Only 40% Of Employees Are Owners

The rest are renters or squatters.

Are you engaged? I mean to your job, not to someone else.

Employee engagement refers to the bond employees have with their organizations and the amount of connectivity they have with their organizations' missions. Current thought is that employee engagement is a greater indicator of productivity than employee satisfaction. When employees really care about the business, they're more likely to go the extra mile. Numerous studies show that employee engagement is correlated to a company's bottom-line success.

http://www.cunahrtdcouncil.org/news/422.html

In the late 90's the Gallop Organization developed the Q12, a tool for measuring employee engagement. Those who score high on the survey instrument are more engaged and their employers benefit with hgher profits and market shares.

Here are the questions.

Do you know what is expected of you at work?

Do you have the materials and equipment you need to do your work right?

At work, do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?

In the last seven days, have you received recognition or praise for doing good work?

Does your supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about you as a person?

Is there someone at work who encourages your development?

At work, do your opinions seem to count?

Does the mission/purpose of your company make you feel your job is important?

Are your associates (fellow employees) committed to doing quality work?

Do you have a best friend at work?

In the last six months, has someone at work talked to you about your progress?

In the last year, have you had opportunities at work to learn and grow?

http://www.workforce.com/section/hr-management/article/12-questions-measure-employee-engagement.html

After administering this test to thousands of employees, Gallop found that only 40% of employees are engaged. The rest , in the best case, show up and do their job, while in the worst case, 15% are disengaged and sabotage the organization or create problems. As you know, misery loves company.

 The questions concern having the tools and authority to do your job, getting honest feedback, feeling appreciated, and having a learning and growth plan.

Whether you are the employer or the employee, the Q12 can help you pinpoint holes in how you are treated or how you treat your employees. The sooner you identify gaps and fix them the better. Disengagement is contagious and most antibiotics no longer work.

A Capitol Idea

If you want to make changes, learn how the political system works and participate.

Part of my job as Chief Medical Officer for the Colorado Telehealth Network (http://www.cotelehealth.com)  is to work with stakeholders and members of the Colorado State Legislature. The CTN is a statewide broadband virtual private network offering members educational products (http://www.ctneducation.com ), value added business process applications, and telemedicine and telehealth access. All of this is designed to be self-sustaining, thanks to the participation of our industry and vendor partners, and to eventually improve access and healthcare value for Coloradoans.

As you can imagine, there are significant challenges before us and overcoming them sometimes requires legislative and regulatory fixes to, among other things,  reimbursement, infrastructure, credentialing, licensing, and liability policies that are interfering with our ultimate goal of being able to provide services to patients anywhere, any way , any time using advanced information and communications technologies.

Like most of you, I've been interested but uninvolved in the political process most of my life. Several things happened, though, that got me more into the game.

Firstly, at one point in her career, my wife, Kathleen, worked as a lobbyist for a state agency. As part of that, she interacted with state legislators on a regular basis and her network continued to expand. As a result of many events,fundraisers and cocktail parties that ensued, so did mine. Several years later, she ran the re-election campaigns of several members, including one of our present Colorado Congressmen. That process taught me the "inside baseball" of political campaigns and the grass roots work it takes to get someone elected. I remember spending the weekends of one summer hanging door tags, knocking on doors and walking in political parades. (HINT: Do not walk behind another candidate that has a real donkey for a mascot)

Secondly, I volunteered to serve as a legislative network contact person for one of my specialty societies. At the time, we were involved in a campaign to allow surgeons not affiliated with an ABMS board to advertise themselves as plastic surgeons. As a result, we sued the State of Colorado, I was the guinea pig, and, fortunately, we had a successful outcome.

Third, as a result of my interests in innovation, bioscience commercialization and the contacts I made, I was appointed to the Governors Commisssion of Science and Technology as part of an effort to reposition Colorado from a state dependent mostly on tourism, agriculture, manufacturing and mining to one that is presently a high techology hub.

All of these experiences prepared my for my present CTN gig. So, what advice would I give you if you want to put a toe in the political waters?

1. Don't volunteer for something that you can't deliver, no matter how small. Like Woody Allen said, life is %95 about showing up.

