Intro: The following SHSMD Podcast is a production of DoctorPodcasting.com.

Bill Klaproth (Host): On this edition of the SHSMD podcast, we're talking about how Dayton Children's brought its refreshed values to life through strategic communication, recognition, and employee engagement in another SHSMD Connections Preview. Joining us are Kristin Bowser, Director of Internal Communications and Employee Engagement, and Ashley Junkunc, Marketing Communications Coordinator, both from Dayton Children's Hospital. It's all coming up on the SHSMD podcast right now.

This is the SHSMD Podcast, Rapid Insights for Healthcare Strategy Professionals in Planning, Business Development, Marketing Communications, and Public Relations. I'm your host, Bill Klaproth. Kristin and Ashley, welcome.

Kristen Bowser: Thanks so much. Appreciate it. Thanks for having us.

Ashley Junkunc: Yeah. Thanks for having us, Bill.

Host: Yeah, you bet. Looking forward to digging in and hearing more about your session. So Kristen, let me start with you. Your session is called Nine Lessons from a Values-Driven Culture. So tell us, what was happening at Dayton Children's that made this the right time to refresh and reinforce your organizational values?

Kristen Bowser: So, I've been at the hospital 14 years. When I first started, we launched new values about two years into my career at Dayton Children's. And when I started, we had about 1,000 employees and about three locations, our main campus and a few off-sites. We now have about 5,000 employees and have 27 locations. So, we have grown exponentially, and our previous values just no longer reflected who we are, who we'd become, and where we were headed next with expanded locations, services, new team members. And we were just, of course, navigating like everyone else in healthcare, rising expectations from consumers. So, we made the decision to do some significant culture work, and part of that was our refreshed values.

And we had about 900 employees that we used through digital focus groups that helped us shape our refreshed values. So really, we created them with our own staff, and that was a really, really important lesson for us because when you're building something, your staff—if they got the buy-in and they're contributing—are absolutely going to believe it, champion it, and really live it. And when we validated this with survey, we had 80% positive sentiment around the refreshed values and meaningful improvements in pride and perceptions as the hospital and Dayton Children's being a great place to work. So, we really focused on systematizing our values across the organization.

Host: Systematizing. I like that. Yeah, certainly when you have growth like that, three locations to 27 locations, 1,000 employees to 5,000 employees, good to review those values and make sure that they still work for the organization as it grows. So Ashley, values can sometimes feel like words on a wall. We've all been there, unless people see them in action. How did you use storytelling to make those values feel real, personal, and connected to the work people do every day?

Ashley Junkunc: Yeah. So as you can imagine, there are so many great stories happening across Dayton Children's in all of our locations every day. And while Kristen and I try our best to share them all, it's virtually impossible. So, what we did was actually launch a two-way communication channel on our staff news site. It's called Values in Action, and what we do there is we try to routinely share stories of our employees living these six values every day. And what that does is giving kind of the global system to employee recognition. But what the two-way channel does is also allow employees to share that information themselves. So, we're seeing all the time of people posting, "Hey, I saw Kristen do this really great thing that shows how she's serving with compassion." So, we're really naturally kind of creating a curated newsfeed of those stories every day.

Host: So values in action. I think that's really cool. So when you do that, it really reinforces and models the values that you're talking about. Would that be right, Ashley?

Ashley Junkunc: Exactly. And it allows a channel for staff to engage with that. They're able to like the stories, heart the stories, comment, tag one another back. So, that's been a really great win-win for us.

Host: Yeah, that seems like that two-way communication really is important. So Kristen, one of the themes of your session is leadership connection. So, what role did leaders play in bringing these values to life, and how did you help them communicate in a way that felt authentic?

Kristen Bowser: So, we use a term here called the shadow of leadership, which is basically that all leaders are shadows that are cast down to their own staff for actions and behaviors. So, our leaders are absolutely critical. And again, because most people in healthcare system are not sitting at the desk, a lot of them have really great processes in place with huddles and staffing and things like that.

So, we equipped them with digital toolkits. Every month, we rolled out one value at a time each month so we could do a deeper dive. So, they had discussion guides, they had talking points, they had recognition tools, they had thank you cards. So, they did rounding in most all of our 27 locations. And that was really the opportunity for them to connect with their staff, recognize their staff for either living these values or just going above and beyond. We did call the launch of it Above and Beyond Week, and had everyone from the CEO to other leaders rounding on staff and celebrating. So, leaders were absolutely critical to helping bring your culture to life.

Host: Shadow of leadership. And that also conjures up an image too, like, the leadership is always around you. It's always there. There's a presence there. And I think that's important that employees know that. And I love the idea about the digital toolkits as well and the discussion guides. So, you guys really did this up right.

I mean, this sounds like it really was a heavy lift, but really done very well. And we were just talking about leadership and recognition, Ashley, that's such a big part when leaders recognize employees. So, how did Dayton Children's use recognition to help employees feel seen, supported, and proud to belong?

Ashley Junkunc: Yeah, Bill. So when we were rolling out the refreshed values, we really wanted to make sure that they were embedded and integrated into all of the content platforms, systems, channels that we've had for years. And one of those is called our Above and Beyond platform. We rolled that out in 2021, and then obviously refreshed it with the new values just last year. And that's our reward and recognition platform.

What's really neat is that every employee receives a bank of points that they can use to recognize a coworker for living one of our six values. And then, the recognition doesn't stop just with that employee. When someone's recognized, they receive a printable certificate that they can print out. We see them all across the hospital. Some employees will hang them up in backend spaces, on their lockers or in their cubicles. And then, their leader is actually also notified via email that they've been recognized on the platform. So, it really kind of creates another opportunity to celebrate that employee and reinforce the behaviors that we want to see more of. And then, once employees start collecting those points for being recognized for the values, they can then use those points to shop for branded merchandise.

