The Philosophy of Shoes: Infusing Conventional Wisdom into Healthcare Quality

It is interesting how many of life’s lessons are expressed through the metaphor of shoes. We can either walk around in or fill someone else’s, wait for the other one to drop or wear it on the other foot. We can put on our dancing shoes or enjoy the comfort of an old one. Each of these ideals is designed to convey a moral purpose or desirable human behavior: practice empathy, set meaningful goals, anticipate change. But these concepts can also apply to the practice of healthcare quality and the competencies required of quality professionals to accelerate their professional growth. We desire empathy to communicate with others in our organization who may have a different perspective. Healthcare is in constant motion, so we need to practice and lead others through change management. And we need a data-driven approach to guide us to take appropriate actions against meaningful goals. This session will leverage the NAHQ Competency Framework and apply some “conventional wisdom” to optimize communication skills with diverse stakeholders, use data to set achievable outcomes, and adapt non-healthcare methodologies for change management.