Management & Operations

New Discoveries about Lab "Work Culture" and Its Links to Productivity

If Lean and Six Sigma could be called hot management trends in the laboratory profession today, then a new challenge is hitting the radar screen for many laboratory directors and pathologists. "It involves the work culture in the lab-the attitudes of the med techs and lab staff-that often holds back the entire laboratory from achieving world-class performance, both clinically and operationally," notes Jeff Smith, Vice-President of Leadership Development at Slone Partners, a Miami, Florida-based search firm that has a growing business with the laboratory profession.
 
Dark Daily recently caught up with Smith to learn more about the role culture plays in impeding or accelerating the operational performance and working environment of clinical laboratories and pathology group practices. "In our work with laboratory clients throughout the country, we've recognized that top-performing laboratories now pay lots of attention to culture and staff attitude in the lab," observes Smith. "This is a change from just a couple of years ago. We attribute this to two things: One, as reimbursement and budgets shrink, lab managers must accomplish more with less money. That immediately makes labor harmony and productivity a high priority within the laboratory."

"Two, the shortage of trained technical labor is forcing lab managers to re-engineer-sometimes radically-work flow through the laboratory," he explains. "This requires med techs, many of whom have worked for decades at the laboratory, to change their daily routines, interact with colleagues in new ways, and work at a more organized and deliberate pace during their shifts. Obviously, the lab's existing work culture and staff attitude can torpedo these types of management priorities. But the ideal is for the entire staff to get behind the changes in an energized fashion and move the lab toward ‘best of class' performance in operations and clinical services."

Smith points out that, before you can improve your lab's culture, you must understand it and how it affects attitudes toward work assignments. "Ask these questions," he recommends. "Does your lab's corporate culture value operations and routine over sales and customer service? Are all your truly effective people leaving to work in other labs? And are you finding that your staff does just enough work to get by and nothing more?"

Answer yes to any of these questions, notes Smith, and you have the opportunity to take steps that can quietly and effectively reverse these mindsets and instill a collaborative working culture in your laboratory. "In our consultations with top-performing labs, we see three things they do to foster a nurturing, productive, organizational culture," states Smith.  "First, top labs are accountable for individual performances and manage these factors closely and consistently every day. People respond to this consistency. They also see that no one staff member gets favored treatment. That equality fosters teamwork.

Second, top labs quietly break down cliques among staff. They use proven tools to engage different personalities within their comfort zones. That also fosters teamwork and allows more collaboration across long-established clinical service departments.

And finally, top labs are effective at re-recruiting superstar performers, because these are the positive role models they need to help create the desired culture. Of course, that also means top labs are willing to weed out problem employees. Lab staff must see consistency in how management holds individual staff members accountable for their daily work responsibilities and attitudes toward achieving the laboratory's stretch goals.

"Lean, Six Sigma, and other quality management methods are also reasons why laboratory managers show greater interest today in reshaping the organizational culture in their labs," observes Smith. "These quality management methods are based on empowering individual staff members to take greater responsibility for improving quality, finding ways to better meet customer expectations, and generating more productivity. For many labs, this means the old culture no longer stands up to the new production requirements. That's why devoting more attention to the laboratory's operational culture is essential."

If you're a lab director, pathologist, or lab manager interested in supporting positive cultural change in your laboratory, you'll want to register today for an exciting new audio conference featuring Jeff Smith. Listen as he provides additional tips and techniques to help you improve your lab's working culture. Join Dark Daily and The Dark Report when they host Using Your Lab's Culture To Turbocharge Productivity And Profits: Changing Your Culture To Achieve Your Goals on Tuesday, May 6, 2008 beginning at 1 p.m EDT/12 p.m. CDT/11 a.m. MDT/10 a.m. PDT. Click here to register and get additional information. If you register on or before April 25^th, you'll save $50.

This is a rare opportunity to get the inside secrets and strategies for reshaping your lab's working culture into an energizing, can-do environment. Find out what the nation's top-performing labs are doing to foster this kind of nurturing culture, and get ideas, tips and change models that you can put to work immediately in your laboratory. Best of all, our interactive audio conference format gives you the opportunity to ask your own questions and get answers directly from two of the industry's most knowledgeable experts.

"Improving the lab's working culture is a powerful management strategy," observes Smith. "Time and time again, when we profile the nation's leading laboratories, we see the essential role that a positive culture plays in helping labs take better advantage of automation, cope with a tighter supply of labor, and provide higher-value testing services to clinicians."

Make sure your lab's culture is one that promotes teamwork, accountability and productivity. Register today  for this one-of-a-kind session with Jeff Smith from Slone Partners.

LINK: Register Now! Or for more information, call us toll-free at 800-560-6363.