HASTINGS — The Director of Social Services and Case Management at Mary Lanning Healthcare was named the top manager in the world recently by Gallup.
Pat Kern, a 33-year employee of MLH, received the Gallup Manager of the Year Award in June as part of the Gallup Great Workplace Award ceremony. MLH won the Gallup Great Workplace Award for the fifth year. Any organization being considered for the Great Workplace Award was eligible to nominate a manager as Manager of the Year.
Other finalists were from companies including Stryker Corporation, Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance, KinderCare Education and Hawaii Pacific Health. The nominees were considered based on their ability to engage and inspire their employees, achieve business outcomes, support employee development and build a culture of excellence.
Kern’s nomination states that he grew his department from two to 16 staff members.
“Pat’s career has always been that of resolving complex issues,” the nomination states. “Each problem is unique, and each problem impacts the wellbeing of the patients. Pat is a ‘player coach,’ maintaining his own equal case load of patients, working on call and weekends, just like the rest of his team.”
Kern’s department has maintained a high level of employee engagement the last five years, despite the complexity of the issues his employees address. The department also has a .04% turnover rate.
“Pat’s calm and professional manner has been a steady force in maintaining high engagement in a stormy sea of patient issues,” the nomination states. “Pat has consistently demonstrated attributes of a leader in providing hope, stability, trust and compassion.”