Over the years I have worked with hospital owners and associates exploring the next stage of their careers. I have seen Owners, with the sale of their hospital, and Associates, wanting to purchase the hospital where they work, miss out on their desired outcome.
All too frequently I hear how an associate comes in one day and the hospital has been sold to someone else; when they had aspirations of become the owner. Alternatively, there are stories where an owner who recently sold to an outside party finds out their associate really wanted to own the hospital two weeks after they just closed on their sale. How do these scenarios happen?
These situations occur when uncomfortable and vulnerable conversations do not happen between colleagues. I would encourage everyone to push outside of your comfort zone and share your goals.
As a starting place, share a story of when you experienced personal growth through an uncomfortable conversation. These stories will allow us to all learn from each other!
…. it may even be as simple or funny as a conversation with one of your kids.
Responses
Two weeks ago we had two stray kittens dropped off at my work by a Good Sam. These kittens were in particularly poor condition and needed blood transfusions due to flea anemia, the girl having an 8% PCV and the boy having a 10% PCV on arrival. The DVM who took saw them initially gave orders for various treatments including a blood transfusion protocol. Feline blood in Oregon is difficult to come by and runs upwards of $500 for 20 mls. I decided to adopt these two kittens and told my boss through text that I was adopting them and he seemed a little irritated that the clinic had to use difficult to come by blood products for them. I of course did not ever mean to upset my boss and friend so when I saw him a few days later I brought up this conversation and apologized and asked if I had done anything wrong and said that I hope he didn’t feel that I was taking advantage of him or the clinic by adopting these kittens. He immediately said that he was not upset with me but that no one had discussed with him that these strays were dropped off and that if he had known he would have brought one of his personal cats to the clinic to give whole blood for them. Being vulnerable allowed me to ensure my friendship was not jeopardized and reinforced a strong working relationship.
Emily…..thank you so much for sharing this with the community. This is an excellent example of how sharing your goals with each other preserved a strong relationship and ultimately resulted in a great outcome. This story is so applicable as you think about the personal relationships you build at your hospital intersecting with professional goals. I look forward to hearing other thoughts or examples.