New Study from Executive Education Faculty Explores the Relationship Between Leadership Communication and Burnout in Healthcare
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic receding, levels of stress and subsequent adverse mental health effects among healthcare professionals still reach concerning heights.
In an article recently published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Ross Executive Education Faculty Professor Amy Young and coauthors Chloe Aronoff, Sandy Goel, Matthew Jerome, and Kirk Brower examined the role leadership communication plays in predicting employee burnout and intent to stay among healthcare professionals.
Through an extensive secondary analysis of an organizational engagement survey that included approximately 2300 faculty members and 17600 staff members, they discovered that effective leadership communication was a stronger predictor of burnout and intent to stay than satisfaction with compensation and work-home flexibility. Feeling valued by the organization mediated the relationship between leadership communication and the outcome variables. Together, the researchers acknowledge that while improving communication cannot eliminate all causes of burnout in an already burdened healthcare system, developing a robust communication strategy is an effective, low-cost solution for leaders to address faculty and staff burnout and turnover.
