It Can Be Done

I started my health care career at a small agency that served emotionally disturbed and physically abused children. It was a place that cared deeply for the residents who had to live away from their families due to their complicated circumstances and behavior. The staff were committed, I was thrilled to be part of an organization, and was happy to take a 25% cut in pay from my previous job (seriously, I was) to be part of the front line team.

I quickly realized two things: I found the right industry for me; and, I wanted more. I wanted to somehow move into a leadership role someday.

I wondered if it could be done.

Get A Plan
I quickly surveyed the leadership team and discovered they all had the same thing: a Master's Degree. So I enrolled in graduate school. It was hard, took a huge amount of time and money, and I lived through it.

I also applied for an internal position that I wasn't qualified for, but I went for it with such enthusiasm and energy that the hiring manager took a risk and gave me the job. After six weeks in my other job.

I was starting to believe it could be done.


Loyalty is Great...Unless It Makes No Sense
Two years into my graduate program I left the agency that I loved. I had an opportunity to join a hospital as their Training and Development Manager. 

I wasn't fully qualified for the job; but it was in a rural setting, I was willing to commute and it was an amazing opportunity. 

I took the job with one year left in my Master's Degree program, and figured I could make it all work.

...and I felt like I was starting to get it done.

Risks = Success
Those early moves in my career set up a series of events that led me to larger and larger hospitals and health systems. I continued to take risks and move to where I could grow as a professional and meet my goals that seemed to get bigger as time passed.

Over the years I've been a sponge, soaking up the mentoring and guidance of people like Joanne Borfitz, Mike McNally, Kathy Gillette, John Steele and now Pamela Paulk here at Johns Hopkins Medicine.

How About You
Today I'm the luckiest HR pro in the world. I'm blessed to work for a great organization, with the best mission on earth. I'm surrounded by an incredible team of dedicated professionals who actually come to work each day knowing that they'll have to put up with me. Amazing.

It can be done. Believe it for yourself too...because it's true.

I'd love to hear from you.

No Excuses.



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Heavy Mettle Leadership

Change processes can be difficult. Think about what you're actually doing when you decide to formally launch a culture change effort. You're asking the people who you've hired (or inherited but kept on the team), to stop behaving the way you've asked them to, in some cases for a long time. Now, you're asking...er...requiring them to be different.

Here's the rub...you're asking for the change from your team because it is abundantly clear that a change is necessary. You haven't failed, and honestly they haven't either. It is simply time to evolve.

Asking people to change is hard enough in our private lives, but when you factor in professional training, familiar routines, and in many cases a history of doing good work, the push back can be heavy and significant.

Your mettle as a leader is going to be tested.

Stay the Course
We have many opportunities to watch leaders in action. New executives come and go and bring their perspectives of what is best for the organization. The delicate balance that leaders, including human resources practitioners, have to manage is pushing hard enough to maintain momentum while not completely bringing the organization to a standstill. 

Balance is hard...and your mettle as a leader is going to be tested.


Listen to Your Team
One of the most effective ways to not only maintain the vision of the future-state of the organization and to keep the change process going is to be flexible enough to accept the team's feedback.

"The end game is achieving culture change, not following a self-prescribed linear path to the desired change. Feedback from the team that provides for minor course corrections not only gets the necessary buy-in, it also gets you to the same end point: culture change."
 
Whether the feedback is about the pace of change, messaging, or the elimination of barriers to success, it makes sense to leverage the skills and insights of those tasked with executing the change process.

How About You
Is your mettle being tested? It can be very lonely, particularly when you feel passionately about the issues you're advocating for inside your organization. Avoid the trap of convincing yourself that your perspective is the only one that can get the desired result. Stay strong, use your team, and show the world you truly are a heavy mettle leader.

I'd love to hear from you.

No Excuses.



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Blogging, Work and Choosing Not to Suck at Leadership

When I started this blog my goal was to speak to one person --> me. My questions at the end of each post are mostly a challenge back to myself to react to what I've written. Sure, I love the many comments that have been added to the site over the years. But in reality, I'm the target audience.

For the most part that strategy has worked well. I've found that writing not only serves as a release, but also as a vehicle for me to process the challenges I face in my professional life. I also take advantage of the platform sometimes and discuss issues I feel strongly about (crappy meetings, racism, equal rights for our LGBT colleagues, etc..)

