It seems like at any given time I’m reading up to five different books. Most of them are specific to either healthcare or have a general management theme. I pick them up – I put them down – I move to another book – and the cycle perpetually continues. I’ve been doing this for years but there is one book that I come back to far more often than any other: Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking when the Stakes are High. This valuable resource was presented for discussion at my first ever “MedMan University” in the Spring of 2009. As a mostly management/sometimes consulting company, we often find ourselves in the position of having to deliver a difficult message to a hospital board, a group of physician owners, an under-performing manager and more. Crucial Conversations has been the most relevant ‘read’ for me in the past several years as it has provided me with the right focus (“Start with Heart”) and easy-to-use tips on starting and managing a difficult conversation. I’m of the mind that just about every conversation we have in the business arena is a ‘crucial conversation’ and I frequently pull my book off of the shelf and flip to the pages that I have tabbed before starting a difficult talk. I’m reminded over and over that it’s not what we say but how we say that it distinguishes us and ultimately impacts whether or not our message is heard at all. If you haven’t yet read (or re-read) Crucial Conversations, I encourage you to do so – it’s well worth the read.
Author Archive
Looking Ahead
Last week, MedMan’s Board of Directors descended upon Boise, ID for about 48-hours of intensive discussion and planning. After a combined meeting with the corporate team where we reviewed the status of the 2010 Operating Plan, the Board convened with our primary focus being to:
- define the vivid description of where our company will be in 2015,
- determine the annual BHAG (Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal) and
- set the annual objectives for 2011.
While we have decided to ‘get back to the basics’ there is nothing simple about our Plan. Redefining and recommitting to our core competencies is going to take a sobering level of focus and determination. I have a hunch that committing to a “To-Don’t” list will prove to be an enormous challenge because the culture of our company has always been about finding a way to say Yes. This not-so-basic “Back to the Basics” philosophy is sure to make 2011 an exciting year at MedMan.
Getting Things Done
It occurred to me today how much I have accomplished this week on the road. By ‘on the road’, I don’t mean work that occurs from a location remote from my primary residence in Boise. I literally mean ‘on the road’. I left Boise on Tuesday morning for the Tri Cities and have burned up the highway between Kennewick and Prosser all week. I’ve had more things to accomplish this week than hours available and so I’ve maximized my road time with a little GTD tip that I learned from our own Brad Turpen.
Each morning, I have taken an inventory of the priorities on my @Calls list in Outlook. That’s where I store the tasks that I am responsible for completing that require me to use a phone, but not necessarily a computer. Brad taught me to put the telephone number in the subject line of the task so that as I pull it up, I need only click on the 10 digit number (which Outlook recognizes as a telephone number) and it automatically asks me to confirm that I want to call. My Bluetooth allows me to keep my hands on the wheel while I conduct business from behind a windshield instead of a desk.
So this week I’ve initiated a special meeting of our Board, conducted a reference check on one of our recruitment candidates, done a screening interview with another potential candidate, negotiated details of the compensation package that our client is offering one of our candidates, and more. As a matter of fact, I didn’t get in to my car one time this week without the name and number of my next call already prepared on my smart phone. As I arrived at my hotel room each night, I could at least feel good that the work before me was work requiring me to use a computer – the person to person stuff was already out of the way.
Technology isn’t making my workload any lighter but it sure is helping me to get stuff done.
The Power of the Network
Sometimes you need someone from outside your circle to come in to your world and remind you how good you have it. When I first ‘met’ MedMan I was working in an independent medical practice here in Boise. We were one of the biggest games in town and the management team that had been formed to run this enterprise was smart and diverse. Still, we had our share of challenges to face and obstacles to overcome and I distinctly remember not really having anyone outside of that group to reach out to. As much as I hate to admit it, there were times when I felt like we were isolated (either by geography or competition) from a bigger world out there that had the knowledge and experience to deal with the issue at hand.
One of our newer MedMan colleagues visited Boise recently. It was gratifying to hear him talk about how impressed he was with our business model and how excited he was to have instant access to over thirty years worth of resources, knowledge and experience. I guess I took notice of this because his words sounded so familiar. I remembered having that very same sense of amazement and wonder when I joined MedMan. I’ve been with MedMan long enough now that I’ve grown accustomed to the power of our network, the accessibility of information, and the willingness of my colleagues to aggressively transfer information amongst the team. It is quite amazing that almost 30 people in 4 different states can liberally share information with absolute confidentiality and trust. So, it is no accident that Sharing made the short list of core values. But seeing it through someone else’s eyes last week reminded me not to take it for granted. I don’t want to ever step outside of this family to know what it’s like to go home.
The Importance of Planning
Nicole, physicians & friends enjoying a post-Planning dinner.
I appreciate doctors who plan. Benton Franklin Orthopedic Associates is a physician-owned medical group of five orthopedic surgeons and one physician assistant, or PA. They are based in Kennewick, Washington and happen to be one of MedMan’s longest-running clients. We’ve been working with this group since 2001 and it’s been interesting to see the progression of this practice over that time.
Landing in Palm Springs
Last night, we kicked off our 2010 planning session in sunny Palm Springs, California. This group has committed themselves to getting off-sight – out of the hassles of day-to-day life which can be all too hard to ignore when you’re on your own turf. We started off by reviewing what we call the “Plan Matrix”. It’s basically the overview and progression of each year’s Plan. It’s interesting to look back over the years when ideas like integrating physical therapy and building an ASC were simply on the ‘someday/maybe’ list. Those things are now showing up in the ‘done’ category and it’s gratifying to know that MedMan has been a part of that progress.
I enjoy listening to them process non-clinical information too. So much of our interactions with doctors are clinical. It’s interesting to see how their minds work when you ask them questions about employee satisfaction, risk management, and business operations. Let’s face it – they are smart people and often-times more well-rounded and thought-provoking than they get credit for being.
In the 9 years that we’ve been partnering with BFOA, there was one year where no planning occurred. As new clients, maybe they didn’t feel like they needed to go through the exercise of again creating a strategic plan when they had just done one the year before. In talking to the doctors, they commented that the process of not planning made them realize how important it actually was. They’ve been regularly planning ever since and welcome the opportunity to get away and really focus on ways to improve their business…a business that allows them the opportunity to deliver high quality medical care to patients.