Put it to the test
Later in the session, Munch asked people in the audience to pair up and practice working out a problem. One person played the coach and the other the coachee. After the exercise, many shared their experiences. “I’m actually a physician and I was the coachee,” said one person. “I got so frustrated because she kept on asking me questions. And I had no clue. And I kept saying we can’t do this, we can’t do this, and for these reasons. She said, ‘you tell me how, because we have to; at some point in time we will have to improve patient experience.’ Finally, she got three or four suggestions out of me — and I think that is a hallmark of a good leader.”
Another coach commented, “It was intense. In my situation I had an employee that has been doing this work for 20 years, so change is not always easy. But I validated her on the experience she had. I really wanted to hear the differences she had. I wanted to hear the important questions, the how, the why and the what. I wanted to hear what solutions she thought she could bring to the table, which I’m sure she could because she had 20 years of experience.” Munch said that was an excellent approach: “You were honoring her experience, her wisdom and knowledge to help generate the solutions.”
Allocating adequate time and a private place to talk is also important, as the coachee discovered. “I was being a difficult coachee because that’s the reality of when we’re having these conversations,” she said. “The takeaway for me is you need to make sure that you have an ample amount of time to have this conversation. We really didn’t get too far because I was being difficult, digging my heels in, and we needed more time for her to establish that trust so that I could start opening up, because maybe after 20 years my ideas have been shut down, and so it was going to take more time for her to get that wall down.”
Stay committed
The Hawthorne method works — people do what’s expected of them when they know you are watching. “You should be going to the floors on a weekly or monthly basis, said Munch. “And the agreement from the last coaching moment should be one of the first questions you ask on the next visit so that they know its important, that they know there’s going to be follow-up. If you don’t ask about it and follow up with it on the next visit, guess what they know they don’t have to do? It’s that periodic visit that never goes away that reviews all of these things on an ongoing basis. Early on in an improvement effort you may have to review things weekly or monthly. As it matures and is in control, you can pull back to maybe quarterly or every six months. The key here is to never drop it completely because once you do, entropy will deteriorate your work.”
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