Rewiring Excellence E-Book

Quint Studer

• Herausgeber: The Gratitude Group Publishing
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 115

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

In 2003, Quint Studer wrote Hardwiring Excellence: Purpose, Worthwhile Work, Making a Difference. Now, 20 years later, the world has changed drastically. While some widely embraced behaviors and processes need to stay hardwired, others no longer work well (or, in some cases, at all). In many areas, it’s time to rewire. 

Rewiring Excellence: Hardwired to Rewired is Quint’s response to our rapidly shifting environment. Along with Dan Collard, who contributed to the book, he pinpoints the key areas that—at least in many organizations—may needrewiring. And he provides a wealth of practical how-tos for getting started. Here are just a few things leaders will learn:

• How to evaluate whether a process, practice, or behavior needs rewiring (or whether it’s better left hardwired)

• Why the Human Capital Ecosystem™ Assessment is a good starting point for reimagining your organization

• Why popular practices like patient and employee rounding have become too complicated and how to make them doable again

• Tactics for rethinking critical areas like selection and onboarding oftalent, skill building, patient experience, employee well-being, and more 

• Why a “precision” approach to development is urgently needed in an industry with so many new leaders 

Here’s the book’s overarching message: The decision to rewire is as individual as the organization itself. Let outcomes lead the way. If it’s working, great. Keep doing what’s hardwired. But if you’re not getting the results you want, don’t be afraid to let go of the past. Rewire, move forward, and keep making healthcare better and better as the world evolves around us.

Leseprobe

Excellence

Hardwired to Rewired

Quint Studer

with Dan Collard

Rewiring

Copyright © 2023 by Quint Studer and Dan Collard

All rights reserved.

Published by:

The Gratitude Group Publishing

350 West Cedar St., Suite 300

Pensacola, FL 32502

www.thegratitudegroup.com

ISBN: 978-1-7370789-7-5

The stories in this book are true. However, some names and identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of all concerned.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. Making copies of any part of this book for any purpose other than your own personal use is a violation of United States copyright laws. Entering any of the contents into a computer for mailing list or database purposes is strictly prohibited unless written authorization is obtained from The Gratitude Group Publishing.

Printed in the United States of America

To all past, present, and future Fire Starters

Table of Contents

Preface i

Introduction: What Does It Mean to Rewire? iii

Chapter 1: Diagnosing the Need to Rewire 1

Chapter 2: Rewiring Organizational Assessments:

A Walk Through the Human Capital Ecosystem 9

Chapter 3: Rewiring the Selection and Onboarding Processes 25

Chapter 4: Rewiring Patient and Employee Rounding 33

Chapter 5: Rewiring Leader Development 45

Chapter 6: Rewiring Skill Building and the Evaluation Process 53

Chapter 7: Rewiring Physician Ownership 61

Chapter 8: Rewiring Well-Being 69

Chapter 9: Rewiring Retention 77

Chapter 10: Summary 83

Endnotes 87

About the Authors 89

About Healthcare Plus Solutions Group 93

Other Books from Quint Studer 95

Preface

At first, you might have thought the title of this book had a typo. After all, since 2003, there has been a book that thousands of leaders have carried with them through their careers. It has become a mainstay in graduate courses in healthcare leadership. Its content has been cited in numerous articles. You might say it has been “hardwired” into our industry.

And yet…here we are today. It’s a different world from 2003. It’s a time that calls for different solutions…solutions that fit today versus 20 years ago. Medicine has evolved; technology has evolved. Wouldn’t the way we solve healthcare’s greatest challenges also evolve?

It’s time to rewire. This does not mean certain actions don’t remain hardwired. What it means is if an action is working, leave it alone. There are times when some aspects stay hardwired, yet components are rewired.

This is more than a book about changing times. It’s a book that brings every bit of necessary passion to an industry that needs it now more than ever. It’s a book of doable approaches for an industry where sometimes even the most straightforward ideas are at risk of being overcomplicated. And it is a book that I call a “living book.” It will continue to be refined as we learn more.

