Ask yourself, what makes a conversation crucial? Perhaps you need to provide unfavorable feedback to a peer, or talk with a colleague about missing critical deadlines, or approach your senior leader about his/her behavior. Would any of these examples cause you to delay in having that conversation?Ā According to Crucial Learning, a crucial conversation occurs when two or more people have a discussion and they
- have different opinions,
- are discussing a high stakes issue,
- have strong emotions.
Ideally, a crucial conversation happens in the moment, or shortly thereafter. āThe only reliable path to resolving problems is to find the shortest path to effective conversationā (Grenny et al., 2022, p. 5). However, everyday healthcare professionals make calculated decisions to not speak up. In fact, Crucial Learning research found that 84 percent of doctors and nurses have seen coworkers take dangerous shortcuts, and yet, fewer than one in ten voice their concerns. On the other hand, if you have an organizational culture of holding a successful crucial conversation, this will lead to significant reduction in medical errors, increased patient safety, higher productivity, and lower staff turnover.
Are you looking to increase patient safety, reduce medical errors, and improve employee engagement? If so, consider registering for SDAHOās Health Care Leadership Essentials Program here. This program, starting on April 23, is for health care leaders across various departments such as IT, laboratory, dietary, environmental services, plant operations. There will be one in-person session, covering crucial conversations with certified trainers and two virtual sessions covering Principals of Health Care Finance, and Human Resources: Legal Aspects of Management.
For more information visit sdaho.org or contact debra.morello@sdaho.org.
Resource:
Grenny, J.,Ā Patterson, K.,Ā McMillan, R.,Ā Switzler, A.,Ā &Ā Gregory, E.Ā (2022).Ā Crucial Conversations: tools for talking when stakes are highĀ (3rd ed.).Ā McGraw Hill.
