We have likely each lived the power of culture to support or derail our sincerest efforts to succeed. Recently, we have been reminded about the importance of culture when reviewing the results of the Beryl Institute’s 2017 Benchmarking Study: The State of the Patient Experience 2017: A Return to Purpose. In their report of findings of over 1,600 respondents, organizational culture was cited as both the greatest organizational driver and roadblock to patient experience efforts. Specifically, thirty-six percent of respondents reported a positive organizational culture as the greatest driver of patient experience efforts and thirty-nine percent reported cultural resistance to doing many things differently as the greatest roadblock.

As Theodore Roosevelt so famously said, “do what you can, with what you have, where you are”. Organizational culture can serve as the number one influencer you can immediately impact to steer improved and lasting results. The Journal of Healthcare Leadership recently published the Culture Imperative in which high performing cultures statistically significantly outperformed low performing cultures on key balanced scorecard measures: Employee Engagement, Physician Engagement, Patient Experience, Value Based Purchasing, and Turnover.

Improving the healthcare experience cannot be left to chance or hope. There must be an everyday devotion to aligning and engaging the patients, caregivers, and communities to allow and promote the best possible care. The following attributes are demonstrated to yield high performing culture and may provide a better path forward to achieving your desired results.

• Treat patients and their loved ones as valued customers
• Hire and retain employees who have personal values that are similar to your organizational values
• Make it a daily ambition for employees to feel working at the organization is rewarding
• Make certain employees feel a sense of pride and ownership in the organization

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Culture