John Weir – Healthcare Cleaning Professional

How to get rid of backlogs
There are basically two types of task which we are faced with during a typical day. First there is the type of task which either gets done or doesn’t get done. You either renew the car insurance or you don’t. You either paint the bedroom or you don’t. You either buy a new dress or you don’t. You either send your great aunt a birthday card or you don’t. The consequences of doing or not doing this type of task may range from the trivial to the momentous, but essentially they are one-offs.

Then there is the type of task which produces a backlog if it is not attended to. Dealing with paper is the classic example of this type of task. Have you ever noticed how paper has the strange tendency to breed if given the chance? Leave two bits of paper together overnight and miraculously when you come down in the morning you have a six-inch pile of papers in various stages of inaction. Leave the pile on its own for another 24 hours and you have an office full of piles of paper.

The modern age has produced an even worse backlog producer — the email. Leave your inbox for 24 hours and you will have hundreds of these little monsters clamoring for your attention. I have had clients who complain that they have literally thousands of emails they haven’t even got round to reading.

Other well-known backlog producers are phone calls, filing, and updating client records. There may be others that are peculiar to your life.
The real problem with backlogs is that they take you out of the present. Instead of dealing with today’s work, you are constantly trying to catch up. It’s the difference between walking along a well-defined path and walking across a muddy field. On the path you can walk freely, but in the field your boots get caked in mud and you have to put out more and more effort while going slower and slower.

Backlogs can make people feel hopeless. It may seem impossible to catch up. And even if you do catch up you may only find yourself almost immediately slipping back again.
So how can you deal with them once and for all?

STEP ONE — DRAW A LINE. Say to yourself "Everything that comes in from now on I will deal with immediately. And I will tackle the backlog bit by bit." Ring fence the backlogs so that they don’t get any bigger.

STEP TWO — CLEAR INCOMING MATERIAL DAILY. The best way to deal with incoming paper, emails, phone calls, etc. is to have a check list which you go through several times a day. So I have a list which comprises about five items and I go through it checking each one off. I do this three times a day — first thing, after lunch and early evening. Because this keeps me right on top of all incoming material, I can sometimes get through the list in as little as ten minutes. More often it takes me an hour or more — but I don’t have any backlogs. The rest of my time is free to get on with creative work.

STEP THREE — REDUCE THE INCOMING VOLUME. One of the reasons backlogs build up in the first place is because we attract far too much inessential stuff. Chuck junk mail in the trash without even opening it. Cancel subscriptions for newsletters you don’t read (you DO read this one!). Don’t write off for things you don’t need. Keep asking yourself "Why am I receiving this?".

STEP FOUR — GET RID OF THE BACKLOGS BIT BY BIT. If you do steps one and two correctly, your backlogs can now only get smaller. Don’t try to get rid of the lot in one go. Keep chipping away at them. With emails, try clearing one day at a time, starting with the oldest. With paper, try clearing it one subject at a time — such as all bank statements, then all bills, then all client letters and so forth.

Copyright Mark Forster 2002. Thanks Mark!

John Weir Management, Motivation

Change Begins With Choice

by Jim Rohn

Any day we wish; we can discipline ourselves to change it all. Any day we wish; we can open the book that will open our mind to new knowledge. Any day we wish; we can start a new activity. Any day we wish; we can start the process of life change. We can do it immediately, or next week, or next month, or next year.

We can also do nothing. We can pretend rather than perform. And if the idea of having to change ourselves makes us uncomfortable, we can remain as we are. We can choose rest over labor, entertainment over education, delusion over truth, and doubt over confidence. The choices are ours to make. But while we curse the effect, we continue to nourish the cause. As Shakespeare uniquely observed, "The fault is not in the stars, but in ourselves." We created our circumstances by our past choices. We have both the ability and the responsibility to make better choices beginning today. Those who are in search of the good life do not need more answers or more time to think things over to reach better conclusions. They need the truth. They need the whole truth. And they need nothing but the truth.

We cannot allow our errors in judgment, repeated every day, to lead us down the wrong path. We must keep coming back to those basics that make the biggest difference in how our life works out. And then we must make the very choices that will bring life, happiness and joy into our daily lives.

And if I may be so bold to offer my last piece of advice for someone seeking and needing to make changes in their life – If you don’t like how things are, change it! You’re not a tree. You have the ability to totally transform every area in your life – and it all begins with your very own power of choice.

To Your Success,

John Weir Education, Management, Motivation

Pat Wardwell, COO of the Greater Boston Manufacturing Partnership suggests ten New Year’s resolutions for Lean leaders. These are great suggestions and most I have been doing regularly.

