EP 77: The Secret To Keeping Your Finger On The Pulse Of Your Healthcare Team

CB_77. Paula Schmidt: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

CB_77. Paula Schmidt: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Dr. Renee Thompson:
Plants thrive and grow in a peaceful, nourished environment, right? Well, it's the same with human beings. But what if that environment is not so peaceful? What if it's toxic? Welcome to Coffee Break: Breaking the Cycle of Bullying in Healthcare – One Cup at a Time. In this podcast, you'll get practical, evidence-based strategies to help you cultivate and sustain a healthy and respectful work culture by tackling an age-old problem in healthcare: bullying and incivility. I am your host, Dr. Renee Thompson.

Dr. Renee Thompson:
Hi, everyone! Welcome back to another episode of the Coffee Break podcast. Today, I'm really excited to welcome to the show, Paula Schmidt, the CNO from freighter to hospital in Chile, Wisconsin. Paula, welcome to the show.

Paula Schmidt:
Thank you so much. Next, it's going to be Chile.

Dr. Renee Thompson:
It is. And it's funny. When we started, and those of you who are watching this on video, as soon as Paula turned her camera on, there was this bright sun that came through her office and we're like, Wow, look at that. But in Wisconsin in March, that is a beautiful thing.

Paula Schmidt:
Yes, we embrace that when you get a sunny day.

Dr. Renee Thompson:
Exactly, exactly. So I want to tell you a little bit about how Paula and I know each other. So we actually met, I don't know, five, six, maybe seven years ago when you were working for Children's of Wisconsin, right?

Paula Schmidt:
Yes. Correct.

Dr. Renee Thompson:
And I did some work there, did some workshops, and we met while you were working there. And then, we happened to run into each other at a conference in November of 2024. And we're like, Oh my God! And then you told me that you were now the CNO at Froedtert. And so we hopped on a call, and I'd say within ten minutes of the conversation, I knew I had to have Paula as a guest on my show because of what she's doing to really keep her finger on the pulse of what's happening with her team. And so, just to tell you a little bit more about Paula, she has experience as both a pediatric and adult nurse. She's been in nursing leadership across the care continuum, and she is passionate for incorporating gratitude into daily work, as well as keeping joy in the workplace as a priority and essential for success. And how I really want to start this conversation, Paula, is I sort of mentioned it like, how do you keep your finger on the pulse of what everybody's doing, what's on their minds? And there are two things that you do. The first thing I want you to talk about is how you start your director meetings. So tell us your secret. What are you doing with the director?

Paula Schmidt:
Yes. So, a huge value of mine is gratitude. People talk about mindfulness, and it can mean so many things. And I always thought, Oh, I have to meditate if I want to do mindfulness. And it's just not true. And it's also not my jam. But that's okay. So every director, we have a director meeting every week, and we start, we go around, and everybody says one thing that they're grateful for today. So it can't be like, I'm grateful for something that's every single day. Now, it might be the sun. You know, they're grateful for the weather today, but it really needs to be something about today. And my theory behind it is that even in the worst days when everything feels like it's crashing down, family, home, and work, it doesn't matter, there's always something to be grateful for. And sometimes people will be like, Oh, today was a really hard one. But every single person finds one. And at the end of it, you can just see the weight lifting off, and it's just a really good reset for the meeting and to start the day.

Dr. Renee Thompson:
I think that is so spot on, and it's something that we've incorporated into our meetings here at the Healthy Workforce Institute. We hired a COO back in October, and this is something that now we've built into every meeting. We start with a personal or professional win. And it's similar; it's not really gratitude. But I'm going to tell you: there are some weeks that I'm like, I don't know, it's a really rough week, but it forces you to think about, despite the challenges, there are good things. there are things to be grateful for. I write every morning in my journal, my planner, three good things. And I remember, specifically, the other day, I was having a really rough, it was the day before, so I was doing in the morning. The day before was rough, okay? And we all have those days. And I was stumped, like, what are three good things? But then I thought, and I looked outside, you know, I was in my living room, and I saw the water. I'm like, the water is a good thing. Okay? And then I thought about some of the people who I talked to, and they were my good things. So I love that you're starting your director meeting with a reminder that no matter how difficult things are, there's always something to be grateful for. And you like force people to find the good. And, you know, studies show that that actually influences people to see the good throughout the day. So, doing that in your practice is awesome. Now I'm curious, did you get any pushback from your directors?

