – individual, departmental, and organizational. It’s also about being open and accessible to determining how to get children the services that help them reach their maximum potential.

After all, our organizational vision is to create a world where all children can reach their maximum potential. It’s the commitment to being encouraging to our patients and helping them and their families develop a unique plan that can be accomplished.

If you’re not in a clinical role, you’re probably thinking to yourself, “Yeah, but how does my position align with this?” Well it is simple, and I’ll tell you how.

Yes, in some cases you are actually delivering the care that we commit to. In other case, like me, you are playing a supporting role to make sure that all the people who are on the front lines giving information and providing care, or doing all the back office paperwork and research can do their work efficiently.

Every action that we do helps lead us to our mission to being preeminent and the best of the best and our commitment is that we do it by putting the child and family at the center of everything we do.

In a few weeks, when we begin our 2015 Employee Engagement Survey, you are going to let us know whether you understand your role and how it is aligned with the Children’s Specialized Hospital commitment to our patients and families. If you have any questions about this, ask them! Now is the time.

I can detail for you where every person fits into this picture. Yes, all 1,279 colleagues! I can see the result of your hard work – the good and joy that you provide every day – and I want to help you see that too.