In a recent virtual event hosted by Perceptyx's Healthcare EX Consortium, Israa Khan, M.A., Director of Organizational Development at Onvida Health, shared how her team transformed their employee engagement approach from a compliance-driven exercise to a strategic initiative focused on meaningful action and sustainable improvement. Under her leadership, Onvida improved engagement from the bottom decile to the top quartile in just four years while navigating rapid growth and rural healthcare challenges.
From Compliance to Continuous Listening and Action
Khan opened the session with a stark admission: “When I joined Onvida, we were surveying every 18 months with a vendor that gave us static reports. Leaders treated engagement as a checkbox — they’d throw action plans into the system just to say they’d done it.” This approach changed when Onvida partnered with Perceptyx in 2020. Despite surveying during the pandemic’s peak, Khan insisted on establishing a baseline: “We braced for impact. But you don’t avoid surveying because it’s a ‘bad time.’ You need that pulse to know where to act.”
The shift began with quarterly pulses to combat “inaction fatigue,” a term Khan credits to Perceptyx: “People don’t tire of surveys — they tire of feeling unheard. We committed to closing the loop, even if it meant starting small.” Leaders initially resisted the cadence, but Khan’s team tied data to operational KPIs: “If a department had low engagement but great safety scores, we asked executives: ‘Is this leader avoiding tough conversations?’ Data became a mirror, not a hammer.”
By 2023, Onvida refined its cadence to two annual surveys. “We found our sweet spot: a census survey to set priorities and a pulse to course-correct,” Khan explained. “But none of this works unless executives see engagement as their plate, not just HR’s.”
Data-Driven Storytelling and Leadership Grit
Khan emphasized translating raw data into actionable narratives: “Executives glaze over at spreadsheets. We built divisional heatmaps. (“Here’s where your leaders excel, here’s where they’re faking it.”) She trained leaders to “let comments add color, not chaos” by pairing quantitative scores with qualitative insights. For example, when a heatmap revealed a high-scoring leader with poor team performance, Khan challenged executives: “Is this manager prioritizing popularity over accountability?”
One make-or-break “power of listening” moment came when Onvida’s marketing leader embedded survey-driven updates into monthly SharePoint emails. “She wrote: 'Communication was flagged in our survey — here’s how we’re fixing it.' No one asked her to — she owned the narrative,” Khan noted. This cascading transparency became a cultural anchor, with Khan adding: “We stopped chasing perfection. Pick one needle-mover — for us, it was communication — and be a broken record about it.”
The Power of Peer-Led Accountability
Onvida’s Action Planning Idea Exchange Forums became a cornerstone of its strategy. After initial resistance — “95% of leaders submitted plans, but they were hollow” — Khan’s team spotlighted innovators. “We invited leaders who’d moved metrics without fancy titles or budgets. One manager solved a scheduling crisis by crowdsourcing shift swaps — no top-down mandate.”
At the inaugural forum, leaders shared blunt lessons:
- “Don’t just fix problems — explain why you fixed them.”
- “If you can’t act on feedback, say so. Silence breeds cynicism.”
Khan recalled a nursing leader’s breakthrough: “She admitted, ‘I kept waiting for HR to tell me what to do. Now I ask my team: What’s one thing we can change this month?’ That’s the shift, going from compliance to co-ownership.”
Impact: Closing the Gap Between Data and Action
Onvida’s survey and business outcomes reflect its cultural pivot:
- 72-75% consistent survey participation despite rural staffing challenges.
- Leadership Academy engagement scores rose 33% after embedding EX modules.
- Peer forums drove a 40% drop in leader turnover in high-burnout units.
Khan highlighted a frontline win: “During rounds, a night-shift worker mentioned microwave shortages. The next day, the president ordered three. Small? Yes. But it signaled: We’re listening.”
Future Priorities: Scaling What Works
Khan outlined Onvida’s next steps for future state success:
- Standardize Executive Rounding: “We’re templating questions like, ‘What’s one process slowing you down?’ No more winging it.”
- Integrate EX Metrics into Balanced Scorecards: “Our board now tracks engagement alongside financials. That’s accountability.”
- Expand Forums: “We’re launching ‘Culture Champions’ — high performers who mentor struggling teams. Peers trust peers more than HR.”
Keys to Excellence: Let Data Tell the Story Your Way
Khan’s closing charge captured the essence of Onvida’s success, which other healthcare organizations can follow if they’re willing to do the work: “Engagement isn’t another task — it’s the plate everything else sits on. We didn’t climb from the bottom by chasing benchmarks. We got curious, got bold, and let data tell the story our way.”
Here are some of Khan and Onvida’s keys to listening excellence:
- Move from infrequent surveys to strategic continuous listening.
- Secure and maintain executive buy-in through data storytelling.
- Provide practical tools and guidance for leaders.
- Create opportunities for peer learning and idea exchange.
- Make engagement central to your organizational strategy.
- Take an incremental approach to change.
To view Israa Khan's full presentation on transforming employee engagement from compliance to culture, access the on-demand recording.