Home » WaterCooler Collaboration » Collaborative Hardwiring: Post 71

Collaborative Hardwiring: Post 71

For readers accustomed to weekly posts, I apologize that this summer, I will be cutting back to twice monthly because of a heavy clinical load performing locum tenens coverage in Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire, where I maintain licenses.  Summer tends to be a busy time for me, as surgeons seek time away from work to be with their families.  I feel grateful to add value by helping them enjoy vacations without worrying about what is happening to their patients.  A surgical colleague in Maine recently told me, “I wish that you were my partner rather than a locums doc.”

I know from conversations with some of you that this is a trying time and empathize with the challenges that you are facing.  As I wrote in Collaborative Confessions, change feels like failure when we are in the middle of it, something that achievement-oriented professionals are programmed to resist. 

It reminds me of a time February 1996 we nicknamed the Valentine’s Day Massacre, when I lost my job at a VA hospital because of a budget cut, along with four other part-time physicians and surgeons because as part-timers, we had no seniority rights.  Because my wife wanted to remain in New England, I applied to the Dartmouth Tuck School MBA program, so that we could continue living in our home.  None of my male colleagues thought that what I was doing was a sound idea.  One admonished me, “It sounds like you are jumping off a cliff, hoping that you will find your wings before you crash to the ground.”

In contrast, all ten women with whom I spoke told me that as one door was closing, several more would open up with opportunities that took advantage of my talents more than my present job as Associate Professor of Surgery and Chief of Surgical Oncology at the VA.  I asked the tenth woman why she thought that there was such a difference in replies:

Men derive most of their self-esteem from their careers and fear change, while we women are hardwired to deal with change.  We go to high school and college, some to graduate school, some get married and have children, but whatever we do, change is a part of our lives every single day.

The next time that I heard the term “hardwiring” was in Quint Studer’s book Hardwiring Excellence, in which he defined hardwiring (p.2) as ingraining systems and tools that recognize what is right and what is working well.  Its importance is to serve as a method for sustaining gains after a leader leaves an organization (p.18).

Through this journey, I learned that results come from hardwiring agendas, evaluations, communication, training, selection, discharge phone calls, thank you notes, and more.  This way, the hardwired behaviors drive the system even if the leaders change.  This is crucial since most staff and physicians will work at a facility longer than the average CEO.  Hardwiring excellence supports the organization’s values and sustains the gains. 

Part of Studer’s journey was turbulent.  He recalled (p.12) a friend who listened to his complaining about problems at a hospital where he worked and handed him an envelope with three decals to post on mirrors in his home, car, and office that said, “You’re looking at the problem.”   It brings to mind the recently deceased Michael Jackson song, “Man in the Mirror” which he sang at the 1988 Grammy Awards.  Change is indeed difficult, as Studer recalled (p.12):

I had heard that I was part of the problem before in the early 90′s, but I just didn’t believe it…. I said to Tim, a housekeeping employee, “This place looks terrible.” He looked back at me and said,”The fish starts rotting at the head.” I didn’t know what he meant then.  I thought that was because I didn’t do much fishing.  Now I know he was speaking about leadership.

I summarized in Collaborative Confessions my own recent struggle with change as I found what I do had become a “discretionary expense.”  I bypassed denial and went straight to anger, but by admitting that I did not have the answers and obtaining coaching assistance, I have emerged at a wiser, more sensitive, and more accepting place.  A surgical colleague who is now a hospital Chief Operating Officer lamented,”It took me over half my life to recognize that by relinquishing control, I gained influence.” 

I have learned, as Christopher Cornue alluded in, “Where did all the strategists go?” that:

• We all face danger of extinction in this troubled economy
• Making myself indispensable requires active, ongoing effort
• Email alone is insufficient for staying in touch with a rapidly changing marketplace
• Pain can be a powerful motivator
• Daily exercise boosts serotonin and can keep depression manageable
• Forcing myself to write down three things for which I am grateful every night helps me keep my  helplessness in perspective
• I can permit myself to grieve (briefly); as a colleague advised, “It’s OK to visit pity city as long as you don’t live there.”
• More importantly, I can reward myself at the time and place of my choosing, which has helped the local ice cream parlor thrive despite difficult times
• I can be in touch with the majority of my body composition that is liquid and flow in occasionally different directions when a customary route is dammed
• In “The Question Behind the Question”, John Miller points out that the only question that matters does not begin with “who” or “why,” but “what can I do?” or “how can I help?”; perhaps my experience is teaching me to substitute “I” for “they” when I form the words, “If only….”

What do you think of my mentor’s comment that change feels like failure when we are in the middle of it?

• Do you agree with Michael Jackson’s lyrics, “If you want to make the world a better place, take a look in the mirror and then make that change.”
• What are you grateful for
• How difficult is it for us men whose self-esteem derives predominantly from our careers to access our 23 maternal chromosomes that are hardwired to deal with change
• Where do we turn next

As always, I welcome your input to improve healthcare collaboration.

Kenneth H. Cohn

© 2009, all rights reserved

Posted in WaterCooler Collaboration

Comments

Home | Contact | Privacy 2005 - © 2012 Healthcare Collaboration All rights reserved.