Work Is Hard
I love my job. But sometimes my job is hard. Maybe that is because I'm not doing well enough, maybe I have a lot more to learn, or maybe sometimes our jobs are supposed to be hard. I'm guessing it's a combination of all three factors. Blogging really helps in these instances.

Maybe you should try it?

Writing doesn't solve your problems, or help you identify a radical new approach that helps your company hit the quarterly earnings target. 

However, it does help organize what is happening in your world. Even if it's just a little problem that is stuck in your head. That alone may be a good enough reason to start writing through your problems, instead of just thinking through them.

Don't Suck
One of the unexpected outcomes of blogging, at least so far, is that once you publish your perspective on things, there is an unwritten sense of responsibility to live up to what has been put out on the web for all to see (or at least the small-but-mighty group of No Excuses readers!)

I don't want to suck at leadership...it's just too important. So I have to live by what I've written, and that is hard to do sometimes.

How About You
What strategies do you use to deal with the pressure of your work life? Have you ever considered writing down your challenges; or, perhaps even starting your own blog? For me, it has moved from being a project I was intrigued about doing, to something that I have to do...

...just for me.

I'd love to hear from you.

No Excuses.



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Vengeance Will Be Mine

There is a delicate balance in leadership. I see the struggle play out regularly. It seems to me we've evolved our collective corporate lives into something very different from our personal ones. In so doing, we leave behind the messages of support we tell our friends and family, being there for them, and forgiving them when they make an honest mistake.

In the world of work, we've created cultures that are far too often risk averse, mired in negativity and have our team members worried about making even the slightest mistake. 

This simply can not be. Our hyper-competitive world simply will not survive under the weight of an old school command and control management style. 

Beware the New World

As the corporate world begins to open it's eyes to the possibilities of a new way to work (and more and more old school leaders retire) we are beginning to see real change take place.

What hasn't changed however are the pressures and expectations on leaders to deliver. In fact, the corporate post-recession business model seems to be focused on a new obsession with "do more with less."

This simply can not be. I'm a huge fan of efficiency...and don't mind going through some pain to achieve it. But simply being "nicer" while having an underlying my-way-or-the-highway leadership style is candidly a huge fail. Huge. Fail.

Temptations Are Everywhere

Power is what most often seems to get in the way of good work. As the pressure from the senior leadership team flows down, the middle managers have no choice but to succumb to the culture that has been established. 

"Culture is what senior leaders do, not what they say, or post on a plaque, or put in a press release. Yes, words are powerful...but action is culture."

Yet it is so hard to resist the trappings of power, and authority and a fancy job title to make sure good work gets done! When the desire to wrap oneself in their ego drives decision-making  because "they know their view is the correct one" then it's time to call it a day. None of us have all the answers. But collectively all of us do.

Are you with me?

How About You

The culture chase is a tricky one. On one hand we in leadership have an incredible opportunity to transform our organizations. On the other, we have the opportunity to create chaos. Just so we're all clear, chaos is bad. Right?

I'd love to hear from you.

No Excuses.

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I'm Hiring! - Employee Relations Consultant

Do you wish you had a human resources job in an organization that was constantly trying new things?

Do you wish social media was integrated in to how your HR team did their work?

Do you have employee relations experience?

Are you tired of your lame job?

If you answered yes to these questions you need to apply for the vacant Employee Relations Consultant position at All Children's Hospital. This role will report to our Director of Employment and Employee Relations, Joe Conrod. Joe is a great leader, so you'll be thanking me for the chance to work with him.

Our Hospital is growing, we're part of Johns Hopkins Medicine, we live and work in beautiful Tampa Bay, Florida, and we provide some of the most rewarding work experiences possible.

So what are you waiting for...our HR Team rocks...do you?

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3 Hottest Trends In Healthcare Hiring

This post originally appeared on Jobsite.com. Check out all of the great material on their blog!

The American Healthcare Machine

The world of healthcare is virtually recession proof. Let’s face it, people do not avoid getting sick because the economy is floundering. Oh, and you may have noticed that babies keep being born even if private sector jobs are being cut. The American healthcare machine keeps surging forward, adding jobs, battling for talent, and hoping to keep their best and brightest employees.

So, what are the hottest trends hitting healthcare hiring and what should the savvy jobseeker or employer do to make sure they don’t miss out?