Paula Schmidt:
So in the beginning, there was a few, and they would be like, Oh, I don't know. And it was kind of like, I'm grateful for everything. But as this has gone on now, and we've been doing it now for about two years, they find something, and you learn something about them. And so now it's not pushed back. And when you get new people that come in, it just becomes part of that culture. And if we ever have a guest that comes to the director meeting, they're included in i,t and they get to experience it. So it starts to get legs. And because it's just something that we do now. I know a couple of the leaders have implemented it with their teams. When we do the safety meeting in the morning, we'll say, Hey, can you just take 10s and think to yourself? And so it doesn't take a long time. So I think that's an easier thing to implement. So we don't really get pushback anymore. I think people were skeptical in the beginning, a few skeptics, which that's healthy. But I think it's become such a part of what we do.

Dr. Renee Thompson:
Yes. You're so right. When we started this, there was a little bit of awkwardness. And, you know, I think people are worried about saying the right thing. Is this a good enough thing to be grateful for? What will other people think with, you know, with what I share? And then, over time, people just get over it. And they realize that, you know, it's important just to have that moment and, you know, set that intention for gratitude despite the burning building, you know, because there's something always to be grateful for. I attended a meeting last night, it was the Tampa Bay Organization of Nurse Leaders meeting, and they had business meeting, and then they had a speaker. And he talked a lot about this and joy, and he shared some additional stories. I know we all have heard about Christopher Reeve, and what he went through, and how he maintained his positive attitude, but it wasn't always like that. And he shared some of that. And I thought, Okay, when I'm feeling, you know, having a rough day, I'm going to think about all the people who my worst day is, the would be their best day. And I thought, Wow! And so it really just goes back to all of us just remembering that despite the challenges that we deal with, there are still so many good things and things to be grateful for.

Paula Schmidt:
Yeah, absolutely. I'll just add one thing to that. We, I do this in the workplace, which we can get into it, you know, later on. But Dr. Gladys McGarry, we watched something that she put out just, she was 102 years old and talks about adding love to everything we do. So laughter can be negative, but if you laugh with love, that's a different feeling. It's just brilliant. It's brilliant. But one of the things that she talks about is that all of us want to be seen. We want to be seen as humans. And I think that as leaders, we work really hard to make sure our staff are seen and our patients are seen and they feel recognized. But that doesn't always happen for leaders. And I even think that saying something that you're grateful for, helps you be seen, like, I'm a human, and this is part of what I'm grateful for. And that to me is some of the magic as well, because you get your couple, you know, 30 seconds to be seen as me, so.

Dr. Renee Thompson:
All right. Oh my gosh, I got goosebumps when you were saying that. Can you send me a link to her work, whatever that means for you, and we'll include it in the show notes?

Paula Schmidt:
Absolutely.

Dr. Renee Thompson:
Put it in the show notes for all of my listeners, but I want to look at it too, because just that perspective, just that lens. And I think we can all agree right now, boy, do we need a lot more love in this world because we got enough hate and badness. And yeah, and you're so right: we all want to be seen. Even the introverts.

Paula Schmidt:
Even the introverts.

Dr. Renee Thompson:
Okay.

Paula Schmidt:
Yeah, absolutely. Nobody's exempt from that. And so it's been really powerful. And it's fun to see it. Like every time I respond with gratitude and gratefulness and how you start, it just becomes part of what you do.

Dr. Renee Thompson:
Yeah, oh my gosh, this absolutely made my day. Okay. Now, we're going to shift from what you do with your directors to how do you keep your finger on the pulse of what's happening with your team. And I know you have a lot of facilities and you're responsible for all of them. So, can you tell our listeners how you do this?

