Full Transcript for 862. How Small Moments Create Purpose, Trust, and Better Leadership

[SPEAKER_02]: It's really employee engagement and experience in the workplace with the last decade plus 100% dedicated to health care. 02:52.273 --> 03:02.622 [SPEAKER_02]: But it really wasn't until I got to see my work of employee experience through the patient size during my wife's battle that I truly even understood the importance of my own work. 03:03.927 --> 03:11.435 [SPEAKER_02]: I like to say employee engagement and many industries can be quote unquote a buzzword, but in health care, it's an necessity for optimal patient outcomes. 03:11.975 --> 03:21.505 [SPEAKER_02]: I saw her first hand hang on their very word and instruction of the nurse that made her laugh and coincidentally to now the physician that has had a buried just computer and wouldn't make eye contact 03:22.753 --> 03:28.197 [SPEAKER_02]: But there's one specific moment that changed the course of my purpose and my career. 03:28.217 --> 03:31.519 [SPEAKER_02]: I was doing the part of my job I loved. 03:31.599 --> 03:37.163 [SPEAKER_02]: I was doing an all day workshop around leadership development and employing engagement. 03:37.744 --> 03:42.767 [SPEAKER_02]: At a 27,000 plus employee health system, one of the best academic health systems in the world. 03:42.827 --> 03:49.111 [SPEAKER_02]: And we were bringing in different parts of the organization throughout the day, OD&LD for 90 minutes, sea level for 90 minutes, nurse leadership. 03:50.195 --> 04:02.925 [SPEAKER_02]: We got halfway through the workshop and broke for lunch coincidentally, both fortunately and unfortunately, my wife happened to be 800 yards away from the CHROS board room in the cancer center being prepared for a bone marrow transplant. 04:02.945 --> 04:08.330 [SPEAKER_02]: I say fortunately that we have that system to care for her unfortunately, obviously she was going through it. 04:09.460 --> 04:11.923 [SPEAKER_02]: And as I walked across the street, I walked into my wife's room. 04:12.404 --> 04:14.527 [SPEAKER_02]: Her nurse had a arm around her and my wife was crying. 04:15.127 --> 04:17.070 [SPEAKER_02]: And I ran over and I said, why are you crying? 04:17.210 --> 04:19.994 [SPEAKER_02]: And she said, was Gloria didn't bring me my lunch today. 04:20.535 --> 04:22.778 [SPEAKER_02]: Gloria sings to me when she brings me to my lunch. 04:24.603 --> 04:45.620 [SPEAKER_02]: And it was just this powerful moment because here I am with white boards and power points talking to the CEO of a 27,000 employee health system about how employee engagement and impacts patient outcomes in a food service employee is impacting my wife's mood as she's fighting for her life. 04:45.700 --> 04:46.060 [SPEAKER_02]: And as I 04:47.678 --> 04:54.586 [SPEAKER_02]: Left that day after doing that work, I really took a hard look at how much of my job was purposeful. 04:55.518 --> 04:58.341 [SPEAKER_02]: How much of my job was what I did that day? 04:58.942 --> 05:07.330 [SPEAKER_02]: How much of my job, not only impacted the caregiver experience, the employee experience, the patient experience, but community experience. 05:07.811 --> 05:17.981 [SPEAKER_02]: When we have a better health care system, and we all know health care has its challenges, but when we can improve that care journey for people, 05:19.437 --> 05:20.458 [SPEAKER_02]: that's what matters. 05:20.558 --> 05:23.159 [SPEAKER_02]: But I was also in my cushy corporate gig. 05:23.179 --> 05:26.861 [SPEAKER_02]: I was also doing stuff that didn't make a difference on outcomes. 05:26.981 --> 05:29.442 [SPEAKER_02]: Didn't make a difference on the people side of it. 05:30.003 --> 05:34.345 [SPEAKER_02]: And one day I just woke up and decided it wasn't wasn't enough and resigned. 05:34.885 --> 05:39.788 [SPEAKER_02]: And now I strive every day to make the biggest impact I can on those of both provide and receive care. 05:41.085 --> 05:49.427 [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for sharing your story, Jeff, you know, people often wait for a dramatic revelation before believing they have found their purpose. 