2. Pick your shots. All of us have 24 hours each day. Focus on a policy interest and stick with it.

3. Offer to serve as a resource for legislators who are hungry for information. They would welcome participation from someone like you  who understands the complexities of the issues. Start with someone who represents your legislative district and  has a track record in healthcare, transportation, energy, or whatever topic interests you . For example, I'm working with the Vice-Chairman of the Health committee that represents a rural, medically underserved area that will benefit from telemedicine services and have offered to tesify at her committee hearings.

4. Network, network, network. Part of your value will be your ability to piece together coalitions in support of your ideas.

Recent Congressional job approval ratings are about 25%. It easy to be cynical and take a back seat. If you want to make a difference, however, you'll need to get in the game. If all else fails, marry someone who is.

Customer Service & The Ritz Carlton Bar

If you're in the service business, and aren't we all, set your sights on the Ritz Carlton.

My father in-law. Pete, recently turned 85 a few days before Christmas. For a present, my wife flew to Forida and took him and his girl friend (yes, there is hope for us all) to the Ritz Carlton in Sarasota for a few days. Pete grew up in Wimber, Pennsylvania, the son of a hard-rock coal miner, loves the Steelers and drinks Michelob Ultra. So, the Ritz Carlton was quite a treat.

When my wife made the reservation, she mentioned to the reservations agent that they would be celebrating a special birthday. In the ensuing 2 days, Pete enjoyed 3 brithday cakes, a frosty mug of Michelob Ultra waiting for him in the lobby, and greetings from the valet, who, noticing Pete's Steeltown licence plate decoration, mentioned he was a big Steelers fan as well, and, in fact, grew up in Wimber.

The Ritz Carlton Hotel organization is the only service company to win the Baldridge Award for Excellence twice. Joseph Michelli, bestselling author of "The Starbucks Experience" explains how they do it in "The New Gold Standard" and defines 5 leadership principles -define and refine, empower through trust, it's not about you, deliver "wow" and leave a lasting footprint.

I used to be a Baldridge examiner for the healthcare award and can attest to the rigor of the process. The criteria include visionary leadership, customer-driven excellence, organizational and person learning, agility, focus on the future, managing for innovation, attention to results and creating value, and social responsibility.

Using the Ritz as your benchmark for service will help your medical practice and well as  any para-medical or non-medical business you've created.  At www.medvoy.com, for example, we try to apply the Ritz lessons to anticipating the needs of our clients and exceeding their expections.

The Ritz Carlton 3 steps of service are:

1. A warm and sincere greeting. Use the guest's name.

2. Anticipation and fulfillment of each guest's needs

3. Fond farewell.Give a warm good-bye, and use the guest's name.

While the lion and crown are not the logo on my white coat, the Ritz Carlton service lessons are a great bechmark to emulate. Give them a try.

Don't Be A Lame Doc

The lame duck Congress is scrambling to get things done before there is a shift in the balance of power.

The term “lame duck” originally applied to brokers who couldn’t pay their debts. Only later was it applied to Congress people still sitting but ousted in the previous election.  The 20^th Amendment to the US Constitution shortened the lame duck session from March 3 to January 3, but did not eliminate it. The present lame duck Congress has passed the tax cut extensions and repealed Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. This, despite the fact that lots of the votes are coming from senators and congress members voted out of office in November. American history is full of important lame duck decisions, like the decision President Buchanan made not to intercede when Southern states seceded or Bill Clinton’s impeachment hearings. Don’t make the same mistake. Once you decide to move on, move on quickly. Flip the switch and start anew. Give yourself permission to divorce your new self from your old self as quickly as possible.

How? Take a page from the smoking cessation playbook. http://www.webmd.com/smoking-cessation/quitting-tobacco-use-strategies-and-skills-for-quitting

Manage the stress with diet, exercise and relaxation

You will probably go through career alternation withdrawal syndrome (CAWS). Instead of taking nicotine gum,  treat the withdrawal symptoms with stress reduction techniques. Put the time and day of a 3x/week exercise schedule in your calendar. Pay more attention to what you eat and what you weigh. Give yourself at least 15 minutes of meditative relief each day.