Paula Schmidt:
Yeah. So this, like everybody, it's an evolution. You can start going one way. And I've pivoted. So I will, I'll kind of share that journey a little bit of what it is. So visibility and rounding is really key. Of course, I get the pulse from my leaders. People will escalate things. We look at incident reports. But going and having that conversation is really important. And so, I round multiple times a week. I go to different areas. There's about 130 different areas. Nurses work here. And so you have to have some method to that. I used to do a traveling town hall, and it would be more of like an operational update. But what I found is that I was just talking to peopl,e and I wasn't getting the pulse of what they were doing. And so I will send the article that I think really sparked it to safety, culture, and workforce well-being; Positive Leadership Walkarounds is what it was called. So I'll send the article, and we can include it. But there's three questions that I ask. And the first one is always: What keeps you here? Tell me something you love about what you do. And it's funny, kind of like gratitude. Sometimes, people will stop if they're having a bad day. And, you know, the wheels got to turn. But I will, it can be the longest awkward silence, and that's okay. But as soon as somebody talks, then other people do. And oftentimes, it's their team. But that's always the first question. So, we start off with something positive. And then I ask, What are the pebbles in your shoe? And I stop at like, I try not to say like, What's frustrating you? What's a concern? But I say, what's a pebble in your shoe? What's something that you wish could be addressed to make your day easier? Because really, that's my job is to help to make your day easier. And then you can have that conversation to start. I always have the operational leader with me because I don't want to have to take on every single thing that wouldn't be appropriate, and I would fail everybody. But it's a good question, I think, to really get that conversation going in a very constructive way. And then I follow up with, how is there anybody I can recognize? And so I'll just share that, and then we can go back and kind of go through them. But in the recognition piece, I make sure to jot it down. And what I've learned over the years is email's fine, but a handwritten note and sent to their house is really powerful. And so that is the practice that I've implemented.

Dr. Renee Thompson:
Okay. So, let me just reconfirm this. When they say I want to recognize, you know, Tina this, then you actually send Tina a handwritten note to her home.

Paula Schmidt:
Yes.

Dr. Renee Thompson:
That's so incredibly powerful. Okay, I know people who are listening are thinking, is that your full-time job: sending notes to people? I'm just curious: how many of these notes would you say you send in a week?

Paula Schmidt:
Yeah, I keep it less than five. Otherwise, it would be overwhelming. And so, but I would at first when I thought that it would be overwhelming, like, I just thought, well, I started with a postcard, which was really manageable because there's only so much room you can write. And so you make it manageable for what you do. And now I have a process to get addresses because that was probably the hardest part, is getting somebody's address and doing it. But I find that if I do it right after I round, then it's done. It's not on this to-do list that I have to continue to do. And the amount of thank-yous for a thank-you is quite phenomenal. Because who gets mail at their house anymore?

Dr. Renee Thompson:
No. And I love the mail. I still send birthday cards to my siblings and, you know, Thanksgiving, Easter cards, all of that to, you know, my parents. And it's funny, as things pop-up during the week, I have a task management system that on Sundays, it's actually a task that I titled Cards. And if I see something that somebody's got this amazing award, like if I see it on LinkedIn or like it was my daughter's birthday this past week, I just, as the week goes on, I just keep a list. I add it to that task, and then Sundays are my days. I get my note cards out, and I sit and I write everything, and then it goes out. And that's what works for me. But the point is finding a way to take that information. Someone was identified. Why they were recognized. I'm sure that's a big part of it. And then you take action. You kind of close the loop. You send something to that person, letting them know that they were recognized.

Paula Schmidt:
Correct. And I think one of the key things that you just said, it is that individualized recognition. So it wasn't like, you know, you're a great team member, which they are. But, you know, here's the specifics of what. And again, I'll go back to what people want to be seen and recognized. And that is very meaningful for that individual recognition. So it's hard. You can't make those personal connections all the time. And sometimes I don't even know who the person is because they're not there and they got recognized. But to know that that was discussed and it's just the next step of it.

Dr. Renee Thompson:
Wow. Okay, let's go back to your first question that you asked them. What keeps you here? I'm just curious: what are some reasons that people have shared with you? And I hope you're not going to say it's the money, okay? Because some people, if they're being honest, like, I make good money here, so that's why I'm here. But you know what?

