Learning to Lead & Leading to Learn
Although her employees are scattered across multiple 91麻豆天美直播 locations, Jessica Rivera, director of environmental services for community clinics, maintains a tight-knit team that works and learns together. To strengthen that bond, Rivera has focused on five leadership lessons spanning value improvement, institutional standards, and good old-fashioned trust.
By Jessica Rivera | 4 minutes
Out in the community clinics, I have the pleasure of managing 36 Environmental Services technicians and supervisors spread over 40 miles. They work around the clock. The majority of my staff work far from patients. They begin coming into the clinic when it closes and work into the wee hours of the night.
Their job is a big, ugly, dirty, repetitive job. It鈥檚 not very glamorous. But it鈥檚 very important. Think about spring cleaning your home. It鈥檚 a big job, trying to take care of so many rooms and areas so they all look beautiful. Now imagine doing that job on Monday, then coming back in to do it on Tuesday, and Wednesday, and every day. But it has to be done for our patients 鈥 and for our clinical staff.
Sometimes an Environmental Services technician鈥檚 job can be thankless, or they feel like it goes unnoticed. Sometimes they feel like they鈥檙e only recognized when something isn鈥檛 done. Part of my job is to change that. Here are the leadership lessons I鈥檝e learned as I鈥檝e built a team that cares about each other, takes pride in what they do, and strives for constant improvement:
#1: BUILD TRUST WITH YOUR STAFF
You have to earn trust with your staff. You have to walk the walk. From the first moment I started in Environmental Services, first at Business Services Building and then at South Jordan, I made sure to put on a uniform every day, get out of my office, and go work side by side with my team to do the dirty work. It鈥檚 an important time to spend with them. My schedule was an important factor; all the magic happens at 5:30 PM. That鈥檚 when the expectations are set for the big jobs to come. So I would work from 5:30 PM to 2:00 AM. As I transitioned into a managerial role, that became a struggle for me. I wanted to be there for my staff. I didn鈥檛 want it to be like two ships passing in the night. I wanted to give them my time.
Now, I have three awesome supervisors, and I鈥檝e coached them to do the same. They work a mixed schedule 鈥 a few days during the week they work evening hours as an opportunity to be with all staff. Later on in the week, they work day shifts in the office to ease into the weekend. This is crucial for interacting with your employees. They don鈥檛 want to hear from you if you haven鈥檛 done what you鈥檙e asking them to do. It makes our conversations more genuine. When you鈥檙e out there working side by side, they get a sense of who you are.
#2: DEMONSTRATE THE STANDARDS YOU EXPECT FROM YOUR STAFF
Working side by side, your employees get a sense of who you are. It鈥檚 also a good opportunity to demonstrate PROMISE behavior standards. It鈥檚 not just about performance. As a leader, you have to act right. You could be the best scientist in the world, but if you suck as a human being, nobody鈥檚 going to listen to you. Keep walking that walk to build upon that trust that you鈥檝e earned. Michael Bronson reminds me that, when we open a new clinic, it鈥檚 not a sprint. It鈥檚 a marathon. You鈥檙e in it for the long haul.
It鈥檚 easy to get wrapped up in that desk work and close your eyes to what鈥檚 happening, but you have to make a commitment to yourself and your team to really get out there. On occasion, that means showing up on the weekends. If you expect your staff to work on the weekends, it鈥檚 nice to go check on your staff and help out if you can.
#3: LEADERS TAKE CARE OF THEIR PEOPLE
When you鈥檙e a leader, you鈥檙e not given that position so you can boss people around. I consider it a privilege to support my staff. I know that all successful relationships require reciprocity. It鈥檇 be easy to mistake the fact that you pay your staff as that part of the bargain. That鈥檚 not accurate. If we expect our staff to give more, we have to be accountable to give more, too. As a leader, you鈥檙e more of a servant. It鈥檚 the most important job, and it should only be given to those who are worthy of it.
So I care for my employees like family. I want them to know they鈥檙e a top priority to me. We celebrate milestones; we support each other鈥檚 struggles. This is such a big, dirty job, we have to make it fun. We laugh, we dance, and we fill each other up with sunshine. We let our employees vent to us鈥攁nd we listen. My favorite quote is from Maya Angelou: 鈥淚鈥檝e learned that people will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel.鈥 That鈥檚 important to me, because I want to leave a good impression on the people I come in contact with.
#4: LEAVE THINGS BETTER THAN YOU FOUND THEM
Growing up, my parents taught me this: Don鈥檛 just do a little; do a little bit more. They would remind me when I was headed out the door: 鈥淛ess, use your manners, be kind, and ask if anybody needs help.鈥 What you put out to the world comes back to you. It鈥檚 important that I鈥檓 a better version of myself than I was yesterday. At the end of each day, when I look back and think about the struggles and mistakes and difficult decisions, one thing I鈥檒l never regret is being kind.
One employee, after working for me for three years, asked me to look at something. He took me to his locker and handed me a Mountain Dew can. On the bottom, it had the date and my name. 鈥淭he day you bought that for me,鈥 he said, 鈥淚 told you that I didn鈥檛 drink soda, so you went back to the store and bought me a milk. I鈥檓 55 years old, and this was the first time in my life that my boss bought anything for me. So I wrote your name and the date and I kept it in my locker 鈥 it meant that much to me.鈥 Making your staff better today than they were yesterday makes you better as a leader today than you were yesterday.
#5 LEARNING IS IMPORTANT
There鈥檚 something truly special about learning together. A sense of camaraderie is built; a culture is established. Everyone benefits. Our Environmental Services Technicians are not just taking out trash. They鈥檙e on the frontlines of infection control: killing pathogens, reducing hospital-associated infections, and saving lives. The Certified Health Care Environmental Services Technician (CHEST) Training & Certification program is a designation setting national standards for health care workers. In 2015, Oak Leavitt and I became certified trainers for this program, and all but our newest employees have taken the training and passed the exam to earn their certificates. This year, all of my supervisors earned our certificates of mastery in infection prevention, and I鈥檝e also completed my Lean Six Sigma Green Belt course. Learning makes our environment special. It helps foster a unique community of creativity and understanding. Once you start learning together, the real work begins.
PATHOGEN SLAYERS
Listen to the episode "Pathogen Slayers" from the podcast The Scope. Jess Rivera discusses the important, yet vulnerable, work of frontline heroes who are keeping hospitals and clinics clean during COVID-19.
Annotated transcript from Jess Rivera鈥檚 speech at the November 30, 2017, Leader Development Institute in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Originally posted July 2020.
CONTRIBUTOR
Jessica Rivera
Director, Community Clinics Environmental Services, 91麻豆天美直播
