Seventeen executives from and near Stockholm were invited to participate in a strategic meeting to reshape healthcare in Sweden. As the so-called wise man from the West, I was invited to facilitate the three-day session.
After the meet and greet session, I was comforted that most spoke clear English. My Swedish is limited to “Hello” and “Thank You.”
I had prepared a “Gang Busters” PowerPoint presentation on the history of healthcare in America. In the session, however, I quickly learned that was of little interest to the audience. After five minutes all heads were buried, and my outstanding lecture ignored.
I was missing something. I stopped, pulled the plug on the projector, sat down, waited for all eyes to open and enjoyed about a minute of absolute silence.
I spoke slowly. “What is going on here? What do you really want to get out of this session?”
An executive from the ministry of health spoke. “We don’t really know how to answer the question. We don’t even know each other. This is the first time for such a meeting.”
I had neglected to pay attention to the first rule of communication, namely, KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE. “Then let’s introduce ourselves.”
After 45 minutes, we learned names, positions, reasons for being selected to participate, and their concerns about the future of healthcare in Sweden.
The group was paired up for another 20 minutes to deal with the actual meaning of the word RESPECT, which is “look again,” or get beneath surface words and feelings. It worked. The group was totally engaged. At the end of this exercise, I asked for a volunteer to be interviewed in the presence of the entire group; five hands went up. All five were interviewed.
Among the participants, five were from the ministry of health, six were representatives of the 33 county councils in the country, three were directors of nursing, and three were hospital administrators; seventeen healthcare professionals and no physicians or physician assistants.
Dozens of ideas were shared as to the Swedish healthcare crisis and what could be done to ‘cure’ the financial and social disease impacting healthcare delivery and the recruitment of top candidates for medical and nursing schools.
On day three, the group decided to find national and local partners to sponsor and support a pilot project in one of the thirty-three counties. I was asked to facilitate the pilot project and rejected the invitation immediately. “This needs to be a totally Swedish led, sponsored and supported project. You have the talent in this room to facilitate the project.”
And that’s what happened. The facilitator chosen was the person who initiated this meeting. The pilot project was a national success.
Learnings ……
- Dialogue won over lecture
- Volunteering continued to be the champion of effectiveness
- Simplicity over complexity wins every time
- Sincere listening without judgment maintained openness
- Non-threatening direction paved the way to transparency
- Asking questions that bring out their pride in past achievements enhances genuine conversation
- Internal leadership was the key to making the pilot work
