Managing Successfully in Healthcare Housekeeping

By ROGER GOBBO, PHH, Past President Ontario Healthcare Housekeeping Association (OHHA)

What is a successful healthcare housekeeping manager? A better question would be What is a successful healthcare housekeeping department?

A few years ago, a colleague (Andy) and I sat down for a coffee and he posed this query to me: ‘Do you know that we may be among the last of a dying breed? You and I are directing major healthcare departments without a formal education. We, the young rebellious bucks of not too long ago, are becoming dinosaurs.’

Andy meant ‘formal education’ as completing a university degree of college diploma before entering the workforce. ‘Dinosaurs’ meant that we started our careers in healthcare as janitors/cleaners and worked our way to management positions. The implications of his query revealed that many healthcare leaders (directors, managers, supervisors, etc.) were being qualified by education first and experience second.

A typical ad for housekeeping director/managers’ responsibilities would be as follows:

Manage, using best practices and quality leadership, the housekeeping service, linen services, and waste management services of the hospital. Must have a (bld)Bachelor’s Degree(endbld) with the requisite experience within a healthcare facility. Provide direction to supervisory staff and frontline staff of approximately 120 FTE, adhering to all federal, provincial and municipal regulations and guideline. Ensure all staff participate (and trained where required) in all hospital and departmental reviews of fire and safety, occupational health, workplace violence prevent, human rights adherence, confidentiality, privacy, etc. Provide a clean, safe and healthful environment for patients, staff and visitors. Review and/or revise all departmental policies and procedures. Provide responsible management of the department budget, includes allocating of services through staffing, equipment, supplies and all required purchases. Have excellent analytical, organizational, interpersonal and English communication skills, both oral and written, as well as the ability to coach and instruct. Will provide demonstrated leadership abilities including experience with job interviews, performance appraisals. Have demonstrated skills of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, proprietary housekeeping software programs, bed tracking software, security system software, and other software programs as required.

We both concluded that the progression of variables that have evolved over the past 20 years in the workplace, let alone the healthcare field, have made it inevitable that proof of college and/or university education be part of the requirements for the healthcare housekeeping leader.

An individual can still work their way up from frontline, but they must be willing to obtain the critical education. Consider that years ago budgeting, staffing, safety, workloads and quality were the major responsibilities. The same responsibilities still apply but are now part and parcel with others such as human rights, modified work, occupational health, legislation, software applications, housekeeping methodology, quantitative quality control, risk management, statistical analysis, future capital acquisitions, etc. Phew!

Many more requirements could be added to the above ad which begs to ask: Do the requirements add up to a successful healthcare housekeeping leader? No and yes. Almost all the stated requirements are (bld)technical (scientific)(endbld). The requirement that ties in all the technical requirements and allows having the best probability to be successful, is the skill of (bld)communication(endbld).

The communication skills are not only required within the organization but also in dealing outside the facility, with private industries and public agencies. Within the organization, communication is directed with the healthcare housekeeping staff, other frontline support staff, other facility leaders and senior administration. Outside the organization, communications will take place with environmental ministries, municipal agencies and contracted services.

The amount of communication tools is becoming greater, from face to face contact and telephone land lines to cell phones, written e-mail, text messaging, teleconferencing, video conferencing, etc. I guess the next step would be mental telepathy.

It has been my experience that most of the challenges that I have encountered with others (and they with me – of course), is not understanding the messages sent out to one another. The messages sent out must be clear and (bld)understandable(endbld), whether verbal, written or in your body language.

The environment from which the message is sent and to where it is received, is a major condition that influences the understanding of the message. There may also be barriers (static telephone lines and cell phone connections, mail services, internet obstacles, etc.) through which the message passes that also influence the understanding of the message. The success of the understanding of the messages is conveyed through culminating (bld)feedback(endbld) of the completed process.

The diagram in Figure One illustrates the course of the message that is conceived, then sent, the channel through which it travels (written, verbal or both), to the receiver, the decoding of the receiver and the return of feedback to the sender. Feedback may be a positive or negative.

Communication and communicating successfully with others and understanding what others are communicating to you are not new realizations in being a successful department. The adage that (end itals)“some things never change”(enditals) applies more outstandingly regarding successful communication than ever before.

I’ve always regarded the usefulness of being scientific as extremely important in operating a successful department, but always knowing that the “people” in all of us, and successful understanding eachother is the cornerstone on which success is truly built.

- Roger Gobbo can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or (807) 737-1745.