Concerned About Image In Lean Times?

Writing in the Business section of yesterday's New York Times (February 9, 2009) Leslie Wayne and Stephanie Clifford painted a not very pretty picture of the impact of scaled back corporate business events on the economy at large. Business Trip, or Just a Junket? It Matters Lately examines the snowballing economic effect of cancelled corporate events on the travel, lodging, and food industries that depend on that business. With increasing unemployment and enhanced scrutiny of companies receiving bailout benefits, "Everyone is concerned about their image," was the comment from a Miami event planning firm president as quoted by the authors.

Fair enough. We actually first saw this during the 2008 holiday season when numerous organizational end of year parties, bonuses, and perks were eliminated. While the not so new news is that the economy is falling like a line of dominoes, and while it's definitely not "pc" to run costly events, the question for health care leaders is: are we being sufficiently creative in replacing spending with other forms of recognition for performance in this economic environment.

Unlike other industries, we're not likely to see a lot less work, just an increase in the fraction of patients who are impacted by hard times - who may not have employers, insurance, or the ability to pay - and whom we are ethically and professionally committed to treat. So the very hard work of delivering health care has just become harder. We deliver care and services in an increasingly adverse external environment, require that work in the face of thinner organizational resources, and increasingly demand the delivery of higher levels of performance on standards of quality and safety. And we can't throw parties, give gift certificates, send people on rewarding continuing education or training missions, or provide cash bonuses to boost morale and reward excellence. But in order to maintain morale and push to the results we indeed do need to worry about our organizational image. It needs to be one that values the human assets that get us there.

As health care leaders, isn't this a time to strategically focus on developing economically frugal but visibly robust strategies to sustain the physicians, nurses, technicians, and staff who are doing work that simply cannot become an casualty of the economy? What is your strategy?