Showing Appreciation in a Time of Crisis:

An Interview with Dr. Brad Shuck

Dr. Brad Shuck  - Associate Professor and Program Director, Human Resources and Organizational Development - College of Education and Human Development, University of Louisville 

We are indeed in times that will define our generation. No one could have anticipated the impact of this coronavirus pandemic as it left Wuhan, China, and has now spread worldwide. This virus has paralyzed the U.S. economy, dramatically impacting how we teach our students and residents, and how we do our work in hospitals and clinics affiliated with the Health Sciences Center at the University of Louisville. Our clinical work now brings new and severe risks to our families and us as we evaluate and care for patients in a pandemic setting of COVID-19.

In this time of tremendous stress among UofL employees, we are indeed fortunate to have a UofL faculty member, Dr. Brad Shuck, who has focused his research in the area of appreciation, engagement, and motivation in the workplace. He is sought after by Fortune 500 companies as a consultant, and he can speak to us with practical suggestions for how we can weather this crisis and keep our team members engaged. How we show appreciation to our clinical and academic staff and our peer colleagues is all the more critical in this time where doing your faculty job as a healthcare provider brings the real risk of severe illness or worse.

Dr. Rabalais: What are some best practices that we can adopt for all of our employees, those working from home and those on the front-lines in our hospitals and clinics?

Dr. Shuck: During stress, all employees look for a sense of safety and comfort, physically, emotionally, and socially. As leaders, we must find a way to signal emotional safety through openness, transparency, and an obsession for excellent communication. Psychological safety is the foundation for trust and one of the three pillars of engagement. A team that trusts each other is a team that remains resilient in the most challenging of times. This starts with personal safety and team safety. Also, we must maintain a human connection to drive the mission. Leaders can create that drive through storytelling, relentless commitment, and unselfish humility in the moment.

The advice I give to leaders of those working from home is (a) lead with people, not process, (b) give compassion when needed, (c) and relentlessly recognize.

Another solution is to leverage technology. Create a dedicated channel for communication and collaboration. A leader could have everyone on their team share what they are focused on at the beginning of each week: what is the one thing each person is trying to check off their to-do list?

Leaders might also consider curating an engaging news feed of the essential information everyone in the company needs to know: bulleted lists, quick bursts of communication — not long drawn-out paragraphs.

Dr. Rabalais: So what about our front-line faculty and staff working in hospitals and clinics?

Dr. Shuck: My advice for recognizing the front-line workers in health care right now is twofold: (a) do it now and (b) keep it simple. This is about helping people feel seen, heard, and acknowledged. This is life or death. Here, a kind word, encouraging someone to step away for a minute to catch their breath, get rest, etc., can go a long way in ensuring the long-term vitality and emotional reservoir our employees require on the front line. Take action. Without meaningful recognition, we can expect disengagement, depersonalization, and exhaustion – all markers of severe burnout.

Healthcare professionals might also routinely meet with pastoral or counseling services to offer a dimension of spiritual wellness and promote healthy self-care when needed.  I would encourage leaders to find a way to recognize everyone on their team. Everyone! This is not just about the leader, though. This is a time for team members to recognize colleagues in a peer-to-peer environment. These small human moments can push us through difficult circumstances, create engagement, and help inoculate against burnout in exhaustion.

Dr. Rabalais: How important is recognition and signs of appreciation in the moment?

Dr. Shuck: Based on research that we did in the healthcare space just a few years back, developing opportunities for healthcare professionals to participate in debriefs (a quick huddle meeting) to discuss how each employee’s effort contributes to the success of the team for five-to-six minutes is significant. Our research showed this had a positive connection with team development and the expansion of team-based support and readiness for organizational change-management initiatives that could be needed at a moment’s notice. Meaningful connections, even briefly, had an exponential impact.

Dr. Rabalais: Brad, thank you so much for sharing your insights in this challenging time. Is there anything else you care to add?

Dr. Shuck: You hear so much about the anxiety and concern, worry about getting sick, and transmitting this infection to our families. But we are starting to hear great stories about how communities are coming together to help each other. Families and organizations are donating and making masks; moms and dads are learning to have a balance with school while many are working from home; neighbors are connecting in personal ways that look very different than we have before.

And you also hear about innovation and creativity. Creativity in healthcare is born here. Epidemiologists, infectious disease specialists, physicians, nurses, ER doctors, lab workers, and many more are rising to the occasion to help their patients in new ways.

So, there is reason to be encouraged. Stay connected. Share a kind word — check-in on those around you. Resist the feelings of anxiety and panic. This is a time for us to celebrate our neighbors and those in our circle. Reach out, and when possible, help those around you. As we emerge from social distancing, we will be better and more connected as a community because of it, making UofL a really great place to work.