05:50.148 --> 05:56.790 [SPEAKER_00]: What smaller signals or recurring experiences should we pay attention to in our everyday lives? 05:57.430 --> 06:06.992 [SPEAKER_02]: Well, what I would say is, one thing I say on my podcast a lot is keep your eyes open and stay authentically present because you never know when the smallest moments in life 06:09.953 --> 06:18.160 [SPEAKER_02]: And early Jeff again, only celebrated big wins as a leader and things, and now I learn to try to sell very daily wins. 06:18.821 --> 06:25.707 [SPEAKER_02]: Try to find those small things that we do across the course of a day, week, month, that we can just really say, you know what? 06:26.608 --> 06:33.894 [SPEAKER_02]: I'm in there, I'm going in there right direction, but there's one small moment that did truly change my life. 06:34.875 --> 06:36.937 [SPEAKER_02]: And it was during my waste battle with cancer. 06:38.090 --> 06:51.097 [SPEAKER_02]: Um, we have a recently passed, um, 16 year old Beagle mode that my podcast mode dashments of experience is named after because of the amazing moments he gave us. 06:51.998 --> 06:54.199 [SPEAKER_02]: And if I get a little emotional, he just recently passed. 06:54.279 --> 06:59.262 [SPEAKER_02]: So it's been it's been really difficult, uh, because of moments like I'm going to share right now. 06:59.382 --> 07:04.465 [SPEAKER_02]: He, my wife had hair down to her waist, long, beautiful 07:05.824 --> 07:14.991 [SPEAKER_02]: during our battle with cancer, the first night she went to sleep bald, he put his head on top of hers as if to say, I'll keep you warm. 07:16.392 --> 07:30.922 [SPEAKER_02]: And as I sat there and watched that 15 to 20 seconds, it was one of the most powerful moments that showed me that at this stage of my life, I need to pursue 07:35.013 --> 07:53.743 [SPEAKER_02]: moments like that in their care journeys, moments that matter moments that are truly compassionate just selfless and

truly make the difference and highlighting those moments because many of these moments are glorious again to my wife happened. 07:54.383 --> 08:01.607 [SPEAKER_02]: But when I told the CEO of that large health system that he said, I had no idea things like that went in, went on between our walls. 08:02.840 --> 08:14.482 [SPEAKER_02]: So when we amplify the small moments when we share those stories, you know, I had a guest on my podcast share, she was sitting there with her father and mom, who's dying. 08:15.442 --> 08:19.483 [SPEAKER_02]: And after he ordered lunch, he said, you know what I should have gotten Apple Jews. 08:21.643 --> 08:29.424 [SPEAKER_02]: And an environmental services person in the room was empowered enough to leave the room and come back with a six-ounce jar of Apple Jews. 08:29.685 --> 08:32.425 [SPEAKER_02]: And they said they still talk about that long after his death, 08:33.729 --> 08:40.646 [SPEAKER_02]: So the small moments in life can be the most powerful if you're paying attention. 08:41.648 --> 08:43.132 [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for sharing that story. 08:44.374 --> 08:53.376 [SPEAKER_00]: The small moments of life are the powerful intentions that we need every day, and we need to slow down and pay attention to that. 08:53.536 --> 08:54.797 [SPEAKER_00]: So thank you for sharing that. 08:55.597 --> 09:02.098 [SPEAKER_00]: You work at the intersection of employee, patient, caregiver, and human experience. 09:02.899 --> 09:12.541 [SPEAKER_00]: How does a way in organization treats its employees ultimately influence the experiences of patients, customers, and families? 09:14.175 --> 09:15.208 [SPEAKER_02]: Well, it's, um, 09:17.374 --> 09:18.754 [SPEAKER_02]: It is a direct correlation. 09:20.415 --> 09:21.535 [SPEAKER_02]: I know the answers to the test. 09:22.215 --> 09:28.396 [SPEAKER_02]: From all the work I've done, investments in our workforce in any industry, especially healthcare. 