HJBR Mar/Apr 2022

DIALOGUE 16 MAR / APR 2022 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE   was always a great support. I’m surrounded by incredible people that are really the ones that have done such a great job through this whole process. I’ve been fortunate to have a strong sup- port system outside the organization. I have a great partner; she does a great job supporting me. My daughter’s been great through this, my sisters, my family ... as well as my team. Having a support system outside the organization is a critical part of being successful as an executive and as a leader. We all get energy in different ways, and I get energy from the people around me and from the feedback I get from employees, watching them be successful and do great things. Editor You mentioned gratitude at the beginning of this interview. How do you grow gratitude? Thomas It’s interesting. We had our lead- ership meetings, our top probably about 3,000 people — it goes from supervisor up to executive levels. I talked a lot about grati- tude. I talked a lot about the importance of supporting each other. I talked a lot about just checking in on people, just “How are you doing? How are things going with you? Is there anything you need?” It’s interest- ing that people just want to have more connectivity. I’ve actually started my own gratitude journal this year. I feel like I’m a pretty grate- ful person, but it’s another thing to actually sit down two or three times a week and write out what you are grateful for, who you’re grateful to. I’ve made a commitment to write a minimum of 80 thank you and recognition notes a quarter to people across our system, and I drafted about 10 or 12 of them over the weekend. I think there are so many amazing things that happen, there are so many great people we have. People just want to be recognized. They just want to know what they do matters. They want to know if somebody cares about it. And, part of our job as leadership is to help folks understand we do care, what they do does matter, and that we need to be part of that whole gratitude process. I think it starts at the top, it’s something I’ve been very focused on and my team has. As part of our kickoff meeting, we gave gratitude boxes to every one of our supervisors and leaders with a gratitude journal, note cards to send notes to others, candles so they can kind of relax, an 80th anniversary Ochsner pen because Ochsner is celebrating its 80th anniversary this year. That gratitude box was to kick off things in the right way. Editor Play armchair quarterback for us, Warner. As a healthcare leader dur- ing COVID, what do you know now that you would whisper in the ear of Warner Thomas two years ago? Thomas That’s a great question. I guess what I would whisper in my ear is you cannot communicate enough. Keep communicat- ing every day, every week, every month over and over because people need reassurance, people need clarity. Look, I think we did a great job on communication, really, from the beginning. I applaud our communica- tions team and all the great work being done there. But, it could always be more, and I think we could have started some of the media sessions earlier. We got into a rhythm with the business community and started talking to them. I think we did a really good job around communication, but that would be one piece. Another thing that I told a lot of our lead- ers, but I would reinforce to myself, is don’t isolate and you’re not in this alone. When- ever we get stressed and we get challenging times, many times we just close in and just count on ourselves. But really, that’s the time you need to reach out to others and seek other ideas and seek support from others and not isolate yourself — actually be around other people, get other ideas. Many times, leaders in adversity feel like they’ve got to have all the answers and they’ve got to be the one making all the calls, and that can be the furthest from the truth. You’ve got to have a team, and they’ve got to keep com- ing together. It’s going to be an iterative process that you’re not going to get 100% right. You’ve got to keep being agile and managing what we called “point to point.”Thirty days from the first COVID case, we had more informa- tion. Sixty days from the first COVID case, we had more information. You have to keep adjusting. So, having that agile response and being clear about the changes — I would reinforce that to myself, if I was advising myself, knowing what I know now. I think the other thing would be that I’d advise myself that this is going to go on for a long time. It’s not a 60 or 90 or 180-day issue or a two or three or four-year issue. And, there could be significant workforce and structural issues around this. You’ve got to be thinking broad as well as in the here and now. Editor Describe the difference between good care and exceptional care, a good hospital and an exceptional hospital. Thomas Well, at Ochsner, we like to say that our goal is to be perfect at getting better. I think an exceptional facility is constantly looking for better ways to do everything; quality, safety, experience, and having a relentless focus on improvement and excel- lence. They understand that excellence is a journey, not a destination — that you can’t rest on yesterday’s laurels, that you’ve got to be constantly getting better. I do think that’s the difference between a good and a great organization. Great organizations are learning organizations; they’re constantly learning and training and educating them- selves. But, I’d also say it’s the level you hold yourself, the expectation you hold amongst yourself and your organization, your col- leagues. Being satisfied is not what excel- lence is about; always being hungry and driven to do better is what excellence is about. n