Cultivating Your Case Management Talent

How does your garden grow?  Or better yet, how is your talent pool?  Do you have enough people to do the work? Are their assignments in alignment with their role or capabilities?  What is your retention strategy?

Recruiting and retaining talent is similar to growing a garden.  It takes forethought, time, and effort. 

Let's dig in and review three types of gardening as it applies to growing your team.

Container Gardening

Container gardens are great for beginning gardeners, folks with limited space, or anyone who wants to dress up their porch or patio. 

How does it relate to having the needed staff?  It is the basics of hiring, interviewing, providing orientation, onboarding meetings or check-ins, etc.  The basics get done and done well, but it is limited.   

That's the essential phrase---limited.  If the position is easy to fill and there is always an abundance of folks looking for that position, then container gardening is on point.  

However, suppose the position you're searching for is difficult to fill, and the turnover is higher. In that case, you may want to change from a container garden strategy to an in-ground garden that will support better recruitment and retention.

In-Ground Gardening

The National Gardening Association has ten steps for growing an in-ground garden.  These steps are analogous to cultivating (recruiting and retaining) your team:

1. Choose the right location and follow the sun—When looking for the right candidate, look for someone who has a passion, a zeal for the role.  Find a candidate who expresses a desire to grow within the role, hospital, and community (vital for rural areas).  Lastly, consider a new graduate.  Typically, they are filled with enthusiasm and ready for a challenge. While they may not have years of clinical experience, you can "grow" (mentor) them into a valued treatment team member.

2. Select your seedlings---Based upon the model of case management or care coordination, what function needs filling or is vacant?  RN? SW? UM? CM? Assistant? Or is it time to re-evaluate the current model, structure, and duties of each role?  Every few years, you'll want to assess the status of the model to determine whether it is producing the desired outcomes for the organization. 

Another tangentially related topic to selecting seedlings is to involve your team in the hiring decision process.  Let them interview potential candidates by developing them a hiring guide.  This activity will increase their investment in the new hire's success while introducing the candidate to the team members allowing for candid discussions.  This is a proven winner for everyone.

3. Prepare the soil---Preparing the ground is more about retention in the cultivating process. Sometimes when there is a staffing shortage, folks get frustrated, notably when picking up extra assignments.  Your best intervention is communication.  Update the team frequently on the hiring process. Let them know the number of candidates applying for the position, when the interviews are scheduled, etc.  Keeping them informed allays fears.  It shows that you are working on it.  It is your foremost concern, having the appropriate staffing to accomplish the work.

Lastly, in this step, encourage and engage team members to participate in new hire orientation.  Find out what they would like to do---write orientation policies and procedures, serve as a mentor, be a buddy, develop the orientation schedule and checklist, etc.  Then let them do it with your guidance.

4. Check planting dates—While this step may seem task-oriented, it is more.  It is about acknowledging individuals' time and value.  First, the hire date should be convenient for the new hire, mentor, and your organization's human resource practices. 

Secondly, this step demonstrates that you care about their success.  Implement pre-planned check-ins with the new hire and mentor.  These meetings should be on the new employee's orientation schedule.  These meetings should be focused and with a goal in mind—retention.  Explore their working relationship.  Explore the effectiveness of the orientation and checklist.  Answer questions and address concerns.

5. Plant the seeds or seedlings---This is a stage of recognition and celebration. Welcome new hires by introducing them to the department.  A favorite way of celebrating the arrival of new team members is introducing them at a staff meeting.  Let the new hire stand up and share information about themselves with the department.   It makes it real.  And, it makes an impression--- they are part of the team.

6. Add water; stay close to water---Crucial point for retention just as it is in gardening.  Staying in touch with the team and new hires is so vital.  This can be accomplished in various methods but has to be done consistently and regularly, just like watering the garden.  Some hand-picked approaches are:  

·       walking and talking rounds,

·       participate in outlier rounds,

·       open-door policy,

·       morning huddles, and

·       late afternoon huddles. 

By staying close, you can address concerns, fix problems, and celebrate wins.  It will keep your team from withering.

7. Keep the weeds out--- Rumors and doubts are similar to weeds within a team.  They choke and erode confidence first within individuals then spread throughout the group.   The best method to eliminate rumors is to address them straight on.  In a public setting, try to elicit the rumor's etiology, present the facts, and invite questions.  Once it is a rumor, it will probably take a few discussions before the weed is eradicated.

The best way to help individuals overcome doubts--meet 1:1, listen, and provide feedback.  Then a few days later, check-in with the individual to gauge the progress.  This is a common phenomenon with new employees as their orientation draws to a close. 

8. Give your plants room to grow---The team is hired.  Everyone is functioning.  They are developing their daily routines, exploring how they can personalize their role. They are expanding their niche and skills.  From you or other leaders within the department, the entire team receives regular feedback and guidance.  The team members have goals to support their growth and the mission of the organization.

9. Fertilize as needed--- This is the exciting part; it equates to offering growth and career opportunities, possibly even succession planning. "Bumper" opportunities could include:

·       A career ladder that focuses on development either clinically or administratively. 

·       Develop a shared governance model within the department.

·       Create case management practice standards.

·       Apply for research grants that will further case management and care coordination.

·       Recommend individuals to serve on hospital-wide committees.

·       Start an education committee that strives to provide CEUs for participants.

Look for ways to involve and delegate exciting projects that benefit the individual and the department. 

10. Reap what you sow—Highly functioning, agile team that understands the principles and functions of case management!

Planting an Orchard

Planting fruit trees is a centuries-old way to boost your household harvest—that is it exactly.  It increases the recruitment (and retention) of your team.  It is a long-term solution in which the yield is seen years later.  But so worth the wait.

In the world of orchard farming, it only takes five fruit trees to be an orchard.  However, growing an orchard does require commitment, planning, and patience. With that in mind, choose just a few recruitment activities.

Below are some ideas on orchard-style recruitment activities:

·       Arrange internships with local junior and state colleges.

·       Explore affiliating with an academic or university-based hospital or other regional hospitals to develop prn pools or work-share.

·       Look for speaking opportunities at local high schools and churches to talk about the rewards of being a case manager or social worker.

·       Offer high school students opportunities to volunteer within the department.

·       Create recruitment tables at county and state fairs. 

·       Mentor and inspire non-licensed team members to advance their education (love this one!).

The goal is to get individuals excited about the rewards and values of case management/care coordination.  Bring them into the organization early.  Show and teach them about the significance of the role for patients and the organization.  With a bit of creativity, it can (and does) work.

Conclusion

All three types of recruitment and retention talent- gardening have their time and place. You can plant anything as long as there is plenty of water, sunshine, and fertilizer.

Water = Staying in touch with the team

Sunshine = Finding a candidate with passion

Fertilizer = Offering opportunities for growth

What type of talent-garden will you be growing?

For more information about talent-gardening, contact Integrated Care Strategists.