Consulting Archives - Stamp & Chase

Are your team’s goals driving better results? Maybe we need a SMARTer approach.

If you’ve worked in any large organization during the past 30 years, there is a very high probability that someone recommended that you try setting SMART goals. This easy-to-remember acronym was originally introduced in a 1981 issue of Management Review by authors George Doran, Arthur Miller and James Cunningham. If one of their goals was to develop a memorable model that would stick in management practice, then they’ve been extremely successful. When I speak to large groups and ask, “Has anyone heard of “SMART” goals?”, almost every hand in the room goes up. Despite its memorability and simplicity, setting SMART goals has limitations. As suggested in the authors’ original article title – “There’s a SMART Way to Write Management Goals and Objectives” – the focus

Burl Stamp November 28, 2023 No Comments

3 Tips for Dealing With Politics (or Other Touchy Subjects)

Sometimes, inspiration for my blog post comes from unexpected places – like a quiet, late-evening dinner on the road. After a successful day with a client, I arrived back at my hotel for a later-than-usual dinner. There were only a few people left in the restaurant, and I was seated near a table of three gentlemen. While I wasn’t interested in eavesdropping, it was impossible to not hear their conversation in the quiet room. From their discussion it was clear that they all worked for the same company and were traveling together on business. Two middle-aged men were obviously more senior managers, and they were accompanied by a junior colleague who appeared to be in his 20s. What surprised me was how their discussion turned

Burl Stamp November 21, 2023 No Comments

team of medical staff holding up a thumbs up graphic from stamp & chase

Why a “5-to-1 Mindset” Fosters a High-Performance Culture

In our work with major health systems across the country, we’ve advocated leaders adopt the golden 5-to-1 ratio in their interactions with colleagues and their teams. This research-based strategy reveals the power of five positive comments for every one criticism in high-performing teams and organizations. This practice and the underlying research were cited in a 2013 Harvard Business Review article by Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman, “The Ideal Praise-to-Criticism Ratio.” But an insightful observation from Dr. Matthew Wayne, chief medical officer of Summa Health Medical Group and NewHealth Collaborative, in a leadership workshop last week helped me see a flaw in the way people think about the 5-to-1 ratio. By definition, this leadership principle focuses on quantity. Dr. Wayne wisely pointed out that the practice works

Burl Stamp November 8, 2017 No Comments

Why Real Empathy Has to Start with Real Listening

Visiting with patients during rounds is one of the things I love most about my work with health care providers across the country. I remember conversations with patients that cover the range of emotions – uplifting, sad, funny, disheartening, frustrating … and almost always humbling. But it is a conversation with a paraplegic patient at a HealthSouth acute rehabilitation hospital a few years ago that I still reflect on often because of the important lesson it taught me. The nurse manager for the unit explained that Mr. Jones (not his real name) was a frequent patient at HealthSouth and would appreciate a visit. I walked into the room and did everything by the book, just like I’ve explained hundreds of times to thousands of caregivers in

Burl Stamp August 15, 2017 No Comments

Five Ways to Keep Goal Achievement On Track

Part 6 in our Series: A Smarter Approach to S.M.A.R.T. Goals In our six-part series, A Smarter Approach to S.M.A.R.T. Goals, our first five posts have focused primarily on the front end of the goal setting process. Making sure your goals are specific enough to change behavior, meaningful so they engage the team, agreed-upon for shared success, and realistic enough to be achievable is a great start. Now you have to effectively implement. The final element of our model, “T,” stands for tracked and addresses how the implementation plan and monitoring of results are critical to success.How often are well-stated organizational goals developed and distributed at the start of a new year – then barely addressed by individual teams until 12 months later when we

Burl Stamp August 8, 2017 No Comments

astronaut on moon graphic from stamp & chase

Why B.H.A.G.s without B.H.A.R.s are Pipe Dreams

Part 5 in our Series: A Smarter Approach to S.M.A.R.T. Goals “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.” That quote from President John F. Kennedy’s speech to a joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961, is perhaps the most often cited example of the philosophy that when you set big goals, amazing things can happen. And who doesn’t want to accomplish amazing things.So the fact that the “R” in our smarter S.M.A.R.T. goals model stands for “realistic” may be surprising. Realistic sounds so safe … hum-drum … even boring. Don’t we want bigger, transformative, inspiring goals? Maybe even “B.H.A.G.s”?Even if

Burl Stamp July 31, 2017 No Comments

Yours, Mine or Ours — Whose Goal is it Anyway?