Who best to turn to for breaking down complex ideas into bite-size chunks…and making them accomplishable? The industry’s best friend and advocate for so many years, Quint Studer. If you’re a veteran leader, you’ll recognize Quint’s approach to creating solutions. If you’re a new leader, you’ll appreciate his gift for making the daunting seem doable. If you’re a student or an aspiring leader, get ready for a healthy dose of reality so you can enter the world of healthcare leadership with an eyes-wide-open view.

Get ready to rewire.

—Dan Collard

Introduction: What DoesIt Mean to Rewire?

Over the years, I have made use of various mental health services. During times, fear gets ahold of me. Fear of letting people down. Fear of failure. Fear of death. During this journey, the need to rewire my thinking becomes clear. This means changing the pattern of thinking that triggered my fears. For example, learning to say, “I get to,” instead of, “I have to,” or, “I must,” has made a difference. That single change makes the action itself feel better. Instead of saying, “I have to go on the road this week,” now it’s, “I get to go on the road and work with great people.”

Another one of my habits is projecting failure or anticipating the worst possible outcome. My rationalization is, “If I can handle the worst, then I will be prepared for whatever happens.” That’s not a bad thing if a hurricane is coming. However, done on a regular basis, it is exhausting and physically and mentally damaging. Today when this happens, my response is to engage in positive self-talk. For example, for years before every presentation, my mind would go to, This is the presentation that will go bad. Now my thought process is, I have done so many of these and they have gone well, so this one will go well today. When we wake up and say to ourselves, Today is going to be a great day, we usually find that it is. Every morning, my practice is to text a group that includes three other people; we each share three things we are grateful for from the day before. These are all examples of how we can rewire our thoughts and our language.

The word “rewire” also seems to fit today’s healthcare environment. When we used the word “hardwire” years ago, it made sense, and sometimes it still can be the best word to describe a process. It means to put tools and methods in place so they happen consistently. The downside is that as things evolve in healthcare, there are tools, techniques, and actions that are no longer working or that don’t work as well as they initially did. Yet they keep being used because they are hardwired. The bottom line is that some things benefit from never being changed, while others need to be changed to account for new circumstances. This is where rewiring comes in.

When is rewiring needed? A good question to ask for all actions is, “How is it working?” If the desired results are achieved, leave it alone. If results are not there, then it is time to relook at the situation. I was watching a video of Steve Jobs recently. (It’s so sad he is no longer with us physically.) He talked about being bold enough to make what you create obsolete. A natural barrier to doing so is denial: the insistence that it’s still working even when the facts say differently.

We are so fortunate to be contacted by many individuals. They want to feel better, like they used to feel. We share that this is very possible. However, it means letting go of much of the past. When the first fax machine came out, it was exciting. Yet, few would want to go back to faxing. Think about the early mobile phones. They were heavy, and no one today would carry a heavy bag phone around given the modern versions available. Yet moving forward is not always easy. People are afraid to let go.  

Today, we must rewire many of the current methods. While it’s great to have lots of steps in place to achieve optimal employee engagement, physician engagement, and patient experience, what if they are not doable? What if the facts show they are not working as we wish they were? What if the structure or the rigid nature of the steps takes away the authenticity? What if the person on the receiving end of a technique feels like part of a transaction versus feeling valued as part of a relationship? 

At a recent talk, I shared that my goal is to make many of the tools and techniques recommended over the years obsolete. It is not because that’s my wish; it is because I have learned better ways to achieve the outcomes. That means the newest tools and tactics, not obsolete ones. While speaking these words, Steve Jobs’ message was ringing in my ears.

We are in a world of perpetual rewiring. Yes, some actions are best hardwired, as they continue to be valuable. For example, I have hardwired morning prayers and am very consistent with them. However, even with something as vital as prayers, they are rewired a bit at times as needed. Likewise, people have learned over the years to shake up their workouts, for the same actions every time will lose impact and ultimately won’t yield outcomes.

