October 4, 2024 • 8 mins
iHeartMedia is proud to sponsor the Pennsylvania Conference for Women on November 7th—an exciting day featuring Martha Stewart, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Dawn Staley, Robin Arzón, Diana Nyad, and many more inspiring speakers. Plus, your ticket includes free access to the National Conference for Women—a virtual event during Women’s History Month that will feature Oprah Winfrey, Gayle King, Gloria Steinem, and others! As part of our partnership with the conference, we bring you Women Who Inspire. Today, we speak with award-winning leader Dixieanne 'Dixie' James, President of the Central Region at Jefferson Health. Dixie will be speaking on a panel titled "How to Be Engaged, Productive, and Happier at Work," where she explores the importance of happiness in the workplace and how it fuels success. Jefferson Health Links:
- Website: Jefferson Health - Greater Philadelphia & South Jersey Region
- Instagram: @jeffersonhealth
- Facebook: Jefferson Health on Facebook
- TikTok: Jefferson Health on Linktree
- LinkedIn: Jefferson Health on LinkedIn
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
iHeartMedia is proud to sponsor the Pennsylvania Conference for Women
November seventh, an exciting day with Martha Stewart, Charlie Ralph,
Don Staley, Robin Arzhon, Diana Nayad and so many more.
Plus your ticket gets free access to the National Conference
for Women, are virtual gathering for Women's History Month featuring
Oprah Winfrey, Gail King, Gloria Steinem and so many more.
(00:23):
As part of our partnerships with a conference, we bring
you women who inspire and today the woman who inspires
us is Dixie Ann James. She's President Central Region for
Jefferson Health. Dixie has been recognized for a number of
leadership awards, including Philadelphia Business Journal's Top Minority Business Leader,
Philadelphia Business Journal Women of Distinction, Philadelphia Magazines Trailblazing Women
(00:46):
in Philadelphia's Healthcare System Revolution, and so many more. Dixieann
always a pleasure to see you, and you are going
to be on a panel. There's so many empowering panels,
but your panel I am definitely going to be at
because it's called how to be engaged, productive, and happier
at work, and that's something that you actually have a
(01:08):
lot of connection with happiness at work has been a
major topic of discussion in recent years. How has Jefferson
Health been working to prioritize the well being of your employees?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Well. First of all, the rank thank you for having me.
I'm excited to be a part of the conference and
excited to have the opportunity to talk with you today.
Happiness at work is such an important topic, particularly in
the healthcare space, and you know, when you think about happiness,
it's often defined sort of as a state of well
being that produces positive emotions. And after living through the pandemic,
(01:41):
I think we realize that many of our healthcare workers,
particularly our frontline heroes, were doing what they do best.
They were taking care of everyone and at times at
the expense of their own well being, and that toll
that that takes is really it results in burnout. And
so there has been a significant focus on well being
at Jefferson and we know that we needed to launch
(02:04):
and did in fact launch a number of well being
counsels and we organize those by roles, which is important
because understanding there you have some standard approaches that you
can take, but they're really unique needs that vary across
the organization and from clinical to our non clinical workforce,
So physicians and nurses, they may have a set of needs,
(02:24):
but that may differ than the needs of our administrative colleagues,
and so we wanted to be very intentional and focus
about those well being counsel and the tactics that they
came up with that best support our workforce. And we
have a host of resources that include our peer support groups,
like our RISE program which stands for Resilience and Stressful Events,
(02:45):
and it's available for caregivers who need to speak with
a trained peer about a stressful or traumatic patient related event.
So we bring that service and it's been a very extremely,
very popular and extremely well received by our workforce. We
also have employee assistance programs to help employees and family
members manage personal and professional challenges, and free counseling services.
(03:09):
And because the administrative burden of delivering care continues to
be one of the largest sources of burnout, we are
now looking for ways to support well being just by
streamlining our operations and our day to day workflow and
our technology, so we are not working harder, but in
fact smarter. So I'm just grateful that at Jefferson we
are supported from the very top of our organization. Our CEO, Joke,
(03:32):
has shown believes in this strongly and has charged every
manager at various levels of coming up with ideas and
thinking through ways to better support our employees and meeting
being credible demands associated with delivering our mission based work.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Work life balance has always a challenge for women in particular,
and I wonder if you can share with us some
of your tips for individual employees looking to balance their lives.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
It's a really great question in healthcare, you know, we
have so much to do related to the stigma and
potentially with women too, sort of it being okay and
perhaps even a badge of honor to work ourselves to exhaustion.
So one of the tips, and that I try to
not just preach a practice more and more of these days,
is I bucket them up into some of the p's
(04:19):
that I live by. And you know, the first is
really in your work, to make sure that you landed
and identify somewhere where you have purpose, and that you
understand your why and that that anchors you and that
you have an anchor there, and then that you associate
and discover the right people and the people that you
are then doing work with share that passion and align
(04:40):
in those in that purpose and that you're able to
build that partnerships with because you can't go it alone.
