What You’re Doing Is Working – Arch Collaborative Summit 2021
As KLAS Research CEO Adam Gale welcomed Arch Collaborative members to the 2021 Arch Collaborative Learning Summit, it felt a little surreal to see people in 3D, as Adam said, after seeing everyone in 2D on screens for so long. And though many were able to attend in person, many others attended virtually (the hybrid event is a KLAS first).
However, regardless of whether you were able to attend in person or through the screen (or will be enjoying the content online in the following weeks), the energy of the summit and everyone’s eagerness to learn from one another was palpable.
Takeaways from The Annual Gale Family Parenting Success Survey
The third annual Gale Family Parenting Success Survey garnered some chuckles as Adam used his learnings to relate to how hard it can be for healthcare organizations to survey their clinicians asking for feedback.
The results? One-fifth of his children were frustrated, one-fifth were indifferent, and the rest were pleased. That put his family in the 87th percentile compared to EHR users. He said, “Depending on how you look at it, I either feel like we’re doing pretty good or think we have a lot of improvements to make.” (He then joked that they have no idea what percentile they would be in compared to other parents.)
Adam then shared some parallels he sees that I will summarize below:
- Working on the EHR is an ongoing process. He shared how his family had a fight during vacation after the results of his one-on-one survey. He realized that the work as a parent is perpetual and that for many healthcare organizations, it is the same. It can be frustrating to have a department cheer you on one day and then come back with problems the next. But you have to keep going.
- Listening goes a long way. Adam pointed out that, while important, the big family events are not the only piece in creating lasting relationships with your kids. A lot of being a parent is the little things, like listening at 11 p.m. when they want to talk. Similarly, the big changes to technology are only part of what creates an organization that cares about the success of their clinicians. There’s never going to be a perfect time to get feedback, so listen when the opportunities come.
Don’t Stop Trying to Improve
Adam summed up the point of the summit best when he said, “If you get nothing else from this, I'd love for you to remember this quote, ‘What you are doing is working. Don't stop.’ There are going to be times you just feel overwhelmed and wonder what more can be done. This quote isn’t from Queen, Vince Lombardi, or even Michael Jordan. This quote is actually from the leader of our analytics team in the Arch Collaborative, Connor Bice. And the reason he says this is he swims in your data. He eats, sleeps, and drinks the Arch data. And he sees that things are working. Your projects are working, and health organizations are improving.”
Over the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing much of the content that was presented at the summit right here on the blog. Stay tuned!