Brand You Parking Lot Inspiration

I’m hearing questions with a common theme circulating through meetings and social networks around the ROHCG.
“How can the organization move forward in dealing with conflict and difficult interpersonal situations in the absence of a clear strategic plan?” In other words; “how can we find personal and professional fulfillment in a stressful work environment that contains only a vague and uncertain map of the future?”

There is one person at the ROMHC campus with the gumption to address that question, and he works in an office that barely affords him the room to sit down. Can you think of a more unattractive job than working in a parking lot booth? Let’s add the rumour that our parking lot will eliminate its human element and turn to automated ticket dispensers in the future.

“I love my job. I look forward to working here every day” says daytime attendant Clarel Varierre.

And for the past two months, he’s transformed his booth into the ROMHC Ottawa Senators Rally station, screaming, honking, and waving his flags, poms and signs to every car.

Without realizing it, Clarel is a model employee of the Tom Peters workplace phenomenon that he calls the “Brand You” era. Peters’ crusade is toward inspiring workers everywhere to break the shackles of corporate mediocrity and homogeneity, and to strive to brand their personal passions and aspirations into their jobs, without the tedious and disheartening process of selling up to management.

Tom’s credo is:
The work can be cool
The work can be beautiful
The work can be fun
The work can make a difference
YOU can make a difference
Take charge of your life
Subvert hierarchy
Make every project a wow!
Be distinct – or extinct

Clarel didn’t need a strategic plan before deciding he was going to put a smile on every drivers face as they arrived at work. And staff at the ROHCG may not require a strategic plan before feeling empowering to do the same – deliver great service with a smile. All that may be required is a little “Brand-You.”

The Brand You philosophy could be the key ingredient in times where you feel a void in strategic direction or team performance. If you want to know more about Brand You then give me a call and I'll connect you to the source.

Oh yes...
And we shouldn’t forget another admirable and non-strategic decision; by Carillion for letting Clarel be Clarel.

What can we learn from the Ottawa Senators?

We are enjoying rare times in Ottawa, where an event mobilizes the spirit of a city. This event is the success of our Ottawa Senators hockey team which is on the brink of a possible final playoff series for the Stanley Cup.
Many sport experts say the Stanley Cup could be the toughest prize to win in professional sport. You have to win 16 games, eliminate four of the league’s toughest competitors. This feat could take 28 games to accomplish. Major league baseball and football champions usually play from three to 12 games to win the ultimate prize.
There are some poignant lessons that organizations (our organization) can take from the successful journey of this year’s Senators.

Skill level is not a determinant of success
o Past Senators lineups have featured names like Zdeno Chara, Marian Hossa, Martin Havlat, Alexei Yashin, Tom Barraso; all considered among the most highly skilled in their position. These teams failed. This year’s performance is the clearest demonstration of teamwork-over-individual-performance that we’ve seen in the club’s ten playoff runs,

The agony of defeat can be a lesson for success
o Failing to meet expectations have resulted in a team that has quietly and humbly challenged itself to watch, learn, and apply a stronger work ethic toward achieving its goal,

Believe in yourself, not what others are saying
o Even a brief legacy of failure can convince you that critics and naysayers are right. This year the team flew under the radar, making the playoffs for a tenth straight year, and have been considered by many as underdogs in each series of these Stanley Cup Playoffs. Does it look like they were listening?

Let’s apply some of these lessons to our healthcare organization.

· Although we promote strategies around recruiting the best talent, our investments in team performance could be what ultimately leads to success

· We make mistakes, but often fail to discuss what went wrong and how to avoid repeating them. Let’s learn from them. I can tell you that in my many years at the ROHCG, I’ve had several beautiful mistakes – ideas that seemed wonderful, but for some reason failed. I’ve tried to take a lesson from each of them.

· Our organization has gone through so many significant changes in the past year and because some expectations haven’t been met, levels of criticism, skepticism and pessimism are high. The success of our hockey team is demonstrating that we can win, as teams and individuals if we believe in ourselves, and not be discouraged by the negativity that may surround us.

The Ottawa Senators have placed among the top four teams in the National Hockey League, with the potential to reach the final two and perhaps capture the Stanley Cup. But the journey was long and the struggle was immense. Why would the journey toward becoming a “Centre of Excellence” be any easier?

Taking Pride in Review

I strongly believe in Organizational Reviews such as the one ROHCG is currently undergoing. I’m not thrilled by the context and timing of this review, but if done well it should benefit the organization.

The first question in this review framework asks “In looking at our service, what have we done or accomplished that makes us most proud?” I feel the work of our team certainly deserves to be shared far beyond the review committee. In no particular order, here is a list of accomplishments over the past year from the notes of the Learning & Development and Telehealth Department of People and Learning:

• The development of an excellent Intranet site which includes internal business and productivity tools/resources (online business forms, documents, surveys, multimedia),
• We have delivered several successful conferences both critically and financially and the revenues have/are being reinvested by the programs in other education and research initiatives – plus we postponed two conference events that were on their way toward financial losses,
• Our telehealth accomplishments have established a national reputation for innovation and we are the first organization in Canada accredited for Telehealth services through new CCHSA Telehealth criteria,
• Our Library has leveraged technology to provide 24-7 levels of service to staff. Following the move to the new ROMHC, it is simply one of the best health care libraries in any hospital,
• We are renewing our key clinical train-the-trainer programs for Non-violent Crisis Intervention and Applied Suicide Intervention Skills, and moved toward developing in-house software training capabilities at BMHC and ROMHC,
• Our vision of our Learning and Development and Telehealth space remains relatively true to our vision for a Centre of Mental Health Learning in the new ROMHC. It required two years of consistent meetings, often supplemented with a strong dose of arguing and complaining. But we still feel we’ll have superb facilities for our staff and external partners when the dust settles,
• People have commented how we’ve lost manpower, yet they have not noticed the diminishing of valuable services – and this validates some of our toughest and most emotional decisions during our phase of staff reduction,
• The 2005-2006 staff survey indicated 40% of staff cited “Learning Opportunities” when asked for “Reasons they liked working at ROHCG” – exemplifying the strong traditional relationship between staff and Learning & Development.
• Our 2006-2007 activities and accomplishments are reflected in our Strategic Plan for the year. We’re proud of the fact that we created a plan, delivered on it, and continue to work from it.
  