And I think a lot of times when you can
find the people that have the same passion and purpose
and you're beligned, you find yourself being able to make
the journey much more rewarding and also have an experience
that's better and has more impact. So I think those
(05:01):
are important, and then you have to prioritize. This is
one that I think we often get ourselves in trouble
with because there's so much good to do that I
think we often want to do it all, and you
have to figure out where do you need to put
the energy. And it's not that it's it doesn't mean
that you're not focusing on something and you're not because
it's not good, but because you have to figure out
(05:23):
where's the best use of your talents and the things
that you're bringing to the table. So I tend to
tell people, try your best to prioritize, and last, and
certainly Naicely, at least for me, is prayer, because I
need to find ways that I can turn over the
things that I can't control right. So much in life
you can impact and control and so much you can
and so I need a place where I can turn
(05:44):
all those things over and I can replenish and recharge.
And so those are some of the things that I
use myself and give us tips, and hopefully I'll be
talking a lot more about that in my session at
the PEA conference on the verse seven.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Well, you're a successful professional with over twenty years of
experience in the healthcare industry, and you have risen to
some of the top tiers of leadership, and I wonder
if you can give some advice as far as thriving
and setting a course for well being for those who
are just starting that journey.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
It's a good question, you know. I don't know that
the advice is terribly different than some of the things
I describe, because quite honestly, the sooner you start some
of those tips I just shared the better right, and
you don't hardwire some of the bad habits that I
think are hard to undo. Later on, I mentioned that
I'm trying to practice what I preach. I didn't always
start off doing this, and so to sort of live
(06:34):
through the impact of not doing this. So I'm speaking
from experience, but I think the sooner you start that
the better. So I would say all the things I mentioned,
but I think particularly for early career women, I think
it's important to really lean into the people piece and
the partnership piece, and those relationships. I think that helps
shape you and helps you find your way and in
(06:56):
your tribe if you will, and have helped develop you.
And I think when you're looking for balance and you're
setting a course for well being at work, having people
that you can lean on and find a support network
in early tends to be very pivotal for women, particularly
in any industry, but I've seen that be true, particularly
in healthcare. So I would say, emphasize on that people
(07:17):
piece in your partnership and I'll be covering some of
that topics and tips that I mentioned today in my
session at the PA Conference for Women on November seventh, and.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
We look forward to the panel discussion on how to
be Engaged, productive, and Happier at Work that's going to
be featured at the Pennsylvania Conference for Women, which is
happening on November seventh. If people would like more information
about Jefferson Health, where do they go.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
They can find all the information they need on our
website at Jeffersonhealth dot org.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Fantastic and for more information about the Pennsylvania Conference for Women,
go to Paconference for Women dot org. Dixie and James,
thank you for being a role model that you are
for so many looking forward to the panel discussion. Dixie
and James, President, Central Agent for at Jefferson Health, one
of our women who inspire. Thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Thank you. Lauren
iHeartMedia is proud to sponsor the Pennsylvania Conference for Women
November seventh, an exciting day with Martha Stewart, Charlie Ralph,
Don Staley, Robin Arzhon, Diana Nayad and so many more.
Plus your ticket gets free access to the National Conference
for Women, are virtual gathering for Women's History Month featuring
Oprah Winfrey, Gail King, Gloria Steinem and so many more.
(00:23):
As part of our partnerships with a conference, we bring
you women who inspire and today the woman who inspires
us is Dixie Ann James. She's President Central Region for
Jefferson Health. Dixie has been recognized for a number of
leadership awards, including Philadelphia Business Journal's Top Minority Business Leader,
Philadelphia Business Journal Women of Distinction, Philadelphia Magazines Trailblazing Women
(00:46):
in Philadelphia's Healthcare System Revolution, and so many more. Dixieann
always a pleasure to see you, and you are going
to be on a panel. There's so many empowering panels,
but your panel I am definitely going to be at
because it's called how to be engaged, productive, and happier
at work, and that's something that you actually have a
(01:08):
lot of connection with happiness at work has been a
major topic of discussion in recent years. How has Jefferson
Health been working to prioritize the well being of your employees?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Well. First of all, the rank thank you for having me.
I'm excited to be a part of the conference and
excited to have the opportunity to talk with you today.
Happiness at work is such an important topic, particularly in
the healthcare space, and you know, when you think about happiness,
it's often defined sort of as a state of well
being that produces positive emotions. And after living through the pandemic,
(01:41):
I think we realize that many of our healthcare workers,
particularly our frontline heroes, were doing what they do best.
