Most advice on becoming an effective leader is geared—maybe not surprisingly—toward the things we can change about ourselves. We focus our attention on asking ourselves, “Do I have the right values, the right traits, the right competencies, or even the right style to be a good leader?” 

While those questions are important, we sometimes forget that the environment you create for your team makes just as much, if not more, of an impact. From asking questions to listening to their team members, an effective leader is attuned to their environment and fosters an atmosphere where their coworkers are safe to grow and learn. 

Change can be like traveling to a different country and driving on the opposite side of the road.

In January of this year, I was afforded the opportunity to travel to Australia to work with a new client and bring them on to our platform. I made sure I had all of my travel documents, a comfortable neck pillow for the 15-hour flight, and plenty of movies downloaded on my iPad. When we landed in Melbourne, I was all smiles as I experienced what an amazing country Australia is for the first time. My co-worker asked if I minded driving first, and I said not at all. I opened the door on the left side of the SUV to get in, and to my surprise, there was no steering wheel. Yup, in Australia, you sit on the right side of the vehicle and drive on the left side of the road—the opposite of what I'm used to in the United States.

GROWING UP IS HARD.

As a young industry, EMS had its cute years. We were the baby of the family. Our oldest brother, Police, followed Mom and Dad’s orders to a T. Police was a rule-following perfectionist who aimed to please. Then, there was the middle child, Firefighter. She was similar to her brother, following in his footsteps and enjoying the attention of being the baby of the family ... until we came along. Then, she started taking on a new role – differentiating herself from her older brother while at the same time, nurturing us.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Alyana Samai is the Director of Stroke Services at West Jefferson Medical Center in Marrero, Louisiana. Aly has been a champion user of Pulsara since 2016, and has led her teams to successfully decrease door to needle times by streamlining and improving communication when it matters most. 

Dear Aly,

We are new clients and implementing Pulsara at our facility, but many of our nurses are concerned that this is going to be "double documentation," more than communication. How can we help them understand that Pulsara can streamline the process, reduce communication frustrations, and not double up on tasks?

Sincerely, 
Prepared for Pulsara

EDITOR'S NOTE: Special thanks to our guest blogger, Lee Varner. Lee is the Director of the Center for Patient Safety, and has over 20 years of experience in transformational leadership and patient safety to provide consultation and educational services for improving performance effectiveness, quality initiatives, healthcare best practices, culture training and patient safety strategies. 

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Recently, I was part of a conversation with a group of EMS leaders who were talking about clinical errors. They discussed the different types of clinical errors that they have seen and which ones kept them up at night. A few offered examples where a medication error or airway event harmed patient.   

I was happy to hear that everyone realized that most adverse events were usually part of system failure and not just caused by a reckless EMT or paramedic. Furthermore, everyone agreed that EMS clinicians are competent, compassionate, and dedicated people who don’t show up for duty expecting to harm a patient. But when harm does reach a patient, it affects everyone: the patient, family, the EMT or paramedic, and the entire agency. There was no disagreement that harm from medical errors was affecting everyone involved, but the nagging question was, how to reduce those errors? 

Did you miss last week's blog that introduced a model for managing complex change? Check it out here!

It seems simple: just download the Pulsara app from the App Store or Google Play store, and voilà! We've reduced communication errors, decreased door to balloon times, and we given our stroke patients a better chance at an improved quality of life after their recovery. It's that simple, right?

Not so fast ... the technology is only about 5% of the solution. Process workflows account for another 15%. But 80% of successfully implementing the Pulsara platform is about PEOPLE!

Think about it -- something as seemingly simple as asking a paramedic to use an app on their smartphone actually requires a significant change in their current process. And, it's a process that they've been repeating their whole careers, multiple times a day. Considering that, it's no wonder teams can be resistant to change! So how can you alleviate this fear of change and get your people on board? Read on!

A perfect implementation of change doesn't exist, though if you read my colleague's blog from last week about change management, you're well equipped with a framework that Team Pulsara has seen great success following. You've seen that change management is possible. But even with this framework, you'll undoubtedly still encounter challenges from within. Below are ten actionable tips to help you implement change successfully in your organization.