RANK: #3 (LARGE HOSPITALS)
Kaizen is a method of process improvement, originated in Japan, that helps companies and organizations work leaner, improve performance and boost productivity.
It's a philosophy that fits right in with the mission of Holy Cross Hospital, where continuous improvement is a daily objective.
So when Heather Smith and her team of IT leaders embarked on a Kaizen training session in 2010, they went ready to find ways to make a great IT department even better. They started with the department's workspace, eschewing their former cubicle layout in favor of a "hoteling," or a shared environment.
"It was a huge change," says Smith, Holy Cross's senior information systems director. "It facilitates communication and collective working-together to help turnaround times be faster for hospital staff."
The results of this change and others have been evident in Holy Cross's break/fix respond times, which are on a steady decline, as well as high employee morale and longevity.
"Teamwork has played a key role in our success, in terms of being on call, tackling problems, sharing cross training and expertise," says Cliff Hunter, a senior network engineer who's worked 11 years at Holy Cross. "It fosters a feeling of satisfaction."
Adding to the camaraderie are tailgate parties and ice cream socials to celebrate employee contributions, as well as baby and wedding showers for co-workers. When an IT employee earns accolades from hospital staff – about three to seven times a month, says Smith – the notes are read aloud in a monthly staff meeting. Smith drives employee engagement programs that include occasional work-from-home and career development sessions titled, "Captain of Your Career."
"We do not have a competitive environment; we won't tolerate it," she says, adding that there's an "absence of those hierarchies that are (detrimental) to so many other places."
Judith Rogers, the hospital's senior vice president of operations, agrees that the division between IT and patient care, common in many hospitals, doesn't exist at Holy Cross.
Smith, she says, "believes she is as vital to patient satisfaction as a nurse at the bedside. I know squat about technology, but (Smith and her team) are constantly watching our back, saying, 'No, don't do that,' or, 'Think about this.'"
Just as Rogers invests her trust in Holy Cross's IT department, Smith encourages employees to see themselves as having a role in that core value.
"We can't separate ourselves from (clinical staff), and vice versa," says Smith. "(Holy Cross) wants to be the community's trusted health partner for life, but they won't trust us if the computers aren't working."
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