Risk Insider: Patty Hostine

Managing Change Requires Introspection

By: | August 3, 2015

Patricia Hostine, MBA, ARM-E, LPC, CRC, MSCC, CWCP, CLMS has more than 25 years’ experience in workers’ compensation from both the vendor and corporate perspectives. She is the Program Leader- Case Management Domino’s Pizza, LLC – Supply Chain. She can be reached at [email protected].

If we’re lucky, every experience changes who we are and how we react to things both familiar and new. Our memories of outcomes, positive and negative, are intended to act as signposts for future decisions.

If we do not utilize those signs we have failed to learn from the past — and then, oh, what a waste those experiences were along the way.

In claims, sometimes we say it was instinct that we saw a claim start to unravel or that person has a great “gut” for knowing which claims to watch; claim-dar, if you please. I say it is merely watching the signposts and remembering. Along the way, you hope for continuous improvement toward a mutual goal.

Whether that goal is process improvement, return-to-work or recovery focused it is all just continuous improvement to maximum potential (MMI).

As we go along building new experiences to add to our toolbox of signposts, we use both positive and negative experiences to become the best at whatever it is we are attempting to attain or achieve. Sometimes, “Well, that didn’t work” is just as important as success in moving forward.

The only failure in improvement is stalling — choosing not to improve. Change is hard, it takes work, cajoling, introspection and honesty.

Sometimes, “Well, that didn’t work” is just as important as success in moving forward. The only failure in improvement is stalling — choosing not to improve.

I suspect introspection is the hardest, we think we know what we are about, but then when an obstacle comes along … do we go forward, stop, side-step or back away? I believe it all depends upon your convictions — how committed are you to success, to your philosophy or to your goals?

Now, I know there are far more questions here than answers, but that is the part that is so introspective and interesting.

Knowing risk is managing risk, which can be said in regard to most things we attempt. The risk of going out on a limb is always going to be that the limb could break.

The question then becomes, is it worth the break or worth the risk?

Change for the sake of change is not necessarily a bad thing but change in hope of improvement should be good for the human condition. Continuous improvement should always be the goal and it is not a new thing. It may have taken on a business-process meaning but from the time we are little, people tell us things to move us forward, to improve.

From Finding Nemo’s “Keep swimming” to “if you want to bake a cake, you have to break some eggs,” (a favorite of my mom’s) it is all about moving forward, improving, growing and learning.

Hopefully, as change comes you will continue to strive for continuous improvement; if you “keep swimming” you might just get “cake”!

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