Managers and supervisors can take note on how hospitals are reducing their malpractice lawsuits by counseling their doctors to apologize when they make a mistake. 

Yes it’s true there is a lot to be learned about excellent leadership, communication and collaboration from the newspaper.  Part one of this article spoke about a casino tribal leader who overcame his predecessor’s bad leadership and communication to win over a community that had been dead set against any expansion of the casino in the wine country.  Here’s a story, in the same newspaper (The Press Democrat, Santa Rosa, California) on the same day that further illustrates the points.  

The Value Of Saying You Are Sorry

When Dr. Tapas K. Das Gupta, chairman of surgical oncology at University of Illinois Medical Center discovered that he had removed tissue from the wrong rib of his patient, he did something that might have made some hospital lawyers cringe; he apologized to the patient!  He recalled saying, “After all these years, I cannot give you any excuse whatsoever.  It is just one of those things that occurred.  I have to some extent harmed you”.   

Wow, for decades malpractice lawyers have been advising doctors to 

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Tags: Communication, New News, Rewards, Recognition by Norma Smith Davis
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My local paper afforded me an opportunity to share some thoughts on the power of good communication and collaboration. 

Near my home in the wine country of Northern California there has been a decade long battle between an Indian tribe that wanted to put in a casino on their land and the neighbors who enjoy one of the most scenic and wealthy vineyard and winery regions in the world.  The tribe’s rather combative and secretive tribal leader and local government, environmental groups and wine industry associations duked it out for years.

When the casino parking structure suddenly went up, as if over night, the tribal leader finally admitted they had been “less than truthful”.  Not a good way to establish good relationships.  Back and forth it went over zoning, land use, access, fire and police protection, liquor permits and more.  

Then something very different happened. 

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Tags: Communication, Management Skills by Norma Smith Davis
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For many people meetings are the bane of their workday. They dread them, have no interest in the subject, can’t figure out why they have to be there, don’t know why the meeting is being called, and think meetings are generally a waste of time. 

For these and other reasons people who dislike meetings, often arrive late, bring other work or the newspaper with them, sigh deeply during key discussion points, speak sarcastically, or exhibit other disruptive and dismissive behaviors that hamper the effectiveness of the meeting.

Here are 7 things you can do instead of holding a meeting or to reduce the number of meetings you do hold.  

1.     Assign the decision, project or recommendation to a small group who may be able to work faster and more effectively without a big group. Too many meetings get bogged down by your local contrarian, negativist, or other meeting killers.

2.     Hold a conference call or use Go To Meeting or other conference services. 

3.     Send out a 

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Tags: Effective Meetings by Norma Smith Davis
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