Author: Graham Lowe

Presentation by Graham Lowe to the Health System Performance Research Network, University of Toronto. March 17, 2010. Further information is available on the HSPRN website: http://www.hsprn.ca/activities/presentations/20100317.html
Presentation Outline:
This presentation outlines a comprehensive framework for assessing, reporting and improving the quality of work environments in healthcare organizations in Ontario and across Canada. Drawing on evidence showing that healthy work environments (HWE) contribute to positive outcomes for healthcare employees and physicians, the same HWE ingredients also can reduce operating costs, improve human resource utilization, and ultimately support higher quality patient care. The presentation offers a blueprint for how health system employers, governments, quality agencies and professional associations can implement cost-effective and sustainable HWE metrics. A common measurement tool and reporting framework will enable managers and policy makers to use HWE ingredients as levers to improve organizational performance. The benefits flowing from a common healthy work-environment measurement and reporting system should convince stakeholders to reach consensus on HWE metrics and overcome the pitfalls of : indicator-itis that beset other health system performance metrics. Moving down this path requires the active involvement of stakeholders in developing a core set of common metrics, integrating these metrics into existing measurement and reporting systems, building in managerial accountability for work environment quality, and supporting on-going improvements at the front-lines of care and service delivery.

Keynote talk by Graham Lowe at the Canadian Career Development Foundation workshop, on Worker Satisfaction and Retention. Ottawa, 9 March 2010. For further information: www.ccdf.ca

Plenary presentation by Graham Lowe at the Institute for Work & Health.
9:30 – 10:45 a.m. November 17, 2009. Institute for Work & Health, 481 University Avenue, Suite 800, Toronto (Directions).
To confirm your attendance, please RSVP to Lyudmila Mansurova (lmansurova@iwh.on.ca or 416-927-2027 ext. 2137).
Job quality: What is it, why does it matter, and how can it be improved?
This presentation examines the diverse theories, concepts and practices that address the quality of jobs, work environments and individuals’ work experiences. On this broad canvas, we can identify points of convergence around key sets of determinants and outcomes. However, a common conceptual vocabulary is lacking, which impedes cross-fertilization across disciplines and between researchers and practitioners. The most promising opportunity for an integrated approach is around the connection between work environments, employee well-being and organizational performance. Practitioners and policy-makers need a basic model explaining these complex dynamics. By taking up this challenge, researchers would help ensure that future decisions to improve job quality are informed by evidence.
IWH plenary presentation

Session presentation by Graham Lowe at Health Achieve 2009. Tuesday November 17 2009 – 1:30pm to 3:00pm. Metro Toronto Convention Centre, 205 D
Presiding:
Rob Devitt
President & CEO
Toronto East General Hospital
Achieving High Quality, Performance and Engagement
Evidence shows there is a direct link between effective health care and a healthy health care workplace. Implementing healthy work environments is key to ensuring quality patient care.
Dr. Graham Lowe will discuss how innovation and sustainability in health care depend on better leveraging the dynamics of quality in all components of the system – especially work environments. Drawing on evidence and successful practices, Graham presents strategies to strengthen the people performance-quality chain .
In addition, OHA Organizational and Workplace Health Consultant, Cheryl Woodman will overview the new OHA-NRC Picker Canada employee and physician experience surveys.
Finally, a panel of health care work environment leaders will highlight their strategies to improve quality, performance and engagement at their organizations.
Welcome and Opening
1:30pm
Rob Devitt
Strategies to Strengthen the People, Performance, and Quality Chain
1:40pm
Dr. Graham Lowe
President
The Graham Lowe Group Inc.
and Professor Emeritus
University of Alberta
New! OHA – NRC Picker Employee and Physician Experience Program
2:20pm
Cheryl Woodman
Consultant
OHA Organizational Health
Quality and Quality Measurement in the Health Care Workplace
2:35pm
Siamak Tenzif
Quality Measurement Consultant
Ontario Health Quality Council
Feedback and Questions
2:50pm
Adjournment/View Exhibits
Health Achieve presentation visuals

