Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of seeing the movie The Mighty Macs. It’s a story of a fledgling women’s college basketball team that rose to the national championship in the early 70’s at a time when the words “women” and “athletics” were rarely spoken in the same sentence. Read more...
What goes up must come down, right? This indisputable law has been regarded as a hard, fast fact for hundreds of years, but it doesn’t have to apply to your patient satisfaction scores. Just because your scores go up, doesn’t mean they have to fall again. And on the flip side, just because they go up, doesn’t mean they’ll stay up.
I was recently chatting with a client about what it takes to sustain positive change and I was shocked to realize how many leaders assume that positive changes aren’t sustainable. Read more...
None of us wants to believe that we are the roadblocks to innovation and change, yet there are so many times when I hear leaders shoot down opportunities for growth and innovation with one simple sentence. Take your pick of these most common squelchers, including: Read more...
- It won’t work!
- We tried that once back in…
- They won’t approve. (The we/they thing is always a clue to filter.)
- That will never fly here!
- You don’t understand. We’re different. (Healthcare suffers from terminal uniqueness, including one doctor’s patients being sicker than all others, one hospital having unique issues with running 24/7, and—my personal favorite—only angry patients fill out satisfaction surveys.)
The word ‘accountability’ gets tossed around a lot in leadership discussions. Everyone agrees that accountability is necessary in high-performing organizations but creating a culture of accountability is tough. I’ve seen even some of the most experienced leaders waver on this one. Read more...
I’ve been spending lots of time in my garden lately especially after a heavy travel schedule. Prior to leaving on the first of six back-to-back trips, I took the time to rid my flower gardens of the early weeds. I must say, they looked pretty good on April 30th when I left town. But with nice rich, amended soil, and lots of rain, the plants flourished. All of them. I returned home to find dozens of gorgeous flowers and weeds galore! That’s the thing about gardening that I’ve had to learn to accept. There will be weeds. The challenge is staying on top of them before all the ugly stuff takes over. But spending time in my garden lets my mind wander (when I’m not listening to audiobooks.) So as I was tending to the weeds, and propping up the peonies, and fertilizing the nutrient-starved foliage, I started thinking about the parallel between managing people and gardening. Both need time and attention in order to reach their full potential. To grow the best people and plants, I have to do my part. And that means I can’t tend to them only occasionally and expect everything to flourish.
Just like monitoring my garden for weeds, making rounds on your staff on a regular basis allows you to spot problems early and take action before they get out of control. You’ll see opportunities to reinforce, coach and advise when you take the time to be present. I’ve found that even a quick, five-minute conversation with a team member is enough for me to re-connect and let them know that they are important. It’s not enough to do that once a month. I need to do it regularly. If I don’t, small problems arise and cross-pollinate into big issues that could have been managed. If I can keep an eye on things in my garden, a few quick tugs at little weeds can keep my cherished plants strong and healthy. If I turn my back for too long the whole garden gets overgrown and I’m back to square one, spending more time and energy than I would have if I had just stayed on top of things. I hate having to pull out the big guns (Round up) in my garden nearly as much as I hate having a major confrontation with staff over problems run amok. So if I want to maintain a high-functioning team and a well maintained garden, I have to be present so I can nourish, support, and keep the noxious stuff at bay. So here’s to making regular rounds for a healthy team and bountiful garden!
