In a recent article published on KevinMD, Improving communication requires tough soft skill development, I discussed the challenges of behavior change as one of the reasons that communication problems persist for us in healthcare. In today’s post, I’d like to highlight a related reason, namely the emotional risks involved in sharing power.
Communication in Terms of Power
Communication involves speaking up and listening around a message, yet it also involves sharing power. The person speaking up may be sharing an idea, a concern, a personal limit, or a piece of clinical information.
The person listening would be considering the other person’s idea, concern, limit, or piece of clinical information. People speaking up must be accountable for their ideas, worries, personal limits, and the information they are sharing i.e. take on more power. People listening, must be willing to respect others’ ideas, worries, limits or information that is being received.
Speakers in these examples may feel exposed, vulnerable and more responsible than they are comfortable with. Their confidence and self-esteem enter into the picture as well as their skills in assertiveness. Not only that, but the nature of the relationship with the speaker and culture they are working in also come into play. Is there a history of disrespect or abuse? Are bullying or blaming dynamics embedded in the culture? All of these issues speak to the emotional risk involved in speaking up.
There is also an emotional risk in listening as listeners may need to share responsibility for co-creating, problem-solving or managing conflict. The need to share responsibility, accept an alternative perspective, or ingrained expectations around being the one in charge, have emotional risks in letting go of power. Relationship history and cultural influences will be present here as well.
When we consider the emotional risks that can be involved in communication, it is no wonder that problems persist in the high stakes, high stress world of healthcare. It is a complex and complicated problem to solve!
Where Do We Start?
Improving communication will require interrelated personal growth and culture change. Challenging because we’re all at different learning edges, time and money are limited, and teaching these kinds of skills is different from most clinical education. But that doesn’t mean we can’t or shouldn’t start somewhere.
If you’ve followed my work in teaching communication and collaboration, you know I’ve been passionate about integrating medical or applied improv activities into trainings. That’s because I have seen how effective they are in building the trust (in self and others), emotional intelligence (confidence, self-respect, empathy, perspective-taking), and positive relationships that are helpful in sharing power.
Activities, such as Radical Acceptance, give people opportunities to practice speaking up and listening in ways that are relatively low risk. A few minutes in a clinical inservice, staff meeting, or orientation session will be time well spent.
If you are a healthcare leader and want to improve the communication skills and relationships in your team and culture of your organization, please consider joining this mailing list to learn more about Game Changing Team Development for Healthcare Leaders – One Activity at a Time!
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