Paula Schmidt:
I have never heard that. Maybe that's the pebble, right? I don't know, but by far, it is the people they work with: the coworkers, by far. And then people will say, Absolutely. It's good teamwork. It's, you know, the people. And it should be. Like, if you came to work, it doesn't matter what organization you work for. If you came and you didn't really feel like people had your back, that would be awful. So, by far, that's what it is. And a close second then is the patients and the patient population that they take care of. And so that's the fun part of like, somebody will say the patients, and Tell me a good story, tell me something that happened with the patient. And it's just like, that's when people really line up of their purpose and why they're here.

Dr. Renee Thompson:
Yeah. I love. First, they say they're coworkers, the people who they work with. Because I'm sure all of us when, especially when we were working, you know, at the bedside, had the same experience. I would walk into work. I'd look at the assignment board. It wasn't to see what patients I was caring for; it was to see who I was working with. And I'm like, Yes, I'm working with Kim. It's going to be a great shift. And I'm like, Oh no, I'm working with, you know, Tom, it's going to be an awful shift because he's miserable all the time. It really is the people you work with, especially, you know, when I think back, the pandemic and everything that we all went through, it was the people, I think that kept, the people who stayed, who persevered, stayed, and persevered because of those two reasons their coworkers and those patients who they were serving.

Paula Schmidt:
Yeah, absolutely. A couple of the units, it's fun. They like take me over and show me things of how their team is connecting.

Dr. Renee Thompson:
Yeah.

Paula Schmidt:
And people have like, This is my why. And then they put it up or why I stay. And I'm like, I love this because that's the vibe you want to get out. There's always going to be things we can work on. Always. But if you can put words to those feelings of why you stay like, it's just, and it's fun to have, to see that and have people very proud of what they've done.

Dr. Renee Thompson:
I think that's it. It's to have people being proud of the team that they've created, because you have to create your team. Like, sure, you have people who work together, but calling them a team is different than just a group of people working together, you know, same thing. And that is created, and, you know, I always like to remind people that you have to be intentional about creating a strong team. You know, a team of people who care about each other. It just doesn't happen by itself. You have to do things to make that happen. And when it does, and you can see that people are so proud of it, that must be incredibly rewarding for you.

Paula Schmidt:
Well, I think that is it. It fills my bucket just as much as it fills anyone else's to like, Ah, this is why we, you know, go through all of the stress and strain that we do. It's because of that.

Dr. Renee Thompson:
Oh my gosh. All right. You have to share now some of the pebbles. What are some common pebbles that you've heard?

Paula Schmidt:
Well, everybody will be surprised to hear staffing. Staffing is a big one. And I try to, when I hear pebbles, I ask two more, I try to ask two more clarifying questions, because staffing will never be a destination that all of a sudden we've nailed it and everything's great. But that's, I mean, that is the goal, but we have to work towards that. And so, staffing often is, but I'll say, Tell me more. Tell me more about what that means. And then they say, You know, we keep getting pulled to help every other unit that's not staffed. And I say, What could we do different? So trying to help get it there. I hear you. We don't want that either. What are some ideas? And that helps to make it a more constructive conversation versus just having that as an issue. I know it's an issue. But what is it that we can do? And it really has led to, you know what? We're going to have a workout on this. This is so complicated. And we just need to make sure the right people are at the table or, you know, where do we focus the director meeting? Like, hey, here's what I'm hearing. Is that what you're hearing? And making sure it's validated.

Dr. Renee Thompson:
Well, and to your point, it's you're listening to them. But I think something really smart that you just said is that you're also taking that back to your directors to say, Is this what you're hearing, too? Because it's, yeah, you're keeping your finger on the pulse of what's happening out there. And I'm sure they are, too. But is there some congruence here, consistency in what you're hearing? There's an activity that we do with a lot of our clients. We go in and work with departments, and we'll bring everybody together in a department. And we do, I call it the one-thing activity. If we could fix one thing, if we could make one thing better, like you frame it however you want, if we fixed it, it would make everything else easier. Or like, what is basically the biggest pebble in your shoe? If we could get rid of that pebble, everything else would be easier here. And what is that? And then you have them list them all out, and then you look for similarities. You group things together, and then you go back, and you review the list again. And you ask this question. Because I love the questions that you're asking, it's not just, What's the pebble in your shoe, right? Tell me more. It's, you know, what could we do differently? There's more questions. Like, seriously, Paula, you could be a coach. That's what … does. They ask those questions, okay? But this is really, really good. And then you ask, do we have any control over this: yes or no? I was talking to an organization. They are implementing a different electronic healthcare, you know, system or record, you know, system. You don't have any control over that. So scratch that off your list, and you just go down that list until you get to only those things that you do have control over. And then you ask, Okay, what do we want to tackle? What do we want to work on? And then you take that next step. But so what I'm curious to know is how do you then, you do your rounds, you identify the pebble so smart that you have an operations person there. So now, like, you know, you've probably heard of the whole monkey, you know, monkey on your back. You take everybody else's monkey; you take on their problems instead of having someone else help, you know, solve the problem. So how does that go from I'm rounding, I'm hearing about these pebbles, I may share them with my directors, but that operations person? How is that person then getting involved?

