A New Look

So, as I was preparing to update this BLOG, I was invited to try out a new design and look. Now, that opportunity was probably always there, but I had never noticed it as it was somewhat hidden among a number of options that had become just part of the background space for me. However, when the invitation was front and center (albeit as a pop-up) I was intrigued. Those of you who know me, are aware that all things technological are not my strong suit. But, I must admit I had fun trying different colors and styles (kinda like that other favorite past time of mine -- power shopping) and seeing what seemed like me. You can see the result and the way I would describe the new design is relatively simple, hopefully easy on the eye and kind of timeless.
It's the same way I view effective communications. There is such elegance in simplicity. Most of us learned a lot of really big words when we were in school -- most of which we don't ever use (or in my opinion even need to use). When it comes to getting your point across, the simpler the words used, the better -- especially when talking. Imagine having to have a dictionary (oops, my age is showing as now we can just download an app) available when having a conversation with a friend or co-worker? I mean really, how often have you used the words, "nescience, enigmatic or primordial" in a recent conversation? Looking up the meaning to the big word that was just used would interfere with that all important eye contact and might lead to drifting as you got involved in looking up the meanings of other words that came to mind or were offered as perhaps being of interest to you given the word you just looked up -- obviously in the app world.
Don't get me wrong, I know that it was important to know those big words at one time. But the purpose was actually to set us apart rather than bring us together (can you say ACT, SAT Verbal Sections?). Good communication does just the opposite -- it unites us and brings clarity and understanding. And, thus the simpler the better.
It's Friday at 5:11 p.m., I have run out of work steam and am wishing weekends were indesinent! Couldn't resist.
J

Looking for New Reads

So, I just completed a book I found in my son's room as I was heading out of town and desperate for something other than work stuff to read on the plane. Was a book titled Disgrace written in the late 1990s by a South African born author, J M Coetzee. I often troll my now adult or semi-adult children's rooms for books when I don't have time to get to the bookstore or library. While required reading is no joy when it is required, the required books are generally really good when you are not required to write a paper after reading them. While I think I enjoyed Disgrace (it made me think, made me uncomfortable, and kept my interest), I am not sure it would roll off my tongue right away if someone asked me to recommend a book to them.
Which brings me to my question: Do you have a 'filter' for books you will recommend? For instance, I would recommend that everyone on our team read The Five Dysfunctions of a Team and Who Moved My Cheese? They are light, organizational-understanding type books that are somewhat humorous, but also quite insightful. I would also recommend those books to my three kids -- think it would help them as they prepare to enter the work world. Of course, I doubt that they would read them at this juncture of their lives (19, 22 and 26 and all still in some form or another of school). I have recommended them to my husband, but not to my mother. I have not recommended it to either of the women I walk with in the morning -- even though we sometimes talk books -- but different kinds of books.
Of course, on my shelves at work, I have all the 'right' business/organizational reads -- Built to Last, The 8th Habit, Health Care Trends, Every Business is a Growth Business. Would I recommend them to most people? Not so much.
A book I would recommend and have recommended to everyone is The Giver -- but you must have hankies (boy, am I old or what) handy. I learned so much from that story about what really matters and what is just memorex. Another is the book I read right before Disgrace, which is Game Change about the 2008 presidential campaign. Amazed at how much information people are willing to share 'off the record' and how colorful the language of all politicians. Back to the filters -- mine are generally based on what I know about the person or persons to whom I am recommending a book; if they are squeamish about language or situations; and if I think I will ever see or talk with them again. What filters do you use? And, what books would you recommend to me or other co-workers? I really am looking for a few more good reads this summer and want to save my kids' rooms for when I am absolutely desperate.

What do polls tell us?

