Experience in Motion at Cedars-Sinai Medical Network

on 2018/10/24 category

As one of just ten health care systems participating in Inside Out–The Experience Lab’s national Experience transformation collaborative–the leaders of Cedars-Sinai Medical Network (CSMN) are designing a new kind of Experience for their team members, providers, patients, and guests.

John Jenrette, MD, Executive Vice President; Mary Clare Lingel, Vice President, Strategic Integration of the Medical Network; Caroline Goldzweig, MD, Medical Director, Quality Clinical Performance; and Brad Rosen, MD, Vice President, Physician Alignment and Care Transitions, launched their organization’s Experience endeavor, Experience in Motion, earlier this year and have been welcoming their colleagues into this exciting new work ever since.

Experience In Motion is a robust organization-wide endeavor designed to engage, energize, and equip the CSMN team to become the architects of a more meaningful and memorable culture and Experience throughout the Medical Network. The team’s strategic Experience activation, transformation, and organization-wide cascade started by forming an executive Experience Steering Team–named E-20. E-20 members were exposed to Experience Design theory and principles via a unique full-day Experience Salon. “In the salon, we went through in great detail what our intention of Outstanding Care, Outstanding Teams, and Outstanding Experiences really looks like–and feels like. It allowed us to identify and say this is who we are as an organization and a culture. It was a place where everyone’s voice was heard and a space for people to share ideas, express concerns, and brainstorm on challenges without us jumping in prematurely to save the day or solve the problem,” Dr. Jenrette shared. “Leaders discussed the Inside Out principles of bringing their whole hearts, including vulnerability and courage, to their work. And they took time to look inward, reflecting on themselves as leaders—who they are and where they’re going.”

Immersing this E-20 Executive Team into the realm of Experience and casting them as Experience architects and designers allowed for each leader to view their own work through the lens of Experience, and to begin to see Experience as a new context and a “way” of doing everything at CSMN. The realm of Experience was further explored through hands-on expeditions to Experience exemplars across Los Angeles–gaining real-world insights and learning to rapidly extract, adapt, and apply principles. “Studying others reminds us that it’s not just about the metrics and the numbers, it’s also about how someone feels about their Experience and the stories they tell,” said Dr. Jenrette. “It’s about what it actually means to that patient’s care when you improve quality. When you change access. When you streamline a process. When you anticipate needs. When you surprise and delight. And when you create a more personal Experience.”

In October of this year, Cedars-Sinai Medical Network welcomed 150 more leaders to participate in Experience in Motion salons with the E-20 Experience Steering Team now serving as hosts, guides, and facilitators. To Dr. Jenrette, this Experience journey has been about dropping pebbles in a pond, creating ripples through his organization: from the four executives who joined him in Inside Out, the 20 welcomed onto the Experience Steering team, and now expanding this work to all leaders and ultimately the entire Medical Network. Dr. Jenrette said in his closing comments, “I am inspired by all of you. I have every confidence that you are the leaders capable of changing everything… for the better. Thank you for being a pebble in the pond and creating an extraordinary and outstanding difference.”

Six Ways to Integrate Storytelling Into our Organizations

on 2018/10/23 category

Storytelling is the thread that binds us together and helps create shared Experiences. Organizational narrative is defined not just by the people within it, but by the culture they create and the stories they weave and share. A single story has the power to change the conversation, change actions, and change outcomes.

Kyle Christiason, MD, Medical Director at UnityPoint Health, and a founding member of The Experience Lab, shares how he has made Storytelling a vital component in his practice and why it matters.

Lean in. I love the quote from Michael Margolis, “If you want to learn about a culture, listen to the stories. If you want to change the culture, change the stories.” As leaders, we should practice Storytelling. It’s ok to not feel natural, lean into the discomfort. When we practice Storytelling such as the dedicated time for stories in my clinic, we can become more comfortable and when we listen we become more meaningfully connected.

Be the best story gatherer in your organization. Seek out stories from different people, departments and regions. Regularly engage in story rounds by simply asking a few questions: What do you love about what you do? Tell me one thing you did to improve the life of another person this week? What’s one thing someone else did that made you feel special? Be a role model for others to see how easy it really is. Sometimes we make it harder than it should be. By modeling Storytelling and story gathering you can take down the barrier of it feeling overwhelming.

