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languageofcaring.com DECEMBER 2017

RESHAPINGTHE CULTUREOF CARE

Insights, tips, tools and resources to help you achieve the unparalleled patient, family and employee experience

© 2017 Language of Caring

Soapbox: The Power of GratitudeBy Dorothy Sisneros, Partner and Sr. VP, Language of Caring, LLC

I had the privilege of spending time with Dr. Gladys McGarey at a workshop a couple of weeks ago. Her presentation affirmed my belief that gratitude has many healing benefits. At 97, Dr. Gladys is full of life and inspiration. She captivated her audience, leaving us with the desire to spend hours listening to her stories about her life of giving and her gratitude for the many gifts she has received from people around the world. I realize how grateful I am knowing four years after being diagnosed with breast cancer, that I am thriving and grateful for each and every day. I know that everything I do each day

is something I can do and want to do. I am grateful for my family, friends and a network of caring colleagues who provide amazing service and care to those in need.

As we find ourselves in another holiday season, we tend to focus on people and things that we are grateful for and it’s with that thinking that I want to focus on Gratitude 365 – people and events that fill us with joy and enhance our wellbeing each and every day.

A 2013 study from the John Templeton Foundation found that workplaces are the least common place to either hear or express gratitude. This strikes me as tragic as we spend long hours at work. We’re on many teams. We build relationships. So how can it be that work relationships win the award for World’s Least Appreciative Environment? Perhaps it’s because we’re so busy. We have such long to-do lists that we might not even notice what our coworkers are actually doing. Or if we do notice, we don’t think to express our gratitude.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

1 Soapbox: The power of GraTiTude

2 our holiday GifTS in your honor

3 QuoTeworThy

4 STaff MeeTinG idea

5 i love ThiS reSource!

6 free webinar overview of lanGuaGe of carinG proGraMS

© 2017 Language of Caring2

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“Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships.”

There is abundant scientific research from the field of positive psychology that shows a very strong correlation between increased gratitude and greater happiness in both work and life. Brother David Steindl-Rast said, “In daily life we must see it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy.” Studies by researchers Martin Seligman, Robert Emmons, and Michael McCullough attest to the relationship between gratitude and health and mental well-being. Daily sharing of gratitude results in higher reported levels of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, attentiveness, energy, and sleep duration and quality. Grateful people also report lower levels of depression and stress (without denying or ignoring the negative aspects of life). Also, daily gratitude practices appear to ward off coronary artery disease and improve immune functioning. According to Harvard Health, “Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships.”

To see for yourself, watch this great short video, An Experiment in Gratitude: The Science of Happiness.

The Sound of GratitudeI asked my coworkers on the Language of Caring team to share a statement of gratitude. To a person, they said it felt good to think about this, and each person plans to deliver their message! It’s not hard to imagine the joy the recipients will feel too. Here are a few examples:

• Jill Golde (Partner and Sr. VP, Business Development) shared, “I would like to thank my husband and kids who believe in the Language of Caring and the important work that we do and are so proud of the ways we are making a difference and are also so quick to remind me when I am not living the important skills we teach!”

• Dustin Fennell (our COO and CIO) shared, “I am so grateful for my wife, my friend, my soul mate. She has become my biggest fan. She showers me with unconditional love and believes in me, even when I doubt myself. She brings layers of richness to this journey called life.”

• Jeremy Blanchard (our CMO) shared: “I am thankful to and celebrate the leaders with whom I am so privileged to work. Your vision of a culture where every person (staff, physician and patient) is caring and cared for is inspiring. I thank you for your courage, vision, integrity and partnership.”

• Rhonda Williams (our VP, Client Services): “I am so grateful to those mentors who have supported and encouraged me on my healthcare leadership journey. No one walks alone and none of us starts where we finish. Having the support of strong, self-confident and amazing leaders willing to take me under their wings has allowed me to grow, understand and embrace the importance of paying it forward.”

• Autumn Bollinger (our Manager, Client Services): “Thank you, Eric, for your unwavering commitment and willingness to listen and hear my needs (even the unspoken ones) and for always sharing your honest perspective with me, to not only help me grow but to truly thrive. You are my daily source of inspiration and encouragement and I thank you for being YOU!”

© 2017 Language of Caring3

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Ten Activities and Tactics That Mobilize the Power of GratitudeWe work with people who give of themselves every day and they do so in what is often an atmosphere of multiple demands and stress. We can have a powerful positive impact on our work environments and on the individuals we care about by becoming forthcoming with gratitude. We can also help our teams express gratitude by introducing gratitude-building activities. After all, feeling and expressing gratitude needs a little facilitation from time to time. The “gratitude muscle” must be flexed periodically to remain strong.

