Addressing management issues

Medical Laboratory Observer, June, 2004 by Christopher S. Frings

Showing appreciation to lab team

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We have 66 excellent, hardworking staff in our lab that hold themselves to a high standard of excellence and consistently deliver accurate results. We have several successful programs in place to recognize individuals for exceptional work. I am, however, looking for new, creative ways to show general staff appreciation, where all receive recognition as a team. The written and verbal appreciation is good but seems inadequate on some days. Food (pizza party) is also appreciated but probably overused. Do you have any great, reasonably priced ideas you can share?

Keeping your facility "a great place to work" decreases turnover and helps attract and retain the best employees. It is important that we set a climate for motivation of our team. Our team members like to be reminded that they are appreciated.

Marti Bailey suggests, "You may want to talk to your peers to assess interest in a hospital-wide team-appreciation program. Although a manager can certainly recognize and show appreciation to his own team, there may be added value if the recognition comes from a higher level. On an institutional level, teams could be recognized by profiling them in your hospital newsletter, at employee campus meetings (we have these quarterly), by poster presentations in public places (such as the cafeteria and lobbies), and also on your hospital's internal website. Pictures of the staff presented in any of these forums would be particularly helpful in bringing celebration of the team success to a personal level. Sharing the achievements of the laboratory team with the entire hospital community could be very rewarding for the laboratory staff, as well as motivating for all employees. I would urge you to look outside of the laboratory first for team-recognition opportunities. Other possibilities might be:

* a letter to the staff from the CEO recognizing the team's achievements and expressing his appreciation;

* breakfast or break provided by the CEO, with opportunity for the staff to actually meet and sit down with that person informally;

* having the CEO visit the lab staff on the job to personally express gratitude; and

* having the CEO send personal letters to employees' homes."

Ms. Bailey adds, "I would urge you, however, to be certain that when you are considering team or personal recognition that you carefully evaluate whether the behaviors and attitudes you wish to reward are actually above and beyond the expectation of the job. Since there has been increased emphasis on employee recognition (and rightfully so), I have seen the tendency to overcorrect--making public recognition of things that are a normal expectation of the job, such as being friendly, helping patients, and helping co-workers. Personally, I think this is just part of expected job performance. The reason I point this out is that when recognition is over-used, it becomes inflated and its value diminishes. Be sure that when you ask for your team members to be recognized, you can point out the specific ways that they exceeded the norm and made themselves an example of outstanding performance."

Larry Crolla points out, "I have seen special lab T-shirts, sweat shirts, or working shirts with a logo for the lab team. Also special baseball caps and gift certificates from a local store or restaurant work nicely. They do not have to be expensive. As far as the food goes, I like ice cream days, which can serve as an unannounced treat in the middle of the day that tends to show your appreciation via the fact you were just thinking of the team members and thought they deserved a treat. You can also schedule a group outing somewhere, such as a family night out to a baseball game."

According to Alton Sturtevant, "Food has always been an extremely appreciated occasion and an opportunity for my lab teams to gather together in a relaxed environment to celebrate success. This has always been a way to ensure that all employees can be rewarded. Variations that we have enjoyed in the past include a weeklong celebration in conjunction with National Medical Laboratory Week. We ask our vendors to support our activities through donations of door prizes, which have included their marketing materials (drink huggers), flowers, books of movie tickets, and ice cream. We sponsor various competitions or events during the week. One day was poster day, when departments developed posters depicting a medical technology theme--the winning team was rewarded with nominal donated prizes. Other days, we had an ice-cream sundae break, a hot dog cookout, or wore hats or decorated T-shirts and put up departmental decorations. These activities were fun, solicited group participation, encouraged team participation, did not cost much, and did not interrupt the laboratory functions."

Dr. Sturtevant adds, "Other times, we have celebrated by having covered-dish meals and providing entertainment through a local magician. We have celebrated through chili cook-offs, where the employees cooked their best chili; progressive meals, where the different departments provided a portion of the meal; and cookouts, where the managers cooked and served the staff. As you can see, the common theme of our team activities does encompass food and active participation by the team members. Our institution typically provides a part or all of the funds for food through vending-machine proceeds or contributions from willing vendors."