Paula Schmidt:
Yeah, I'm getting better at it. None of us are perfect. I think we become nurses because we want to help. We want to do. And I'm like, Ah, but if I do that, I know that I've got myself into like, I think it's too much. And it shouldn't be me. It should be the whole team. So I've really learned along the way as well. So, a few things. One is when I'm done, it'll be like, for instance, I was rounding yesterday, and it was about space. Like, we just don't have enough space for all these infusion patients that need to get in. And that's hard because then it's hard to deliver the best care. Well, the operations person was there, and I said, You know, can you talk about anything that's going on in that area? And so she talked about it, and I said, You know, that's great. That's tactical. I said, We're also doing some acute care planning, and I'll make sure it's on the list so that we don't lose sight of it. So it's kind of like, What are you going to do? What am I going to do? I hear you; I want to make sure that you feel heard. But this is where I'm going to do it. And sometimes it's, you know, we're going to bring this to the shared governance group. This is where it needs to go. So we can really infuse that in. But I try to be really purposeful of kind of saying, Okay, here's the next step. Maybe that's something we can do right away. But just so you know, this is where it will go. And then when I say that one of the things that I think is huge in this is, I think a lot of literature, but it's, if you don't follow up then, it's almost as if you never found it.

Dr. Renee Thompson:
Oh, you got to close the loop.

Paula Schmidt:
And so we've gone through many iterations of this, of me sending a message to the entire team because not everybody's working on that day. And where we're going right now is that everybody's so busy, you just don't have time for extra emails and all of that. And so we've asked the leader to say, Can you just incorporate the top two things we talked about in your newsletter and say, Hey, Paula rounded. Here's a couple things we talked about. You know, so that's really we're trying to just say what's our normal patterns of communication. Make sure that it's visible and that people know that it happened. But I think that that's been more effective instead of a whole nother line of communication.

Dr. Renee Thompson:
So you're telling us that you round, you identify a few pebbles that you then take, you know, you let people know, Here's the next step, we're going to bring this to shared governance. We're going to, you know, do something. And then you send that communication to the manager to then incorporate. Hey, Paula rounded. This is what she talked about. These are the next steps, right?

Paula Schmidt:
Yeah, so the managers are there. So, they're there. And so, I say, Hey can you just take the top two things we talked about and put them in? So it's all completed while we're there. So, it's less emails, it's less connection. And they're just, I'm trying to simplify as much as possible.

Dr. Renee Thompson:
Well, you're doing a few things related to like brain science that I absolutely love. You're right. It's not sending another email out. But in the moment, you know, you're asking that manager to incorporate it, but you're also closing the loop. So, your brain does not like open loops. If a nurse shares with you a pebble, and you're like, Oh, okay, and you walk away, and that's it, it has now created an open loop in that nurse's brain. And the brain will spend energy until it can close that loop, and it'll keep popping up, and it'll keep popping up. I wonder if she heard me. I wonder if anything is being done about it. But for you to then say, Okay, and like even in that moment, I think this is something we're going to bring to shared governance. And then that happens. And then having the manager talk about that is helping to close the loop for the people who were there and for anybody who wasn't there knowing that this was brought up. Oh my gosh, that's a pebble in my shoe, too.