09:29.256 --> 09:32.637 [SPEAKER_02]: Always will impact the customer or patient experience. 09:33.097 --> 09:37.218 [SPEAKER_02]: And it's undeniable, although many times considered anecdotal. 09:37.578 --> 09:41.458 [SPEAKER_02]: I just got off the phone with a chief people officer of a large health system. 09:41.859 --> 09:43.699 [SPEAKER_02]: It's actually doing this study now. 09:44.659 --> 09:55.027 [SPEAKER_02]: to really tie those metrics, not only to patient and patient safety, tying in employee and patient experience. 09:55.067 --> 09:59.250 [SPEAKER_02]: Sometimes in health care, they both those experiences live in two separate ivory towers. 10:00.150 --> 10:03.533 [SPEAKER_02]: And it's really sad because they are so interconnected. 10:04.994 --> 10:13.280 [SPEAKER_02]: And those experiences that our customers have, that our patients have, that everyone are workforce touches. 10:15.725 --> 10:32.029 [SPEAKER_02]: if we invest in our workforce, if we invest in engagement, we'll be in mental health, any professional development, leadership development, any investment in our people will always pay you back from the experience your customers and patients have. 10:32.489 --> 10:35.749 [SPEAKER_02]: It's unequivocal, I've never seen it not work. 10:36.069 --> 10:38.390 [SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, they're directly tied. 10:39.515 --> 10:43.737 [SPEAKER_00]: It's all about having that positive responsible influence on those around us. 10:43.897 --> 10:45.939 [SPEAKER_00]: And who do we spend the most time with? 10:46.379 --> 10:50.661 [SPEAKER_00]: Our family, our co-workers, and it's so important to spread that. 10:50.881 --> 10:59.146 [SPEAKER_00]: And then that will spread to our patients, our clients, our people in our community. 10:59.526 --> 11:00.807 [SPEAKER_00]: It's just a big ripple. 11:01.307 --> 11:01.427 [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. 11:01.847 --> 11:08.331 [SPEAKER_02]: And unfortunately, you know, I asked people to have grace with the health care workforce, because by the way, we all don't have great experiences in health care, right? 11:08.371 --> 11:09.311 [SPEAKER_02]: I don't want to paint it. 11:09.751 --> 11:16.395 [SPEAKER_02]: You know, it's difficult, but I cautioned people to say, you doctor didn't want to be 45 minutes late. 11:17.535 --> 11:19.316 [SPEAKER_02]: Your nurse didn't want to be cranky that day. 11:19.356 --> 11:30.322 [SPEAKER_02]: They didn't get into the healing arts because they were cranky people and we're miserable with their jobs, but the broken systems and the non-investment in people for many health systems. 11:31.277 --> 11:36.479 [SPEAKER_02]: create burnout, create cynicism, create people having bad days. 11:37.579 --> 11:40.420 [SPEAKER_02]: And I always like to tell patients try to have some grace. 11:40.440 --> 11:46.222 [SPEAKER_02]: Don't don't completely let people off the hook for four care, you know, and non-compassion, but 11:47.255 --> 11:47.915 [SPEAKER_02]: It's hard out there. 11:48.415 --> 11:52.996 [SPEAKER_00]: Compassion is easy to discuss but much harder to practice under pressure. 11:53.716 --> 12:02.458 [SPEAKER_00]: What does compassionate leadership look like when a leader must still set expectations make difficult decisions or hold someone accountable? 12:02.818 --> 12:07.679 [SPEAKER_02]: But I think tying into this, I didn't know what we just talked about as far as the investment in the people. 12:08.539 --> 12:11.880 [SPEAKER_02]: When people feel seen or heard valued, 12:13.073 --> 12:16.836 [SPEAKER_02]: That is the intersection of engagement. 12:16.856 --> 12:21.980 [SPEAKER_02]: And when they feel trust between the team leader, I tell people all the time. 12:22.220 --> 12:24.863 [SPEAKER_02]: Employing engagement is not on HR metric. 12:24.963 --> 12:28.565 [SPEAKER_02]: It's not a top-down measurement. 12:29.286 --> 12:31.007 [SPEAKER_02]: Engagement is a local phenomenon. 12:31.508 --> 12:36.031 [SPEAKER_02]: It's our local team leaders that drive the culture on each individual team. 12:36.752 -->

