Inspiring our People
At St. Joseph's we have a statement that speaks to the diversity of the people that we serve and those who serve with us: Many Faces. One Mission. Our dedicated staff is here for you and your family when you need us the most. Their commitment and passion to achieving excellence and living the organization's Values each and every day is truly inspiring.
Survey Says: St. Joe's is a Great Place to Work
In 2008, employees participated in an important survey called Improving Your Workplace, which showed us how the organization was measuring up in their minds.
Employee survey results ranked the Health Centre's performance higher than most of our peer hospitals in categories including employee commitment, corporate communication, clarity of the organization's Mission/goals and respect and diversity in the workplace.
These results show us that overwhelmingly staff have a strong commitment to our Vision of being Canada's Best Community Teaching Hospital and the corporate strategy that will direct our work and how we will care for patients, their family and the community for the next three years.
St. Joe's ranked notably well in the category of respect, specifically around fair and equal treatment of employees and the value for diversity within our organization. People who work here feel good about it and are committed to the patients and families we serve.
Our physicians also participated in an important survey called Improving Your Practice, which has helped the organization understand and identify areas where we have made progress.
Overall, our physicians say St. Joe's has a respectful environment where team work and work between physicians and staff is positive and valued. They also highly rank the quality of Health Centre's nursing support.
Results from this survey will also continue to assist us in implementing improvements in areas that strategically link to our success factors such as physician communication, support for research, attracting and retaining the best physicians and their involvement in strategic planning.
Lean is the Word
St. Joe's has embedded a new philosophy and a common vocabulary in our organization to help guide change. Lean is about finding opportunities for improvements and areas where waste can be eliminated so staff can spend more time caring for patients instead of serving broken or redundant systems and processes.
Our employees told us that we needed to create a more efficient work environment to ensure our success. Over the last year work has continued on this important initiative and dedicated time and resources were invested in teaching lean principals to all of our employees. Lean is not a fad diet: It has become a complete change in lifestyle for St. Joe's.
An Engaged Leadership Team = Organizational Success
Our leadership team is responsible for creating standards of excellence and then setting an example for others to follow. They strengthen others, making each person feel capable and powerful. It's a responsibility that focuses on setting direction, aligning, and inspiring others verses the fundamental management skills of planning, budgeting, staffing and problem solving.
The success of the organization relies on our leaders' ability to effect change and support achievement. To ensure they have the skills to do this we are putting our entire Leadership Team through a learning process, not a training program, consisting of a 360- degree assessment, experiential skill development, individual goal-setting, on-the-job learning projects and individual reflection and coaching.
Investing in our leaders is an important and necessary step towards achieving the Health Centre's Vision.