In the most recent poll on www.makemedicinebetter.org, visitors are asked how satisfied they are with their hospital. Unfortunately, the choice with the highest number of 'votes' is "Very Dissatisfied." Trying to be optimistic, I added the two "Very Satisfieds" and "Somewhat Satisfieds" together, but still did not beat the "Very Dissatisfied" and "Somewhat Dissatisfied" totals -- which I am sure Angela C. would tell me is the only way to make the comparison statiscally valid. So, after being disheartened, I decided it was necessary to do what we say this site is intended to help us do -- Learn how to make medicine better.
So, I started to do a mindsweep of some of the things that dissatisfy me when I go to any hospital whether as a patient (fortunately few and far between and only at BJC facilities) or as a visitor (to lots of hospitals, since I obviously have not done a good enough job convincing my friends that the only place to go for care is a BJC facility). And, the number one dissatisfier for me is that I truly don't want to be there. If I am a patient, I don't want to be sick. If I am a visitor, I don't want my loved one to be sick. So, I start off with the glass less than half full.
Coming in a close second, is the lack of control I have over my environs and my environment. Generally, as a patient someone else is deciding what I wear (which for those of you who know me, know that matters a lot), when I eat (again, for those who know me....) and when I sleep. As a visitor, the environment makes me uncomfortable -- should I whisper, can I bring in my loved ones favorite food, is my visit too short, too long, should I leave the room when the nurse comes in, when the doctor comes in, when the dinner tray comes in? Again, feeling totally out of control.
At third is the lack of privacy. Again, lots of people get to come in and our of "my" room whether the door is closed or not.
Now, I admit that the last time I was a hospital patient was many years ago, but I have been a visitor and while some of these things have changed (for instance you can now bring your own jammies and at some hospitals order your food when you want it), a lot of what dissatisfies me is out of the hospital's control. But, what is within our control or perceived control, we should try to address. Poll results are a snapshot and can given us an indication of potential ways to spend our time and energy to, in the case of BJC, make medicine better.

Value

For a few days, potential visitors were not able to access this site. It was very distressing as I had just posted on April 30 and could not believe that technology, rather than my lack of a fresh post, was keeping people from reading a few of my thoughts. Well, the problem was fixed and access to the site restored. However, I noticed on my pc that when I got to the site, the post that was showing was one from the spring of 2009. Now, I know I don't post as frequently as I had planned, but even I am not that bad.
So, here is a new post -- just slightly more than a couple of weeks since my last one. I am sitting in the office having just completed reading the latest issue of BJC Today. I always learn something that I did not know and am frequently left with that gooey heart feeling which is how I think pride feels. This issue evoked a lot of heart gooey-ness. I also caught up on a bunch of e-mails, hard mail and other 'stuff of work' that left me with a swelled heart. From BJC receiving a new honor (I can't tell you what it is now, but you will learn soon) to being interviewed about why we developed makemedicinebetter to being asked "What does BJC think about ..............", it is clear that we work for an organization that is well thought of by many in the public. It is important to realize that "organizations" don't create good will -- employees of organizations do! It is the employees of BJC who are 100% responsible for the positive reputation we have. I remember when I worked for a publicly-traded company, there was a lot of emphasis on the importance of "the numbers." What I would share is that "numbers don't make themselves, employees make the numbers." And, employees who know (notice I didn't say "believe") they are valued make great numbers.
I hope you know that you are valued. Without your hard work and dedication, BJC Today would have a lot of blank pages and the phone calls and e-mails asking "What does BJC think about ....." would cease.

A NonTypical Work Week

Started with a 7:00 a.m. presentation on Monday morning to a committee of the Board of Directors followed by a 1:00 p.m. presentation that same day to another committee of the Board. Don't know about you, but when I have to make big presentations, I tend to be a bit anxious and it makes me want to do lots of things to take my mind off the upcoming presentation. So, what I did was to read some of the evaluations from our department's Friday retreat. Overall, most staff members felt the time was value added, but you know how we are -- I zeroed in on those "other" comments, that were not so favorable. Not because I am a glutton for punishment, but because I think it is one of the best ways to get better. Don't get me wrong, there are some "other" comments that I know I can't do anything about (or even learn anything from that would lead to improvement). However, there is no reason to ask for evaluations if you are not going to do anything about the feedback. I look forward to contemplating and then acting on many of the things that were shared.
So, back to the work week. On Wednesday, participated in the culminating actitvity of a local university's MBA class Capstone Project -- BJC was the topic of the semester long class. I, along with several colleagues, listened to presentations from 8 teams with recommendations on what BJC should do with respect to a certain area. I wondered if the members of the team were also anxious -- especially since the BJC CEO was among the panelists listening and evaluating the presentations.
The last two days of the week found me at the Media Services Studio as the next round of branding commercials were shot We truly have a lot of talent at BJC and I look forward to seeing the finished product. These kinds of non-typical work weeks only work because of a great team that continues to get the work done when I am underground. So, a really big thank you to everyone for doing what they do so well!

