Collaborative Reinvention

March 19th, 2008 by Kenneth Cohn

A sign in my office proclaims, “It’s never too late to change what you want to be when you grow up.”

The women in my family understand all too well that men can take decades longer than women to reach maturity.  Clearly, the song in Peter Pan, “I’ll never grow up,” became a classic because it touched a nerve.

 The thought that I want to ponder this week is whether our defiance of the confines of maturity can become an evolutionary survival advantage in times of disruptive change. In a previous post, Strategic Collaboration, I mentioned Eisenhardt’s and Sull’s advice (”Strategy as Simple Rules.” Harvard Business Review Reprint R0101G, 2001) to:

  • Jump into the confusion
  • Keep moving
  • Finish strong
  • Build on success
  • Learn from mistakes

A study of practicing US surgeons (Campbell DA, et al. “Burnout Among American Surgeons.” Surgery. 2001; 130:696-705) documented emotional exhaustion in 32% and feelings of depersonalization and low self-esteem in 13% and 4% respectively, prompting the authors to comment that we have taught residents how to perform surgery but not how to live life as a surgeon.

Cross-training athletic regimens offer the advantages of improved strength and performance and decreased risk of burnout and disabling injury.  We need to consider a cross-training program for physicians that allows us to build up our process skills like communication, negotiation, and conflict resolution, and avoid feeling at the mercy of change (Cohn KH, Peetz ME. “Surgeon Frustration: Contemporary Problems, Practical Solutions.  Contemporary Surgery. 2003; 59(2):76-85).

What do you think:

  • Do you expect the pace of change in healthcare to continue or even accelerate
  • What local solutions are viable in the face of global economic disruptive change
  • If resistance is not a reasonable long-term strategy, what can we do to embrace change
  • Do you agree with Prof. Rosabeth Moss Kanter that change is disturbing when done to us, but exciting when done by us

As always, I welcome your input.

Posted in Learning

Share Your Opinions