Knox's Blog

I recently attended a dinner in Middleburg, Virginia where the featured entertainment was John Legend. Legend is a nine time Grammy winner famous for songs such as “Whenever It Rains,” “If this World Were Mine” and “Sun Comes Up.”

The event was a fundraiser at the home of Sheila Johnson, who along with other endeavors, is president and managing partner of the WNBA’s Washington Mystics. Last year we formed a partnership with the Mystics to help promote health and wellness in our community. So on this evening we gathered together with our new friends to benefit Inova’s Healthy Generations to Come.

And quite frankly, this was the most magical evening I ever spent in a barn! Yup, this is not a typo.  The dinner and performance all took place in their stables and indoor riding ring which was transformed into a most elegant and delightful venue to bring together old friends and new.  Reflecting back on the night, this event reminds me of the importance of expanding my horizons.

The Mystics chose Inova because we are highly respected and have a visionary outlook in shaping the future of healthcare. And through this partnership, we met Sheila, and Sheila is good friends with John Legend. So there we all are, in a barn, having a great time! In addition to some of our regular Inova faithful fans and supporters, there were many John Legend fans there as well. We were able to share with them the Inova story and the excellent services we provide for children by our talented and dedicated staff. We discussed new opportunities, new ideas and strengthened our community ties.

In our personal lives, events such as weddings, births and celebrations bring us together for one cause. In our professional lives, events such as meetings, seminars and celebrations bring us together as well. Here we create shared experiences and have a chance to form special and long lasting relations if we choose. It’s not always easy to break out of our comfortable silos and away from our inner group, but I know whenever I do, I am grateful for the experience.

So while my heart was touched that evening by the inspirational music, fabulous food and the wonderful folks gathered together, I hope they were also touched and felt connected to the greater good of supporting the children. And while my family and I had a great time that evening, I’m reminded of the greater good created. The evening may have affected me for just one night, but the lasting effects of the money raised will last for generations to come.

Contestant: “I’ll take Insider Knowledge, Mr. Trebek.”

Mr. Trebek: And the answer is, “Inova Leadership Institute (ILI) leaders who read my blog.”

Contestant: “Who will have a better chance at winning a Kindle at the next ILI?”

At our next ILI we will be playing Vision 2015 Jeopardy and a few lucky winners will win some great prizes for themselves and their department. If you or someone you know will be attending ILI, take a sample quiz now to see if some prizes might be coming to a facility near you:

Answer: Safety Net

Question: Which Inova program provides access to health services to underserved populations?

Answer: Joint Replacement

Question: What is one of our Centers of Excellence destination services?

Answer: Elizabeth Major, Terri Folse, Erma Ryan, Jill Parady and Dawn Murphy

Question: Who is shown in this photo recently brainstorming in regards to Vision 2015 and therefore has a better then average chance of winning?

And now – Final Jeopardy!

Answer: Insider knowledge and having my utmost gratitude and respect.

Question: What is the benefit of reading my blog?

Do you know where all the Inova facilities are located? If you were asked to attend a meeting in the Hearts Conference Room, could you find your way? What about visiting the Tiki Office, The Wizard of Oz or Hollywood Blvd? I’ll save you some beltway time and let you know they are all located at 5501 Backlick Rd., aka EpicCare headquarters.

So the story goes that Epic headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin has a whimsical and fun office environment consisting of themed conference rooms with unique decorations and a few toys thrown in for good measure. Because the level of stress in the technology arena can get very high, Epic counterbalances the tension with a fun, uplifting, carefree place to work. When the folks began setting up our EpicCare headquarters on Backlick Rd. they looked around at their new digs and sigh, it was plain. Very, very plain. Then the furniture started arriving, which helped…but it was still plain.

Kimberly Krakowski, Application Coordinator Analyst, started bringing things in from home in this spirit of Wisconsin’s themed rooms and slowly things began to look a bit more uplifting. Conference rooms received names, rather than numbers. The Hearts Conference room was easy to decorate because there was already a team formed to raise money for the Heart Walk and the heart decorations were purchased as part of the fundraiser. If you visit Season Major’s office, you will notice the theme changes with the seasons!

Folks were really noticing and appreciating the difference a few decorations can make for morale and Kimberly was given permission to go shopping for a few additional items. Kimberly was nominated for and won her department’s ACE award, which recognizes employees who demonstrate outstanding customer service or performance or have performed a one-time activity that is above and beyond his or her regular duties.

For me, it’s a good reminder of the importance of having fun at work and has inspired me to start shopping for a few wind-up toys for my office! The more tools we have that add spontaneity, fun, creativity and the reminder to lighten up, the more energy, levity and team spirit we create.

