High Healthcare Turnover? Train New Leadership Quickly

How can you get new hires working effectively and as soon as possible? Learn four ways you can train new leadership quickly amidst high healthcare turnover.

Healthcare turnover has long been a struggle for Human Resource professionals. Those in HR are often challenged to bring on and train new leadership quickly. With the Baby Boomer generation continuing to retire from the workforce and the stresses COVID-19 is putting on the healthcare industry, the situation won’t be improving anytime soon.

In fact, the 2021 NSI National Health Care Retention & RN Staffing Report found that last year, hospital turnover increased by 1.7% and currently stands at 19.5%.” This means that since 2016, “the average hospital has turned over 90.8% of its workforce.”

So, what can you do to train new leadership quickly? How can you get new hires working effectively and as soon as possible? Continue reading to learn four ways you can train new leadership quickly amidst high healthcare turnover.

4 Ways to Train New Leadership Quickly Amidst High Healthcare Turnover

1. Start the Onboarding Process Before New Leadership Begins

To make the most of your time, you need to start the onboarding process before your new hire begins their employment. Team meet-and-greets, tours, expectation surveys, and meetings to review topics such as organizational culture, new hire questions, and employee schedules before day one go a long way to acclimate leaders to their new workplace quickly.

By starting the onboarding process early, you’ll also improve engagement and retention. When someone feels welcomed into a team and excited about an organization’s mission, they will more likely be an active and loyal leader who wants to help the team succeed.

2. Focus on Teamwork & Communication Training

It takes a collaborative team effort among healthcare professionals to provide the best patient care possible. Patient demands can be stressful and frustrating for healthcare providers. Combine these challenges with staff conflicts, personality clashes, and ineffective communication and it becomes even harder to deliver excellence.

Therefore, it’s important to focus on teamwork and communication when training new leadership. You want them to be equipped with the skills to communicate effectively with their team immediately.

Applying the True Colors methodology to a healthcare environment improves teamwork, cooperation, employee relationships, and effective communication with both patients and fellow healthcare employees. This leads to increased satisfaction in the workplace and more compassionate, quality patient care.

Plus, relying on the expertise of True Colors, rather than creating a training program yourself, will make the process more speedy, cost-effective, and transformative. With more than 6,000 certified facilitators around the world, we can match you with a facilitator who understands the work of your organization, provides in-depth assessments and expert leadership consulting, and customizes an approach grounded in True Colors methodology that best fits your culture and mission.

3. Make DEI Training a Priority

Not only do healthcare professionals work on diverse teams, but they also work with diverse patients. So, building a thriving diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) program is critical for any healthcare organization’s success — and it should take place as soon as possible for all new hires.

The True Colors Personal Success Workshop is a necessary, and timesaving, first step for DEI training. We teach why people behave and react the way that they do. True Colors can help your new leaders increase their self-awareness, improve their communication skills, and elevate their empathy for others — knowledge that can be utilized in both their personal and professional lives.

4. Utilize a Mentor Program

Developing a mentor program is a great way to train new leadership quickly; an effective mentor program “meets the unique needs of new hires, supports a healthy work environment, and helps retain staff.”

When as much of the training as possible happens on the job with a mentor by their side, new leadership can become a productive part of the team fast while still receiving formal training.

Mentor programs can also be included as part of a healthcare organization’s internal health and wellness initiatives. In such a stress-inducing industry as healthcare, emotional resilience is critical. Developing a bond with a mentor supports mental health.

5. Bonus Tip - Improve Your Retention Strategy

What’s the quickest way to train leadership? Providing training to current staff, rather than searching for and onboarding new.

If reducing healthcare employee stress — including those of you in HR — and improving patient care is your goal, then retention must be your priority strategy.

Yet, even though healthcare turnover rates “are notoriously high, only 21.6% of hospitals have retention strategies in place for retaining older workers. The current emphasis has been placed solely on new hires, as 58.6% of hospitals have implemented new hire retention strategies.”

New hire retention strategies are certainly important. But in your race to hire, don’t forget the importance of keeping on and developing your current staff. When there’s a consistent loss of organizational knowledge, patients and care providers both suffer.

High Healthcare Turnover Is Undoubtedly a Challenge

High healthcare turnover remains a major challenge for HR professionals in the industry — and looks to be so for the foreseeable future. With this insight, do what you can to train new leadership. By following the advice above, you can make a positive difference in staffing your team as quickly and effectively as possible.