Culture and Love

While reflecting back on 2014 and looking forward toward 2015, I was inspired by the Market Basket Story to write on my personal blog about the lessons it inspired related to a strong culture and caring, engaged leadership. I’d like to summarize here the primary message from that blog post as it is worth repeating for health and care leaders, so listen up!

Culture is the way we act as leaders. It is the tone we set, the expectations we communicate, and the behavior, language and performance that we tolerate.

Do you want a communicative, fair, safe culture? Then communicate openly about the good, the bad, and the ugly. Be fair with the people that choose to work in your organization, and with the way you make decisions (don’t interpret as treating everyone the same…), and model an environment where speaking up about your mistakes and owning them is celebrated not frowned upon.

Remember, if it is to be it is up to me.

Health and care safety in 2015

People business first, medicine business second.

People is where our focus needs to be. Caring and healing our patients and their families, absolutely, it’s the calling that many of us responded to that finds us doing the work we do. But it needs to be more than this. I propose that in 2015 we need our focus to be more on the people that provide this care – as leaders we need to make these people ‘the business that we are in.’

Commit to being in the people business first. The care givers; the nurses, the technicians, the physicians, the patient care attendants, the unit secretaries, the managers, the supervisors, the housekeepers, the pharmacists, the social workers and each other.

Provide the generosity, kindness, love, fairness and justice that connects them to their purpose, reminds them of their calling, and creates a safe environment for them to deliver the best care possible.

The reporter for the piece on Market Basket closed out the segment by suggesting that the Market Basket employee’s actions have presented other companies throughout the Commonwealth and around the world with a challenge of sorts – loyalty is one thing, these folks though clearly love where they work, and who they work for…

Can the same be said for the employees working in your organization?