Leadership Mission Project

2007 - 2008

Goal:  To provide managers with a helpful resource for a quarterly series of conversations with staff.  These conversations aim at integrating awareness of Loyola's mission into the details of our daily work all throughout the Health System. 

Process:  Managers are asked once a quarter to select one of the 11 topic areas highlighted in the LUHS Mission Statement and Brand Promise printed below.  Use the specific questions on the pages that follow to prime the pump for a 10 -15 minute discussion once a quarter at a unit or department staff meeting.

Mission Statement

Loyola University Health System is committed to excellence in patient care and the education of health professionals.  We believe that our Catholic heritage and Jesuit traditions of ethical behavior, academic distinction, and scientific research lead to know knowledge and advance our healing mission in the communities we serve.  We believe thoughtful stewardship, lifelong learning, and constant reflection on experience  improve all we do as we strive to provide the highest quality health care.

We believe in God's presence in our work.  Through our care, concern, respect and cooperation, we demonstrate this belief to our patients and families, our students and each other.  To fulfill our mission we foster an environment that encourages innovation, embraces diversity, respects life, and values human dignity.  We are committed to going beyond the treatment of disease.  We also treat the human spirit.

Brand Promise

Loyola promises patients that we go beyond the illness to treat the whole patient.  We also treat the human spirit.

QUESTIONS for Quarterly Discussion at Staff Meetings

[Suggestion:   Managers can select questions from one of the areas noted below for discussion at a staff or department meeting each quarter.  Choose a topic that is timely for your unit.]

General Questions

1. How does this particular part of the Mission Statement impact our unit and my daily work?  (Relate some concrete experiences.)

2. What practice strategy(ies) could we adopt for the next quarter to strengthen our commitment to this part of the LUHS mission?

3. What one thing can I personally do to live out this piece of our common mission?

Specific Questions for #1:    "Ethical Behavior"

1. Relate 2-3 specific ethical situations in the past quarter that we have experienced in our unit or department.  How were each of these situations understood and handled for the information and comfort of the patient / the family / service group / ourselves?

2. Do we engage in the services of the Ethics Consultation Service?  What have I/we learned in such situations?

3. Are there ethical issues that need attention for the effective service of our unit and its staff?  What steps can be taken for the next quarter?

Refer to Mission Statement

Specific Questions for #2:   "Thoughtful Stewardship"

1. Relate 1-2 examples of how our work group has been responsible and creative in using the resources entrusted to us -- people resources / physical resources / resources of time and talent / budget resources.

2. How can I/we more effectively engage the talents, interests, and expertise of one another in our service to patients/families and to the LUMC community.

Refer to Mission Statement

Specific Questions for #3:   "Lifelong Learning"

1. Relate an example of how I have grown on the job over the past 6 months?

2. How have I and how has our department facilitated the learning of co-workers, new employees, residents and students.

3. What training/new learning would strengthen my service to patients?  to co-workers in the unit/department where I work?

                      

Refer to Mission Statement

Specific Questions for #4:    "Constant Reflection on Experience"

1. What kind of self-awareness exercise do I find helpful to keep me mindful of what I do and why I do it?

2. Relate an instance or two which indicate how this sense of mindful reflection has strengthened the work of our department.

Refer to Mission Statement

Specific Questions for #5:    Awareness of  "God's Presence in our

work"

1. How has God or other Higher Power surprised me in the course of my work during the past few months?

2. How has awareness of God's presence made an impact in the ways I/we care for patients?  And for co-workers in the department/unit where I work?

Refer to Mission Statement

Specific Questions for #6:    "Care and Concern" towards patients and families, to students/residents/fellows, to the broader public, and towards one another as co-workers in whatever unit I work.

1. In what ways do we openly provide our patients and their families with care and concern?  How do we provide these gifts to one another as co-workers?

2. What opportunities are available for additional outreach within our department?

Refer to Mission Statement

Specific Questions for #7:    "Respect and Cooperation" towards

patients and families, to students/residents/fellows, to the broader public, and towards one another as co-workers within LUHS.

 

1. How can we renew our energies and strength so we can sustain and live out these principles with balance, especially in today's world with its complexities of work and home life?

2. In what concrete ways do we communicate these values within our unit and department, both tangibly and spiritually?

Refer to Mission Statement

Specific Questions for #8:    "Encourage Innovation"

1. How do we foster a work environment that encourages innovation?

2. Name 1-2 innovations in the past few months that have improved patient care, our work process, and/or staff morale.

Refer to Mission Statement

Specific Questions for #9:    "Embraces Diversity"

1. Name 2-3 specific instances in which diversity within our staff has been an asset for effective teamwork with one another, and in service to Loyola's patients.

2. What "next best steps" can we take in our unit to nurture the asset of a diverse work team in service to our patients and to one another within LUHS?

Refer to Mission Statement

Specific Questions for #10:    "Respects Life and Values Human Dignity"

1. What are the best practices of our unit which uphold human dignity and respect?

2. What "next best steps" can we take to become more respectful of our patients and of one another ... wherever we work throughout LUHS?

Refer to Mission Statement

Specific Questions for #11:   Our Brand Promise:  Loyola promises patients that we go beyond the illness to treat the whole patient.  We also treat the human spirit.

1. For our work group, what does it mean concretely to "treat the whole person?"  Name 2-3 "next best steps" to accomplish this goal.

2. Name 2-3 examples of how patient and customer feedback, as well as feedback from other professionals, has enabled our work team to move to a higher level of competent service.  What still needs to be accomplished?

Refer to Brand Promise

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