Competition makes us faster. Collaboration makes us better.

10/24/2017

Author

Nancy Steiger, Partner, CEO Advisory Network
Nancy is a mission-driven leader who has created outstanding outcomes in hospitals, healthcare systems, and ambulatory practices. She has deep experience in healthcare starting out as an RN and most recently as CEO of PeaceHealth’s Columbia Network.

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Thank you Matt Sturm and ECG, and the Colorado Hospital Association for inviting me to participate on the collaboration panel at your recent conference on Leading Strategically. I’m grateful for the opportunity to talk about this inspiring and

relevant subject. Looking all around us, we can see that competition is alive and well and not necessarily a bad thing. But from my experience, collaboration often allows us to find the best of all, and when done well, working together actually makes us better. So how do you do that successfully?

Reflecting on my experience, a couple of principles for successful collaboration come to mind:

As a mission driven leader, collaboration is best when individual or organizational mission, vision and values are aligned.

If you take the time to understand where you are aligned and define a goal greater than your organization, you always know where to come back to and how best to make decisions and move forward. If the goal is more options for patient care, or better coverage and quality of care for patients, it's much easier to build a successful collaboration than if the goal is simply increasing market-share.

Collaborations are best when they create something greater than the sum of what each can create on their own; it’s about the greater good.

Great collaborations make something better than if you had just done it on your own. In teams that are collaborating well, ideas are made better through honest dialogue; the process is iterative and builds upon itself, and the final product is accomplished utilizing everyone's diverse strengths and ideas.

It takes a team; individuals are part of and rely on teams. A collaboration’s success can’t rest on just one person.

There's a great proverb that says "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." Yes, we need our downtime as leaders, we need to set aside time to think and read and come up with ideas. But if we're being honest, it takes working with others to make things happen. This means taking the time to build a good team. Make sure you set good ground rules and prioritize time to build trust and enough camaraderie to find joy and meaning in the work.

As Covey says, start with the end in mind; how I think about it - how will working together make you and the communities you serve better than either can alone?

This speaks to aligning mission. When it seems like there is only option A and B in front of you, really thinking about how your organization or business can serve the community or your customer better might just lead you to an unthought-of option C. Particularly in healthcare when you're thinking about collaboration, if it doesn't make sense for our customers, we shouldn't be working on it together.

If you start with what you disagree on, it’s going to be a short conversation. So how do you figure out what you agree on? Remember, what we see depends on where we stand; that means you need to be a good listener, talk last, figure out how to inspire ideas, and keep asking questions, looking for the alignment and the common good.

After a while in leadership, you start to see the value in speaking last. If you speak first, others around you may agree with you simply because you're the boss. Asking others to go first, you may just hear a new idea or be sparked by something someone says that they might not have otherwise. Never stop asking questions. The most brilliant idea can come from the person you least expect - they may have the freshest eyes or be closer to the problem you're trying to solve than you are. So figure out how to listen well, because if you stop listening and stop asking questions, your people will quickly find someone else to follow.

You’re going to disagree but you don’t have to be disagreeable.

Another way I think of this is "Be tough on the issues, not on each other." Arguing about solutions, having debate about issues, mining for conflict, getting passionate about your projects - these are all good things. But always remember, even when you need to disagree with someone, you can do it with kindness, with emotional intelligence, and without making it personal.

We must share resources for the greater good. Especially in this healthcare landscape. At the end of the day, if the patient isn’t served better, don’t do it.

There is no question we are in a crazy time in healthcare. Getting our feet under us as health systems and hospitals adjust to the affordable care act and prepare for population health management and value based reimbursement, while also anticipating future patient needs and keeping up with the pace of medical advancement, and attracting the right talent and resources to keep your health system thriving... rethinking success and underlining the "for the sake of what" in our work is essential. It should always be about making it better for the patient. Better care. Lower cost. A better experience. A faster recovery. A way to never have to get admitted in the first place. And quite simply, at the end of the day, better health.

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