12:43.258 [SPEAKER_02]: And when that leader is able to create trust, make their people feel seen, heard, valued. 12:44.179 --> 12:47.062 [SPEAKER_02]: That's where we can still have difficult conversations. 12:47.082 --> 12:50.606 [SPEAKER_02]: We can still talk accountability because that trust is there. 12:51.366 --> 12:55.811 [SPEAKER_02]: We've, if a leader empowers their employee, 12:56.171 --> 13:14.911 [SPEAKER_02]: to leverage their unique strengths in problem solving and be creative and in all of these things, those ripples created an environment where they once again seen her valued and then tough conversations can happen when the time is needed. 13:16.665 --> 13:17.225 [SPEAKER_00]: absolutely. 13:17.265 --> 13:29.854 [SPEAKER_00]: And if a leader wants to approve the human experience within the organization, what's one specific action that they can take and what should they observe or measure to determine whether it's making a meaningful difference? 13:30.234 --> 13:36.378 [SPEAKER_02]: Well, I would say I worked with one of the world's leading researchers and people performance team dynamic and engagement at work. 13:37.299 --> 13:39.480 [SPEAKER_02]: And what he said was the secret 13:43.361 --> 13:49.642 [SPEAKER_02]: So attention, being, I like to say, I like to tell team leaders, ask three questions every week. 13:50.562 --> 13:51.542 [SPEAKER_02]: What did you love this week? 13:52.343 --> 13:53.163 [SPEAKER_02]: What didn't you love? 13:53.903 --> 13:54.583 [SPEAKER_02]: And how can I help? 13:56.443 --> 14:12.586 [SPEAKER_02]: And those three simple questions, it can be done through an app, it can be done in any way, but those three questions, I have seen the biggest jump in engagement because once again, scene heard valued. 14:13.628 --> 14:19.854 [SPEAKER_02]: You know, maybe if the thing they didn't love about their job last week, maybe that's something they don't have to do anymore. 14:20.074 --> 14:22.296 [SPEAKER_02]: Or maybe they can lean into that thing they loved. 14:23.918 --> 14:33.127 [SPEAKER_02]: And I think leader attention, authentic presence, human connection. 14:33.367 --> 14:38.152 [SPEAKER_02]: If a leader is authentically present, connects human to human. 14:40.004 --> 14:44.106 [SPEAKER_02]: and pays genuine attention to their direct reports. 14:44.666 --> 14:46.787 [SPEAKER_02]: Trust will, will be there. 14:47.988 --> 14:50.089 [SPEAKER_00]: That is so true, thank you for sharing that. 14:50.749 --> 14:57.772 [SPEAKER_00]: What have you learned about a well-intended employee engagement or culture initiative that failed? 14:58.873 --> 15:05.496 [SPEAKER_00]: It created an unintended consequence or did not improve people's actual experience? 15:06.516 --> 15:07.937 [SPEAKER_02]: Well, I'll give you one that almost failed. 15:08.632 --> 15:19.503 [SPEAKER_02]: Because this is one I talk about often, because healthcare has a disconnect in many ways between the clinical side of the house and the administrative side of the house. 15:20.444 --> 15:26.431 [SPEAKER_02]: And it's not always sinister in intention, but it does create mistrust. 15:27.352 --> 15:34.694 [SPEAKER_02]: And I was at a 20,000 employee health system and we were getting in a nursing engagement program over the line. 15:34.894 --> 15:40.415 [SPEAKER_02]: And we were talking about some of the final things and really just just really getting ready to launch. 15:40.835 --> 15:48.677 [SPEAKER_02]: And I walked into a board room and I looked at the CHR when I looked at the CEO and I looked at the CFL and I looked around and I said, where are the nurses? 15:50.377 --> 15:51.797 [SPEAKER_02]: And they said, they weren't invited. 15:53.598 --> 15:54.938 [SPEAKER_02]: And I said, well, this meeting's over. 15:56.310 --> 15:58.471 [SPEAKER_02]: And I got a lot of pushback, I got a pushback from my company. 