The summary:
1. Set aside time each week to actively and openly nurture the Lean journey in your organization;
2. Get out of your office and walk the value stream at least once per week;
3. Resolve to use your eyes and ears more than your vocal chords when on the shop floor;
4. Ask 5 different people who work for you "what can be improved" at least once a week;
5. Participate in an improvement project team meeting, training session or kaizen event at least once per month;
6. Ask to be shown an implemented improvement idea from all areas reporting to you at least once per month;
7. Read at least one new Lean article or book a month;
8. Attend a conference, plant tour or participate in a webinar or podcast on Lean topics once per quarter;
9. Vow to visit at least one external customer or supplier each quarter;
10. Develop your own "Manager’s Standardized Work."

John Weir Management

How to Develop Charisma: Twelve Key Moves

Those who study the phenomenon of charisma say while some people are innately more charismatic than others, there are certain things everyone can do to boost their charisma quotient. Debra Benton, author of Executive Charisma: Six Steps to Mastering the Art of Leadership offers the following pointers:

Expect acceptance.
Regardless of rank, expect to be treated as an equal. If you expect acceptance, you just might get it. If you don’t expect it, you definitely won’t get it.

Control your attitude.
Success in business is based more on mental attitude than on mental capabilities. Be optimistic toward yourself, others and life. Walk in to a room with a spring in your step and a smile on your face.

Perfect your posture.
Pull your ribcage away from your pelvis, roll your shoulders back and down, pull your stomach in and tuck your bottom toward your spine. Breathe deeply. You’ll not only look better, but feel more energized, alert and in control.

Think before you talk.
Think fast, pause, then speak purposefully. One CEO practices saying everything to himself before he says it out loud so that he will hear how it sounds and can change it if he needs to.

Slow down.
Speed in speaking, moving, gesturing and walking looks nervous and scared. Scared people get passed over, not hired or promoted. Learn to speak in a comfortable, easygoing and welcoming way. Don’t waste time, but do speak as if you have all the time in the world for those you are speaking to.

Shoot straight.
Everything you say or write can be done in a simple, straightforward manner. Just do it.

Be a good storyteller.
People understand you better, remember what you say longer, and find you smarter and more interesting if you use anecdotes to make your points.

Be aware of your style.
Clothes don’t make the man but they do make a difference. Wear well-tailored, good quality clothes that make you look like you are in charge. But remember, it isn’t as much about your look as how you look at things and what people see when they look at you.

Admit your mistakes.
If you are error-free, you’re likely effort-free.

Don’t be bullied.
If you are unjustly criticized, don’t take the bait and get into an argument. Instead calmly ask: "Why do you think that?" "What do you mean?" or "What’s that based on?"

Be flexible.
Be able to stand out while still fitting in with the crowd.

Be at ease with yourself and others.
Look others straight in the eye, eliminate any defensiveness and take the edge off your voice. Never let them see you sweat!

Debra Benton is a best-selling author and internationally acclaimed speaker and coach who specializes in helping executives do a better job of presenting themselves. Her clients span 17 countries and include NASA, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Pepsi. Debra can be reached at: www.topspeaker.com.

John Weir Management, Operations, Training

Customer Relationship Management or CRM means developing a comprehensive picture of customer needs, expectations and behaviors. In the Environmental Services (ES) world, CRM means looking at the ES function as a customer intensive business function instead of a facility services cost center. And the management part implies an active rather than passive role in influencing the customer’s perception of service success.

The gaps between customer expectations and service delivery typically occur in the area of the 3 R’s; Resources, Response and Respect.

We need to continually balance our resources to response with the proper respect to the customer’s expectations, not our own limitations.

John Weir Management, Operations

It doesn’t take much skill to spot a problem. The majority of us in Environmental Services can see the obstacles in front of us, yet only a select few see the opportunities. We need to understand the need to stop focusing on problems and look for opportunities to improve our operations.

I have learned to be analytical and persistent in dealing with problems. Defining the issue and seeking out other peoples’ opinions. Many times, I have not understood a situation at first, then while trying to explain my problem to another colleague, some ideas come to mind. Through this process I have come to understand a few simple truths:

Problems are a matter of perspective. Through many difficulties others will often give up. A confident manager will show team members and stakeholders how easy it is to prevail when they try.

Obstacles, setbacks and failures are simply parts of our daily operation. You can’t avoid them, but don’t give in to them either. Focus on possibilities rather than liabilities and push the limits of what you can do. Take what you have and find a way to make it work.

Problems either stop us or stretch us. When it comes to approaching problems, you really have only four choices: flee them, fight them, forget them or face them. Which do you usually do?

