(2018-08-12) Cutler The Patient Change Agent

John Cutler: The Patient Change Agent. How can you advocate while avoiding the burnout, lost months/years, and damaged work relationships? How can you give it an “solid try”, stay if things improve, and go gracefully if things don’t?

Your next step is to shut up for three months. No reply-alls, no “have you tried….”, and no “oh that’s easy to fix”. Hold your cards. Just observe and write a daily journal (Daily Writing) for 5–10 minutes each day.

Considering the following questions: What forces are holding the problem in place? Who benefits from the status quo? Who will benefit from resolving the issue? Why wasn’t the org able to fix this? Does someone’s job involving fixing this? What is stopping them? Are they trying? Does someone’s job exist because this isn’t fixed? Is this a bug or a feature? Are there benefits that I’m not seeing? How does change actually happen here? Has anything “worked”? Is there any momentum in terms of fixing the issue? Who has “skin in the game” vs. a secondhand interest in seeking improvement? Will anyone lose their job if the problem persists? Why? How is the status quo meeting people’s needs? Is there some shared vision of the future that might also meet people’s needs?

Now it is time to start running some safe-to-fail experiments/probes. What we are looking for at this point is a sign, any sign, that these issues are not immovable

I also suggest using a tool like POPCORN to keep track of your experiments.

the key thing here is to make them safe to fail. At no point should you put your day-job/career/well-being/sanity/relationships/enthusiasm in jeopardy. Never. It’s not worth it.