Get support

You’ll need help getting through  the CAWS so surround yourself with allies and helpers. Read Freelance MD a lot and comment on the blogs describing what you are going through. Keep a journal.  Consult a career of executive coach if need be. Call 1-800-NEW-LIFE if necessary.

Make a plan and stick to it

My friend, a practicing infectious disease doctor, told the rest of the members of his group that he was moving on after graduating with his MBA last May. He’s still treating pneumonia. Break the plan down into small steps and reward yourself when you hit each benchmark successfully.

Keep reminding yourself of why you are doing this

Inevitably, self doubts will reappear and contradictory thoughts will re-emerge in your mind. Drive them out. When you hear “I can’t believe I’m doing this”, shut if off. When a little voice says “But I trained my whole life to be a doctor”, turn down the volume. Remember what motivated you in the first place.

Making a career modification or change takes courage and self-discipline. You can do this. Don’t be a lame doc.

Real Estate Investing For Physicians: Part 3 - Foreclosure

Thinking of putting your foot into the real estate investing market with Foreclosures?

Foreclosure! It's a word that strikes fear and loathing (at not just in Las Vegas) to the homeowner, and is music to the ear for the investor.

For the majority of foreclosure properties, the homeowner has already lost title to the home, well before any investor gets involved - essentially the damage is already done. Later in the process, the bank now owns the property and is trying to take it off the bank's liability sheet. That's when the knowledgeable and aggressive investor jumps in.

Most of this jumping takes place at foreclosure and bankruptcy auctions. Speaking of a place that is NOT suited for the uninitiated and uninformed! But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The first step in acquiring foreclosure properties is to research all the available houses in your target market and price range. This research takes the form of public records search, title search, neighborhood analysis, "down and dirty" property inspection, rehab and cosmetic improvement costs estimates and comparable property value pricing. Armed with this information, the experience investor comes to an auction knowing which properties he is interested in bidding on, what will be his opening bid and most importantly, what will be his maximum bid. The investor must also have a significant portion of the accepted bid price in cash at the time of purchase and the ability to get the rest immediately.

Some auctions require full price at auction. The auction serves as a somewhat orderly market to move these deeply discounted properties. But even if you have all the afore-mentioned information in your briefcase, unless you are VERY experienced, you will be outbid, or purposely bid up, or pressured in one form or another to not stick with your pre-conceived game plan.

A typical scenario for disaster is being a new-comer at an auction where all the other attendees know each other. These veterans don't want the newcomer to succeed as that will just increase the competition. It's very hard to succeed in a face-paced selling enviroment where everyone else in the room doesn't want you to ever come back. Assuming you escape from this scene with a newly-purchased foreclosure property in your pocket and a few remaining dollars in your bank account, now the real work of property management begins. But before you figure that out, you have to have a clear plan and focus for what you're going to do with the property. Hopefully, you have that plan and exit strategy firmed up before you even get to the auction. The big decision is "buy and hold" or "buy and sell".

In the first case, you are planning on holding the property for medium to long term, i.e. 3 to 7 plus years. The goal is future appreciation and possibly some cash flow. The action plan would then be: clean up and fix up what the property needs, enlist a property manager and get a tenant, and keep it and maintain it as a rental property. This whole process not only would take another blog post to describe in detail, but more likely another hour of instruction.

The second case is a bet on the fact that you purchased at a price so far below current market value, that you can clean up the property and sell it quickly to an owner-occupant buyer by selling it still below current market value. This of course requires that you did your pre-auction homework correctly and didn't overpay during the auction. There's an oft-told saying in real estate investing - you don't make your profit when you sell, you make it when you buy.

This is a thumbnail sketch of the steps needed to take advantage of these bargain properties, some at 20% of peak values. If you can do this all, and do it repeatedly, you can do very, very well. But this whole process requires lots of time, in addition to access to cash, experience and knowledge of local markets.

I have been involved in just a few of these transactions and they were indeed quite profitable. But I no longer have the time, and still lack the adequate expertise to play the foreclosure game consistently well. I believe a more user-friendly approach to the foreclosure opportunity is to invest cash and not your time, efforts and gastric lining. You can do this by buying into R.E.I.T.s (Real Estate Investment Trusts) that specialize in foreclosures, which essentially is buying shares in a publicly-traded entity, not unlike buying a mutual fund. Another way is to become a limited partner in a private syndication. Next time, we can talk more about these two investment vehicles, as well as thoughts on the buy and hold-or-sell decision.

