A lot of days, in a lot of situations, I have this ongoing battle within me. The battle is whether or not to say something if I see a situation that is destined for failure. (Not with my job because it is my job as CEO to speak out and be that guy who pushes … also known as a buzzkill, or better yet head cheerleader.) An example of this would be a pothole or something that needs to be done in the community and I think “Fine, let someone else complain and point it out, and if no one does, then when someone gets hurt, the City will notice and they’ll pay the consequences”. (Yeesh, just writing this out makes me feel yucky). Unfortunately, this happens often and in various ways. Do we always let the store know if the paper towels are empty? Do we always speak up when we see injustice? No, we don’t – at least I don’t, and it is something I need to work on.
What if senior leadership at Iowa Specialty Hospitals & Clinics said “Forget the Standards of Behaviors – they are too hard to police, wear whatever you want, park wherever … we are tired, and it is not worth the effort to patrol your behavior.”? We’d be like every other hospital. Trash would appear back in the hallway, employees wouldn’t be friendly – no “hi’s” in the hallway … people would stare at their phones constantly; it would not be a place that stood out. Or, what if (in my mind) an employee decided to check out and only minimally participate in the Standards of Behavior, like in front of the CEO only? But then in the background grumbles that the standards are “dumb” and no one participates anyway, and “I can’t believe they make me say ‘hi’”. Well, then that employee can’t work here anymore.
Wouldn’t it be good if we as Americans, and citizens of our fine communities, took the same perspective? Wouldn’t it be a better country, county, city, and neighborhood if we lived the standards all the time and showed ownership in whatever we do? And if someone took the attitude that someone else can tell the store that the paper towel dispenser is empty, then that person would have to move to Canada? Sure, we’d lose some people, but they didn’t help anyway, and we will be a better society.
Food for thought.
-Steve Simonin, President & CEO