So embrace the child within and create a “break the tension” corner that invites a bit of wackiness into an otherwise serious day. Our office spaces, cubicles and break rooms are where we spend most of the day, so let’s make them genuinely fun and soothing places to be. Since it’s already spring cleaning season, I’m going to take a moment to de-clutter and re-fun today!  What fun things do you have in your office that make you smile?

I recently read an article titled, “Memo to CEO’s: Stop Blathering About Innovation and Do Something.” As you can imagine, this got me thinking about what we do at Inova to encourage innovation. After all, I want to be sure we are creating an innovative culture and not just blathering about it!

And I can confidently say, yes, Inova does indeed have a long history of creating a culture centered on learning opportunities, listening to all view points and openness in order to foster creativity and innovation. From our earliest days, our founders knew the importance of taking what works and looking for better ways of doing things. As the population grew, we continued to anticipate the needs of the community by growing our services and investing in new technology. Without this history, we would have no heart transplants; the Fairfax campus would have only 282 beds and we would have a blood shortage.

At previous Inova Leadership Institutes we learned from racing pit crews, Seattle Pike Place Fish mongers, Walt Disney cast members, Ritz Carlton ladies and gentleman and so many more. We’ve learned the importance of dropping the, “but this is the way we do it here” and replaced it with open listening skills to hear how new hires did things in their previous careers. It is looking at the broad picture with open minds that allow us to continue to create new best practices every day and view things as opportunities rather than problems.

Our Lean teams are sending colleagues to the Gemba, which is a Japanese word meaning “the real place.”  The Gemba is where learning occurs. As we design our new facility spaces, we are creating mock rooms made out of foam core and cardboard boxes. Our nurses, technicians and just about everyone can get a feel for the layout of the space and comment on what works well and what doesn’t work well. Electricians may forget that many nurses aren’t six feet tall and they install switches and outlets too high. Design experts may like the flow of counters horizontally and a lab tech may come along and point out that he could easily save an hour walking everyday if the counters faced vertically.

Steve Jobs, Apple’s master innovator, was so detail oriented that he involved himself not only in the business side of making computers, iPhones and iPads, he helped design Apple’s buildings as well. It was his belief that some of the most creative ideas and excitement for projects came from casual conversations. One of the last buildings he helped design encourages such interactions by having all offices flow into a central atrium. Here it was more likely for, “Hey Jane, watchya working on?” conversations to take place. Job’s goal was always to make his products “insanely great,” no matter the obstacle.

And this is how Inova has always felt about serving our community. We invest not only in technology and new buildings, but in our teams that provide our “insanely great” services. Next month a few members of my team signed me up to visit an architecture firm to learn about “Design Thinking,” where they encourage folks to “stop talking and start making.” So, I’ll stop blathering now and end by asking for you to share ways that you and your teams foster creative thinking and innovation!

Spring break is over but the scent of chocolate bunnies still lingers. My kids are grown, so no more old fashioned Easter egg hunts, but we talked about the other kind – the virtual Easter egg where information such as a photo, a drawing, computer code – well, just about anything, is hidden.

Disney World is famous for its hidden Mickey’s. Everywhere from storm drains to the side of Thunder Mountain, the hidden icon of the classic Mickey comprised of three circles can be found. Alfred Hitchcock is famous for making cameo appearances in the majority of the movies he made. And Groucho Marx on his game show, “You Bet Your Life” often threw in giveaway questions with the answers included, such as, “How long do you cook a three minute egg?”

One of our Inova gems, where hidden answers are discovered, is the Creative Solutions board. Every time I round, I enjoy pausing to peek at what issues are being raised and what the solution has been. Some problems have relatively easy fixes. They have been resolved with team effort and creative thinking. Some problems require more thought, research and money.

The gem here is expectancy. By posting an issue, we expect results. We prepare for the experience, unfold the solutions and believe the solution will come. Action and expectation equal a winning combination!

In the spirit of this thought, I am planting a hidden egg right here. If you see me rounding in April, May or June and pause to read a Creative Solutions board, ask me if I have any of my chocolate bunny left. The prize? I’ll send you some chocolate!  (Dark chocolate, I hear, has health benefits.)

Typically, for most of us, our roles in the organization and some pre-planning dictate what each day will bring. Rounding on patients, meetings, budgeting paperwork, and the usual day-to-day requirements might be on the line-up. Occasionally though, things are thrown at us that are not on our agenda. We’ve seen our fabulous teams leap into action for last minute wedding planning for a dying patient, or meeting a similar family need. We’ve seen people come in on their days off for local disasters and weather-related incidents. We’ve seen our colleagues rally when new policies, such as deaf training, require last minute preparations, learning materials that need to be produced and new training classes scheduled. I’ve also had those days when an emergency hits and I have to drop everything and head out to a different facility to be on site and lend a hand.

