Are You Courageous Enough to Change?

Last week we discussed physician burnout and the research* that shows that physicians who change more readily, are more likely not to burn out. The research reflected that environments with strong communication, teamwork and leadership decreased burnout.

Physicians often pride themselves on changing their approach to diagnosis and treatment based on new medical research. They understand the need to utilize the most up to date information to help their patients achieve healthy outcomes. If this mindset were used to run their practices, physician burnout would be minimized and practice results would be maximized.

Sounds like a simple solution, right? Be willing to change and you won’t burnout. If it were that simple why aren’t physicians or frankly anyone more willing to change? Because change makes us uncomfortable and when faced with a choice, we typically choose to remain comfortable.

Think about how many people started the year with a plan to change to live a healthier life. Many find a new routine uncomfortable. Perhaps it was getting up early, sore muscles or limited food choices but regardless of the reason, they returned to their place of comfort and an unhealthy life.

Peter McWilliams wrote, “Be willing to be uncomfortable. Be comfortable being uncomfortable. It may get tough, but it's a small price to pay for living a dream.”

I see the difficulty of change with clients when they are establishing a practice communication strategy. They implement a weekly routine for a few weeks and then the meeting is postponed one week for a host of reasons and before you know meetings are no longer on the practice calendar. They return to their previous comfortable routine where there is no staff recognition, no goals discussed, no accountability, and no time invested in staff and practice growth.

We also see this with clients who recognize that members of their staff are not meeting expectations. They attempt to manage and consider making a change but ultimately the challenges of addressing, perhaps firing, hiring, and training someone knew make them more uncomfortable than the acceptance of mediocrity or performance failure.

Embracing change requires a level of courage that many are unwilling to accept. To grow our muscles, minds and yes practice, requires change which means there will be periods of being uncomfortable. Embracing change will ensure that you minimize your risks for burnout and provide your staff and practice with the opportunity for growth.

If you are seeing a fissure between your dreams and your reality, and would like to find the courage to change, we can help. Contact me at smays@impactpracticeconsultants.com

*George Mason University’s College of Health and Human Services