Here are a few suggestions to help you become a leader focused on solutions:

Refuse to give up. No problem can withstand sustained troubleshooting. Work with your key team members on the issues and don’t wait until you are too tired or distracted to start.

Rethink your strategy. Albert Einstein once said, “The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.” Think outside the box, break a few rules. Redefine the problem.

Repeat. If at first you don’t succeed, keep at it. Remember your goal is to cultivate a solution oriented attitude within your department.

John Weir Employee Moral, Management, Operations Problem Solving

I hope there is some relief in the activity at your institution now that we have made it through another heavy viral season. Not that there really is a slow season in health care anymore, just a less busy one. So, welcome to the less busy season, when there is time to think and plan.

Environmental services departments are pivotal in the “flow” process, but it must be balanced with proper infection control practices. The challenge is timely, thorough communication—getting and giving good information.

Let’s imagine the emergency room waiting area is filled to capacity and census is at 99 percent. The health care institution has a patient throughput initiative and, hopefully, all of you have been involved in this initiative.

Here is the scenario:

The emergency room has just informed Patient A that he will be admitted. Bed management then scurries to see where the patient can be placed. For purposes of this scenario, we will assume Patient A is a cardiac patient and will need to be admitted into the cardiac intensive care unit, which is currently full. This means the patient shuffle will now occur.

This pending admittance is happening after 7 p.m., when staffing is at a lower level. The most stable patient, Patient S in the cardiac intensive care unit, will move to the step-down unit. But Patient O, who is currently in the step-down unit, needs to be relocated since there is now no need for monitoring this patient, but he is still not ready for discharge. We will now have to move multiple patients to get emergency room Patient A into a necessary room, but the only data that will be looked at is the time it takes to get Patient A to his room, although this is not the only process that is occurring.

The race is on to get Patient A into an intensive care unit room within a certain time frame. Patient S, who is in an intensive care unit room, has to move to the step-down unit room occupied by Patient C. Patient C is stable enough to move to Patient H’s room, which was discharged earlier in the day during the shift change.

This means either there was a lack of communication or miscommunication both from human beings and/or from the “fail-safe” electronic system to notify the incoming environmental services shift of the discharge. The room now resides in “neitherland”; hopefully, it will be discovered and cleaning completed within the required amount of time of the patient flow initiative. If not, we just encountered our first “dam” in the flow.

The current status for environmental services is one critical patient in the emergency room, two patients needing relocating, four rooms counting the ER exam room needing to be cleaned, with the emergency room waiting area overflowing and the health care institution on the verge of going into divert. Contact time to properly disinfect surfaces is 10 minutes, and two of the three rooms are in the same cleaning zone of one person. Patient C needs to go into Patient H’s room, which is the empty discharge room that is lost in the communication process. Patient A, who will move when Patient O moves, can go into Patient S’s room. What does all this mean for the hospital’s environmental services department?

Well if you played along with my little word game, the answer is “chaos”! Most hospitals spend from November to April in this type of scenario. Though the patient flow initiative may not have been accomplished, patients are treated in a timely, effective and safe manner with positive outcomes.

Now, when things are calmer, evaluate your turnaround times, your communication methods and your systems and start to develop process improvement initiatives. Use this time to document, evaluate your data and present this information to your administrator with improvement suggestions. This will assist you and your staff to develop, acquire or change initiatives that will lessen the burden next viral season.

On the road to excellence!

Tina L. Cermignano, CHESP
Operations Manager
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Philadelphia

This article first appeared in the June 2008 issue of HFM Magazine.

John Weir Management, Operations cleaning, disinfection, Environmental Services, patient flow

A new study has concluded the U.S. hospitals are beginning to embrace Lean and Six Sigma business management strategies to cut costs and boost productivity, despite there currently being little evidence as of yet that these strategies are effective. Lean management focuses on removing waste from companies and processes, while delivering added value to customers. Six Sigma, meanwhile, is to reduce variations in processes, products and services.

The study, from the American Society for Quality, included 77 hospitals. Researchers concluded that 53 percent of hospitals reported some level of Lean deployment, while 42 percent reported some level of Six Sigma deployment. Not surprisingly, given the gradual evolution of these practices in hospitals, only 4 percent reported “full deployment” of Lean, and only 8 percent full deployment of Six Sigma.

Where hospitals had not deployed either method, reasons included a need for more resources (59 percent), lack of information (41 percent) and lack of leadership buy-in (30 percent). Another 11 percent of hospitals surveyed weren’t familiar with either strategy.

Get more information on the survey:

- read this Healthcare Finance News Article Here

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John Weir Management, Operations Lean, Productivity, Quality, Six Sigma