However, a few weeks ago my calendar was booked for thirty minutes with the video team to talk about our recycling accomplishments in our operating rooms. This was planned in advance and was on my calendar. I have to confess though that since I only had two lines, I didn’t really study the script in advance. Next thing I know, I’m being asked to remove all the papers and folders from my desk so a crew from the operating rooms can fill it with blue sterile wrap. And sure enough, a few minutes later, a parade of blue-scrubbed folks parade in – each with an arm full of blue wrap! Being an observant fellow though, some of our “operating room” team members looked suspiciously like folks I’ve seen here at Cambridge Court from Human Resources, the Foundation and Government Affairs. And I come to find out most of them agreed to lend a hand at the last minute. In the middle of their routine day they were asked to don blue scrubs, line up and drop the blue wrap on my desk until I could no longer be seen.

What I love about these stories though is that when they are told, I never hear any complaining. What I do hear is the camaraderie created and the sense of pride for having stepped up to the plate and helped out when needed. I think the Inova difference is that we are able to handle whatever is thrown at us, blue wrap included, and do so with grace. When was the last time you or someone you know were caught off guard and ended up with a good story to share?

Oh, and by the way, if you want to see our brilliant acting skills, you can watch the video on YouTube – it’s called “The Recycle Mash!”

You know you’re at Inova when you are greeted by smiles! A patient recently sent Reuvan Pasternak, CEO at Fairfax Hospital a two page letter that is peppered with the word smile. Being a patient, especially a radiation oncology patient, is not much fun. The writer points out, that patients are often scared and under some level of emotional stress. He wanted to mention a few names of those folks who helped to reduce his anxiety. Here are a few excerpts from his letter:

“Each morning that I got off the elevator, I was greeted by two women with phenomenal smiles, Stephanie Morgan and Linda Carter. The smiles that they provided me and everyone that enters the department radiated reassurance and pure pleasure that they were really glad to see me and stood ready to help…..”

“David Tong, Christine Ku and Cora Johnson were the radiation technicians I saw the most. They all have great smiles ……”

“Amy Bohnslav, the RN in the unit, is just outstanding. She is involved, professional, caring, attuned to what is happening around her, answered dumb questions and is not afraid to say I don’t know but will find out. She does find out and gets back to you. She always has a smile and is looking to comfort and assure all the time.”

“Pethos Andgmichael, the blue parking garage attendant, is super. He too always has a smile, is friendly, is quite a conversationalist, is an encourager and is the last person you see leaving the facility. Because he is the person he is, you leave with a really good feeling of Inova Fairfax Hospital.”

So, while I may not be a math wizard, how do I know that 7 = a whole? Because of the following excerpt from his letter:

“I know there had to be some days when they didn’t feel like being nice, friendly or cheerful but that was never shown. I saw several other technicians and other nurses and they all displayed the same attitude of professionalism, care and knowledge. I consider you very fortunate to have a staff the caliber of these individuals. From casual observation, they are representative of the whole staff at least in the Radiation Oncology Department.”

Thank you mighty seven for representing the whole with your radiant smiles. Thank you for reminding the rest of us that each encounter counts towards the whole. You made a difference in the life of one man and that’s what it’s all about – improving lives, one patient at a time.

Inova’s Facebook page recently ran the following bit of information:

Snapple Facts #828: Every hour more than 1 billion cells in the body must be replaced.

Apparently, Snapple prints various facts and tidbits under each of their bottle caps. In fact, I’ve heard some folks in the West Tower of Cambridge Court have taken it to a new level.

This self-named “Lunch Bunch” have quizzes, discussions and much merriment with these caps. One person will read the fact aloud, leaving out a critical detail. Everyone then guess the answer. For instance, “A hippo can hold his breath under water for (take a guess on how many) seconds.”

Over the years, the caps from these lunches have been collected into a vase, which is referred to as The Vase of Knowledge, and is stored in Bob Lazaro’s office in Community Affairs. There are no repeats in this vase – each cap is unique. I know, what  about the hippo? I’ll save you the trip over to Bob’s and tell you the answer; a hippo can hold it’s breath for up to 30 minutes at a time.

Here are a few more interesting medical fun facts:

• The brain is way more active at night than it is during the day.
• Sneezes often exceed 100 mph.
• Your hearing is not as sharp after eating too much.
• It only takes 17 muscles to smile and a whopping 43 muscles to frown.
• The brain uses about the same amount of juice as does a 10-watt light bulb.
• We are approximately 1 cm taller in the morning than in the evening.
• 32 million bacteria, give or take a few, live on your skin.
• Type O is the most common blood type.
• There is only one part of the body that can’t repair itself – the tooth.

Sometimes it’s these little things that help us find comfort and joy here at work. What little rituals do you have with your colleagues, to help pull your teams together?