Check out three hot trends that everyone should be paying attention to right now.

1. Social Media Rules the World (or at least it should)

For those jobseekers and employers that have either been living under a rock or who actually believe they can still rely on the Sunday paper to find jobs and applicants I have some news for you: social media rules the world of health care recruitment. The healthcare industry is filled with women at an astonishingly high rate as evidenced by this study from Catalyst Research.



With so many women in the health care workforce, and knowing that social media (particularly facebook) is so popular with this same group, it should come as no surprise that leveraging social media is absolutely essential to attract today’s health care jobseeker.

For those employers that have not taken advanatage of the power of social media (much of which is free by the way!) I have nothing to say but stop worrying about making a mistake and start working in the 21st century!

 2. Being Talented Really Does Matter (find the best is more important than ever)

As the competition heats up to find the best talent in an industry that literally deals with life and death each day, it has become clear that most healthcare organizations are becoming more selective than in the past. Gone are the days that any “new grad” could simply apply for a position and start the following Monday.

The stakes are simply too high. The burdens of risk, compliance, reimbursement based on quality outcomes and the growing influence of patient satisfaction all force employers to only identify the best and brightest for each vacancy.

3. World Class Culture Wins (and also retains your best people)

The final trend that will undoubtedly be a fixture for years to come is the role that corporate culture plays. Very few industries face the pressures faced by those in healthcare. Whether you are in a long term care setting, an acute care community hospital, or specialty pediatric setting, the loss of life that naturally occurs is a stressor not faced by most employees.

What employers do about this fact; and more importantly, how they support their employees during these difficult moments is essential to both attracting and retaining talent. What support systems are in place for staff to work through these tragic events? How are employees made aware of these resources? Does the recruitment team know about these programs so they can effectively share them with candidates?

"If these questions are left unanswered for too long,
the likelihood that the top talent will join an organization is more and more unlikely."

What are you doing to react to the latest trends?

Healthcare Recruiting:  Are you active on social media? Have you worked hard to differentiate yourself as a top quality candidate? What about culture…do you know what is in place for employees? Find out if you’re a jobseeker, and get started if you’re an employer.

There’s no time to waste!

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The Best Meeting I Ever Attended

Yes, there was only one...and it really was the best meeting I ever attended. It was well organized, had a clear agenda, stayed within each topic's timelines, engaged every attendee (all 75 of them!), and delivered a high quality work product at the end.

It was the best meeting I ever attended. And now I lament the fact that my master list of "best" meetings  is so short that even thinking about mentioning a "couple of best meetings" feels like I'm lying through my teeth.

Shouldn't All Meeting Be That Good

No, they shouldn't. The meeting I'm talking about was special, with a diverse group of attendees. It had strategy, emotional stories, clearly defined objectives, and passion. A boat load of passion. Most meetings are not intended to change the (organization's) world. Most meetings are meant to keep organizations on track...moving forward...reporting out results...sharing ideas...communicating information...right?

Oh yes, and then there's the other 75% of meetings that suck.

Hating On Meetings

Okay, I'm a meeting-hater who spends the overwhelming majority of every business day in meetings. I'm a pretty organized guy, but that doesn't mean I'm always perfectly prepared. I'm guilty as sin of  not holding others accountable when meetings drift and meander, but that doesn't mean I don't actively participate in every meeting.

What's a meeting-hater to do? Stop going? Stop scheduling? Stop participating?

Hating on the Meeting-Hater

When I think about that special meeting one key point seems to keep coming back to me. No matter how I try to twist the truth, or write my own revisionist meeting history, I can't avoid the reality. I was fired up going in to that session. I felt like the outcome of that meeting depended on me...personally...doing a good job.

I was one of the meeting organizers, I had an important role to play before, during and after. This meeting meant something to me. 

Hmm. I wonder if I took that same approach with every meeting I attend if they might go better? Maybe my energy, enthusiasm, preparedness, and commitment could change the outcome of the meetings that I so easily feel comfortable hating? I wonder if my colleagues and team members would notice?

How About You

Have you ever been to a meeting? If you have, and particularly if you've attended more than one, you may have noticed that not all meetings are the same. Maybe if you and I commit to making each one effective we might just change the world? Or, at least our organizations.

I'd love to hear from you

No Excuses.

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