1. Keep a Gratitude Journal. While Gratitude Journals can take many forms, it works to simply write down one thing that you’re grateful for each day (something that happened, a good feeling you had, or a kindness someone extended to you or someone else). Gratitude Journals have been shown to increase a person’s happiness by 25%, and it only takes a few minutes. Note: Here are five APPS available to make this easy: Gratitude Journal, Grateful: A Gratitude Journal, Gratitude Journal 365, MOJO, and Gratitude Garden.

2. Speak your expressions of gratitude. William Arthur Ward said, “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” When you feel gratitude, tell the person who is making you feel it… and explain why. Engage a friend, colleague or family member daily in a discussion about what you are grateful for. This will make you more aware of all that you have to be grateful for and also strengthen your relationships. Also, instead of talking about the day’s stressors over lunch or dinner, talk about the positive things and the stressors will fade in importance and help you and your family and team feel happier.

3. Notice the positive things in the moment. Train yourself to notice things you are thankful for in the moment—even small things like a moment of relaxation, a breath, a delicious bite of fruit, a heartwarming comment by a friend. You will feel happier and have more energy.

4. Help your team practice focusing on the good in people and things. Play a quick game during your next staff meeting. Make a list of 25 random items (e.g. dogs, cars, bagels, rap songs, hair, etc.). Divide people into teams. Give each team a list and ask them to write next to each entry “the most awesome thing” about it. People will have a good time doing this and they will practice a positive focus and its elevating effects. Alphonse Kerr said, “Some people grumble that roses have thorns; I am grateful that thorns have roses.”

5. Create an environment of thankfulness through your own example as leader. Build intentional and genuine expressions of gratitude and thanks into your team meetings and one-on-ones. You’ll contribute to people’s feelings of self-worth and also make it more likely that people will behave in positive ways in the future.

“ ...talk about the positive things and the stressors will fade in importance and help you and your family and team feel happier.”

© 2017 Language of Caring4

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6. Write Gratitude Letters and make Gratitude Visits. Write a letter or note to someone who has had a positive influence on your life but might not know it. Be specific about what the person did and how it affected you. Mail it to the person or better yet, deliver it and read it to the person face-to-face.

7. End the day with a great feeling. At the end of each day, ask yourself these four questions:

• What touched me today?

• Who or what inspired me today?

• What made me smile today?

• What’s the best thing that happened today?

8. Gratitude Lookout. Pick a day with your team when you will all be on the lookout for people you can thank. At the end of the day or in an upcoming meeting, share stories.

9. 365 Thank You Notes. Push yourself to write one thank-you note every day. You’ll find yourself looking for people to thank, and this can be transforming.

10. Appreciation Chair. Designate a chair as “the Appreciation Chair”. Have each staff member take a turn sitting on it. Have everyone tell the person on the chair what they appreciate about them and express gratitude for any support or kindness they can recall.

Thank you!Now, I want to end by expressing gratitude to YOU! Thank you, thank you for all you do to make a difference in people’s lives. It’s because of you that I do what I do.

I hope you will strengthen your impact even more by putting your emotional generosity into words and voicing gratitude to the people in your world.

Said Albert Schweitzer, “At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.”

And finally, Tom Rath says “The pursuit of meaning — not happiness — is what makes life worthwhile.”

Click here for Great Resources on gratitude.

“At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.”

© 2017 Language of Caring5

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OUR HOLIDAY GIFTS IN YOUR HONOR

Jill’s Choice: From Houses to Homeswww.fromhousestohomes.org

Says Jill, “We fell in love with Guatemala when we went there to adopt our kids. We also found the poverty staggering. Joe Collins started From Houses to Homes to make a dent in the poverty in Guatemala. He believes that even before kids can go to school and learn, they need a safe place to live. Twice in the last five years, as a family, we raised the money for the building materials and went to Guatemala to build a house with and for a Mayan family in the mountains of Guatemala. It was a fabulous experience. This is a great organization.”

Dorothy’s Choice: Foundation for Living Medicinehttp://www.thefoundationforlivingmedicine.org/

Says Dorothy, “This Foundation is amazing. Founded by Dr. Gladys Taylor McGarey who is internationally known for her pioneering work in alternative medicine, the Foundation acknowl-edges the ‘physician within’ each individual, fosters patient/provider relationships and embraces health and wholeness rather than emphasizing disease. I really appreciate the “Five L’s” that express the Foundation’s philosophy:

1. LIFE. If we are not alive, nothing else matters.

2. LOVE. Love is what really does the healing. Without love, a disease can be cured, but the person is not healed. With love, the person can heal without curing the disease.