Part 4 in Our Series: A Smarter Approach to S.M.A.R.T. Goals Even the best crafted, precisely-targeted organizational goals are ineffective unless they are embraced by the team responsible for implementing the tactics to achieve them. That’s why the “A” in our smarter S.M.A.R.T. goals model represents “agreed-upon.”The first, most important step in setting goals that are enthusiastically adopted by individuals and teams is to pay attention to two of the other components in our S.M.A.R.T. goals model: making goals meaningful and realistic. Tying a goal to the core purpose of the organization’s work – in health care, how it impacts patients’ care – helps make its achievement more meaningful. Even financial goals can be linked to the short- and long-term fiscal health of the organizations

Burl Stamp July 25, 2017 No Comments

Why should I care?

Part 3 in Our Series: A Smarter Approach to S.M.A.R.T. Goals “Please help me connect the dots”In our work with frontline health care staff, this plea is one of the most common ones we hear. With new protocols, payer requirements and regulations shifting constantly, staff understandably struggle to make sense of all of these changes. To President Trump’s comment that “Nobody knew health care could be so complicated,” most frontline caregivers would tell you that they know providing care is more challenging and complex every day. That’s why setting and explaining goals that are meaningful is so important. Chasing the numbers can become all-consuming In today’s metrics-driven world, it is easy for even the most compassionate caregiver to quickly become obsessed with the numbers. Thirty-day

Burl Stamp July 17, 2017 No Comments

Are your goals specific enough to change behavior?

Part 2 in Our Series: A Smarter Approach to S.M.A.R.T. Goals In last week’s blog, I outlined a smarter way for managers to approach S.M.A.R.T. goals. Designed to boost results rather than just improve goal-writing, our model emphasizes how leaders can better use goals to focus their team’s efforts and deliver superior outcomes:While there are many variations on the original S.M.A.R.T. goals model, the “S” almost always stands for “specific.” Writing a SMART goal that is specific means that all aspects of the goal are clearly defined and that it answers the standard 5 W’s (who, what, when, where and why). But even when a well-written goal is specific, it still usually focuses on what you want the end result to be, not on how

Burl Stamp July 12, 2017 No Comments

spinning plates graphic from stamp & chase

In patient experience work, there’s no “Silver Bullet.” But are you trying to keep too many plates spinning?

In a recent blog post, I argued that the problem of searching for a single, easy-to-implement patient engagement tactic goes beyond the fact that one doesn’t exist. Believing that a simple silver bullet strategy is out there actually stymies continuous improvement, innovation and effective implementation. So if there is no single silver bullet, one might reasonably jump to the conclusion that a shotgun approach – implementing multiple solutions simultaneously – would produce better results. But that strategy has real flaws, as well. When I was working closely with the Experience Team at Ascension Health several years ago, we termed it “initiative fatigue.” In other words, teams were trying to launch and sustain so many different initiatives to improve care that they lost focus. It felt like

Burl Stamp June 14, 2017 No Comments

Category: Consulting

Are your team’s goals driving better results? Maybe we need a SMARTer approach.

3 Tips for Dealing With Politics (or Other Touchy Subjects)

Why a “5-to-1 Mindset” Fosters a High-Performance Culture

Why Real Empathy Has to Start with Real Listening

Five Ways to Keep Goal Achievement On Track

Why B.H.A.G.s without B.H.A.R.s are Pipe Dreams

Yours, Mine or Ours — Whose Goal is it Anyway?

Why should I care?

Are your goals specific enough to change behavior?

In patient experience work, there’s no “Silver Bullet.” But are you trying to keep too many plates spinning?

Archives

Search

© 2024 Stamp & Chase

CORTEX Innovation District

20 S. Sarah St., St. Louis, MO 63108

314-299-9373

© 2020 Stamp & Chase

CORTEX Innovation District

20 S. Sarah St., St. Louis, MO 63108

314-299-9373