But Your Mother Owns a Beauty Salon

At BJC, each fall we have the opportunity to participate in an All Employee Survey. Yesterday I had the chance to see a broad overview of our department's results and I look forward to sharing them with you over the next few weeks. However, two things caught my eye and gave me "cause for pause" and are the subject of this posting. Some Context: When I was about 7 my parents bought a beauty salon that my mother operated for about 8 years. She was quite the sought after hair stylist and always had a steady stream of customers. And, you would think that my sisters and I would have had the most up-to-date hair styles among our friends. And, you would be wrong. There is an old adage that the doctor's kids are the sickest, the plumber's pipes leak, and the chef's family eats Chef Boy Ar Dee (boy, am I aging myself).
Two areas of our survey results, made me think of these adages and my mother's hair salon and my less than stylish hair growing up. The opportunities for improvement in your views of leadership (me) and communication throughout the department (me, directors and managers). I won't pretend it was easy to see the scores -- it wasn't. But, I believe when you are faced with a challenge you have two choices -- either rise to it or move on. I prefer the rise option. I welcome any feedback you are comfortable sharing on improving these two areas. You can share them in this forum, shoot me an e-mail, or send me an anonymous note. I assure you I have very thick skin (I worked in government for 16 years and spent many Monday nights conducting zoning and land use public hearings, so criticism does not bother me) and truly want to hear from you. I know that I won't always get it right, but you have my commitment that I will try.

Work and Fun -- Mutually Exclusive Events???

Many of you have heard me say that I think it is important to enjoy what you do for a living. After all, the vast majority of our weekday waking hours are spent working. The days go by a lot faster if we feel that what we do makes a difference; we have co-workers with whom we can share the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat; and if we can sometimes have a good old-fashioned belly-laugh because something is so darned funny. I am fortunate that I get to experience these things -- not all the time, but some of the time. In large part, it is because of the very talented BJC communications and marketing team I have the honor of leading. Last Friday, our team had some 'planned fun' taking a little bit longer at lunch and enjoying ourselves at Dave & Busters. While taking time for this kind of fun opportunity is important, it is the thrill of solving a work challenge together that I really enjoy. Whether we solve the challenge with words, pictures, video, the web or a combination, the role of our team in helping to tell the story of BJC and our hospitals and services is a value-added one. Are we perfect? Absolutely, not. But, are we committed to doing the best work possible for our clients each and every time? Absolutely. Is this always easy? I wish. But, fortunately most of the time we do get it right. And that to me makes work fun. What about work is fun for you?