There is much more that could have been cited, but the remaining 11 questions in the review demanded that we manage our time and proceed to other issues. If you were involved in the review and would like to share your points-of-pride, I encourage you to use this blog to promote the accomplishments of your department.

Monsters of Rock – Monsters of Education

I confess to being a fan of the classic heavy metal rock genre, and so this past Wednesday (March 28) was a thrilling night for me. A guitarist by the name of Tony Iommi played the Ottawa Civic Center with the current line-up of the famous metal group Black Sabbath.
Iommi crafted a guitar sound in the late 60’s that remains so distinctive and powerful that he has been cited as an influence to a legion of rock guitarists. The band Black Sabbath is commonly referred to as a “Monster of Rock”.
The monster metaphor has found its way into hockey thanks to a well known NHL analyst and former coach Pierre McGuire. Late in his TSN broadcast McGuire selects his “Monster player of the game”, a player whose performance is so powerful it affects the flow of the game and the success of his team.

Distinction and influence; these are the traits common in any practice that is deemed excellent, or in this case monstrous. When I’m in the presence of someone like Tony Iommi, or CEO-author Jack Welch, or comedian Bill Cosby, I find myself inspired to develop toward building distinction and influence in education and telehealth.

We have numerous “Monsters of Education” stories, past and present at the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group. For example, Gail Robinson and her team at the Brockville Psychiatric Hospital who pioneered the concept of community treatment teams – that was a monster. The team from the Substance Use and Concurrent Disorders (known as Addictions Program at the time) who pioneered Early Intervention in the school setting. That was a monster. We could go on for pages with other examples of accomplishments that have shaped the Mental Health service playing field.
The world is full of masters and monsters of their craft. After enjoying yourself in their presence, ask yourself “how do they distinguish themselves and their work from everyone else in their field?” That could unlock some wonderful creative potential in your professional craft.

Beware of "Sign Now-Pay Later" in Telehealth Partnerships

I’ve never met a person who would argue Steven Covey’s Habit #4 in his popular series The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. It’s titled “Win-Win, or No Deal”. It states that achievements are largely dependent on co-operative efforts with others. He says that win-win is based on the assumption that there is plenty for everyone, and that success follows a co-operative approach more naturally than the confrontation of win-or-lose. During my 11 years of involvement in Telehealth, which includes numerous partnership agreements, I’ve observed too often how these agreements resemble “Win-lose”, and that’s why I’m urging Sr. Management to model a win-win approach as we negotiate a renewed partnership with the newly amalgamated Ontario Telemedicine Network.

The losers are usually those on the Telehealth front line. “Nobody told me about this.” “I didn’t have any choice in the matter.” These are familiar comments from Telehealth workers across Canada who gather yearly to create a learning community for this wonderful innovation in healthcare and health education.

There’s lack of recognition and reward; work processes are built reactively, often in the wake of errors or frustration; and this often drains the telehealth front line of their passion and commitment before a service is even established. I’ve heard the resentment that Telehealth workers quietly express toward their senior managers because they purchase the telehealth carriage before considering the work horses.

Partnership agreements among provincial and federal groups and individual organizations are absolutely necessary for an efficient and effective Telehealth service. What often happens is that Sr. representatives shake hands and sign agreements and move on to the next administration priority.

The Royal Ottawa Health Care was the first hospital in Canada to be scrutinized against national best-practice standards for Telehealth by the CCHSA. We’re proud that surveyors reported how well we delivered on most of the standards – but the Telehealth people-factor was identified as an area of weakness.
To sign to latest collaborative agreement before fixing these “very fixable” problems would be ignoring the whole point of Accreditation, and would only be repeating an historical telehealth problem that is prevalent across Canada.
I’m proud to say that our Senior Management team understands this – and that’s how a Learning Organization is supposed to work.

Movie Magic at Symposium 2007

A mental health symposium held in a motion picture theatre; at a glance it seems like a bizarre venue for such an event.

Logistically it is proving to be very unorthodox, but we can't let the frustration of planning and organizing the event prevail upon our vision for Symposium 2007. As I reflected on this upcoming event while relaxing during the March break there was an irony that I find absolutely beautiful.

When we resume our lives at the end of a working day, we may find ourselves visiting the Cineplex Odeon or any other movie venue in the region prepared to totally suspend our judgements and beliefs. We hand over our imaginations to the Hollywood industry. We open our minds to infinite possibilities the moment we enter the theatre.

Is this also the case when we enter the Associates-in-Psychiatry Auditorium or any other health care learning venue during a clinical working day?

It appears that in this context our staff enter the learning venue with their beliefs, values, and expectations very pre-determined. They want evidence. They want data. They map what they see and hear to their own clinical reality.

Which context do we hope for with this first annual Symposium on Mental Health research and care?

I’m hoping our guests enter the Cineplex Odeon with the same desire to hope and dream as they would if they were watching “A Beautiful Mind”, “Awakenings”, or any other movie where Mental Illness is the villain, and we all represent the good guys fighting to prevail against all odds.

This Symposium is about bringing people together in the fight against mental illness. Let’s take advantage of this venue-of-the-imagination to picture a happy ending for all the people we serve.

Pass the popcorn.