They were taking care of everyone and at times at
the expense of their own well being, and that toll
that that takes is really it results in burnout. And
so there has been a significant focus on well being
at Jefferson and we know that we needed to launch
(02:04):
and did in fact launch a number of well being
counsels and we organize those by roles, which is important
because understanding there you have some standard approaches that you
can take, but they're really unique needs that vary across
the organization and from clinical to our non clinical workforce,
So physicians and nurses, they may have a set of needs,
(02:24):
but that may differ than the needs of our administrative colleagues,
and so we wanted to be very intentional and focus
about those well being counsel and the tactics that they
came up with that best support our workforce. And we
have a host of resources that include our peer support groups,
like our RISE program which stands for Resilience and Stressful Events,
(02:45):
and it's available for caregivers who need to speak with
a trained peer about a stressful or traumatic patient related event.
So we bring that service and it's been a very extremely,
very popular and extremely well received by our workforce. We
also have employee assistance programs to help employees and family
members manage personal and professional challenges, and free counseling services.
(03:09):
And because the administrative burden of delivering care continues to
be one of the largest sources of burnout, we are
now looking for ways to support well being just by
streamlining our operations and our day to day workflow and
our technology, so we are not working harder, but in
fact smarter. So I'm just grateful that at Jefferson we
are supported from the very top of our organization. Our CEO, Joke,
(03:32):
has shown believes in this strongly and has charged every
manager at various levels of coming up with ideas and
thinking through ways to better support our employees and meeting
being credible demands associated with delivering our mission based work.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Work life balance has always a challenge for women in particular,
and I wonder if you can share with us some
of your tips for individual employees looking to balance their lives.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
It's a really great question in healthcare, you know, we
have so much to do related to the stigma and
potentially with women too, sort of it being okay and
perhaps even a badge of honor to work ourselves to exhaustion.
So one of the tips, and that I try to
not just preach a practice more and more of these days,
is I bucket them up into some of the p's
(04:19):
that I live by. And you know, the first is
really in your work, to make sure that you landed
and identify somewhere where you have purpose, and that you
understand your why and that that anchors you and that
you have an anchor there, and then that you associate
and discover the right people and the people that you
are then doing work with share that passion and align
(04:40):
in those in that purpose and that you're able to
build that partnerships with because you can't go it alone.
And I think a lot of times when you can
find the people that have the same passion and purpose
and you're beligned, you find yourself being able to make
the journey much more rewarding and also have an experience
that's better and has more impact. So I think those
(05:01):
are important, and then you have to prioritize. This is
one that I think we often get ourselves in trouble
with because there's so much good to do that I
think we often want to do it all, and you
have to figure out where do you need to put
the energy. And it's not that it's it doesn't mean
that you're not focusing on something and you're not because
it's not good, but because you have to figure out
(05:23):
where's the best use of your talents and the things
that you're bringing to the table. So I tend to
tell people, try your best to prioritize, and last, and
certainly Naicely, at least for me, is prayer, because I
need to find ways that I can turn over the
things that I can't control right. So much in life
you can impact and control and so much you can
and so I need a place where I can turn
(05:44):
all those things over and I can replenish and recharge.
And so those are some of the things that I
use myself and give us tips, and hopefully I'll be
talking a lot more about that in my session at
the PEA conference on the verse seven.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Well, you're a successful professional with over twenty years of
experience in the healthcare industry, and you have risen to
some of the top tiers of leadership, and I wonder
if you can give some advice as far as thriving
and setting a course for well being for those who
are just starting that journey.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
It's a good question, you know. I don't know that
the advice is terribly different than some of the things
I describe, because quite honestly, the sooner you start some
of those tips I just shared the better right, and
you don't hardwire some of the bad habits that I
think are hard to undo. Later on, I mentioned that
I'm trying to practice what I preach. I didn't always
start off doing this, and so to sort of live
(06:34):
through the impact of not doing this. So I'm speaking
from experience, but I think the sooner you start that
the better. So I would say all the things I mentioned,
but I think particularly for early career women, I think
it's important to really lean into the people piece and
the partnership piece, and those relationships. I think that helps
shape you and helps you find your way and in
(06:56):
your tribe if you will, and have helped develop you.
And I think when you're looking for balance and you're
setting a course for well being at work, having people
that you can lean on and find a support network
in early tends to be very pivotal for women, particularly
in any industry, but I've seen that be true, particularly
in healthcare. So I would say, emphasize on that people
(07:17):
piece in your partnership and I'll be covering some of
that topics and tips that I mentioned today in my
session at the PA Conference for Women on November seventh, and.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
We look forward to the panel discussion on how to
be Engaged, productive, and Happier at Work that's going to
be featured at the Pennsylvania Conference for Women, which is
happening on November seventh. If people would like more information
about Jefferson Health, where do they go.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
They can find all the information they need on our
website at Jeffersonhealth dot org.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Fantastic and for more information about the Pennsylvania Conference for Women,
go to Paconference for Women dot org. Dixie and James,
thank you for being a role model that you are
for so many looking forward to the panel discussion. Dixie
and James, President, Central Agent for at Jefferson Health, one
of our women who inspire. Thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Thank you. Lauren
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