Become the best pollinator of stories in your organization. When we hear something special, share it with someone else. Not only can we be touched by someone’s Experience, we will be more likely to look for those special moments in our own life. Listening and sharing creates a culture of caring for one another, celebrating what is good. When it’s part of your culture to practice this, everything else becomes easier.

Sometimes there are stories we should stop telling. Not every story and not all words or phrases need to be used. It’s amazing how many warfare terms there are in health care. There may be a “war room” for developing strategy. We refer to our caregivers as the “front line.” We talk about providers being “in the trenches.” When we launch a new initiative, we call it “pulling the trigger.” When we refer to health care as being the same as warfare, we are destined to subvert our goals. However, we can joyfully embrace being a part of what I consider to be a sacred and noble profession by using terms that are more appropriate. Rather than “frontline,” consider “face-to-face caregivers.” Instead of helping a “non-compliant patient,” consider “let’s support this person to be their most successful self.”

Consider nonverbal stories. We can also change our stories through our non-verbal language. When we leave the examination room and look at a person with our hand on doorknob asking, “Is there anything else you want to talk about today?” we are sending a message that screams “I am done with our conversation even if you are not”.

Remember the power of small. In leadership, we can focus on changing the game by focusing on the small details. A genuine smile at the check-in desk. A nurse remembering my child’s name. A physician who calls me at home to ensure I’m safe and I understand my medications. A culture of introducing every member of the care team during a hospital stay. It’s taking a moment to address “me” before addressing the health record.

Transformation doesn’t happen in a cataclysmic moment but rather the millions of tiny miracles that happen every day and each of those moments is a story waiting to be shared.

What stories at your organization are waiting to be told?

Want to know what it takes to be part of Inside Out, the national Experience transformation collaborative, explore The Experience Lab.

Building Meaningful Connections at Vidant Health

on 2018/10/23 category

When a coLab of visionary health care executives from leading U.S. health care organizations spend a year together in deep discovery, exploration, and design, a new definition of the health care Experience emerges and extraordinary transformation takes place from the Inside Out.

Every day we are inspired by the work our Experience Lab Partners are doing to lead the way for a new kind of Experience for team members, providers, patients, and guests. They courageously hold up the mirror, ask the tough questions, and choose the road less traveled in their pursuit to heal health care and design anew.

The leaders at Vidant Health understand that everyone’s Experience matters and are working hard to break down barriers and build meaningful connections within their team and across Eastern North Carolina. Take a look at this wonderful video highlighting all that is shared rather than all that divides – and what’s possible when we choose to transform from the Inside Out.

Transformed From the Inside Out

on 2018/10/23 category

In 2017, six visionary and courageous health organizations participated in the Experience Lab’s inaugural grand experiment, Inside Out. This year-long deep discovery and exploration by a group of visionary leaders worked to create the future of health care, designing a new kind of Experience for team members providers, patients and guests – because everyone’s Experience matters.

Our 2017 Inside Out Lab Partners recently gathered together again to reflect on their transformational journey, discuss highlights and successes, and offer insights gained along the way. The team from Cedars-Sinai Medical Network (CSMN) shared powerful stories about the work they are doing to establish their Experience intention and develop a common lexicon for creating Outstanding Experiences every day.

Brad Rosen, MD, one of the leaders at CSMN, was equipped by his year of discovery in Inside Out to think differently about the health care Experience and help guide the organization’s transformation. Collaborating with his colleagues on the design and activation of their organization-wide Experience immersion at CSMN, Brad also found himself living his own change as well. It was his work at the bedside that further revealed some of the most profound changes in the way he approached medicine. Brad shared some of his insights with us during one of his teaching rounds:

Brad helps us understand that Experiences happen in moments–and they can happen both on the grandest of stages and in the most intimate of connections. We are honored to partner with Brad and leaders and caregivers like him who see a better Experience not as another thing to do–rather Experience as a way to do everything.

Want to know what it takes to be part of Inside Out, the national Experience transformation collaborative, explore The Experience Lab.