Clintcast

Sometimes it can be difficult to recognize the difference between being in a groove and being in a rut. Being in a groove doesn’t just mean you’ve come up with a winning/best practice or routine. It implies that there is constant ability to continually modify and adapt that practice/routine to persist that success on an ongoing basis. Otherwise, even a best practice can become a rut.

The need to try to impress is often a marker of underlying self-esteem issues. Eddie Haskell on Leave It to Beaver was a good example. In order to get credit points for one’s efforts/knowledge/etc, it is vital to frame one’s contributions within the goals/actions of the team so it can help everyone win.

While many facilities may have great customer service during the week (especially during business hours), sometimes the hours on the weekend tend to suffer a bit due to issues such as staff, budget, transportation, etc. It is very important to make sure that great customer service takes place 24/7. Here are some items to consider!

Some believe there is a choice between actualities and perceptions. In fact, it is important to address both. Likewise, seeing and believing also can have a bidirectional relationship that is important to nurture. Today, Clint discusses how these concepts can affect your career in healthcare.

Many people are familiar with the old adage of walking a mile in another’s shoes. This is a key concept in teaming because it helps one to understand the perspectives of others as well as their successes and challenges. Through this increased awareness, blame can be averted and shared responsibility and cooperation can instead drive team actions.

An often overlooked source of revenue is managed care. Yes, the payment side of things can be very tedious, but if you are willing to partner with your managed care representatives to learn where their ‘pains’ are (aka-opportunities), you can get the jump on your competitors and work a revenue stream that makes things easier for you and the managed care representative!

There are many, often hidden or little used, ways to market your efforts to drive future business. One of these ways is what is called the ‘transition call’ - when a patient leaves the care of your organization to return home or back to a previous level of independence or care. This is a great opportunity to share your success data with the referring doctor/therapist/etc to help stimulate future referrals.

The journey towards excellence is just that, a journey... not a destination. That being said, what are the most effective ways to maximize your efforts in carrying out that journey? Knowing you can never reach perfection (the destination), how can you maintain your diligence along the way? Clint shares his thoughts on the movement towards excellence.

Healthcare is a particularly challenging career to begin with and it is a special breed of person who thrives in it. In an environment rife with stress, long hours and thankless efforts, how do we keep all these caregivers pumped up? Care of the caregiver starts with the individual and then moves on to the surrounding team. Clint shares his thoughts on ways to pump you up!

One issue that healthcare must deal with everyday is the dining experience. It can dominate the day's various activities. More so, if breakfast doesn't go well, often the rest of the day is spent trying to recover. Clint elaborates on ways to turn these key hours to your advantage as well as to provide better customer service to begin with, so mealtimes don't turn into ‘milkings’.

In every organization, there tends to be three types of individuals: chronic givers, chronic takers and those who maintain balance. Today, Clint discusses the 7 keys that the balanced individuals carry in common as well as ways to deal with the other two groups of individuals.

Many organizations are crippled in fear of the survey - and the personnel that represent it - the surveyors. Today, Clint suggests a tactic for dealing with this issue - treat the surveyors like customers! Surveyors of one type or another are a fact of the healthcare business forevermore. Thus, stop worrying and embrace them instead - you might be surprised!

When planning out critical organizational improvement issues, you must be mindful of which "now" you are working with: the past now, the current now or the future now. Only the current now has relevant meaning today in your planning. Learn how to recognize these viewpoints and how to deal with each in your improvement planning today!

Further developing Care Crowd Creed item #3 (Teaming makes it easier), Clint elaborates on the processes used by Maun-Lemke to help organizations achieve 7 to 1 ROI through the use of teams in goal setting/achievement.

A key concept vital to success in an organization is to pair problems with solutions (what we call P=S). When you allow those who raise problems to not be a key part of proposing solutions, you, by default, become the owner of the problem. Here are some hints on how to deal with this issue!

As the saying goes, first impressions count. What kind of impression is your organization making with new admissions? Are they made to feel welcome and that you are prepared for them or do they feel that are run through the DMV line? Clint gives some pointers on making this critical period successful in your organization.

In any organization, there does exist a crisis from time to time that can highly impact the organization. Humans too have times when a crisis makes their daily work difficult. For a select few, they not only welcome a crisis, but they may even create one to draw attention to themselves. Learn how to deal with these events today!

Humans, as well as the organizations they work in, have daily needs to function. While it is often thought that these two forces are at odds in their directions, in fact there can be a great deal of common overlap. Today, Clint discusses where there are commonalities and how to deal with those times when there aren't.

Most everyone has heard the proverb of not putting all of one's eggs in one basket. This applies to our work lives, and even our personal lives, on multiple levels. While it is great to be highly skilled or familiar with something, as change is always a given, it is important to diversify. Listen in!

One of the often overlooked or foregone factors of working in healthcare is the requirement that you must like people. It may seem odd that some would need reminding of this and yet it happens often in the profession that workers take up this cause even though they prefer isolation. Clint discusses this ultimate "people business" and the worker's role in it.