Your Net Thriving Score - Emerging Nurse Leader

By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN

Nurse leaders have been asking me if there is an easy-to-use instrument to measure their nursing staff’s wellbeing. Many health systems have robust wellbeing strategies but don’t know if they are impacting the well-being of staff. Quantifying success is crucial because we know from Gallup data that well-being affects the number of sick days people take, their job performance, burnout, and their likelihood to leave your organization. Researchers from Gallup are concerned about the well-being of staff post-pandemic, especially in the healthcare space. These concerns are well-founded. On a recent ANA pulse survey, when asked how they are doing on a scale of zero to ten, the average score was a 5.7

Based on all of their well-being research, Gallup experts now recommend that organizations evaluate their net thriving score at the individual, team, and organization level. You can measure employee wellbeing and organizational resilience by asking a powerful two-part question that captures a broad array of wellbeing factors. The answer will determine your Gallup Net Thriving (GNT) score — revealing if your workforce is suffering, struggling, or thriving. These questions can be incorporated into existing employee surveys or pushed out on apps like Blink, Energage, Glint, or Inpulse that many health systems already use for employee feedback. The two key questions to ask according to Gallup research are:

Imagine You are on a Staircase with 10 Steps with 10 Being the Best Possible Life – What Step are You on Today?
Imagine Five Years from Now – What Step will You be on?

The average net thriving score can be tracked in units and across the organization. Gallup researchers report that these net thriving scores can vary considerably across areas and provide better insight into the hotspots where staff may need help. Gallup believes a leader and/or organization can influence up to 70% of a net thriving score with targeted interventions.

What I like about this GNT score recommendation is that it is both evidence-based and simple to do. For more information on the net thriving score, you can watch this video of Dr. Jim Harter (chief Gallup scientist) explaining the concept. Now is the time to begin collecting this data so you can track your progress in 2021.

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