Building Brave People

Some of the best ideas or articles I get come from many of you who share things that you read that speak to you. The article “Culture of Change: Creating a Culture That Breeds Bravery” came from Missy Morrow McCulley (Education Administrator, Strategic Improvement/New Brunswick). The article is a quick read; I’d love to hear if it speaks to you, and why.

I have two big takeaways from the article.

1. During times of rapid change, our anxiety goes up and the willingness to “Lean In” or take risks goes down. 

Now this makes perfect sense because when you feel like the world is spiraling, you aren’t going to want to do more things to make it spiral any faster.

Last week Horizon Health announced a new program for their insurance customers—24 hours a day, 7 days a week they will have access to speak to a physician. Unfortunately, you can’t pick the physician you want to speak with, but someone will be available 24/7 to answer questions.

Think about the type of disruption this could cause. When a parent wants to know which doctor to go to for their child’s issues, they can just call a phone number and the doctor on the other line could have the Horizon book in front of them that may tell them who has the best quality scores or would cost the person the least amount; in essence driving the decisions that families will make.

This one tool could be a huge disruptive force.

We could spend our time worrying about this, fighting it, or believing that we don’t have to worry because our relationships with our existing patients will trump any other doctor on the other end of the phone. Or we could see this as an opportunity to educate those physicians on the unique needs of our kids and figure out how to be an integral link to what they are doing.

Now it may not be probable that we will get to do this, but it is possible.

The article shared that possible is the stretch. It is the dream that could be a harebrained idea, but in doing so, we learn and put ourselves out there. We can’t accomplish that by playing it safe.

2. You gain strength and influence when you give up your power and understand that if you think it is important; there is nothing beneath you.

I recently had this conversation with Jagdar Tamesar (Environmental Services/New Brunswick). I am forever picking up garbage off the floor – not just in the hospital, but everywhere. In Macy’s, the parking deck – it doesn’t matter – I bend down and pick it up to throw it out.

The reason I do it at Children’s Specialized is because trash on the floor is a poor reflection on us. It shows people that we don’t care enough to attend to the little things and if we can’t get the little things right, what we will do when confronted with something as important as caring for their child?

So, I pick up the paper. After all, it is everyone’s job to pitch in and I can’t hold myself above that or anything else that I am capable of doing.

So those were my two big takeaways. What are yours?