Paula Schmidt:
Absolutely. And this is where there's themes. So like, pay is a theme that comes up. And so it came up enough. I'm like, Hey, we need to have a nursing town hall and had compensation come and talk, because there's only so much aid that we have control over. But be knowing that it's an issue, I hear you, here's kind of the let's educate ourselves about it, and know that this is being brought forward. And so when it's that big of a topic, try to do just different things because one-off conversations probably aren't going to get us there. But that's what's helpful with bringing it back to the directors and hearing from the managers of, like, Am I just hearing this, or are you hearing it as well? And then, what's the best way to follow up? So, trying to use just a couple different methods.

Dr. Renee Thompson:
Yes. So do you actually, after you round, keep sort of a tally of different what you discovered and then do some reflection on that at a period of time to identify those themes, or is this just in your brain, you're doing that, oh, I've heard that before; oh, I've heard that before? How are you actually doing that?

Paula Schmidt:
Well, when it's that prominent, it's hard to forget it. So, I don't do, like, a physical tally, but I do have, for instance, like, if I follow up on something and say it's, We're going to take this to shared governance, I'll put like an outlook: this is so tactical. But I'll put like an outlook reminder as a meeting in two weeks and say, Did that get on the agenda? And so then I know to remember to say, Hey, just want to make sure this got on your shared governance agenda. But so that's my method because if I put it on a list somewhere, I don't know, but at least then I hold myself accountable.

Dr. Renee Thompson:
Well, you know, I just mentioned closing the loop. That's how you're closing the loop so that you don't forget. Because I know a lot of us, we make a list, we'll write it down. But we may have, you know, 12 different places we write things down. And then we find something that we wrote six months ago that we were supposed to have done on, you know, three months ago. And finding, and that's what it is: finding a method that works for you. I love the whole idea of identifying a theme. If you're hearing the same things over and over again, then that is a, okay, who do we need to bring in? And when you mentioned this theme compensation, you brought, you did a town hall, and you brought, you know, somebody in to really talk about that. One of the biggest complaints, and I've seen a lot out there right now in the literature, looking at employees not feeling heard. And, Paula, I think what you've incorporated into your practice as an executive is absolutely helping people to feel heard, whether it's one one-on-one in your rounding, whether it's this has been a theme, and so we're doing a town hall because we've heard you, it's so incredibly powerful. Now, not everybody is going to feel that way. And … still like, No, nobody listens to me. But we're not here to make it better like to, for people who are always going to have that negative lens, you're not going to fix them, right? But the majority of people absolutely would feel appreciated. And they would be grateful that you actually listened and then did something about it.

Paula Schmidt:
I think that that's sometimes the difference that we have to play with in our head. It might not be the answer that people were looking for, but it's addressing the topic. So, people really wanted retention bonuses. There's a lot of different theories on retention bonuses. It's not something that we are doing now. We're trying to find other ways of long-term retention strategies. It may not be the answer they're looking for, but we're not hiding behind addressing it. And I think that's the differentiator sometimes, is we can't do everything. We can't take every idea and execute on it. But how do we make sure that somebody feels like, Hey, they heard me, and I don't like it, but they heard me?

Dr. Renee Thompson:
Okay. I don't know why this just came up for me, the movie Bruce Almighty, when God gave him the power to be God and he was granting everybody their prayers and how it was like chaos in the world. You cannot grant everyone every single thing that they want. And it's a reminder. And I've shared this so many times where people, and I'll just say people, in general, I have to understand the lens that you're, you know, viewing when you're making decisions. It's not based on that one person, in that one department; it's based on the entire organization. But if you don't tell them that, if you don't explain, if you don't share the why, you can't give everybody retention bonuses or why think these things have been implemented. I hate to say it, but people go to the default negative assumptions. They don't care about us. And you know, being able to just be honest and just share, you know, here's what we can do. And this is another great kind of frame when people are asking for something. Here's what we can do. Here's what we can't do. And this is why. And just kind of, you know, do that for those big-ticket items that people are asking for that you really just can't do. I was at a conference and they were talking about how nurses should be paid is not part of the bed stay; you know, the room rate. And then we said, Okay, what would happen if? We said, From now on, we're going to pay nurses, you know, separately like they do physicians. Well, then you go, and you walk down the path, and it gets to the part where who's going to pay for this? Medicare's not going to pay for it. Like, who's going to like? The insurance companies are going to pay for it. So it's not to say you have to defend why you can't give retention bonuses, but there has to be that piece of, here's what we can do, here's what we can't do, and here's why to help people to understand. They may not like it, as you said. You know, you can't, you know, grant everybody their wishes and their prayers. That would, I don't know, I thought that would be kind of nice, but I don't think we can.

