Show Notes
Summary
In this episode of Chaos Whispers of Healthcare, Dr. Megan Carter interviews Dr. Renee Thompson, a leading expert on bullying and incivility in healthcare. They discuss the challenges healthcare leaders face, the prevalence of disruptive behaviors, and the importance of fostering a healthy workplace culture. Dr. Thompson shares her personal experiences and insights on how to address these issues, emphasizing the need for open communication, psychological safety, and a partner mindset among leaders. The conversation also highlights practical strategies for dealing with incivility and the significance of finding joy outside of work.
Takeaways
Silence allows bullying and incivility to thrive.
Healthcare leaders often feel like failures due to overwhelming challenges.
Bullying and incivility are prevalent due to high stress in healthcare.
Incivility is a cultural issue that needs to be addressed.
Lateral agility helps break down silos in healthcare teams.
Creating psychological safety is essential for open communication.
Leaders must be equipped with the skills to address disruptive behaviors.
Chaos Whispering Practical Tips
There is a difference between incivility and bullying: Bullying is a repeated pattern of disruptive behavior with a conscious or unconscious attempt to do harm, while incivility is low-level unprofessional or rude behavior.
Foster a “partner mindset” by challenging your own thinking when addressing an issue: instead of asking yourself “how” you can change something, ask “who” can be brought together from the full interdisciplinary team to address it
Relationship issues between disciplines: ask how often these roles meet together. If there are no current spaces where they do, find ways to bring them together to discuss issues as a group moving forward.
Intentionally bring the full team together to debrief when there are high stakes issues or cases
Healthcare executives can address leader-to-leader incivility/bullying in their teams by:
Intentionally equip leaders with the skills and tools to recognize and address incivility/bullying themselves
Creating spaces where the full interdisciplinary leadership team comes together regularly
Create psychological safety in those meetings by including “healthy workforce” as a standing agenda item
Ask the leaders about incivility and then be supportive and affirming when a leader brings up concerns
For leaders experiencing incivility/being bullied by a peer leader (recommendations to be clarified by what you are willing to do):
Within 72 hours of the incident: Meet with the peer leader exhibiting the behaviors 1:1. Name the behaviors you have witnessed (be objective) and then share how it has impacted you. Do not include the drama, noise or other details as that is subjective
Use authentic language such as “This might be uncomfortable to discuss, but our working relationship is important to me” or “It’s important that we find ways to work well together for the sake of our teams” etc
If meeting 1:1 does not feel safe or realistic, start a documentation trail of the behaviors you are witnessing/experiencing for future follow up with HR or exec leader
Additional CW tips from Renee:
The power of 3: Pick 3 to-do’s for each day, each week, each month, each quarter. Prioritize those tasks first. Any others are bonus items.
Keywords
healthcare leadership, bullying, incivility, nurse leaders, workplace culture, psychological safety, lateral agility, healthcare workforce, leadership strategies, healthcare challenges
Connect with our Guest:
LinkedIn: www.Linkedin.com/in/rtconnections
Email: [email protected] Company Website: HealthyWorkforceInstitute.com
Podcast: HealthyWorkforceInstitute.com/podcast
Connect with Dr. Carter:
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/dr-megan-carter-dnp-rn-nea-bc/
Podcast official website: https://www.mchcc.net/cw-podcast Company website: www.mchcc.net
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