Creating a People Centered Organization: 12 Organizational Actions to Reduce Burnout and Foster Professional Fulfillment, 2nd Edition (PDF)

by Dr. Stephen J. Swensen MD MMM, Dr. Tait Shanafelt MD

Creating a People-Centered Organization offers a structured framework for improving workplace culture in clinical settings. Grounded in research and executive leadership experience, the authors present twelve organizational actions that reduce burnout and promote professional fulfilment among healthcare professionals. Rather than focusing on occupational distress, burnout, moral injury, and cognitive dissonance distress, this practical guide presents a hopeful narrative on well-being, camaraderie, values alignment, and meaning. It introduces ten ideal work elements such as trust, mentorship, flexibility, and community supporting intrinsic motivation and sustainable engagement. The book also provides strategies for building reliable systems that foster clinician and staff well-being as a vehicle to optimize patient care and integrates insights from organizational development, occupational well-being, and operations management to guide cultural transformation. Designed for clinicians, healthcare managers, and operational leaders, this title is essential for organizations and programs focused on health systems leadership, organizational behavior, and clinical management, and for institutions seeking to foster resilient, values-driven healthcare organizations.