Skill Building in Healthcare: Can People Development Counter Burnout and Engage the Healthcare Workforce?

by Stephen Beeson, MD

Every day, in our conversations and in healthcare commentary, we encounter discussions about a variety of approaches to reduce burnout and improve the well-being of healthcare professionals.  Undoubtedly, burnout and wellness are topics that receive a considerable amount of attention, both in spoken and written form.

While it’s crucial to keep these conversations going, it’s equally important to look for proven actions that significantly contribute to improving the quality of life for those dedicated to providing care. 

This is where skill building comes in.

THE ROLE OF SKILL BUILDING IN HEALTHCARE 

Recent findings from a Gallup report indicate that the engagement of individuals is closely intertwined with how organizations cultivate their teams. Additionally, numerous studies highlight that mastery–encompassing the ability to contribute, achieve, progress, and advance–serves as a fundamental driver of human contentment across various industries and cultures. 

In my experience of coaching over 800 clinicians over the last 20 years, we have witnessed the transformative impact of people development in enhancing a clinician’s ability to connect with their patients, collaborate with their peers, and lead in a way that inspires change. The development of your people to become their best, to make impact, and to create moments of pride and accomplishment with patients and each other is the most powerful wellness action we can take.

Skill building in healthcare is not just a necessity, it’s an imperative that resonates with the core principles of care team engagement, individual mastery, and seeing the impact and purpose of our work play out in front of us.

THE THREE CRITICAL CHANNELS OF PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT 

Developing people is about enhancing their capacity to create results. In our experience, there are three critical channels of people development that can significantly influence the experience of every team member. Each of these channels has been proven to impact culture, engagement, and the commitment of our care teams.

1. Skill Development in Patient Connection. Developing the ability to connect with patients is not just about increasing your patient experience scores (though they will improve). It’s about enabling teams to experience the restorative nature of making a difference with patients and their families. This is where the best of medicine resides and simple actions and skills can help bring purpose into providing care.
2. Skill Development in Team Collaboration. The experience of work is most impacted by the relationships we have with our teammates. Being there for each other, lifting one another, creating a sense of belonging, and working effectively together is not only essential for the team-based nature of healthcare, but it can radically reduce the sense of loneliness and exhaustion that characterize burnout.
3. Skill Development in Leadership Effectiveness. Leaders at all levels who lead with self-awareness, a growth mindset, compassion, responsiveness, vulnerability, modeling, appreciation, and an ability to enable their teams can radically impact the experience for those working under their leadership.  How an organization is led serves as a powerful driver for advancing engagement and reducing burnout.

Imagine a world where the skills of patient connection, team collaboration and leadership effectiveness are not only learned but also applied, shared, and witnessed by every patient, family, care team member, and leader across an enterprise. Our vision is to create a purpose-driven, compassionate, loving, unified, and well-led system achieved through continuous mastery of game-changing skills.

This is why we believe that people development and skill building in healthcare can bring about a future state where the tiniest moments not only bring contentment to every care team member but also help make this clinical life we hold the best it can be.