Stories of Sensemaking

The situations we encounter, the people in our healthcare systems and the underlying beliefs and expectations we bring to our work are at time encouraging, but also encompass resistance and threat, discovery of complexities and lack of velocity for sustained transformation.

Bring People And Ideas Together

Just a few days ago, Jennifer Finney Boylan’s Op Ed piece in the NY Times caught my eye. All My Old Haunts isn’t about healthcare, but it is about leadership. The kind she learned from her parents . . . that valued and engaged people from both sides of important issues. Jennifer’s early learning is sadly lacking in the senior management of many hospitals.

There is seldom one clean and clear solution to any clinical or management dilemma. There are opposing views, as Ellen Weber emphasizes, and involving them raises the ante on working memory. But it’s not just an exercise for the brain. Bringing supervisors and staff from various functions and viewpoints to the table increases the value of the human capital that the healthcare organization has already invested in.  You can take your pick of articles and research, from The Advisory Board Company, to Blessing White and Gallup, to the journals in organization development and nursing. The evidence and message are similar to the what Gallup reports employees as saying who are engaged, “At work, my opinions seem to count”.

When people are heard and recognized, they are more apt to remain committed to the organization and supportive of the tough decisions that leaders must make. Tactics for achieving that environment start at the department level with open-door policies and briefings on up-coming issues. Town hall meetings and video-conferences timed to include staff on all shifts and across functional areas can launch a dialogue and invite feedback in specific ways. Communication must be continuous and seek to find dissenting ideas. As Weber points out:

People who diminish opposing views also tend to cause flame wars. They tend to truncate discussions that could lead to amazing understanding from deeper and wider angles across different minds.

Great Outputs Start With Your Inputs

Destiny for your organization starts with you. Don’t leave me now. Just hang for a minute and hear me out.

You may feel like everyone else has a say in the present and the future of your hospital, from the Federal government, to the physicians at your hospital, the patients, and the staff. They certainly have a lot to say, and some have real power to shift your focus. But getting results is still the work of healthcare leaders . . . and that’s you.

Over the last 5 years, my focus on hospitals and healthcare systems has consistently included patient satisfaction and employee engagement. They are the yin and yang of reaching higher levels of performance. The delighted patient is the result of the dedicated employee. And those employees who are committed to their work and loyal to your hospital feel that way because you value and involve them in a variety of ways. A great overview of the basics of doing that comes from Ellen Weber’s recent post on Brainpowerd Tools to Manage Excellence.

Stay tuned here for a series of postings on how you, as a healthcare leader, can become agile at 10 tactics for leading towards excellence.