Posts Tagged ‘Organizational Change’

Rehab Burnout?

Sunday, May 16th, 2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the May 2010 issue of PT in Motion magazine [See bottom of the clipping for my response to the question on how to avoid burnout].

What went on the edit floor was the resource I linked to saying:

Just completed a two year study with exciting results when people learn very basic awareness skills. http://matthewjtaylorinstitute.com/researchprojects.php#courage

We found that over a 2-yr period we created an environment that reduced with statistical significance all of burnout parameters we measure pre, post and 12 months post in a major rehab setting during the Great Recession of 2009 and the implementation of an awkward EMR system!

It was fascinating to watch as the rehab professionals returned to sensing and feeling their fatigue and burnout, they actually began to feel better and most importantly, act differently.

They changed their self-care routines, re-organized their time commitments, and approached management about changing processes they identified as contributing to their stress. Job satisfaction soared, considering leaving the organization or profession plummeted. Patients also stopped canceling afternoon BID sessions, so revenue increased.

All from a little posture, breath awareness, movement and attention to present sensations/thoughts and emotions.

So just like our patients, our way "home" to comfort is through feeling, NOT fleeing to one more job or numbing ourselves to get through to the weekend.

Go lay down with a pillow running length wise up your spine, spread your arms, palms up and legs comfortably apart. Watch the breathing take place (leave it alone) and pay attention to what you can feel for 15 minutes. You'll have more battery bars when you roll over and stand up…I promise….we have proof. 

How do you avoid burnout?

 

Mirror, Mirror…Who is the most creative of all?

Sunday, November 22nd, 2009

Re-Habilitation: "To make fit to live in (again or for the first time)"

Each person or organization brings unique circumstances to rehabilitation. Cookie-cutter approaches and statistically average group responses to clinical trials may suggest a general direction, but are void of any creativity in a complex situation. 

So what is a creative response?

And who is the most creative of all?

These, like the Queen's own inquiry re: fairest, are actually deeply spiritual questions. They ask, Who am I? What am I? and their answers then generate drive and motivation to act/move in response.

These are questions that I as a professional must ask as part of my development of clinical mastery (pillar of EBM), as well as How creative do I think my client's are?… and therefore, What is their role?(second pillar of EBM:  Patient Values), and then finally, what's been done, accepted AND published in the literature? (3rd pillar, Levels of research)

We've got it all backwards right now in PT for sure, and in organizational management as well. Our constrained perspectives limit us to only what has been done, shutting out "What could be?" Those of us in creativity work can tell you that's a big dead end to creating a future that is "fit to live in." Whether one is living with an ACL deficient knee, an aggressive carcinoma or a dysfunctional job in a dysfunctional company in a dysfunctional economy.

So who is the most creative of all?

Here are a couple thoughts that when I came upon them resulted in the comfort box being not only stepped out of, but broken down, recycled and dispersed back into a whole new raft of perspectival (dictionary says that's a new word) containers that I use today:

  1. Creativity is the ability for an organization, system or individual to adapt to the environment…easy enough.
  2. The individual human is now sub-ordinate in evolutionary chain to the more influential and dominant top of the life chain: Multi-national corporations (See Senge et al, Presence, 2004).
  3. Single cell organisms while less complex, are faster at evolution/adaptation and have a broad and robust communication organizational net: see Swine flu etc.

So where does that leave us? 

The good news is we're right in the middle as a holon…composed of trillions of single cell organisms (both "us" and our "flora") AND we together compose the multi-nationals. 

So be sure you do your personal mindbody practice, because as Peter Senge (2004, p. 234) says,

 

"We may not be able to change the larger systems overnight, but we can commit to the continual development of awareness and the capacity to choose. That’s why personal cultivation is so important. It keeps you sensitive and in the matrix."

 

Now, go get your mirror, ask the questions, and let me know what you hear!

 

Unbelieveable Courage

Friday, November 6th, 2009

Origin: 

cour-

cuer heart

the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery.

 

-age

a suffix typically forming mass or abstract nouns from various parts of speech,


I'm just back from wrapping up Phase II of our study at the Courage Center of Minneapolis, MN www.courage.org . I know it will be a memory I'll hold forever. The individual and collective wisdom of this group of pioneering professionals was awe inspiring. This group truly followed the definition of the word Courage…they brought mass (embodied) the qualities of heart/cuer to their community.

As we sat in a large circle of over 25, I was impressed by the visible and palpable changes a year had brought to them. One year ago on Halloween weekend this same group sat/lounged/slumped together for the first time as they embarked on the mind~body training. Now, almost a year to the day, there sat a group with long, light spines, ease on the floor and embodied voices of confidence. Their stories inspired, challenged and moved one another from the deepest levels. From humorous anecdotes with clients to deep personal healing, each with a new sense of purpose and a new sense of hope grounded in experience.

The data isn't finished for this phase, but all indications suggest that despite going through higher levels of stress, the group experienced statistically significant increased meaning/purpose, job satisfaction and quality of life. There were opportunities to share their personal stories of the past year as well as to articulate intentions and vision for the coming year. There was no giddiness or false hoopla. Rather a quality of focused intention grounded in an embodied experience of silence. There were no ungrounded ramblings…rather each spoke with a deep confidence of conviction of the hard, but important work ahead. 

I want to thank this amazing group of individuals and the organization as an entity for their Cour-age in stepping up and making "the future of rehabilitation now" a reality. Keep leading the way my friends and rest well tonight….you are doing such important work.