Michigan Medicine
Culture of Accountability Toolkit

Resources that create and support a safe place to work – psychologically, physically, and socially.

START

Learn the basics of creating
a culture of accountability on the Home page

Acquire the skills you need to create a culture of accountability on The Practices page

After you have incorporated the practices into your work, share your successes with us on the Share Your Best Practice page.

Let's get accountable!

As many initiatives continue to launch within the Michigan Medicine community, it can, at times, feel overwhelming and confusing. This toolkit has been created to align the actions and behaviors of the various initiatives and prioritize key skills that, with consistent and accountable use, will shape our desired Michigan Medicine culture, one that is psychologically physically, and socially, a safe place to work.

For the first phase of this toolkit, we have identified three practices essential to our current culture initiatives illustrated in the image to the right:

  1. Build professional relationships

  2. Demonstrate and promote respectful and civil behaviors

  3. Speak up and stand up for those who speak up

Michigan Medicine culture change initiatives

Our culture is the product of our beliefs, values, and behaviors. These initiatives represent the organization's commitment to safety for our patients, families, and co-workers.


What is culture?

In its simplest form, culture is the outcome of our shared values and behaviors.

Why is culture change important?

Culture determines how your team interacts with patients, their families, learners and each other.

With a culture of the right behaviors, we will achieve our highest potential of excellence in care, education, and research.

What am I accountable for?

My own actions that support a culture that is psychologically, physically, and socially safe for everyone to thrive

Culture of Accountability Guiding Principles

  • We live by our core values of caring, innovation, integrity, inclusion, and teamwork

  • We take personal responsibility for our actions

  • We hold others accountable, and raise concerns so we can achieve excellence in care, education, and research.

What happens if we do nothing?

Our highest potential is thwarted.

Data on current culture challenges

  • According to Christine Porath, associate professor of Business at Georgetown and author of Mastering Civility: A Manifesto for the Workplace,(2017) 62% of the people she surveyed reported being treated rudely at work at least once a week; that figure rose from 25% in 1998 and 55% in 2011.

  • According to another study released in June 2016 and published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, “incivility begets incivility. "Experiencing rude behavior from a leader reduces an employee’s self-control and leads them to act in a similar manner."


  • According to the 2018 Hiscox Workplace Harassment study, 35% of workers feel they have been harassed at work. 41% of women.

Michigan Medicine Accountable Culture Model

The Michigan Medicine Accountable Culture Model is a framework for our culture work. Additional resources for developing skills can be found on websites related to the six initiatives.


Culture of Blame vs. Culture of Accountability

Want to learn more? Here's how it all connects.