Author: Graham Lowe

: Organizational Connectivity. A conversation about the importance of building new relationships across all levels of the healthcare system. Hugh MacLeod (CEO of the Canadian Patient Safety Institute) and Graham Lowe. Longwood’s Ghost Busting Essays Series on Longwoods.com. http://www.longwoods.com/content/23370

Interactive workshop facilitated by Graham Lowe at the 45th Banff International Conference on Behavioural Science: Psychological Health in the Workplace. Banff, AB, March 17-20, 2013. For more information: www.banffcentre.ca/conferences/2013/BVS1303/

Keynote presentation by Graham Lowe at the 45th Banff International Conference on Behavioural Science: Psychological Health in the Workplace. Banff, AB, March 17-20, 2013. For more information: www.banffcentre.ca/conferences/2013/BVS1303/

This article makes the case for expanding the focus of workforce engagement initiatives to actively include physicians. Without fully engaged physicians, no healthcare organization will be able to achieve its vision of providing outstanding care.
Article PDF

Graham Lowe is a panel presenter on this topic at the 2012 Health Care Human Resources Leadership Symposium, sponsored by the Ontario Hospital Association. Toronto, 17 October, 2012. For more information: www.oha.com/HMM
Symposium brochure

Graham Lowe will present a keynote on the urgency of adapting to an older workforce to the Conference Board of Canada’s Council of HR Executives, Toronto, October 11, 2012.

Healthy Minds/Healthy Campuses Summit 2012, Victoria, September 26-29, 2012. Graham Lowe will participate in a panel discussion on “Diagnosing a Healthy Campus Community.”

Summit 2012 is a unique opportunity to design a shared vision for campus communities that support well-being and to identify methods to get there. Building upon four years of growth and learning, we plan to create a space to come together to learn about, share and advance strategic efforts to promote mental health and reduce risky substance use at post-secondary institutions.

Using a mix of creative techniques this event will facilitate knowledge exchange, collaborative thinking and innovation. Leading thinkers will help animate critical discussions related to policy, teaching, student services and campus life. Delegates will examine issues, sustainable solutions and actions to support health-promoting, vibrant campus communities that enable people to reach their full potential.
For more information: www.healthycampuses.ca/summit-2012-program

The Ontario Hospital Association has published this report, which summarizes findings from the OHA exploratory research project conducted with three pilot hospitals (one acute teaching, one community, and one small). The project examines the relationship between employee engagement and several key human resources (HR) metrics. This is the first attempt by the OHA to link data from two of its major HR data initiatives: the OHA‐NRC Picker Employee Experience Survey and the OHA‐PricewaterhouseCoopers Saratoga HR Benchmarking Survey.

– The project developed a methodology for accurately comparing Employee Experience Survey engagement data with human capital metrics from hospital administrative data at the department level.
– It also identified three HR metrics – the full-time resignation rate, average sick days per full-time employee, and management span of control – which do appear to be related to employee engagement levels at the department level.
– This research will provide HR leaders with support to build the case for making investments in employee engagement. It appears that there are real costs associated with higher absence and resignation rates when engagement is low.
OHA report PDF

The Better Workplace Conference (Oct 16-18 in Vancouver) posted a blog on its Facebook page by Guatam Mukunda, who suggests that leaders matter less than we may think.

Mukunda offers and important counterpoint to the “great man” (invariably) model of corporate leadership that has prevailed in business literature. But he overstates the case that leaders don’t matter. More accurately, leaders are constrained in their actions. But they still have positional power that, depending on how they use it, can have positive or negative effects on performance, including investor confidence and staff morale. Think of RIM, HP and Yahoo — all companies that should have changed CEOs sooner or selected different people than they did.

His orchestra example also raises interesting implications. Are there leaderless orchestras? Of course, a musical ensemble without a conductor standing at the front has leaders. Each musician leads by knowing, watching, and listening to all the others, and there is an informal leader (or formal in some cases — the concert master of lead violin) who gets them started on a piece. So in the corporate world, how can those with positional leadership foster this sort of orchestral teamwork?

Marissa Mayer’s appointment last week as the new CEO of Yahoo! is a sign of progress for women in high-tech. A trail-blazer as the first female engineer hired by Google, Mayer now becomes one of Silicon Valley’s corporate leaders. At a time when just 10% to 20% of upper management and corporate board positions in Western nations are filled by women, this is certainly good news. But the terms of her appointment are stirring up controversy. Mayer was hired several months into her pregnancy. And she plans to work during her pregnancy — a commitment no doubt intended to ally concerns of (male) shareholders and business analysts who have roundly criticized Yahoo’s recent decisions (its previous CEO was fired when it was discovered he lied about his credentials). So the issue Mayer’s approach to work-life balance raises is the trade-offs women have to make as they reach the pinnacle of corporate power. Delay your family (she is 37), take minimum time off for child care, and have enough money to hire good help (Mayer’s wealth comes from being one of the early Google employees). But reality is very different for the average working woman with career aspirations. In Canada, there is a rise in human rights complaints related to discrimination against pregnant women. Women still are being illegally fired in this country for being pregnant. And there is clear evidence that work-life balance has become more difficult. This is based on new survey data from Ekos Research Associates, which compares work-life balance in samples of the Canadian working population between 2004 and 2012. By all means, let’s celebrate Mayer’s success but let’s also recognize that it comes with sacrifices that many other women don’t want to make, or can’t make.