Abundance and The Job Search

In a tough economic climate, it is very easy to get discouraged about the prospects of finding work. It is challenging to think you are going to find a job that will allow you to pay the bills and keep a little something extra on the side to save, invest, etc. What I want to make sure you consider is give this dip we are in, what mindset do you need to be your most powerful in your job search activities.

Over the past couple weeks, I have been bombarded by many writers and speakers talking powerfully about the distinction between abundance and scarcity.

Let me first share Webster's (http://www.merriam-webster.com/) take on the two ideas and then a little from a couple of other writers:

ABUNDANCE
Pronunciation:
\ə-ˈbən-dən(t)s\
1 : an ample quantity : profusion 2 : affluence , wealth 3 : relative degree of plentifulness

SCARCITY (http://www.dictionary.com/)
 /ˈskɛərsɪti/ 1. insufficiency or shortness of supply; dearth. 2. rarity; infrequency.

Steven M.R. Covey in his book The Speed of Trust says, "Abundance means that there is enough for everybody. The opposite--scarcity--says that there is only so much to go around, and if you get it, I won't." He goes on to state that, "Abundance is a choice!"

I agree and I agree that you can make the choice to focus on what you can contribute regardless of your current situation.

It is likely that you are thinking that I don't know your situation. You are right and on the other hand we may be more closely related than you think. I have been in situations many times as an entrepreneur where I did not know where my next meal ticket was coming from. What I learned as a result is that the more I thought in scarcity the more scarce opportunities arose. (If you think that sentence sounded like a oxymoron and contradictory, try getting results with a scarcity mindset.)

On the other hand, when I thought in terms of what was possible and had clarity about the reality that I could always contribute to others, I was clear that what I needed to fill my tummy was right in front of my eyes.

What a mindset of abundance does is allows you to not be focused on what you think your current reality is and leads you to considering the needs of others. When you can meet the needs of others and do it in a powerful and credible way, a job, contract, revenue stream is coming your way very soon.

Scarcity scares, Abundance Attracts. . .You choose!

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We are building the largest pool of diverse health care professionals in the world. Stay tuned to find out what a Wii, an iPhone, and a Flip camera have to do with diverse health care professionals!

First National Indian Nursing Conference Embraces Diversity, Excellence

From Nurse.com
by Lorraine Steefel, RN, MSN, CTN

Indian nurses in the U.S. have made huge contributions in shaping healthcare, says Donald Kautz, RN, MSN, PhD, CHRN, CRRNA, assistant professor at University of North Carolina at Greensboro School of Nursing.

To showcase those contributions, 11 chapters of the National Association of Indian Nurses of America participated in the organization's first national conference Sept. 26 to 28 in Skokie, Ill. The association was inaugurated in May 2007 and embraces nurses' change, growth, and development.

Whole Article

ANCC Magnet and Cultural Competency

This week I have been at the ANCC Magnet Conference in Salt Lake City, UT. Cook Ross had an exhibit and we were the only consulting organization of our kind (specializing in cultural competency/diversity and inclusion) there. It was very insightful to be with all of the nurses and other health care professionals there to learn about what was up in the world of nursing excellence and of course to see what people are thinking and saying about cultural competency and diversity in their organizations.

What I observed was that the conversation is really just getting started in most places (hospital and healthcare systems). It is also clear that the education that many have had around the subject is leaving them wanting to learn and know more. I heard numerous anecdotes about situations that were culturally oriented and how the nurses learned to deal with them, often times after great struggle--yet with a great deal learned from the experience.

One nurse talked about her experience with a Kurdish refugee family that fled Iraq after the first Persian Gulf War. The nurse was a student and new at caring for patients during her OB rotation. She took care of a pregnant Kurdish woman and observed that that the father was not helping with the child.

The nurse remarked that at first she was judgmental. However, when she learned from a Middle Eastern colleague familiar with Kurdish culture she realized that the dynamic may not be one of neglect but rather one of cultural norms. She later learned that Kurdish men are accustomed to families taking care of the mother and child and since they did not have extended family with them (many of them had stayed in Iraq or were killed) it never occurred to him that his wife would need help.

These sorts of conversations are crucial to the healthcare community in that while many people have these experiences, the stories are not often shared and therefore the learning is limited. Therefore, some healthcare professionals are clear and even passionate about cultural competency while others are desirous of learning more but don't have access to the conversation. In many cases both groups work with one another--how do organizations connect them?

I think this is critical in that a facilitated conversation about an experience is a learning experience on a variety of levels from the personal connection to a certain dynamic or situation that someone else has experienced or is experiencing to an organizational learning that can give health care clinical and non-clinical professionals and staff understanding of their colleagues in a way that lends to improved communication and connection--becoming more aware of how culture affects everything where human interactions are concerned.

Next time I write, I will also discuss a little bit that it coming to me in regards to children's hospitals and cultural competency. I am thinking that there are distinctive dynamics in cultural competency where children's health and the parental component is concerned. We will explore them next time. Make it a great day!

The Power of Collaboration

". . .much of what we've seen so far suggests that a large group of diverse individuals will come up with better and more robust forecasts and make more intelligent decisions. . ."
James Surowiecki
The Wisdom of Crowds

September 30 and October 1, I had the privilege to be invited to a gathering of about 35 diversity leaders from health care organizations throughout the country to have a very focused conversation about cultural competency in health care and all of the pieces that go along with that. In essence, we talked shop about something which all have a great passion for.

We started out Tuesday evening with dinner and speaker Dr. Francis Jackson. Dr. Jackson is a professor of nursing at Oakland University in Detroit. She spoke on health care disparities. Now, for those of us who have read and heard mountain stream on the subject the thought of this might be, "Okay and what's new?" I would honor the thought yet would be clear that Dr. Jackson had distinctions. She gave us a glimpse of the day in the life of her uncle with a plethora of co-morbidities who was not well versed in his diabetes care and was facing amputation. With her assistance he prevented the amputation of his leg. She contrasted this with a conversation about many others who have not been so fortunate.

She gave very real personal experiences that translated the research and statistics that we hear about into real life, anecdotal situations that potentially could have produced disparate health outcomes from clinical encounters that missed the mark.

I recommend Dr. Jackson as a speaker. She is as authentic as they come, as accessible (personality-wise) as she can be, and is going to deliver a message as real as it gets!

The second day, yesterday (the 1st--appropriate, as it was a first time gathering of these leaders in this format, hosted by Trinity Health and their team of SVP VeLois Bowers, Toni Green, and Chrishonda Smith) throughout the day we had the opportunity to hear from the wealth of knowledge in the room. It is too much to go into great detail, but we touched on everything from training and development, recruitment and retention, and supplier diversity to equity in patient care and health literacy.

I briefly talked about Health Culture Depot and Diversity HealthWorks, and it is likely that part of the proceedings will be published on the HCD site in the near future. I will blog that it is there when I get the write ups.

By the way, Diversity Health Works has been re-launched. Take a look and give me feedback on what is working. The content is coming so stay tuned. We will create the most content rich talent management site in health care! We will need your help to get there. . .

Yesterday, the richness of the conversation reminded me of how important collaboration is and the power that it brings to this conversation. Some of the people in the room may have considered themselves competitors, but for the purpose that we serve as healthcare professionals, we went further. It was powerful and I am grateful for having been a part of such a powerful learning opportunity!