Sometimes it really really helps to avoid the pack, to stand away from the herd, and to do your own thing; i.e. management from the gut. Looking back over the past five million two hundred fifty six thousand minutes that have made up these last ten years, it is obvious that the primary strategy that has worked for us was not our focus on finance, but, instead, it was our focus on our patients, our people working here and on our processes.
A few blogs ago we lamented the budget process because of its obvious drain on positive energy. We spend so much time in this business studying our financial history that it can cause us to lose sight of the real focus of our work.
During a post board meeting conversation with an old friend, mentor and brilliant strategist, we talked about our new pay for performance wage program and our attempts to inspire all of our employees to be all that they can be. He turned to me and said, “The injection of meaning into human life should be your goal. Once your people truly get it, the motivation takes care of the challenges.” Or something like that. Anyway, the point was to bring meaning to their lives.
Once we knew our objectives, to become a model Planetree Hospital, we set our measurement scales, initiated targets, and determined our key actions required to achieve those objectives.
These accomplishments led to increased volumes, satisfied customers, and increased revenues that have allowed us to grow, to flourish and to ensure survivability.
Simple? Absolutely, positively, NOT. Is it common sense? Yep, but lots of smart people have convinced me that common sense is really uncommon, and that, my friends, is the problem.
p.s. Thanks for the prayers. My brother did just great.
