"One of the biggest mistakes" healthcare leaders can make is misreading the motivations of their employees, Sachin Jain, MD, wrote in an Oct. 31 LinkedIn post.
Executives tend to project their own motivations on employees, which can lead to a disconnect, according to Dr. Jain, president and CEO of SCAN Group and Health Plan. For example, leaders might discuss stock prices with employees who do not own stock, and therefore are not interested. They might assume people are there for the organization's mission, when they really want good pay and to be valued for what they do.
Even assuming employees want a promotion can be off base, Dr. Jain said. Some "really love the job they have and want to continue to excel at it."
"So much of our role as leaders is to truly 'see' people — not for who we want them to be, but for who they are," Dr. Jain wrote. "Best not to project our own motivations on to others whose motivations may be different (not better or worse) from our own."
The post has more than 480 likes, and multiple executives agreed in the comments.
"I'd add, speaking to people minus the corporate jargon," said Scott Dalgleish, CFO of Newport Beach, Calif-based Rise Health. "Talk like a normal person to your team and be as open as you can."
"I think another one is that front line employees have the same sense of competition that leadership does," added Heather Slutzky, former patient experience director at Gainesville-based Northeast Georgia Health System. "Beating the next unit isn't fun or interesting, it just breeds us vs. them."