In this episode, we discuss what engagement is all about and what healthcare folks should be expecting from their leaders. The guest is Dan Edds MBA, who for 25 years has been a practicing management consultant, working with state & local government, healthcare, K-12 education, higher education, and nonprofits.

Dan Edds, MBA is the author of 2 books, the first, Transformation Management, and his most recent, Leveraging the Genetics of Leadership, Cracking the code of sustainable team performance. His latest book demonstrates how organizations are revolutionizing the practice of leadership, recreating the world of work, and setting new standards for employee engagement and customer value.

Dan Edds, MBA links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieledds/

Music Credit:

Jason Shaw from www.Audionautix.com

THE IMPERFECT SHOW NOTES

To help make this podcast more accessible to those who are hearing impaired or those who like to read rather than listen to podcasts, we’d love to offer polished show notes. However, Swift Healthcare is in its first year.

What we can offer currently are these imperfect show notes. The transcription is far from perfect. But hopefully it’s close enough - even with the errors - to give those who aren’t able or inclined to audio interviews a way to participate. Please enjoy!

Why Engaging Leadership is Better Leadership w/ Dan Edds, MBA

[00:00:00] Patrick Swift, PhD, MBA, FACHE: [00:00:00] Welcome folks to the Swift healthcare video podcast. I'm Patrick Swift. And I want to thank you for tuning in dialing in for watching being here. And I have a wonderful guest for us, Dan EDS, Dan, welcome to the

[00:00:12] Dan Edds, MBA: [00:00:12] show. Thank you. Great to be with you.

[00:00:15]Patrick Swift, PhD, MBA, FACHE: [00:00:15] Well, let me share with everyone your bio.

[00:00:18] This is a good one. Listen to this for 25 years. Dan EDS has been practicing, as a management consultant, working with state and local government healthcare, K through 12 education and nonprofits. He's the author of two books. The first was transformation management and his most recent leveraging the genetics of leadership cracking the code of sustainable team performance.

[00:00:39] Is out and available. And his latest book describes how organizations are revolutionizing the practice of leadership. Recreating the world of work. You hear that he's recreating, not just keeping with the status quo and setting new standards for employee engagement and customer value. Dan, welcome to the show.

[00:00:56]Dan Edds, MBA: [00:00:56] Thank you, Patrick.

[00:00:57]Patrick Swift, PhD, MBA, FACHE: [00:00:57] And I'd like to add also Dan, uh, [00:01:00] uh, doesn't have, I mean, it'd be saying this, but he's also a part of the advisory board and his local salvation army. So thank you, Dan, for your service to humanity. And, uh, I will ring a bell, uh, in celebration of the salvation army for a timeless recording.

[00:01:14] Someone may listen to this in December or maybe July, but, uh, thank, thank you. Support the salvation army, right? Abs absolutely. It's a, it's a, one of the world's fabulous organizations. It truly is. So in our episode today, uh, talking about engagement, talking about driving engagement, talking about, uh, leadership, discussing the intersection of healthcare and leadership, whether a listener is a leader.

[00:01:37] Whether a listener is a aspiring leader, whether someone's just seen a leader, uh, or someone is considering moving into a leadership position or wanting to be part of the conversation. The intention with this show is to. Pop the hood and give a chance to look under the hood about what's going on in healthcare from how we think about healthcare as leaders and as human beings, caring for [00:02:00] human beings.

[00:02:00]And Dan has a wealth of experience helping, uh, executives, helping organizations and helping leaders do better, not just a. Improve the metrics, but also to make a bigger impact on this planet. So, Dan, again, welcome to the show and I appreciate all your expertise. You're bringing to the table here.

[00:02:17] Dan Edds, MBA: [00:02:17] Thank you, Patrick. I'm honored.

[00:02:19] Patrick Swift, PhD, MBA, FACHE: [00:02:19] Yeah. So let's talk about engagement and I'd like to ask you in your own words to define engagement can mean a lot of different things in different people. And you've got a great perspective here on what is it engagement about?

