BOOKS

One of the toughest challenges as a leader is broaching crucial conversations.

Our bodies are hardwired to flee from danger and one of our biggest threats in the workplace is the threat of conflict and confrontation. It may sound more benign than running from a saber-toothed tiger, but actually, all of the same fight, flight, or freeze responses are activated in our bodies when we need to have a tough conversation, as when we’d need to literally run for our lives! 

These conversations are so hard to approach because we know they are costly. The three key elements of what makes a conversation “Crucial” are that there are high stakes, strong emotions, and opposing opinions. 

October Roundtable Speaker, Dr. Thomas Graham, is a world-renowned orthopedic hand surgeon, healthcare executive, author, inventor, and entrepreneur who holds over 60 patents, has published over 100 scholarly articles, and has founded four medical device companies.

Dr. Graham previously served as Cleveland Clinic’s Chief Innovation Officer and wrote the innovation playbook “Innovation the Cleveland Clinic Way: Powering Transformation and Putting Ideas to Work” during his tenure. This incredibly thorough guide makes innovation accessible for all healthcare leaders looking to strategically innovate at their health systems.

In our August Roundtable on Having Difficult Conversations and Giving Delicate Feedback, Kathleen Lapekas, PHR, SHRM-CP, recommended the book “How to Say Anything to Anyone” by Shari Harley.

In “How to Say Anything to Anyone,” we learn several tools from Kathleen’s tool belt including the eight step feedback formula and get even more practical tips on how to approach tough conversations and build functional relationships in the workplace.

Leadership Consultant Patrick Lencioni declares that organizational health and a thriving employee culture is more essential than the best skill and strategy. In this book, he’ll outline the best practices for achieving organizational health and developing a healthy thriving culture. 

In Triannual II, we’ll dive deeper into the importance of a healthy culture for retaining and recruiting top employees and providing an exceptional customer experience.

In Triannual II, we’ll work through engagement and experience, taking ownership of every encounter to help retain and attract both patients and employees. 

In this book, Leonard L. Berry helps demonstrate the essential function of great customer service as our only means of differentiating ourselves from the competition.

In Triannual II, we’ll be reimagining the patient and customer experience through the lens of brands who have done it best.

Disney is one brand that has truly crafted a reputation of delivering magical experiences. Fred Lee asserts that healthcare and Disney really aren’t that different – both are in the business of creating experiences rather than simply delivering services. 

In Triannual II, we’ll begin to set the stage for recreating the patient, customer, and employee experience at Trinity Health, and will explore the powerful benefits of Happiness and Positivity.

Happiness and Positivity often get overlooked as gamechanging innovations in healthcare. But, science continually shows that embracing these habits now, regardless of circumstance, can help cause a ripple effect that spreads to our employees, teams, patients, and families and helps create major gains.

In Triannual II, we’ll begin to set the stage for innovating at scale at Trinity Health.

With the incoming HCMD, the largest investment in healthcare in our region in a century, we are poised to emerge as a shining beacon of exceptional care – bringing Trinity Health from a small, localized system, to an outstanding destination for excellence, much like Mayo has become from the tiny town of Rochester.

In Triannual II, we’ll reimagine the employee, patient, and customer experience.

We’ll reconsider each touchpoint of communication and work to carefully craft each encounter to provide an exceptional rave-worthy experience. Learn how major brands like Apple, Disney, and Starbucks have employed this strategy to imagineer the ideal user experience.

Our May Leadership Roundtable expert speaker Sean Georges, JD, LLM guides us through the journey to authentic leadership in his upcoming book On Mission.

As a former Marine, Mr. Georges learned to embody servant leadership through prinicples like “leaders eat last.”