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!

A Quick Note on Leveraging Your Degree

I spent time with fellow Emory grads on Thursday and Saturday in the kickoff of Emory's $1.6 Billion dollar capital campaign. It was quite exciting with the normal pomp and circumstance, black tie, all of the large donors, and of course many alumni.

It got me to thinking about the value of our leveraging our degrees from the various schools we went to. Many people who went to Emory, have the feeling that Emory doesn't need any more money. "They got enough of mine the first time around". Now, this is not just Emory, but many schools with seemingly large endowments or proverbial pocketbooks. In fact, most of those sentiments are true. However, what we are not taking into consideration is the investment into the future of your institution(s) of higher learning and what that investment translates into.

Giving your time, talent, and money is important. Let me share with you three reason's why:

1) Many schools use money given by alumni for scholarships. If you are committed to a diverse student-body, contribute to the scholarship fund. It often allows students who otherwise could not afford to attend a school the opportunity to do so. This used to just be the case at schools like Emory and other expensive private schools. However, with the cost of all schools state-based or otherwise, it is a high-dollar conversation.

2) The more you give of your money, time, talent, you name it, the more people know you and the more people know you and what you are about (assuming it is positive, which is likely if you are contributing your time, talent, and money) the more opportunities and possibilities open up to you. I have had numerous opportunities for conversation about what I do open up as a result of my involvement with Emory. It is not direct business, but it is branding, personal and for my company. People know more about Cook Ross and learned more about me because I share myself with the school in a variety of capacities.

3) The law of cause and effect: you give something you get something back. Think about something in your life that you have contributed little to and got a lot from. Sure there are a few things, but lets take a macro view. Now, I know you paid a lot for your degree and you got it when you graduated. That was then, this is now. I am not saying that you have to spend half your time and a fourth of your money towards your school, but I am saying contribute something. It is an investment that has to be made if you want your degree to really carry some weight and give a boost at some point. You many not even know you got that boost, but believe you me, if you contribute, there will be a return in some shape or form.

Charitable giving gives you a stake. While you are a graduate and paid tuition while there, the value that your degree has now, is much higher than when you were a student. Schools are like businesses. If you work in a business and don't feel like you have ownership, your level of contribution is much lower than when you do feel like an owner. Colleges and Universities depend on their alumni for so much and we have a lot to give. Giving something each year gives you the empowerment of an owner and moves you on the court as a contributor to a broader dialogue.

So, that is my 3 cent on why to give to your Alma mater. Time, talent, or financial contribution, it all gets paid forward and paid back!

The Countdown Begins

The totally re-tooled Diversity HealthWorks re-launches on September 18th. That is a powerful day for my family in that my brother, Larry, who we lost in December 2004, was born on that day.

Larry had a stroke and died at age 40. The launch of the site is dedicated to him, one because he was my biggest fan :-) and two because the bottom line premise for Diversity HealthWorks as a vehicle is the elimination of health disparities/health equity. Larry died with many years of potential life left to give his energy to the world. Diversity HealthWorks is a stand to reduce years of potential life lost towards the achievement of health equity.

A little about Diversity HealthWorks:
Diversity HealthWorks™ is a comprehensive resource for healthcare professionals, educational institutions, organizations, and employers to utilize in meeting their respective employment, recruitment, informational, training, and educational needs.

First launched in 2005, Diversity HealthWorks was created to be the destination portal for healthcare talent management. Our premise is that diversity and talent management are integral parts of one another and cannot exist separately. Given this premise, we believe that if an organization intends to be a competitive and innovative market leader, cultivating top talent, diversity must be a central theme in its pursuit of success.

Diversity HealthWorks is the first on-line resource dedicated entirely to careers, employer branding, and the generation of information focused exclusively on diversity and cultural competency in health and healthcare. At the foundation of our mission is the creation of health equity and the elimination of disparities in health outcomes focusing on the workforce as central to the achievement of this goal.

Diversity HealthWorks features the following components:
-- Traditional Job board with wide variety of healthcare jobs from allied health and nursing to public health and research
-- Comprehensive resource (www.healthculturedepot.com), edited and contributed to by professionals focused on cultural competency and diversity in healthcare, disparities/health equity, and current issues
-- Features and best-practices in the healthcare industry
-- Pod casts, web seminars
-- Monthly and bi-weekly publications with interviews, current news and notes across the diversity and healthcare space, and opportunities to get involved

More to come on Diversity HealthWorks, stay tuned!

