By Beth Boynton, Jim Mecir, & Ellen Schnur
If Only Healthcare Teams Were Like Pitching Machines!
Wouldn’t it be nice if healthcare was a simple, mechanical system like a baseball pitching machine? All the parts working together smoothly with perfect pitches every time. If a part breaks, it can be repaired or replaced.
If only people could perform perfectly every time in healthcare! If they don’t, either fix them or replace them! We could ensure the best critical outcomes in patient safety, patient experience and workforce health.
Of course, people are not machines, and any system that involves human beings and their interactions are not so simple. They are part of a human Complex Adaptive System (CAS). Leaders who understand this complexity will help ensure critical outcomes.
It’s All About Human Interactions
Hospitals, nursing homes, doctors offices and surgical teams involve humans who provide care to other humans and their friends and families who receive it. The services are heavily based on interactions between professionals, administrators, vendors and with consumers. And these interactions impact all of our critical outcomes including: patient safety, patient experience, and workforce health.
It is impossible for leaders to control all of these interactions with outdated, top-down, authoritative command leadership. They need a new approach when it comes to influencing communication and relationships. A strategy that empowers employees with skills to adapt, respond, and interact with others and create best outcomes for everyone involved.
Baseball Players & Healthcare Professionals
Although baseball seems to be an individualistic sport, there is a vast amount of human interaction behind the scenes. Communication that can affect the outcome of games and even the health of players.
During the baseball season minor injuries can turn into major injuries because of a lack of communication between the player and trainer. If a player feels like he needs to prove himself he may play through the pain of an injury, not telling the manager about it. Even if the player tells the trainer, the trainer might not stress to the manager that the player needs to rest. This is because they are only worried about winning.
When you have a culture where winning is the only objective, and the health of players doesn’t matter unless they are a superstar, serious problems like overuse and burnout often occur.
Does this sound familiar to readers working in healthcare? How do burnout, morale issues or workers compensation claims manifest in cultures where blaming or bullying prevail. Or healthcare systems where profits seem to outweigh clinical care priorities?
When it comes to healthcare, we know that problems with communication and behavior underlie problems with patient safety, patient experience, and workforce health.
Whether Baseball, Business or Healthcare
Whether it’s baseball, business or healthcare, understand that improving communication and promoting positive relationships is essential for best outcomes. To understand how human complex adaptive systems work and continuously find tools that empower staff to be their best.
Complexity leadership is a radically different approach from the top-down, linear,command and control methods that are familiar, outdated, and ineffective. It is a teaching modality that holds promise for longterm, meaningful changes to old, pervasive problems. We believe that leaders who employ this strategy will be hitting the ball out of the park!
YES, AND, Medical Improv is an emerging field that gives complexity leaders a tool to promote healthy human interactions within complex adaptive systems. Watch this series to learn more about this empowering approach to healthcare solutions! Or reach out to Beth@Bethboynton.com, jimmecir@improvtalk.com or Ellen.schnur@improvtalk.com for more info.
YES, AND, Medical Improv is an emerging field that gives complexity leaders a tool to promote healthy human interactions within complex adaptive systems. Watch this series to learn more about this empowering approach to healthcare solutions! Or reach out to Beth@Bethboynton.com, jimmecir@improvtalk.com or Ellen.schnur@improvtalk.com for more info.
Follow