Preserving Organizational Health in an Economic Downturn. Presentation by Graham Lowe, “New Economics of Workplace Health and Well-Being”, a conference sponsored by The Conference Board of Canada. Calgary, 29 April 2009.
Graham provides a practical, evidence-based guide to creating and sustaining healthy organizations during tough economic times.
Presentation visuals

People & Performance: Building Alberta’s Future Construction Workforce is a discussion paper on how the global construction sector is addressing workforce development issues. It makes recommendations for how building trades unions, contractors, clients, government and other industry stakeholders in Alberta can strengthen the links between human resources and industry performance. The paper was commissioned by the Building Trades of Alberta (BTA) and was the basis for a provincial forum held in March 2009, and sponsored by BTA.
The full report and a summary of highlights can be downloaded below.
People & Performance Report

Graham Lowe’s keynote at the Quality Worklife – Quality Healthcare Collaborative’s 3rd annual Summit, March 2009, explores what energizes a : people-performance-quality chain in healthcare. He shows how innovation, renewal and sustainability in healthcare depend on all of us doing a better job leveraging the dynamics of quality. Drawing on evidence and successful practices from healthcare and other industries, he presents action principles you can use to strengthen every link in your organization’s quality chain.
For a summary of the Summit proceedings and access to other presentations, go to the QWQHC website: http://www.f2fe.com/qwqhc/2009/
QWQHC Summit presentation

Human Resources Professionals Association is sponsoring this live webinar presented by Merv Gilbert, Graham Lowe and Martin Shain.

Time: 12 – 1:30 pm (Eastern time). April 2, 2009

Cost: $59 for HRPA members, $89 for non-members

Overview:

The global economic crisis threatens years of strategic investments employers have made to create engaged and capable workforces. Much has been done to restore the trust and loyalty lost during the 1990s. Employers have established unique brands based on cultures that value wellness, growth and balance. Collaborative relationships have been cultivated as the key to performance and innovation. Yet the economic crisis puts all these gains in developing and supporting employees at risk.

This webinar will provide managers and professionals in human resources and related areas with a better understanding of the implications of the economic crisis for their organization’s health, defined in terms of its human capabilities. The goal is to equip HR professionals to advise senior managers and business partners on effective ways to preserve the fragile people gains of the past decade.

Led by three national experts, the webinar will offer complementary organizational, psychological and legal-ethical perspectives on the human implications of the economic crisis.
Key topics include:
– Lessons from past recessions of the 1980s and 1990s
– Guidance around workplace mental health, employee stress and resilience
– Employers’ duty to provide a “psychologically safe” workplace
– Strategic HR during economic uncertainty
– Options for balancing employee needs, long-range workforce goals and short-term business realities
About the presenters:
Merv Gilbert, PhD, R.Psych, is a clinical psychologist and occupational health consultant. He holds an academic appointment at Simon Fraser University and is a senior consultant with the Centre for Applied Research on Mental Health and Addiction.

Graham Lowe, PhD, is president of The Graham Lowe Group Inc., a workplace consulting and research firm and a Professor Emeritus at the University of Alberta.
Dr. Martin Shain is founder of the Neighbour at Work Centre , a professor with the Dalla Lana School of Public Health in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto, and an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University.

To register: Go to the HRPA website (www.hrpa.ca)

Graham Lowe’s keynote at the Quality Worklife – Quality Healthcare Collaborative’s 3rd annual Summit, March 2009, explores what energizes a : people-performance-quality chain in healthcare. He shows how innovation, renewal and sustainability in healthcare depend on all of us doing a better job leveraging the dynamics of quality. Drawing on evidence and successful practices from healthcare and other industries, he presents action principles you can use to strengthen every link in your organization’s quality chain.
For a summary of the Summit proceedings and access to other presentations, go to the QWQHC website: http://www.f2fe.com/qwqhc/2009/
QWQHC 2009 Summit - Lowe

Graham Lowe’s PowerPoint presentation for the Accreditation Canada webinar on safety culture, 15 January 2009.
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