Appreciative Inquiry and Summa Health System

Employee Opinion Survey Feedback – AI Case Study

Submitted by:

Consultant:

Mary Kynkor-Bird, Concenture Group, LLC

Client:

Kyle Klawitter, Summa Health System, Vice President – Human Resources

Beth Kalail, Summa Health System, Human Resources

Description of the Organization

Summa Health System in Akron, Ohio, with $850 million in revenue and approximately 6,000 employees, is one of the largest organized healthcare delivery systems in Northeast Ohio providing a full continuum of care from home care, to acute hospital care, to acute rehabilitation, and skilled nursing. Summa is renowned for excellence in patient care and for exceptional approaches to health care delivery. Summa is SummitCounty’s largest employer.

Summa Health System has earned the distinction of being named by U.S. News and Report one of America’s BestHospital’s for six consecutive years. This is a clear example of the commitment to excellence exemplified by the people of Summa.

Focus of the Appreciative Inquiry

The client wished to create an employee survey feedback process that would engage all employees in a positive way.

Employee survey feedback processes typically look at the problem areas and seek solutions. Given the difficult times facing healthcare professionals, employees were working hard managing a multitude of challenges.

Using appreciative inquiry, reaffirmed successes and positive attributes that has contributed to Summa’s success. It also allowed for meaningful and productive conversations that resulted in rewarding results.

Client Objectives

The primary goal was to increase engagement and commitment at all levels of the organization to continue to evolve a work environment that fosters compassionate, patient-focused care, generates the highest levels of patient and employee satisfaction, allows all employees to share in the rewards of the System's success and encourages all employees to reach their potential as individuals in service to patients and the community.

As with any OD intervention, it is critical to establish a measurement of success. The measure of success for this project would be improvement in the next employee survey results, increased quality of the action plans, documented successes.

Consulting Perspective

Considering the client’s objectives, leadership, and culture, it was clear that an AI approach could yield significant value for the client and the entire organization. The most important aspect of the design and ultimately, the success of this project was the collaborative nature of the work between the client and consultant.

The integration of the consultant’s OD knowledge and expertise with the client’s expertise, knowledge of all aspects of their organization and sound human resource management practices resulted in a practical and useful process design.

This method of taking “theory to the work table” produced exciting and positive results for everyone involved including the transfer of knowledge of a change process to all levels of the organization.

Process Design

Background:

The Employee Opinion Survey (EOS) was developed and administered by the client for the organization’s 6000 employees in 2003. The response rate was excellent at 57% and overall satisfaction exceeded national norms indicating positive commitment to employee engagement. In keeping with a culture of continuous improvement for excellence, the client had a desire to reach an even higher level of employee satisfaction.

The client was aware of Appreciative Inquiry and we began to explore how this process of could assist them in reaching higher levels of employee engagement and satisfaction.

Planning and Design:

  • The design process began by discussing Summa’s vision and values, review of the prior EOS process and results, an overview of Appreciative Inquiry and potential ways of using AI to achieve their objectives. The client determined that the positive nature of AI and its potential for increasing employee engagement would be welcome approach during these challenging times in healthcare.
  • Given the size of the organization and the desire of HR to develop internal change management capability, we decided on a “trainer-the-trainer” format. This allowed the process to become “client driven” rather than “consultant driven”. The transfer of AI knowledge and application allowed the client to develop basic AI skills as a management development tool and sustain the effort long term.
  • Working with the client, we identified affirmative topics to be explored by the Directors and their staff. These topics were identified from the Employee Opinion Survey Results.
  • Once the topics were identified, we developed the interview protocol, AI process and the training session for Summa’s Management team. The Directors were responsible for using the process and training materials to engage their departments in dialogue regarding departmental Employee Survey results and plans for improvement.
  • The training design incorporated the principles of action research into an HR management practice while providing an experience of the process to increase the directors’ skill in conducting their feedback sessions.
  • A 2-hour session integrated the following elements:
  • EOS results for each department
  • fundamentals of AI and a process guide
  • an interview protocol to capture compelling stories of best practices, possibilities for future success, priorities and actions for making it happen
  • “real time” action planning for the management group to address their specific results

Conducting Train-the-Trainer Sessions:

  • All Department directors including the Senior Management team attended the 2 hour sessions. Two sessions were conducted by the consultant while all others were led by the client – HR leaders. Over 250 managers participated in this process.
  • Managers’ feedback during the sessions indicated they liked the positive approach, the process was easier to lead, the reporting process was simpler to ensure accountability and focused on opportunities within the department’s ability to change or improve. Additional verbal feedback included:
  • “I like how the discussion is led by the manager, but the action-planning and ideas come from the staff who need to be involved in improving the process.
  • “This was very positive! I can do this with my staff.”

Results:

The AI approach was integrated into the process of managing, the language and the culture resulting in increased participation, commitment and action planning within each department versus the traditional employee opinion survey processes typically used in organizations.

Examples of positive results the client has experienced – 3 months post- implementation of the process:

  • Nearly 100% of all departments submitted action plans vs. 70 % from the prior survey.
  • Quality of discussions reported as more engaging dialogue and positive tone
  • Quality of the action plans improved and examples of successes as seen in the various department’s highlighted in quarterly management meetings
  • As a result of the management feedback regarding their own satisfaction, project teams were formed and progress reports are presented at hospital management meetings.

What we learned:

  • AI integrated into “how work gets done” allows for greater learning and acceptance. Action learning is clearly a powerful tool for management development.
  • Co-creating an OD intervention with the client and consultant leads to a process that becomes part of the client’s culture allowing for:
  • greater organizational learning
  • increased skill development
  • higher probability of achieving results
  • increased value perception of HR and acceptance of OD efforts. In other words, not a “one time event” but rather “how we do business here.”
  • Taking a positive approach to change is a change in mindset for those in the healthcare profession. The profession is based on “diagnosing a problem”. Just as healthcare trends continue to shift towards wellness and proactively managing good health, AI is a shift in the arena of change management from focusing on the organization’s deficiencies towards leveraging and building on strengths.

Resource Files:

~ Resource documents available upon request.~Interview protocols and PowerPoint presentation.

Concenture Group, LLC9/18/20181