15:58.511 --> 16:00.772 [SPEAKER_02]: I got pushback from the health system. 16:00.792 --> 16:03.953 [SPEAKER_02]: Do you have any idea how hard it was to get these people together? 16:05.493 --> 16:15.076 [SPEAKER_02]: And told them, was we can't solve problems for people without the people with the problems in the room? 16:16.877 --> 16:18.838 [SPEAKER_02]: And what I said was, I can't. 16:20.478 --> 16:21.919 [SPEAKER_02]: You are a not for hospital. 16:21.939 --> 16:25.600 [SPEAKER_02]: There's no way we can even take your money for this program. 16:26.815 --> 16:31.798 [SPEAKER_02]: knowing it's going to fail because the nurses are going to feel this is the administrative flavor of the month. 16:32.958 --> 16:34.499 [SPEAKER_02]: And it will never be adopted. 16:34.599 --> 16:35.860 [SPEAKER_02]: It will never be embraced. 16:36.580 --> 16:39.742 [SPEAKER_02]: I said, we can reschedule this meeting, but I need at least three nurses. 16:39.822 --> 16:41.242 [SPEAKER_02]: I need the cheap nursing officer. 16:41.863 --> 16:46.025 [SPEAKER_02]: I need a team lead, a nurse team lead, and I need a front line nurse. 16:47.125 --> 16:48.406 [SPEAKER_02]: And we need their input. 16:48.426 --> 16:53.488 [SPEAKER_02]: And you know what, when that meeting was rescheduled, and we got the input from 16:58.778 --> 17:06.904 [SPEAKER_02]: because the nurse leader said, well, Jeff, this is, you know, to ask those three questions that I talked about, I have 90 director ports. 17:07.904 --> 17:16.150 [SPEAKER_02]: How can I review 90 people's response to these, so I can't pay the attention and I can do this. 17:16.450 --> 17:27.458 [SPEAKER_02]: And we were able to design the program where nurse leaders in training could review those questions and then go to the nurse leader and say, hey, these seven people need a face to face. 17:28.650 --> 17:49.828 [SPEAKER_02]: Everyone else is running good, but that feedback from the people with the problems involved in the problem solving led to a successful project, but I had to be very bold into demand that they had their seat at the table. 17:50.809

--> 17:52.631 [SPEAKER_02]: And by the way, in that sense, it wasn't sinister, 17:55.137 --> 17:58.658 [SPEAKER_02]: And I'm like, they're not too busy to solve problems that they deal with every day. 17:59.778 --> 18:06.199 [SPEAKER_00]: That is some great advice to have any business owner that wants to solve problems of the business. 18:06.219 --> 18:10.460 [SPEAKER_00]: You have to go to the front line and ask the people who are experiencing the problem. 18:12.000 --> 18:22.622 [SPEAKER_02]: That's any industry, any team, any company, the people with the problems, if you empower them to help you creatively problem solve. 18:23.783 --> 18:32.985 [SPEAKER_02]: You will see, we mentioned it earlier, you will see their unique strengths come out and you will see more good ideas come out come out come out. 18:33.165 --> 18:39.387 [SPEAKER_02]: When people feel like they're to empowered that they're seeing herd valued and have a voice. 18:39.407 --> 18:39.807 [SPEAKER_00]: 100%. 18:41.047 --> 18:46.488 [SPEAKER_00]: For someone who feels disconnected from purpose right now, what is one meaningful moment? 18:47.329 --> 18:52.990 [SPEAKER_00]: They can intentionally create notice or reflect on this week to begin moving forward. 18:54.355 --> 19:03.482 [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know if it can create any, but I will say this once again, I open authentically present. 19:04.663 --> 19:09.686 [SPEAKER_02]: There are find in watch for joy. 19:11.448 --> 19:20.294 [SPEAKER_02]: Okay, when I'm having a bad week before I would take my wife for a walk and I would watch him chasing the backyard, squirrels up trees and just see him in 19:24.601 --> 19:29.505 [SPEAKER_02]: Took in things and went to places where I knew I was going to see joy. 19:31.627 --> 19:33.208 [SPEAKER_02]: Those small moments are out there. 