An Organizational Commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice: A Multipronged Strategic Approach.

Cedars-Sinai is a sixth continuous Magnet organization in Southern California that embodies inclusive leadership in support of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) principles. The organization adheres to a strategic model prioritizing staff sense of belonging, empowerment, engagement, curiosity, and creativity. Employing inclusive leadership, we have implemented strong programs of professional development and continuous learning, innovation, and research. This leadership and these programs have fostered a culture of inquiry, support evidence-driven practice, quality improvement, and staff engagement. Our organization is committed to creating a caring and healing environment that promotes performance. We believe in practicing loving-kindness toward ourselves and others as a core value. Executive leadership support has been a key element in our successful implementation of DEIJ strategies, including employee resource groups, Shared Leadership Councils, transition to practice programs, health equity research, and innovative solutions. These strategies have been shown to yield a significant return on investment.

COVID-19: An Organizational-theory-guided Holistic Self-caring and Resilience Project.

Purpose: In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global human caring crisis, this article describes an innovative, theory-guided, holistic practice project at a major academic medical center in Northern California. The purpose of this theory-guided COVID-19 project was to address the self-care needs of caregivers so they could better care for patients/families who are confronting daily pandemic demands. Study design: The organization's professional practices are guided by Watson's theory of human caring and Caritas Processes. This setting has 16 Caritas Coaches® who have acquired expertise in human caring from an accredited program of the Watson Caring Science Institute (www.watsoncaringscience.org). Methods: Caritas Coaches® were mobilized to implement holistic caring-healing modalities such as aromatherapy and mindfulness meditation throughout the organization. Findings: By addressing the self-care needs of caregivers, the organizational culture shifted from fear, fatigue, stress, and burnout, to more intentional conscious, mindful, caring presence, gratitude, and purpose. Conclusion: This study has implications for other institutions regarding theory-guided practice and system responses to self-care needs of staff. This study provides an overview of the project from its origin to implementation and outcomes.

Capitalizing on an Existing Shared Governance Structure in Developing Leadership Succession Planning.

This evidence-based project in a large academic medical center presents the integration of a succession-planning framework into existing shared leadership councils to fill open formal leadership positions. The framework included assessment, planning, and outcome evaluation of 3 strategic interventions: 1) leadership development, 2) experiential learning, and 3) mentoring. Benefits included improved self-perception as a leader, improved leadership competency, increased talent bench strength, and 32 internal promotions of frontline staff to formal leadership positions within 1 year.

Realigning Shared Governance With Magnet® and the Organization's Operating System to Achieve Clinical Excellence.

In 2012, an academic medical center successfully overhauled a 15-year-old shared governance to align 6 house-wide and 30 unit-based councils with the new Magnet Recognition Program® and the organization's operating system, using the processes of LEAN methodology. The redesign improved cross-council communication structures, facilitated effective shared decision-making processes, increased staff engagement, and improved clinical outcomes. The innovative structural and process elements of the new model are replicable in other health institutions.