A few weeks ago I was sitting at Zambrero enjoying my lunch when suddenly my attention was hijacked by the ‘Plate 4 Plate’ count-o-meter on the wall.
It was like a mind magnet. Each time that counter ticked up, my brain went into overdrive.
Is it for real? Is it really tracking all meals donated globally? In real time? How on earth are they pulling this off?
I was completely mesmerised – by both the mechanics of this system, and how it so perfectly (and simply) captured Zambrero’s organisational vision.
It got me thinking…
What kind of eye-catching metrics do health and social care organisations use to promote the incredible impact they are making?
And, if done well, could this simple mechanism be a key part of the attract and retain puzzle?
Let’s dive in.
How vision and success metrics mix
Over the years, I’ve observed that health and social care organisations have wonderful visions, usually to do with wanting to improve the lives of those they serve.
But, they rarely measure or promote this in a systematic way that could keep everyone (board members, leadership, staff, and clients) in the loop, accountable, and seeing real progress towards the dream.
Knowing how well you are progressing towards your vision is a key element in achieving it.
It’s here that we can learn a lot from big, bold, and measurable visions like Zambrero’s who emphasise the impact of every burrito sale by donating a meal.
Tracking progress towards your vision will help staff feel valued
We all know that a clear organisational vision sets the stage for success. Once you are clear on what you are trying to achieve, the next step is to work out ways to gauge if you are actually making progress towards this.
But this is challenging. Many of us don’t know how to do this very well.
While it’s easy to track numbers or throughput of clients, financial performance and waitlists, these indicators alone fail to measure the real impact your organisation is having on the people at the heart of your services.
These types of data don’t allow you to measure the true impact your amazing health and social care staff are having on the people you serve.
Most health and social care workers are driven by wanting to affect real change for those in need. So wouldn’t it be more sensible to track progress towards our vision using data that allows us to truly see and value the impact of the amazing work they do?
How celebrating the right metrics leads to better staff retention
Time and time again I have seen just how crucial it is to empower staff through the use of metrics that clearly illustrate the meaningful change they are bringing about.
Coupled with appropriate systems, resources and time to do this work well, staff are not only enabled to do more great work, they can also easily gauge the impact they are having on people’s lives.
When meaningful change metrics are the same ones that also help track progress towards the vision of the organisation, well, everyone wins.
So consider this: health and social care staff are more likely to stay around to do their great work if:
- they are 100% set up and supported to affect real, meaningful change with the individuals they serve;
- they can easily recognise and celebrate when they have affected real, meaningful change and are acknowledged for this;
and
- they can easily recognise how their work is helping the dream come true.
A fresh approach to success metrics in health and social care settings
Imagine a ‘Plate 4 Plate’ style counter for health and social care organisations that kept track of:
- the number of people who’ve experienced fantastic positive change or
- the number of goals your clients have achieved with your help or
- the number of people who have been helped to live better lives or
- the number of people who have been supported through challenging situations.
And what if there was a way to routinely capture and share these kinds of success stories?
Imagine how affirmed everyone would feel when these tallies and content banks slowly racked up numbers and stories over time.
A quick example
A while ago, I worked with an organisation whose vision was to ensure every individual they worked with could make their own decisions, achieve their goals and dreams and participate in meaningful activities and social relationships.
Initially they wanted help to make sure their care and support models were doing the job they needed to do.
As it turns out, in order to understand if their care and support models were up to scratch, we needed to understand the extent to which their care and support models aligned with what their participants wanted to achieve.
That is, we were making sure the vision reflected what their participants were hoping to achieve.
To do this, I worked alongside frontline staff (and a group of participants) to identify what meaningful change looked like at an individual level and ascertained the extent to which this aligned with the vision.
From there we worked out how these individual measures of meaningful change could be tracked and measured in a more transparent and systematic way and then worked to translate these measures into a suite of organisational measures that could be tracked and celebrated.
We are yet to see how this process will impact on staff … but so far, it is looking positive!
For now, it’s clear to see how success metrics (or data and stories) count on many levels.
Celebrating the right health and social care successes inspires a culture of acknowledgment. And it reinforces the impact of staff efforts in achieving the vision – improving the lives of individuals and communities with health or social care needs.
Need some help doing this work?
Are you struggling to create, monitor and celebrate meaningful success in your organisation?
At Unplex, we work alongside you and your team to turn your complex problems into solutions you can implement. We do this so health and social care organisations can deliver more and better care to the individuals they serve.
We’d love to get to know you and help you define your new success metrics.
Just head on over to our connect page to join our newsletter, or send us an email at hello@unplex.com.au and we’ll be in touch!