“There is so much good to do in the world and so many different ways to do it.”

The title quote is from the wonderful man who started HCA: Dr. Thomas Frist, Sr. As a transformation and innovation person, this resonated with me as my purpose for being in a role like this is to bring good to the world of patients and providers and families.

A former CEO of an organization I worked for and I were having a dialog over breakfast. We discussed that one of the most difficult words in Healthcare is NO! When someone asks us to help them and we are already overloaded, it remains difficult to say no and even difficult to say "not right now". My theory on that is simple; empathy is the heartbeat of healthcare and most of us are in it for someone else. It is an industry where service overcomes self! To ensure we don't let empathy and service drive us to the edge of burnout, we need a system.

Not saying no or not right now often leads to a lack of clear priorities, especially from a transformation and innovation perspective. Just yesterday, someone I deeply admire and I were discussing the necessity of ensuring that innovation isn't focused on the shiny/something to talk about on Twitter but is directly focused on a material impact toward transforming experiences and outcomes for consumers (employees, patients, etc) and companies alike. The question becomes, how do we ensure that the so much good to do doesn't lead us into being overwhelmed and working on things that aren't material to the consumer and company?

I propose a way to do it!

1. Implement a rigorous transformation system driven by the progress that the consumer/customer wants to make. This is a system that my team and I designed, documented and deployed: https://cdn.atriumhealth.org/-/media/chs/files/whitepapers/atrium-innovationwhitepaper-09-2023-compressed.pdf?rev=c213625d1d4b4d3b8ec41d0e2579a279&hash=97917D23B8D51E7E0BDC5131C59B62AE
2. Have a focus on removing friction that the consumer cares about. You can learn about that friction by conducting deep observations via going to their context and circumstance. You can also ask questions of patients and employees such as: What would you love to have different in your day to day work? https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/love-metric-todd-dunn/ What is a friction you have in your day to day work that you would love to see transformed? What friction do you have in the experience as a patient? What causes you stress in your work day that leads to burnout, etc? The true focus here is to let empathy drive your innovation efforts vs a focus on the shiny and things that may not be material to your patients, providers, other employees, etc. Innovate for transformation impact more than reputation.
3. Use a system, maybe a 2*2 matrix, to prioritize the focal points. In conducting #2 above, you will certainly find so much good to do and so many ways to do it. Create a list and a system for prioritizing all of that good.

It is possible to have too much of a good thing if we do not prioritize the good things to do! Staying rigorous about which good to do first and how is a key to avoiding burnout and a key to driving meaningful transformation experiences for people and our organizations. If you would like to talk transformation and innovation shop please reach out!