AHRA 2016: How to manage four generations of employees at once

People often discuss the importance of engaging employees—but why? Why not just leave employees alone and let them do the job they are paid to do?

According to Linda Womack, CRA, MHA, executive director of medical imaging at John Muir Health in Walnut Creek, California, employees who feel engaged are more loyal, more energetic and much more willing to go above and beyond than those who are not engaged. She also said they take more pride in their work, which can directly lead to patients receiving better care.

At the AHRA 2016 Annual Meeting and Exposition in Nashville, Tennessee, Womack gave a presentation on leadership, “What We Can Do to Engage Employees.” She began the session with a simple statistic that is sure to make anyone in a leadership role pay attention.

“If we leave a job, 75 percent of the time, it’s because of our boss,” Womack said. “We just can’t connect with them for whatever reason, or we can’t engage with them. I realize you may not be able to connect with everybody, but you have to make an effort.”

Womack said she once had issues forming relationships with many of her own employees.

“My biggest mistake was not taking the time to find out what my employees were like outside of work,” she said. “I felt like I couldn’t relate to them.”

Over the years, however, Womack corrected her mistake, learning to occasionally stop by employees’ desks and ask how they were doing. She discovered that something as simple as asking about someone’s family can make that individual feel like they truly belong and are a significant part of the team.

Another way to help make employees feel engaged, she said, is rewarding positive behavior with handwritten notes. And these aren’t notes that are placed on the employee’s desk—you mail them to their home address, so the whole family can see that they deserved recognition.

Womack also suggested that directors establish an “Imaging Council” at their department, which lets employees take part in the facility’s purchasing decisions. The council may not necessarily have the final say, of course, but they can still share their insights and make recommendations. By letting them play a part in the process, it makes employees feel empowered and important.

How to connect with different generations

Womack explained that leaders in today’s imaging industry face a relatively new challenge: they have four very different generations—the Silent Generation, Baby Boomers, Generation X and Millennials—all working together within the radiology department.

This can cause stress, anger and conflict, she said, especially since employees often struggle with looking at situations from the perspective of their coworkers who come from different generations.

“We create a frustrating workplace when we fail to understand each other and we fail to learn how to work together,” Womack said. “And I think that is the biggest thing with the different generations—we misunderstand what drives one another.”

Leaders must be able to understand each generation, Womack said, which means it is important to engage an employee no matter when they were born. To connect with the Silent Generation, for instance, it is important to value their experience. And Baby Boomers want to have your full attention when they come to you with a problem. Generation Xers want their leaders to get to the point and stop talking about “paying dues,” while Millennials want a lot of feedback and a lot of freedom.

Judging by the questions that came from the crowd during Womack’s session, Millennials seem to be causing the most workplace conflict in today’s hospitals and private practices. They use their phone too much, one attendee said. They won’t make eye contact with patients.

Womack said these are all common problems, but managers must lighten up and let certain things go. She lets her employees look at their phones during downtime, for instance, as long as no patients are around and that employee is legitimately waiting on something related to work. And to deal with Millennial employees who aren’t making patients feel comfortable enough, Womack offered some advice she has followed herself: have that employee shadow a veteran employee for a full week.