The power of the team can just as easily turn into a power and time sync if not managed well. There can be role ambiguity and conflict, a diffusion of accountability and a whole lot of time spent in meetings. The collaborative advantage of teams lies in exposing and promoting the strengths of the individuals, and creating structures that support them to express these.
Groups of people can be more than the sum of the individuals – but only if the conditions inside them allow the individuals to shine. In 2010, MIT released their findings that collective intelligence of the groups they studied explained 40% of their performance. That’s a lot. And it didn’t matter how intelligent the individuals inside these groups were. Makes sense. We have experienced how the capacity of group of people has been defined – and in many cases, limited by the most dominant person – isn’t this right?
The power of the customer is growing and disrupting the health and aged care industry. Now one would expect that an industry that is built of people, for people, by people – such as health and aged care, would have no problem responding to this. But lo. This is not always the case. In fact, measuring ‘patient experience’ is a relatively new concept. I explore the reason behind it in this blog post.
It occurs to me that other people’s ego can stop us from operating at our best – at our highest level of capacity – and the other people can be your peers, other professionals or it can be your boss.
The other day I shared my Equine Empowerment Program with a small group of women. I watched with wonder (it never ceases to amaze and inspire me) as my horses connected on a heart level with these women and in so doing, created a space where they could explore and expose their innermost aspirations, their fears, their strengths and their courage to move forward.
Managers and clinicians in public health are so busy they simply do not have time to think of better ways of working, of learning new ways of working that would make their work easier, more effective and more efficient. They are stuck in a busyness vortex that is keeping them stuck in time – and yet the demands on their time are increasing and changing. They are so fixated on getting things done on time, that they can’t stop to reflect if these things are the right things, or if it is possible for someone else, or something else, to do these things.
Nearly 60% of frontline managers underperform during their first two years and this results in performance gaps, and employee turnover. The reality is that great leaders never stop learning. But to get to that point they have to be supported to make the transition from great clinician to great manager.
I was out shopping for a pair of jeans yesterday. I had a number of epiphanies. Be careful of the mirrors you use
Laying Bare the Power of You is my attempt at helping others to appreciate and realise their own brilliance – what they have to offer in the world.
