By: Allison McCarthy, MBA | amccarthy@barlowmccarthy.com
When we spend all of our time complaining, we are in essence in constant destroy mode rather than building mode. – Madisyn Taylor
Sometimes I read things that prompt me to pause and reflect on my thoughts and actions. This is one of those that came through my inbox recently.
It’s easy to get into a complaining rut – focusing more on what’s wrong than what’s right. Not necessarily a bad trait if your brain quickly starts to look for solutions or improvements. But if complaining doesn’t come with a proposed fix than its easy to spiral into negativity. Or as Madisyn Taylor’s wrote….”in constant destroy mode”.
In physician recruitment, our goal is to have everything be as “ideal” as possible so that the organization makes a positive impression on physician leads and candidates. We want our practice structures and offerings to be what candidates want them – so selling them is “easy”. We strive to have our internal stakeholders respond to candidates quickly and constructively to move the recruit more deeply into our search pipeline. We show our locations in the most positive light to convince new providers that this is where they should want to be. And when any of these pieces consistently fall short, it becomes easy to fall into complaining mode – rationalizing that recruitment isn’t successful because we don’t have the “ideal”.
Identifying flaws without coming up with possible solutions just drags both us and the organization down. We can easily become complacent and believe success is out of our control. But if we really are leading the physician recruitment effort, we must view these as challenges and use creative energy to find a solution. By identifying a fix – whether that be a message, approach or counter perspective – we lead the internal team and/or candidate toward positive alternatives. To shift the situation from a “destroy mode” to a “building mode” with positive action as the outcome.
When we find ourselves complaining, the last thing we need to do is to stay in that mental space. Instead, recognize that something needs to change and brainstorm ways to change the situation. Learning to do this repeatedly starts to turn a negative habit into a creative process, thus using our energy to lead change in a positive way.