December Meeting Presentations—McNulty Award “Managing Your Humor Resources”

The Council’s December 10 CEO/Trustee luncheon held at the lovely Hilton Washington/Silver Spring was a bit different. Healthcare CEOs, COOs, CFOs, Trustees, Department Heads and Council Associates were rewarded with a bit of levity. This luncheon featured Ron Culberson. More on that a bit later. Chairman Michael Barch was unable to attend so Council Executive Committee member Hugh Eagleton, Board Member Emeritus, Children’s National Medical Center, presided over the meeting. Once some of the detail work was handled and lunch had been served, Mr. Eagleton called on Immediate Past Chairman George Wilkes, III.

Mr. Wilkes began with some Council history and comments on Dr. Matthew McNulty. He spoke of Dr. McNulty’s leadership at Georgetown University Medical Center and his years of service on the Healthcare Council/Shared Services board and Executive Committee. A volunteer service that spanned over 25 years. He spoke to Dr. McNulty’s commitment to the community and his knowledge and wit. Mr. Wilkes then spoke to the 1997 Proclamation honoring Dr. McNulty and creating the Council’s highest award. The Matthew F. McNulty Award honoring exemplary contributions to the healthcare field. Mr. Wilkes introduced Council Executive Committee member Omega Logan Silva, M.D.

Dr. Silva stated it was with great pride and pleasure that she has the honor to present the 2008 Matthew F. McNulty, Jr. Award to Fernando Rivera. Dr. Silva said for 29 years she took care of patients, did research and administration at the VA Medical Center. She praised the VA Medical Center for their innovative work and multi-facility research studies and other accomplishments.

Mr. Rivera is being recognized for his superior ability to lead the VA Medical Center, DC to even greater heights.

Mr. Rivera’s leadership allows the center to continue to be a center for excellence for cardiac care to be the forerunner in meeting healthcare benchmarks. He has been recognized as the Communicator of the Year twice in the VHA nationwide. The VAMC, DC is one of the top 10 ranked facilities receiving the Robert W. Carey Performance Excellence Award, the Olin B. Teague Award for rehabilitative care and for being the “Most Wired” hospital in the nation. Mr. Rivera has been innovative in introducing ideas in the DC VAMC that have been implemented VA-wide.

From the description of him by his staff, Dr. Silva expressed he is veteran’s advocate and someone very much in the mold of Dr. McNulty. “It gives me a tremendous thrill to present the Matthew F. McNulty Award to Mr. Rivera of the VAMC, DC for his numerous accomplishments and to honor the entire VA system as well.”

Dr. Silva presented Mr. Rivera with the award and Council President Joe Burns presented his wife with a dozen long stem roses. Mr. Rivera thanked the Council for the award and received outstanding applause from the attendees.

Now more about Ron Culberson. Mr. Burns began with an electrifying and extended listing of Mr. Culberson’s accomplishments including but not limited to appearances on famous international broadcast news channels, on talk shows and a lengthy list of publications. Then a long dissertation on the speaker’s numerous doctorate and master degree earnings from Harvard and Yale yada, yada, yada, summarizing that person couldn’t be with us today! He then introduced Ron Culberson. A summary of Ron’s remarks, “Managing Your Humor Resources”

“Do it well. Make it fun.” It’s a simple mantra that has great value. Employees want leaders who are good at their jobs and they want a work environment that’s enjoyable.

My friend Jim was accompanying his daughter for her pre-surgical visit with the orthopedic surgeon. When he asked the doctor how long his daughter’s knee surgery would take, the surgeon replied, “I don’t know – this is the first time I’ve done it. Don’t worry though; we keep an instruction manual in the O.R.”

After checking for the surgeon’s diploma on the wall, the physician gave him a wink. Jim laughed and was assured that his daughter was in good hands. Through this simple comment, the surgeon conveyed confidence while using humor to relax the patient (and her father!). As a healthcare leader, you can have a similar impact on your organization by paying attention to how you: 1) Manage yourself; 2) Manage your culture; 3) Manage your people

Managing Yourself

Your image and reputation determine how others see you. You must always strive to use good values when making decisions and good skills when doing your work. Once you’ve established that your integrity, you can then add humor to your repertoire.

Ronald Reagan, the oldest person who ever served as President, was repeatedly questioned about his age. During one pre-election interview, a reporter asked if he thought he was too old to be President. Reagan replied, “Thomas Jefferson said you should judge a President by his accomplishments, not by his age. And when he told me that…”

Managing Your Culture

The poet Robert Frost said, “The brain is a wonderful organ; it starts working the moment you get up in the morning and does not stop until you get to the office.”

The workplace is not necessarily seen as a fun place. It turns out that the culture of an organization is simply a series of consistent behaviors that are reinforced by the management. What are you doing to create a culture where people want to be?

Make sure your mission, vision and values reflect your commitment to your staff. You can’t accomplish your vision without them. Then, include an element of fun in the culture. Southwest Airlines, known as a very fun organization, had 9,000 applications for 200 job openings one year. Because it’s a fun place that values its staff, people want to be there.

Managing Your People

A janitor at NASA was asked to describe his job. He said, “I help put people on the moon.”

Your job as a leader is to motivate and inspire your staff to pursue the vision of the organization. You must make them feel valued by articulating their part of the mission. Then, use humor and stories to inspire them.

Abraham Lincoln was accused of being “two-faced.” He replied, “If I were two-faced, would I being wearing this one?”

That’s just the kind of humor that endears others to us as leaders.

If you commit to “Doing it well and making it fun,” you’ll have a great organization that will attract and keep the best employees around.

Ron Culberson is a speaker, humorist, columnist, author of Is Your Glass Laugh Full? and former hospice social worker whose mission is to inject humor into healthcare. He can be reached through his website at www.FUNsulting.com, 703-742-8812 or ron@funsulting.com.

The group applauded, thanking Mr. Culberson for a great uplifting presentation.

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March Annual Business Meeting

The next Healthcare Council CEO/Trustee meeting will be March 18, 2009. Watch for details including location, speaker and topic coming soon.

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