New Year's Resolution: Make Time to Write

One of the most common questions I am asked is, "How do you find the time to write?" 

To me, this is a lot like asking how one finds the time to brush and floss or exercise or do any one of the many things that we map out as habitual priorities. Over the years, I've thought a lot about this question and what it means to different people. Out of this contemplation, I have arrived at a few tips that may just help you find the time you need to write in 2011 and beyond.

Finding the Time to Write

Insert writing into your life regularly. If you are the type of person that likes to keep a strict schedule, you might find that reserving a specific block of time works best. You might also consider parameters such as writing 500-1000 words at every sitting. Or, 2-3 pages. There are many ways to build a framework around the task. Personally, my schedule is different nearly every day, so I don't stick to a strict schedule. But, I write several times a week and always make sure that I have some time set aside to meet deadlines.

Write whether you are in the mood or not. Don't worry if you are not in the mood to write. Do it anyway.  It's almost impossible to only be creative when your muse is at its best. Sometimes writing is fun, but a lot of times it's just work. Professional writers have spent many hours writing useless material.  Ironically, your best writing may come forth when you least want to do it. 

Set some deadlines. Even if you haven't sold an article or a book, it's good to have some deadlines that you adhere to. Many writers become very frustrated and spend years working on the same material over and over. For a lucky few, that's the ticket to success. However, for the vast majority of writers, it's time spent on a project that likely won't ever be published. So, consider what you want to write and set some realistic deadlines. If you don't meet them, consider how you might want to change course. This doesn't necessarily mean giving up the project—maybe all you need is to work with a book coach or a freelance editor. 

Just write. Really, it all boils down to just doing it. Yup, Nike has the right motto when it comes to writing—just do it!

How To Do An Organizational Innovation Audit

Innovation in medical settings needs an environment that facilitates its development. Here's what to look for where you work.

If you had an idea for a medical device, would you know where to go at work to get help commercializing it? Most of the time, based on my experience at www.venturequestltd.com, an innovation management consulting company, the answer is no.

Given that there are a small number of hidden innovation gems on the medical staff or faculty, engaging them, getting them interested and moving them to action requires a carefully crafted and executed strategy. Whether you work in an academic or non-academic setting, here are some questions you should ask to assess your organization’s innovation IQ.

Is there structure, process and leadership in place to help me commercialize my idea?

Most major research universities have technology transfer managers and processes in place to help faculty move their commercial ideas forward. The initial steps typically involve determining whether the invention or discovery passes certain technical, legal, intellectual property ,and market hurdles. If that’s the case, then technology transfer managers work with faculty or staff to identify potential licensees, like drug or device companies, or, with business development or spinout managers, who work with inventors interested in creating a separate company.

In community hospitals and systems, even large ones with many hospitals, large R/D budgets and hundreds of staff, there is typically no innovation management system or a designated executive to lead it. At best, some of the pieces are outsourced or inventors are referred to members of the hospital network or community with some experience. Usually, though, you’re on your own.

When it comes to innovation, does my organization have a process to move the medical staff from awareness to intention to decision to action?

There are several ways to internally market to staff to make them aware of what innovation is and how to participate in the creative process. Newletters, websites, emails, educational events and other tools help to create awareness and inform the staff about intiatives and opportunities to contribute.

What has your organization done to remove the barriers to participation and create incentives to innovate?

We all can identify things that get in the way. Common ones are , “I don’t have enough time to do this given my clinical and administrative duties” or, “This is not why I became a doctor”.  However, without a culture or ecosystem that enables those who are interested, ideas will usually fade into the woodwork  or medical staff will leave.

Does your workplace celebrate success and cheer the champions?

Nothing succeeds like success… if people know about it. Awards dinners, articles and press releases and other devices are great ways to highlight the accomplishments of peers and get others excited.

Healthcare innovation, whether it is process, goods or services, is a combined bottom-up and top-down effort that requires an enabling, user friendly environment. If you think you are working in a place that is not designed for innovation, you can lead, follow or get out of the way. The choice is yours.