Paula Schmidt:
Yes.

Dr. Renee Thompson:
So, Paula, as we start wrapping up, if there's a leader who's listening or watching right now who this really resonates with them, and they're looking at everything that you've done and it's taken you a couple of years to get to this point where you make your rounds and you ask these three questions, and you bring your operations person and you're sending these cards and you're addressing their pebbles, where, because we're all about taking one step, what's one step they could take to get towards, like to get on this path of where you are?

Paula Schmidt:
Yeah, I would say, try it with a group you trust. So try it with your immediate leaders. It doesn't have to be staff. It doesn't have to be, even trusted colleagues and say, I'm just going to try this because it feels awkward to me, but I'm going to try it. And so if you do it with somebody you trust and you can stumble through it to see because you have to make it your own. If you go with a script, it won't feel natural. And so I would say, take a few people that you know and trust that aren't going to, you know, judge and ridicule, and try it. Send one card. Start with something; one card a month. It doesn't have to be a big goal. And that's where I think it can get overwhelming of, Oh my gosh, I have to do something every day. I can't commit to that. But you can commit to something small. And so, start the goals low, and you can work up to it.

Dr. Renee Thompson:
Good advice. It reminds me of, you know, people who make these New Year's resolutions, and they're going to go to the gym five days a week, and then they do it a week, and then they're done. Instead, how about you do a ten-minute exercise at home, you know, five days a week? Or how about once this week? Is just start small because then when you start small, and I love your recommendation, start with a few people who you already have a good relationship with, and even say, I'm trying this. And tell me: How does this feel to you? Maybe it is just sending one card to someone as a start, and then you can build upon that to the point where you can be like rounding, and you're asking your questions, and you're doing all the things that you're doing, Paula. But it does start with just doing one thing. So I love that. So Paula, I can't thank you enough for giving us some of your time and sharing some of your amazing strategies to kind of help you know what's happening in the minds of your people. If our listeners and people who are watching want to connect with you, what's the best way?

Paula Schmidt:
Yeah, I can share my email. I am happy to collaborate and connect. That's how we're going to get better, so happy to do that. Otherwise, I think my LinkedIn profile, we can put that as well, but please feel free to email me directly.

Dr. Renee Thompson:
And we will include Paula's email and her LinkedIn profile. And I think there are two things you're going to get to me. One is about the love, and the other was an article that talked about why you shouldn't be talking at people in a town hall and doing, I think you called it, is it walking tours or?

Paula Schmidt:
Positive leadership walkarounds.

Dr. Renee Thompson:
Walk-arounds! That's what it is. So we'll include that in the show notes, too. So again, I can't thank you enough for being here, giving us your tim,e and sharing your amazing strategies. I love them. I'm going to go now and be a CNO, so I can do the same thing. But maybe I can do this with the people who we're working with. I think I'm going to find a way to incorporate some of your strategies into the work that we do. So thank you.

Paula Schmidt:
I really appreciate it.

Dr. Renee Thompson:
Well, thank you, Paula. Like I said, I'm so glad that we ran into each other at that conference in November. It was probably the best part of the conference. It really was. And I want to thank all of you who are listening or watching today. We know you have busy lives, but the fact that you carved out some time to listen or watch tells me that you're on a journey to cultivating a healthy work culture, and we're happy to be part of your journey. So, thanks, everyone. Take care. We'll see you soon.

Dr. Renee Thompson:
Thank you for listening to Coffee Break: Breaking the Cycle of Bullying in Healthcare – One Cup at a Time. If you found this podcast helpful, we invite you to click the subscribe button and tune in every week. For more information about our show and how we work with healthcare organizations to cultivate and sustain a healthy work culture free from bullying and incivility, visit us at HealthyWorkforceInstitute.com. Until our next cup of coffee, be kind, take care, and stay connected.

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