Host: You know, these things, some people might say, "Oh, that kind of sounds corny," like the employee of the month. But I tell you, these recognition programs where you're getting a bank of points and you're getting a certificate and those types of things where you're recognized, I mean, these things work. People like these things, right?

Kristen Bowser: Yes. I mean, we've crushed it on the platform. We have 99% of leadership use and 95% of staff use on any given month on our Above and Beyond platform. And back to the point about systematizing recognition, it's embedded in, and you'll hear Above and Beyond quite a bit because, again, it's our brand promise, and everything in our organization is around things that fly because Dayton is home of flight with the Wright brothers. And it's built into our recognition. It's built into our performance reviews. It is absolutely integral to our culture. So back to the point about, you know, a lot of organizations, it is simply words on walls. We truly have ingrained it and embedded it and systematized it into our culture.

Ashley Junkunc: And going back, Bill, too, to your first question you asked me about storytelling, this reward and recognition platform has really been a win for Kristin and I to be able to find those stories to tell. We have a ongoing newsfeed that is updated, I would say, Kristin, almost on the minute of values in action stories that are being recognized, and then we can take those and reach out to the employee to learn more and share that story on a more global level.

Kristen Bowser: So, it's like a storytelling little gold mine that we dig around and if we want to celebrate a particular value at a particular time, and we've done that, and we've utilized it. And when we launched it, we did not realize the intrinsic benefit of the storytelling piece. So, I just can't praise that enough how it's helped us also contribute to the culture through the values.

Host: You know, these things are contagious as well. So when you see somebody else getting recognized for people in your department or other things, it makes you want to do the same thing as well. And people want to be recognized, they want to contribute, they want to do well at their jobs, they want to be satisfied in everything they're doing. So, what a great program. I love how you've put all of this together.

So Kristen, for healthcare communications and strategy leaders listening who want to strengthen culture inside their own organization, what is one practical idea from your work that they could adapt or try?

Kristen Bowser: So, this is very easy, Bill. God gave you two ears and one mouth. It is listening to your employees, and involve your employees. The way that we reshaped our values was by inviting all of our staff to participate in digital online focus groups, and we had 900 at the time participate.

And so, the words are their words. Each value is a short phrase. It has a we statement, and it has three to five I statements under each value. And involving those employees really gives the buy-in from them, because culture is not going to change because someone is reading a poster. It's going to change when people are part of it, right? And experience it, and they can see themselves in storytelling and in the words and in the actions. And then, they know what action to take next. So, involving your staff in projects like this, if you are taking the leap to refresh or change your values, I think is just very, very critical

Host: I'm writing this down. Listen to your employees. Two ears, one mouth. Got it. Got it. That is very good. I totally agree. Culture changes when people are a part of it, and that's what both of you are doing. This is really going to be a great session at SHSMD Connections. I want to thank you both for your time.

But before we go, I want to ask each of you the same question. So Kristen and Ashley, Ashley, let me start with you. So when it comes to creating a values-driven culture, what is the most important thing to remember?

Ashley Junkunc: I think that a values-driven culture is not created through one big campaign or one big memorable event. You know, while those things are fun and create moments of excitement and hype, they don't create a culture on your own. I think culture is really built through all those small, consistent moments over time. It's the internet stories. It's creating opportunities for recognition. It's opportunities to involve leaders. It's an employee sharing how they saw a coworker living a value. None of those moments individually are necessarily groundbreaking, but together they create that repetition that over time will embed the values naturally into your culture.

Host: So small consistent moments over time. So just keep stacking those over and over again and you eventually will change your culture.

Kristen Bowser: And we call those micromoments is kind of the phrase that we use here.

Host: The micromoments. I love it.

Kristen Bowser: They're small things that add up to one really big thing

Host: Yeah, that makes sense. Kristin, how about you? Same question then. When it comes to creating a values-driven culture, to you, from your point of view, what is the most important thing to remember?

Kristen Bowser: Similar to Ashley, it's not necessarily a campaign. It really is little things, but it's not just little things, but it's experiences, right? And it's experiences around the recognition. It's experiences when we launched and we created Above and Beyond Week and introduced these new values, and there was something different every week that was happening across the organization.

And then, we sustained that, and we were, very cognizant of also trying to roll out our values over a timeframe, not just a big bang, right? It was a marathon, not a sprint. And I think just the most important lesson is that values matter when people experience them, and employees help create them, they understand them, they see them, and then they live it out every day. And culture is the biggest strength any organization can have, and we're very, very proud of our culture here at Dayton Children's.

Host: That is so true. I love that. Marathon, not a sprint. And values matter. And ultimately, when you have great values and everybody is pushing the wheel the same direction, ultimately you get better patient outcomes, and that's really what everything is all about when it comes down to it. So, great stuff.

This is going to be a great session. So if you're going to SHSMD Connections, make sure you check out Ashley and Kristen. Kristen and Ashley, thank you so much for your time today. We appreciate it.

Kristen Bowser: Thank you.

Ashley Junkunc: Yes. Thanks for having us.

Host: You bet. And once again, that is Kristin Bowser and Ashley Junkunc. And for more information and to dive deeper into strategies like the ones we talked about today, please make sure you register at shshmed.org/education/annualconference to attend SHSMD Connections in Baltimore this fall.

You're going to learn a lot. You're going to be able to connect with healthcare marketing and strategy leaders from across the country. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels, and please hit the subscribe or follow button to get every episode. And to access our full podcast library for other topics of interest to you, visit shsmd.org/podcasts. This has been a production of Doctor Podcasting. I'm Bill Klaproth. See ya!