Here's an invitation to truly embrace the creativity of others. Instead of beating your breast about how great you are, try saying how great someone else is. Look for win-wins, make that your new religion. Establish a policy that nothing will be announced unless it can be shown that someone else will win because of what you're doing. How much happier we would be if instead of crippling each other with fear, we competed to empower each others' creativity.
Way back in 2002 I wrote this, which Dave linked to.
We're saying the same thing (I think) .. which is:
- Do the right thing
- Cooperate with others
- Nobody needs to "win"
My friends Dave and Barbara were visiting over the weekend with their wonderful children. The 8year-old told a story about how the teacher held a competition in school about who knew more about something .. after they finished .. the teacher announced "everyone wins!" and the kids groan … rolling their eyes … so sophistacted these kids .. 🙂
Competition (win/lose) is so deep a component of our culture that even 8 year old kids at a granola-cruncher private school in Seattle don't buy in to "everyone wins."
So it goes in healthcare too. Who gets the diagnosis right? (and who gets it wrong?") The very culture of medical education focuses on one student does better than another. This translates into residency (who is the best?) and then "physicianhood." We all want the best physician, right?
This competition makes excellence in patient care more elusive. A primary care physician can't build a collaborative trusting relationship with a specialist if we're always competing to make the diagnosis better, cheaper, faster, etc.
I'd suggest that the best physician is NOT the smartest – it's the physician who works the best with his or her colleagues in the community (not to mention the information reources!) …
So predictably we weave back into information technology. The best physician knows some important things:
- Do the right thing
- Cooperate with others
- Nobody needs to "win"
The patient wins when I look it up or "phone a friend" instead of trying to do everything myself.
Blogged with Flock