The beauty of rewiring is that it often makes things more doable, more flexible, more enjoyable, and more likely to achieve better outcomes.  

We look forward to sharing in this book several “rewire” examples that work, as well as a process to diagnose and design your own rewires. 

Thank you for all you do to keep healthcare excellent as the industry and world evolve around us.

—Quint Studer

Introduction: What Does It Mean to Rewire?

Diagnosing the Need

to Rewire

Years ago, in searching for a term to describe putting in place a tool, action, or method that would stick, the word “hardwired” came to mind. I am sure I read it somewhere. The word reminded me of projects my father worked on. He was a mechanic and a handyman. In some situations, he would put in a steel pipe and run wires through it. This protected the wires from various elements that could damage them. The pipe also held the wires steady and in place.

How can an organization create consistency and sustain high performance? There are some actions that should be hardwired, meaning not adjusted. The wire going through the pipe demonstrated that some systems are built to not be flexible and thus very hard to change. This is a good technique when the external environment stays the same, the workforce is very consistent, technology has little or no adjustments, and the hardwired actions and tools are achieving the desired outcomes. 

As mentioned earlier, the need to rewire does not mean that what was implemented was wrong or did not work at the time. If they didn’t work, the tools, processes, and actions would not have been put in place. The key is being willing and able to rethink things when circumstances change.

Bounce: The Art of Turning Tough Times into Triumph was written by Keith McFarland in 2009. It is a great book on how companies can bounce back after a financial downturn. In looking at late 2008/early 2009, the financial meltdown was very serious. Fast-forward to more recently and after the pandemic, organizations are experiencing even more challenges as they try to bounce back. The pandemic increased the acceleration of telehealth. It also increased the number of people who can work virtually. In Bounce,McFarlandstated that two emotions that keep an organization from moving forward with the urgency needed are denial and nostalgia—denial of the depth and scope of the situation and nostalgia to go back to what once was. Denial is not the issue with the intense challenges facing all in healthcare. Nostalgia does rear up at times.

We receive calls from CEOs and others. We are grateful that people reach out. Many say, “It feels like we should just get back to the basics.” As part of diagnosing an organization whose performance isn’t where they want it to be, we’ll traditionally ask two questions: 1. “What if a leader (or group of leaders) wasn’t here when the basics were introduced?” and 2. “What if the basics have changed?”

In diagnosing, it is important to see why what worked in the past seems to not be working as well (or at all) in the present. Is it the tools that were put in place? Is it the process? Is it the frontline staff? Is it leadership? What other factors have impacted the outcomes?  

Experience is a big one. The number of resignations that have taken place due to the pandemic means there are many people who are new to their roles. Even without the pandemic, the aging of the population meant there were going to be more retirements than normal. The pandemic increased the number of departures. Now we’re in what we call “the one-up world.” People tend to be in a role one up from where they were. It is not unusual for more than 20 percent of people in a leadership role to have less than three years’ experience leading. Then, there is another 20 percent of people who are experienced in leadership; however, they’re now in a different leadership role.   

Here is an example: We were at an organization that is very well respected. All those in a leadership position were attending an off-site session. The CEO led off the day sharing the number “1,185,” asking the group what they thought it represented. People had fun guessing. The answer turned out to be the number of days since they had all been together in person in a system-wide leadership session. In working with the human resource department, we learned that 43 percent of those in attendance had not been at the session 1,185 days ago. Some were brand new to the organization. Some had gone from an hourly staff position to a leadership role. What this meant was 57 percent of the attendees had a recollection of what being a leader at the organization used to be like. The other 43 percent did not. Imagine being at an event where people are sharing what a great time they had four years ago. While fun to hear, there’s a different perception for those who were not at the event. This is the reality for leaders who became leaders after March 2020: Many could end up feeling like they’ll eternally be three years behind everyone else.