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Danger in Healthcare Losing Its Very Essence: Human Connection

Kathy Bloomgarden, CEO of Ruder Finn, wrote a compelling article in Fortune about how the healthcare industry is slowly losing the very essence of healthcare: human connection.

Like Ms. Bloomgarden, we’re concerned about the decline of human connection in the patient experience. We’re also concerned that a decline of doctor-patient connection is contributing to alarming rates of physician burnout which research has shown is associated with medical errors.

For these reasons, we’ve been working with healthcare organizations for more than a decade to boost human connection by creating Connection Cultures.  Read more about it in articles we’ve written for Becker’s Hospital Review including “Creating a Life-Giving Connection Culture in Healthcare Organizations,” “3 Practices to Protect Your People from Toxic Stress and Burnout,” and this podcast on improving cultures in healthcare organizations that we did while speaking at The University of Texas’ M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

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3 Steps to Improve Quality and Safety

Construction workers looking at plans concerned about quality and safety

Mistakes and accidents can literally be a matter of life and death in certain industries. Workers in healthcare, construction, aerospace/defense, airline and automobile manufacturing, for instance, must be highly attuned to eliminating mistakes and accidents. Presently, the healthcare industry is experiencing alarming rates of physician burnout, which research has shown contributes to accidents that affect patient outcomes. In hyper-competitive industries such as manufacturing and retail, minimizing the waste from mistakes is essential to maintaining price competitiveness.  For others, mistakes and accidents can negatively impact the customer experience or damage the organization’s reputation.

Many thanks to Forbes.com contributor Blake Morgan, host of The Modern Customer podcast, for interviewing me about how connection cultures positively influence customer experience. Read the article on Forbes and check out the link to the full podcast interview.

Date: February 28, 2018
Appearance: Forbes Article: How Having a Culture of Connection Can Impact Your Customer Experience
Outlet: Forbes
Format: Other

I had the pleasure of participating in the No Bad Bosses Podcast, which is hosted by MANAGEtoWIN CEO David Russell. No Bad Bosses features conversations with business leaders on how to be a great boss, how to hire great people, and how to avoid common leadership mistakes.

In this podcast, we discuss the importance of connection in the workplace and common leadership challenges. Listen to our full conversation.

Date: February 6, 2018
Appearance: No Bad Bosses Podcast Featuring Michael Stallard
Outlet: No Bad Bosses Podcast
Format: Podcast
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Theory C: A New Theory of Management

Leader with employees testing new management theory

With employee disengagement remaining at very high levels in America as well as globally, and growth in significant new scientific findings that shed light on conditions necessary for human flourishing, it’s time to reconsider management theory and our approach to maximizing the performance of individuals and organizations.

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How U2’s Extraordinary Team Culture Helps the Band Thrive

U2 in concert. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia user MelicansMatkin under Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported. Image has been cropped.

This week U2 releases its 14th studio album, “Songs of Experience.” The band has had a phenomenal run since it came together in the mid-1970s. U2 is composed of four band members: lead singer Bono, lead guitar player “Edge,” bass guitar player Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen, Jr. The band members have known each other since they were teenagers in Dublin, Ireland. In its early days it was not unusual for the band to be booed and laughed at. The wonder is that U2 has gone on to receive a remarkable 22 Grammy awards, more than any band in history, and has the highest revenue-generating concert tour.

I had the pleasure of contributing an article on Costco’s Connection Culture to the November 2017 issue of ATD’s TD Magazine. If you aren’t a subscriber to the magazine, you can listen to the audio recording of the article to learn more about how culture fuels Costco’s success.

I’ll be speaking about Costco’s Connection Culture at ATD’s International Conference and Exposition in San Diego May 6-9, 2018 and giving a keynote speech about Connection Culture at Talent Next in West Palm Beach on November 8, 2017. I hope to meet with you at one or both of these events!

Date: November 1, 2017
Appearance: Article on Costco in ATD’s TD Magazine
Outlet: TD Magazine
Format: Magazine
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3 Ways Connection Provides Protection From Job Burnout

 

Isolated businessman who is suffering from burnout

Recently Katie Stallard and I taught a Connection Culture workshop at a leading healthcare organization and I gave the closing keynote speech at the ATD/Columbia University School of Business Healthcare Summit in New York City. In conversations with people I met, I sensed a growing alarm and frustration about rising levels of burnout in healthcare.