[00:02:32]Dan Edds, MBA: [00:02:32] Well, that's a great question. And, uh, there's a couple of definitions. , but basically engagement means we are intellectually, psychologically and emotionally engaged with our work. , practically the way that works out is we like going to our work every day. We don't see it as drudgery. We see it as a place where we can contribute where we can give our best when we can feel that we are, , our, our voices valued and [00:03:00] respected where we, you know, I say where we can contribute.

[00:03:03] One of the interesting things I've noticed in my consulting journey is. I have never yet found a worker or a team that didn't want to contribute. in spite of what their boss has said sometimes, um, I consistently find that people want to feel good about what their work they want to feel proud of, who they work for. Right. And consistently time after time, after time, I find they are willing to sacrifice personal time so that they could work for an organization or a team that's a high performing.

[00:03:39] Patrick Swift, PhD, MBA, FACHE: [00:03:39] I love that. You said that Dan, because we, and we'll get into this, but you and I both know there's a certain percentage of the workforce that's actively disengaged, right?

[00:03:47] Sure. Sure. But what you're saying is hopeful. And there was a part in back of my mind. I'm like Dan, really? And, , what you're touching on is the hope that, , I think I've said before in another show, people don't choose evil for evil sake. They mistake [00:04:00] it for happiness. And what you're touching on is that.

[00:04:03] People want to make a difference. Even the one who's actively disengaged. If you ask that person, are you a jerk? That person won't say, no, I'm not a jerk. I just don't like the way things are done around here. Or I do want to make a difference. It's just, you guys suck as leaders and your message here. Dan is how can we, as leaders do a better job to engage everyone and not just the top. 87%, uh, who are making that difference. But even including the folks who are actively disengaged and quite frankly, have some good to tell us that we can improve in our leadership.

[00:04:34] Dan Edds, MBA: [00:04:34] Yep. You know, Gallup tells us that within, within the U S right now, uh, two thirds, 65% of the American workforce is either not engaged means they go to, they go to their job, they do their work. Uh, they do what they're told. They don't make any waves and they go home and forget about it. They basically don't care. Um, another 13% are, you know, drilling holes in the back of the [00:05:00] lifeboat. worldwide, that number is 85%. So that is the percentage that's not engaged right now. According to Gallup is in the, in this, here in the States, it's 52%, half of us go to work and we are, we don't care.

[00:05:15]Yeah. If, if organizations that intentionally seek to engage that middle 50%, when they do, they see an automatic bump in productivity and automatic bump in innovation in. Customer satisfaction and Oh, by the way, a huge bump in employee engagement. And they end up with employees that want to be there.

[00:05:39]Patrick Swift, PhD, MBA, FACHE: [00:05:39] That sounds like joy to me. So Dan, tell me, what is your, why behind all this? What, what, what, what about you? Yeah,

[00:05:47] Dan Edds, MBA: [00:05:47] so my, why. , has developed over time. There was never a one point that said, Oh, this is my why, but, uh, I'll give you one example. , it was maybe seven, eight years ago. , I was doing a project for a fairly [00:06:00] sizable state agency. , this agency happened to, , license 450,000 healthcare providers. And, , And they were a certifiable mess. And I can personally attest to having experienced that for licensure with the state agency. And I'm sure other healthcare providers listening to this show have done the state agencies, trying to get their license renewed and all that. Yeah, it was all that. And this group was a mess and, , it was my last, , meeting with the deputy director and, , You know, it was going to take them probably 18 months to implement what, what we had done.

[00:06:31]Uh, but there was some light at the end of the tunnel. And, , I was about ready to walk out the door. I had my coat on, I had my computer bag in my hand. My hand was on the door and almost in a confessional tone. She said, you know, I don't even tell my friends where I work anymore. Oh. And I turned around. I said, why?

[00:06:50]And she said, it's just too embarrassing. And I'd love to say I've never heard that ever before or since, but your reality is I've heard it [00:07:00] dozens of times in various ways in various venues. Um, P. And I come back to the same thing. People want to be excited. They want to be proud of where they work. And when I looked at this particular deputy director in the organization that she was working for, there is no bad people there, but she was working in a system that rewarded the executive leaders for their position and, placement to the governor.

[00:07:27]And they were not working in a system that required them or rewarded them ...