So, when do we really address diversity in the healthcare workforce?

It has been known for a long time that diversity in the health professions is not only the so-called "right thing to do" but it is also evident that it is the thing we need to do healthcare right.



In December of 1995 The Pew Health Professions Commission (Critical Challenges: Revitalizing the Health Professions for the Twenty-First Century) stated:

There is a substantial body of literature which concludes that culturally sensitive care is good care. This means two things for all health professional schools. First, they must continue their commitment to ensure that the students they train represent the rich ethnic diversity of our society. Important investments and many successes have been achieved, but this is an obligation that must be continued at each institution until it is no longer an issue. Second, diversifying the entering class is not sufficient to ensure understanding and appreciation of diversity. Cultural sensitivity must be a part of the educational experience that touches the life of every student.



About 10 years later, the Sullivan Commission on Diversity on Diversity in the Healthcare Workforce published Missing Persons: Minorities in the Health Professions stating:

Diversity in the health workforce will strengthen cultural competence throughout the health
system. Cultural competence profoundly influences how health professionals deliver health
care. Language is a critical component, with two out of ten Americans speaking a language at home other than English. The cultural challenges posed by a shifting patient demographic can
best be addressed by health professionals educated and trained in a culturally dynamic environment. . .


The business community has long recognized that workforce diversity is essential to success
and maintaining competitiveness in the marketplace. Corporate executives as well as local
chambers of commerce describe the economic benefits of developing a workforce that reflects the customer base.

After publication #1 (Pew) we were left with a greater understanding of the issue. In between the Pew report and the Sullivan (publication #2 above) report, there were myriad reports on this issue and related issues such as health disparities, other workforce-related studies examining diversity, numerous conferences, and a lot of conversation about the importance of it, how it is affecting health outcomes, etc. There have been other subsequent to Sullivan, too.

What I personally have not seen a great deal of is a publication of best practices: How to diversify and expand the healthcare pipeline?; "Where do we go from here in healthcare workforce diversity?"; and so on and so forth--in essence, action!

Now, my not seeing this much does not mean that it is not happening. So if it is, and you happen to pass by this blog and read some of it, please share your success with me and I will do my best to share it with my network, my clients, etc.

In the meantime, when do we really address diversity in the health professions; in the healthcare workforce? There are many steps that have been taken in states and by cutting edge foundations like the California Endowment. Check out what they are up to:

http://www.calendow.org/article.aspx?id=1382&ItemID=1382

You may also find programs taking place through educational institutions like the Summer Enrichment Program at the University of Michigan as well as another such program run by the Institute for Diversity in Health Management.

These programs are great, the question lies in the details and in the measurement of what is coming from them. I would say there are positive outcomes anecdotally, and I actually believe anecdote is measurable. However, we generally are not even capturing the stories that these programs produce in aggregate. As a result, the funding for them is usually sparse, running low, running out, and has already run away with little hope hope for renewal.

Don't get me wrong, I am confident that we can make continued and bigger strides towards understanding pipeline building in the healthcare workforce. To me it lies in moving towards a clear understanding that this is not "initiative-based". Initiatives come to an end. Diversity in the healthcare workforce is not something that some do and others don't if they want success long-term and it has no ending. Diversity recruitment is recruitment, period. If diversity is not being considered, quite frankly you are not really recruiting. You are selecting some folks that will meet your needs for the next few years, but you are not building the workforce that will add to bottom-line growth in the future of your organization, hospital, institution, etc. It simply won't lead to the innovation, connection with patients, market share growth, or any other aspect that you are looking to advance including cultural competency.

So, when do we really address diversity in the healthcare workforce? We are doing it now, but not nearly to the extent we need to. Do we understand the implications? I doubt it. Right now they are theoretical and not practical.

I am in search of a healthcare organization that has focused on diversity and has documented how it has positively affected them. If you hear of any, let me know, I would be thrilled to do an interview with them.

If you are interested in an interview talking about your talent management efforts, drop me a line at amrijohnson@gmail.com. We are in the process of creating our interview and publication schedule for Diversity HealthWorks. I am sure the world would love to hear about the great things you are doing. . .