Aka (/mish pim/) or Michigan Society for Healthcare Planning and Marketing, which is of course, the Michigan counterpart to SHSMD, aka (/shish med/), or Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development. It’s taken me a couple decades to get that right!
Now for key learnings from the one-day conference held last week, attended by healthcare marketers from several hospitals and healthcare organizations at St. John Inn, Plymouth, MI.
- “Like the Titanic, the impossible is always possible,” claims Leslie Graham-Andrews, CEO of Daisy Ventures LLC. An over-reliance on the “unsinkable ship,” a “decorated captain” (who was relaxing at a dinner party totally unaware of impending icebergs), and fear of a radio operator who knew the situation but lacked the courage to report it due to an environment that did not enable “leading from the rear” all contributed to the ship’s demise. Visionary leaders must lead from the environment in, not inside out.
- “In a merger situation, determine best practices of each entity and let them keep some individual nuances,” says Camille Jamerson, President & CEO of CDJ Associates. There’s no need for two ways of doing things and it takes negotiating back to a place of agreement, before you can move on to the next level. As she and her spouse have successfully blended a family of 11 kids, somehow I have faith in her merger abilities!
- “Think like a cultural anthropologist,” espouses Sherri McDaniel, CEO of Sage Solutions Group. With these days of Millennials, Gen X and Baby Boomers working together, don’t dwell on perceived differences. Rather, find commonality and use advantageously, understand difference in perspectives, and mentor and reverse mentor for one happy workplace.
- “Like grief, change is inevitable and follows the same pattern,” apprises Ursula Adams, Founder & Managing Partner of SheHive. Shock, Denial, Anger, Depression, Acceptance — not in any linear order — is the nature of the beast. What’s the antidote? Over-communication in the form of praise and feedback in every stage to calm and reassure. Apparently, our body needs to hear praise at least every 7 days, to replenish its happy “praise chemicals”.
Looking to market to all generations but don’t have the budget? Download our free guide, How to market healthcare to all generations.