3. LAUGHTER. Laughter brings hope and light into healing. It is the spark that activates the life force.

4. LABOR. Labor is necessary to bring the first three L’s into reality in this dimension of consciousness. We really have to work at healing.

5. LISTENING. Listening is necessary for healing to become real.

Wendy’s Choice: Heart to Heart Internationalwww.hearttoheart.org

Says Wendy, “My donation in your honor will further the amazing humanitarian work of Heart to Heart International. HHI strengthens communities through improving health care access, providing humanitarian development and administering crisis relief worldwide. HHI has been a first responder to disasters all over the world, including most recently Texas, Puerto Rico, and Haiti where they have provided medicines, medical care and humanitarian aid.”

Happy holidays and thank you for all you do. We send our gratitude, thoughts and prayers to you and your family for an upcoming year of health and joy.

Thanks to you, Language of Caring has had a wonderful year. Your commitment and contributions to patients and families inspire us every day. We are so grateful we can count on you to advance the cause of communicating with compassion, care and hope so essential to healing the hurts and building a positive future for our world community.

During this holiday season, as a token of our appreciation, admiration and respect, we are making three contributions in your honor to causes close to our hearts.

QUOTEWORTHY

© 2017 Language of Caring6

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Nourishment in Our Daily WorkTeresa Amabile in her research at Harvard found that people most appreciate days at work when they feel nourished. She then describes four types of nourishment: Respect, Encouragement, Emotional Support, and Affiliation. (T. Amabile et al. (2011), The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement and Creativity.)

Instructions:1. Present this model to your team.

2. Pass out a chart with the four types of nourishment.

3. Ask people to jot down a time in the last week when they felt each.

4. Afterward, ask people to share any two of the four. If you have a large group, ask them to share in groups of four. If it’s a small group, go around a give everyone a turn to share two with everyone.

5. Close by asking people to identify and share one thing they can do to give others on the team nourishment.

STAFFMEETINGIDEAS

STAFFMEETINGIDEA

EXAMPLE

RespectRoy asked my opinion on how best he could respond to a patient complaint.

Emotional SupportI came to work all flustered from an argument with my daughter, and Julia listened and helped me get to a point where I could let it go.

EncouragementSusy told me she knows my safety project is challenging and she said she admires what I’ve done so far.

AffiliationWe had a great lunch celebration for November birthdays. What a great team!

I LOVE THIS RESOURCE!

© 2017 Language of Caring7

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Thomas Muha, PROPEL to Quality Healthcare: Six Steps to Improve Patient Care, Staff Engagement and the Bottom Line

Grounded in positive psychology research, concrete experiences with healthcare organizations and teams, and personal awareness-raising and growth experiences, Dr. Muha identifies a powerful six-step formula called PROPEL -- Passion, Relationships, Optimism, Proactive, Energy, and Legacy. Peppered with illustrative stories and examples, Dr. Muha shares a cornucopia of plans, workshop designs and tools for change agents determined to propel engagement, personal fulfillment, quality care, and peak performance in their organizations.

I applaud and thank Dr. Muha for generously sharing his expertise, experience and tools to help all of us determined to make a positive difference.

Key Questions That PROPEL!

To increase PASSION for creating positive results, ask questions designed to create both a long-term vision and short-term solutions.

✔ What would make working here a great experience for you?

✔ What would a positive outcome to this immediate problem look like?

To create RELATIONSHIPS that are collaborative, ask:

✔ What ideas do you have for making teamwork really terrific?

✔ Who could you turn to for support to help you deal with this problem?

To improve OPTIMISM, ask:

✔ How can our team more consistently perform at its best?

✔ What’s made us good at solving this kind of problem in the past?

To teach people to be PROACTIVE, rather than reactive, ask:

✔ What’s the most important action we could take to improve our unit?

✔ What’s the first step to take to move toward a positive outcome?

To generate ENERGY among the staff, ask:

✔ What could we do to take better care of each other?

✔ What helps you rejuvenate yourself when you’re at home?

To understand the LEGACY each individual wants to leave, ask:

✔ What would make a meaningful difference in how we treat patients?

✔ What would you like to do to make your job more fulfilling?

(Muha, 2017, page 72)

© 2017 Language of Caring8

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The Power of Gratitudehttps://www.languageofcaring.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/heartbeat_dec_2017_with-links.pdf

Jill Golde, MS, Dorothy Sisneros, MS, MBA and Wendy Leebov, EdD—partners at Language of Caring.

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