The Lost March

Okay, so it finally happened that I let a month go by without doing a post. I am so ashamed and disappointed in myself that I almost decided to cease and desist (some of you thought I probably had made that decision) all postings. Really, it is not that I don't want to post, it is just that all kinds of things keep interupting my best laid plans. For example, my computer has decided to "freeze" for absolutely no reason at all for 10 to 15 minutes at a time all day today. It is beyond annoying. And then there was a crazed travel schedule in March -- albeit most of it was for fun, but it still took a toll on my ability to post. So, I am asking for forgiveness and hoping if any of the readers of this BLOG are still out there, to give me another chance.
During my hiatus, several significant things happened.
1. We introduced the next phase of the branding strategy with print ads and new television ads. If you have seen them, let me know what you think -- especially about the ads people are calling the "Beep, beeps."
2. Our president went to visit The president.
3. Visits to makemedicinebetter continued to rise and have now exceeded 20,000.
4. Spring sprung.
5. Health care reform passed.
6. My youngest child turned 19 (thus one of my absences in March, as I headed to Miami to visit her).
7. Staying with the personal, I ski'd for the first time ever (actually loved it).
8. Several of our departments made the move to the BJC Learning Institute.
9. SLCH & BJH went tobacco free and BJC announced corporate locations would also become tobacco free. (Remember there is tobacco cessation support provided to any and all employees).
10. And, BJC continued investing in employees, facilities and services to the community (which is not a new thing, but given the economy is still significant).
Thanks again for giving me another chance and my goal is to definitely do better in the future -- hard to do worse. (And, if anyone knows what the Label for this post means, you will win a prize).
J

The twos that can make all the difference

So last week, Flint and I drove to Atlanta for our last Parents' Weekend for our graduating son. I was catching up on all the articles that I try to keep up on, but are impossible during the work week (and listening to cool music from Flint's ipod and his satellite radio). All was lovely and well as we traveled east then south, until we got to Chattanooga and then it happened --- SNOW. Now, it was only those very light flurries that we used to not even notice in St. Louis (until some news editor decided they could get a lot more viewers by making the weather the news) and that should not have caused any travel delays. And, I give the good people of Tennessee credit -- we were able to drive pretty much the speed limit all along the interstates. Even when we entered Georgia things were fine, fine that is until we made it to the Atlanta City Limits right around 4:30. We were pretty shocked at how light traffic was heading in our direction (not so for the traffic heading out of the City, which was pretty typical for rush hour in a city). Then came the call -- all activities scheduled for Friday and Saturday of Parents' Weekend were cancelled due to weather. Weather? What weather? There was less than 2 inches of snow that accumulated and there was no ice! However, we were determined not to be disappointed and figured we would just grab our kid and go out for a nice dinner on Friday night. We were in for a rude awakening. Almost every restaurant had closed at 2:00 because of the snow storm! We ended up eating at a Zaxby's that was "only going to be open for another 30 minutes and we are out of a lot of our usual menu items." It was then that I realized how 2 can make all the difference. In St. Louis, we don't get to worried about 1, 2 or 3 inches of snow, but let us get to 4 inches (which is 2 times 2) and we declare a blizzard. We talk about things being twice as hard or twice as nice. We think of twins as twice the work (and twice the blessing). We ask for just another couple of minutes and then we are ready to do whatever someone is asking us to do next. We talk about doubling down, double trouble and double the fun (all in the two family).
Sometimes I get frustrated that a work project is taking twice as long as I thought it would. Not because I am not focused on it, but because I am sometimes waiting for others to provide input or give me a piece of what I need to complete the project. It is then that the twos really become a source of frustration -- even more than not finding an open restaurant because of two inches of snow. I try (but don't always succeed) to be patient, understanding that while my project is of utmost importance to me, others have other priorities that are of utmost importance to them. It probably really isn't practical to expect that all projects will be completed in the time you anticipated, but if they too often take twice as long, something is wrong -- either on the planning end or the execution end. I am working on doing a better job of determining how long it will take to complete a project when I am not in control of all of the project's parts (not being in control is another difficulty that I will write about some day). I think that will help quell some of the frustration I experience. I realize that I put this practice into play following the birth of baby #1. Because she was 2 weeks late (darn those twos) I got really tired of hearing "You haven't had that baby yet." So, when I was having the next baby and the one after that, I added two weeks to the due date the doctor gave me and viola, never had the frustration of the project not being done on time.