What's the Frequency, Kenneth?

Last week, my pal Chris Vrooman and I talked about listening and perspective as part of our on-going drumbeat about the importance of Empathy in leadership, healthcare, and innovation.

And while listening and perspective are critical, communication is a two-way street. You send and receive messages hundreds of times per day. It’s one of the most complicated things humans do. 

As a young Air Force Lieutenant, I spent a fair amount of time with the Army. I quickly noticed that some of the most-respected Army Medics wore an especially distinctive badge on their uniform: It was called the “Expert Field Medical Badge” (EFMB). The test to receive the award was difficult. A multi-day extravaganza, in the field, under simulated combat conditions. The test included weapons qualification, day and night land navigation, emergency medicine, chemical warfare and combat skills, radio communications, and much more -- topped off with a 12-mile road-march as a final gut check ("..To make sure you really want it," one of the Army candidates told me). Throw in lots of explosions, “Meals-Ready-To-Eat” (MREs), no showers, and very little sleep…it was a test designed to keep participants out of the EFMB-club. And that's exactly the result the Army got most of the time. 

In my class, 160 soldiers (and a couple of airmen) started the test. Only 12 graduated. 

One of the hundred tasks we were required to accomplish (flawlessly!) during the test included using a field radio to call in a medivac helicopter to pick up our (simulated) wounded patients. This included assembling the radio, determining the right radio frequency and dialing it in, finding the correct code necessary to encrypt the medivac request, and then transmitting and confirming receipt. Sounds easy, right?

Turned out that this EFMB radio test was a micro-lesson in leadership communication. A skill I’ve used over and over throughout my career.

Every individual has a way they personally prefer to receive and transmit information. Some of us like email. Some prefer daily face-to-face meetings. Others want to have goals set, then be left alone to accomplish them. 

As a leader, you have to find the correct “frequency” to best communicate with your team, your boss, and your peers. All while also accepting that your own experiences can clog the communication channel with interference, prejudice, and fear. 

Great leaders adapt their communication style to suit their receivers. They make sure messages are transmitted on the right frequency, then confirm the message was received (and understood). The best leaders become experts at communicating on multiple channels, in multiple styles. The technique drives transparency, which helps everyone on the team better embrace the message and provide appropriate feedback. 

And just as important, leaders mentor others toward the same agile communication techniques.

“To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others.”

An agile communication capability is largely built on Empathy. Spend the quality time with your team/boss/peers, and listen – you’ll discover THEIR preferred comm frequency. And, as an aside, they’ll better understand any bias you have in YOUR preferred channel.

There you go. Communication feedback loop complete. Now you’re communicating. Really communicating.

Oh, and the EFMB test? I was one of the lucky twelve that day. The Commander of Fort Sill's Field Artillery School pinned the badge on my sweaty, dirty, stinking chest immediately upon conclusion of the road march – the final task for those who’d made it to the end of the test. 

“Congratulations, Air Force. Hope you learned something,” he said, as he handed me a challenge coin.

“Oh I did sir. I definitely did.”

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You can always find me at www.drex.io

You can trust a leader who has been in your shoes! Drex DeFord has spent nearly 30 years leading some of the nation’s most respected health systems. As a digital health leader, he works with health systems, vendor-partners, start-ups, and investors, and boards. He understands competing priorities. Strained resources. The pressure to differentiate your services, distinguish your brand, demonstrate value, and the drive to find ways to deliver better, faster, cheaper, safer, easier-to-access care to patients and families. All amid seismic changes in our industry. 

You’re busy. Let drex help. 

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