Deliverable 02 - Achieving Organization Goals

CEO Focus

Constancy is a rarity in healthcare today. One of the few constants within a healthcare organization should be the corporate mission state- ment. The mission statement serves as a guiding force for defining the orga- nization’s business, adding value for its customers and ensuring its long- term viability. Many organizations have begun to adopt purpose state- ments, often as a substitute for their mission statement. We believe this is a misguided approach, as the differ- ence between mission statements and purpose statements is distinct, and both have unique value in guiding an organization’s leadership and team members. The board of directors should develop and adopt the mission statement and have it flow from the CEO to the organization. Team members should develop the purpose statement, which is intended to focus on how they create value for their customers (patients) as they strive to achieve the mission. The relationships between organization, team member and customer are the linchpin for long-term success.

Mission and Purpose Are Synergistic Mission and purpose must work in concert. Purpose does not replace mission; rather, purpose relates team members to the strategic priorities

that drive an organization toward achieving its mission. The mission serves the essential role of ensuring that an organization and its people are working toward the same ideal objective—it is the horizon we will never reach.

An organization’s purpose defines relationships and interactions it has, both internally and externally, to pro- vide services. Together, mission and purpose create an organizational ethos that connects both team mem- bers and customers within the con- text of the organization.

Purpose Connects Employees and Customers to the Mission Purpose becomes the foundation from which team members engage with the organization’s mission. The strongest connection we have with our team members is through a com- mon purpose. It creates a bond beyond the transactional employer- employee relationship by connecting to employees’ values and desire to serve others.

Purpose is not just for our direct caregivers. It also has the power to connect and engage team members who are not directly involved in patient care. For instance, purpose transforms a plumber’s view of his or

her work from fixing broken pipes to ensuring that patients have the most comfortable hospital stay possible. It transforms an IT security analyst from someone who repairs firewalls into someone who keeps patients’ sensitive health information safe. A purpose-driven revenue cycle man- ager goes beyond developing reports to ensuring the organization has the financial means to sustain patient care well into the future.

The most thoughtfully crafted purpose statement will fall flat without leadership engagement. Leaders must demonstrate their commitment to team-member-driven purpose through consistent prioritization, actions and communication.

Purpose also connects customers to an organization and its team mem- bers. Customers are drawn to orga- nizations with which they personally relate. Harley-Davidson and Apple Inc. have remarkably committed and loyal followings. Those who do not even own a Harley-Davidson motor- cycle will identify themselves as Harley followers. This committed consumer base is, in large part, due

Integrating Purpose With a Mission Statement

When structured and applied, quality and performance improvement value are created.

Howard P. Kern, FACHE

This column is made possible in part

by Cardinal Health.

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to the relationship customers feel with Harley’s purpose of “We fulfill dreams of personal freedom,” not the technical performance of its motorcycles. Apple fostered a fiercely loyal following tied to customers who sought a different experience from the ubiquitous personal com- puter-dominant model. Engaged employees who purposefully care for or support customers have the power to create these loyal, close relation- ships for a healthcare organization. When customers sense a purpose, they will seek out this organization during their most vulnerable moments.

Purpose Must Be Discovered In the article “Creating a Purpose- Driven Organization” in the July/ August 2018 issue of Harvard Business Review, the authors shared a model for building a purpose- driven organization. The eight-step process begins by engaging directly with team members who have proven themselves to be inspired and motivated. The next step requires the organization to dis- cover its purpose. A very common mistake here is for senior manage- ment to spend hours on a carefully worded document drafted by a high-level task force. More often, the purpose statement already exists, living in the actions of the team members. We see purpose in the food service worker who goes the extra mile to meet a patient’s preference, in the care manager who works tirelessly to find the right skilled nursing facility place- ment for a patient, and in the facili- ties teams that take the extra time to make our hospitals merry during the holiday seasons.

The need for authenticity comes in the form of board and leadership buy-in. Authentic and consistant leadership engagement throughout the process is critical. Once leader- ship engages, they develop a system to educate the first-line managers and team members on how to lead and function in a purpose-driven organi- zation. The Harvard Business Review article cites the importance of identi- fying the naturally optimistic “posi- tive energizers” within your organization who have the relation- ships and charisma to lead the grass- roots efforts to support your purpose-driven work. It is essential that team members across all facets and levels of the organization have ownership over this process.

Leadership Must Model Purpose- Driven Behavior Purpose does not end with its launch and branding—it begins. The true impact is when purpose is fully inte- grated into the organization’s opera- tions and decision making. The most thoughtfully crafted purpose state- ment will fall flat without leadership engagement. Leaders must demon- strate their commitment to team- member-driven purpose through consistent prioritization, actions and communication. As team members see leaders focus on the purpose, they will begin to weave it into the fabric of every customer engagement, deci- sion and project.

Create a Lasting Connection Purpose creates lasting connections between our team members, custom- ers and organizational mission. As team members develop the purpose statement, they strengthen their con- nection with the organization’s

mission and the people they serve. Purpose fosters the commitment, loy- alty and teamwork necessary to keep a large, complex organization ori- ented toward its mission.

Mission and purpose statements have synergistic value that, when appropri- ately structured and applied in a healthcare setting, create substantial quality and performance improve- ment value.

Sentara Healthcare, Norfolk, Va., will be kicking off a systemwide ini- tiative in 2019 to engage team mem- bers in identifying organizational purpose. We already took an impor- tant step toward becoming a pur- pose-driven organization when we launched our WOW! Moments pro- gram, which encourages team mem- bers to share exceptional stories of how they engage with customers and each other. These stories are dis- cussed in meetings and posted on the organization’s intranet for all team members to see. The project allows us to celebrate the purpose- driven work already going on within the organization while also energiz- ing and teaching team members how to relate to employees through pur- pose. Our purpose statement will articulate the power of these posi- tive, caring relationships. Engaging team members and customers through a purpose-driven lens is one of our highest priorities. s

Howard P. Kern, FACHE, is president and CEO, Sentara Healthcare, Norfolk, Va. ([email protected]). He would like to thank Callie Heyne, administrative fellow with Sentara, and an ACHE Member, for her contri- bution to the article.

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