Cancer center revives staff orientation to focus on service
Cancer center revives staff orientation to focus on service
Rave reviews: 4.8 out of 5 point scale!
The brain cannot comprehend more than the behind can endure. That adage fit the old way of conducting new employee orientation at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center: eight hours of facts and figures.
"It was information overload and not interactive. For example, we began with a two-hour lecture on benefits - always the most confusing part of any orientation, says Tina Elliott, educational specialist with the office of performance improvement at Houston-based M.D. Anderson. Elliott began redesigning the orientation about a year ago.
Now the two-day program, which is based on adult learning and motivational principles, gets high marks from the 45 or so new employees who come through each week.
The program, called "Making Cancer History," averages a 4.8 on a five-point employee evaluation scale, says Elliott, who also fields calls from other institutions that see M.D. Anderson's orientation as a benchmark.
"One of my favorite comments is when re-hires, who have been away from M.D. Anderson for six months to a year, tell me they have learned more in these two days than they did the whole time they previously worked here. And some worked here for five to 13 years!" she says.
Typical of written comments is this remark: "Without any disclaimer, this was the very best presentation I have ever seen. I was provided with massive amounts of information in a manner that supported retention. The mission, vision, and culture of the institution was evidenced throughout the program. I had the individual pieces of information but I also had some significant insights into how each fits into the bigger picture."
So how did Elliott go about putting this program together?
To learn the latest theories on orientation, Elliott took continuing education courses from the Disney Institute in Orlando, FL, and Bob Pike Creative Training Techniques in Minneapolis. She also benchmarked with Ritz Carlton's orientation program.
"The biggest challenge in putting the program together was that I kept seeing all the wonderful things that could be done," she says.
A multidisciplinary team from all departments whose material needed to be included in the presentation helped her "choose a lane," she says. "Then we swam quickly to the end." (See list of team members on p. 103)
The team's input was instrumental in developing the flow of the program, Elliott says. "Members were adamant that they wanted to emphasize the character of the organization at the beginning. They wanted the presentation to reflect the fact that the employees were chosen to come to work here," she says.
Together with the task force, Elliott and co-chair Kathy Denton, performance improvement specialist, also developed a resource book that reinforced information presented in the program. The notebook has four tabbed sections: Table of contents, Day one, Day two, and Appendix.
"Before, each presenter had his or her own material, and the new employee walked away with a stack of individual pieces. Now everything is in one book: forms, departmental orientation material, telephone numbers. Employees can use this throughout their careers," she says.
The notebook uses unique titles for each section of the presentation as well as the notebook. "Creativity was important because we didn't want them to turn the page and think, 'History. Great.'" she explains. "Instead, we used terms such as 'The way we were.'" (See sample list of Day One content and titles on p. 104.)
Train the trainer
Facilitators for each section attended a workshop on presentation skills and presentation software tips. "We taped each presenter and gave each an individual coaching session," Elliott explains.
The facilitators also turned in a rough draft of their presentations. "We wanted consistency with the Power Point presentations," she says. "We controlled this by having presenters use the same fonts and simply turn the content in to us. Then we added the color, background and pictures."
Three weeks before the launch of the new program, the orientation team completed a two-day dress rehearsal. "We looked at presentation skills as well as content," Elliott says. "The audience, who were members of the presentation team and the office of performance improvement, evaluated each one."
Sugar helps the information go down
At the end of the dress rehearsal, presenters received a small gift, as well as punch and cake.
Continuing the same congratulatory theme, the orientation begins with a continental breakfast which is accompanied by a slide show that plays as participants enter the room. "In the past, when you walked into a new employee orientation, the room was silent. That's not conducive to a welcoming atmosphere," she explains.
The video, which features ads developed by the marketing department, shows employees introducing themselves and their departments and explaining what they do to "make cancer history."
Another technique - a personal welcome - also makes participants feel more at home, says Elliott.
Two to three co-workers from the office of performance improvement "work" the room. "They introduce themselves and ask what department people are going into. The new employees like this," she says.
The program officially gets under way with a five- to seven-minute welcome speech from an executive in the COO umbrella. The schedule is rotated each week to include chief physician, financial, marketing, and academic officers, and vice presidents for information services, patient care operations, and academic programs.
Another video, called Place of Hope contains a welcome from the president and highlights the experiences of four patients.
"We wanted to introduce the point of view of the patient as soon as possible," Elliott says.
Then speakers from various departments present information on the facility's history, mission, vision, strategic plan, and values, as well as performance improvement evaluation and service excellence. "But participants don't just sit the whole time," she cautions. "For example, the values section contains group assessments in which employees move from their chairs to different ends of the room."
During lunch, which is furnished, new employees browse about 10 booths from departments such as employee assistance, blood bank, recreation center, day care, parking, and benefits.
"We use this style because it would have been impossible to fit all this information in two days," Elliott says.
After lunch, Elliott gets the group up and moving on a "walkabout" in which the facilitator reviews the wayfinding system and then takes the participates on a tour of the front portion of the hospital.
Next a presentation on diversity is followed by a popcorn and soda break and a session by the patient advocacy department. "We use a video of an actual patient from the first visit through surgery and follow-up because we want employees to see the trials and tribulations people go through with cancer," explains Elliott. "And we want employees from non-patient areas to understand their role in supporting those who support our patients." (See related story on service excellence, p. 105.)
The first day ends with small group sessions of benefits counseling which last about 45 minutes. "Because each employee situation is different, we've found it's better to do this individually rather than present it to the entire group," Elliott says.
The morning of the second day contains activities and instruction on payroll, employee policies and procedures, information system confidentiality, and information on the status of cancer today. Before lunch, the university police discuss security on campus. After lunch, the safety department presents two sessions. "We discovered that employees who were in non-patient areas did not enjoy sitting through all of the safety program. So we split it up by having everyone go through the first part and only certain others [who would be subject to exposure to pathogens and tuberculosis] stay for the second," she says.
The second part also can be exempted if employees pass a 20-question pre-test. "We kept hearing, 'I know this,' and realized that [some] employees had gone through extensive training. So those who miss fewer than two answers on the test are able to leave,"she says.
To conclude the orientation program, Elliott arranges a celebration between the two safety sessions. "We invite managers to join us to present their new employees with their badges and T-shirt. We have a special presentation and give completion certificates, cookies and drinks," she says.
Managers take this time to welcome the new employees and present them with their badge. "The new employees are happy to see their manager and confirm not only where and when they need to report, but also what to wear their first day in the area," Elliott says.
Handling objections
Although most managers heartily endorse the program - often they request to borrow resource books or videos to show in departmental meetings - Elliott occasionally hears from a manager who is reluctant to send the new employee for two days.
"I do my best to work individually with each situation," she says. "For example, if the manager wants the new hire to job shadow with the person who is leaving, we walk through the benefits and payroll the first day. Then the new employee job shadows the rest of the week and completes the orientation the next week."
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