19:34.269 --> 19:39.013 [SPEAKER_02]: Do what, when you're having a bad week, do those things that make you smile. 19:40.214 --> 19:45.818 [SPEAKER_02]: And then allow yourself as we started the program talking about, allow yourself to really say, that was a win. 19:46.679 --> 19:48.901 [SPEAKER_02]: That walked with my dog, cleared my head. 19:49.681 --> 19:50.302 [SPEAKER_02]: I know I just had a 19:55.051 --> 20:05.221 [SPEAKER_02]: The other thing I would say when we're not feeling that connection to purpose, when we're not feeling great, I have been for a while now, practice it. 20:05.561 --> 20:12.508 [SPEAKER_02]: At the top of my to-do list for every week, I write one thing, and I write self-compassion, and I highlight it. 20:14.029 --> 20:18.674 [SPEAKER_02]: When the worry is not on your side, and we all have those times. 20:19.793 --> 20:27.880 [SPEAKER_02]: You know, I had, I had a, my job eliminated three days after my past four days after I tore my rotator cuff. 20:27.900 --> 20:38.528 [SPEAKER_02]: Sometimes we feel like life is piling on, but when life is not, you don't feel that purpose or you don't feel that joy, make sure you're not making it worse. 20:38.588 --> 20:45.454 [SPEAKER_02]: Make sure you're giving yourself grace, your self compassion, just say Jeff, today was a good day, but it's okay. 20:46.624 --> 20:52.648 [SPEAKER_02]: We'll find some joy tomorrow and just recognize, don't be hard on yourself whenever one else is. 20:54.589 --> 20:56.070 [SPEAKER_00]: That is great advice, Jeff. 20:56.770 --> 21:00.993 [SPEAKER_00]: Before we close, what is the best way for listeners to learn more about you and connect with you? 21:01.758 --> 21:04.780 [SPEAKER_02]: So, um, probably my website, um, you can connect with me on LinkedIn. 21:04.980 --> 21:10.082 [SPEAKER_02]: It's Jeffrey G-E-O-F-R-E-Y-P-S-Meth because last name is Smith. 21:10.102 --> 21:16.266 [SPEAKER_02]: It's sometimes it's hard to find me on LinkedIn, but my website is moments of experience.com and it's mow dashments. 21:17.126 --> 21:24.470 [SPEAKER_02]: Um, you know, obviously named after my wonderful best friend and, uh, had an amazing 16 year old 21:25.597 --> 21:31.970 [SPEAKER_02]: Um, to save my wife's life and just was the most amazing companion in the world and that has all the episodes my podcasts. 21:32.812 --> 21:35.758 [SPEAKER_02]: Um, and feel for you to chat to me on LinkedIn. 21:36.825 --> 21:37.205 [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you. 21:37.245 --> 21:39.167 [SPEAKER_00]: We'll include that information as show notes. 21:39.727 --> 21:47.432 [SPEAKER_00]: Jeff, thank you so much for joining us and reminding us that purposes often reveal through those moments we choose to notice. 21:48.052 --> 21:53.376 [SPEAKER_00]: Your story also challenges us to do more than appreciate those moments. 21:53.776 --> 22:02.602 [SPEAKER_00]: We have a responsibility to let them change how we lead, how we treat people, and how we influence the experiences of those around us. 22:03.082 --> 22:05.183 [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for being a guest on daily influence. 22:05.203 --> 22:06.184 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm so grateful for 22:07.300 --> 22:07.920 [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for having me. 22:08.540 --> 22:12.121 [SPEAKER_00]: And to our listeners, thank you for joining us and daily influence. 22:12.521 --> 22:23.204 [SPEAKER_00]: Take one key insight from today's conversation and potentially put it into practice in your own life so you can have a positive responsible influence on yourself and those around you. 22:23.664 --> 22:26.945 [SPEAKER_00]: Remember, every interaction is an opportunity to influence. 22:27.385 --> 22:29.985 [SPEAKER_00]: And the influence you create is always your choice. 22:30.446 --> 22:35.887 [SPEAKER_00]: Until next time, stay inspired and keep having a positive responsible influence. 22:35.907 --> 22:36.127 [SPEAKER_00]: Bye.