I love it! Yesterday my boss was in a strategy meeting with the President and CEO, the Chief Financial Officer, the Chief Medical Officer, the Vice President of Compliance, and..... I don't remember. Anyway, whoever goes to a strategy meeting for the company.
As my boss related to me later yesterday afternoon, the conversation turned to administrative assistants, and how few there are in this company. My boss says she immediately told the CEO, "You can't have mine!" So he asked what I did.
I didn't realize my boss knew what all I did - and yet, she nearly captured it all. She told him I did all the meetings for Quality (QIC, QMPI, HEDIS) including schedules, binders and meals, meeting minutes, agendas, etc. I handle Provider Relations/MM meetings - schedule, agendas, minutes, etc. I handle medical management meetings - which include a lot of other things. I handle Pharmacy meetings, schedules, minutes, binders, etc. I handle prior authorization schedules, minutes, agendas, meals, etc., I handle long term care minutes, agendas, etc. etc. and "lots of other duties as assigned". I don't remember what I do - I just do it when it is due!
Anyway, the CEO commented about the AA who is supposed to be supporting him. He tells her he wants a meeting, she decides on a time, makes it, and doesn't care whose meeting it hits against. She may - or may not - order food. She doesn't take minutes, nor does she type them. She never cleans up after a meeting but leaves it for other AAs to clean up.
The CEO asked my boss how he could get this other person to be more productive (like me) - my boss responded - "How do you teach someone to care about their job?"
Wow. It felt good for my boss to straight out say she didn't want me to move to the 'other side' and help HER boss. I feel good that she realized how much I do and how I am careful to get everything done timely. Do I make mistakes? Yeah, more often than I want to admit. One of my biggest fears is that I will have a lunch or breakfast meeting - and forget to order food. That, and forgetting to reserve the conference room. It really felt good that she told the CEO how I think ahead and check things - I have moved an important quarterly meeting with outside doctors from Thursday this week to next Tuesday because of the possibility of heavy rain today and tomorrow. I had food ordered so had to make sure it got moved as well.
It just felt good and I felt appreciated and valued. and the CEO told he couldn't have me! I love it!
In fact, what I have been writing about at work to send with my reports is about influencing others and encouraging them. I am going to include a small portion of what I shared this morning here - it's just good stuff. And no, I didn't write it. Written by John Maxwell.
Just as encouragement makes others want to follow you, withholding praise and encouragement has the opposite effect. We read an account by Dr. Maxwell Maltz that shows the incredible negative impact a person can have when he doesn’t encourage persons close to him. Maltz described a woman who came to his office seeking his help. Evidently, her son had moved from her home in the Midwest to New York where Maltz had his practice. When their son was only a boy, the woman’s husband died, and she ran his business, hoping to do so only until the son became old enough to take it over. But when the son became old enough, he didn’t want to be involved with it. Instead, he wanted to go to New York and study. She came to Maltz because she wanted him to find out why her son had behaved that way.
A few days later the son came to Maltz’s office, explaining that his mother had insisted on the visit. “I love my mother,” he explained, “But I’ve never told her why I had to leave home. I’ve just never had the courage. And I don’t want her to be unhappy. But you see, Doctor, I don’t want to take over what my father started. I want to make it on my own.”
“That’s very admirable,” Martz said to him, “But what do you have against your father?”
“My father was a good man and worked hard, but I suppose I resented him,” he said. “My father came up the hard way. And he thought he should be tough on me. I guess he wanted to build self-reliance in me or something. When I was a boy, he never encouraged me. I can remember playing catch with him out in the yard. He’d pitch and I’d catch. We had a game to see if I could catch ten balls in a row. And, Doctor, he’d never let me catch the tenth ball! He’d throw eight or nine to me, but he always threw the tenth ball into the air, or into the ground, or where I couldn’t’ catch it.” The young man paused for a moment and then said, “He would never let me catch the tenth ball – never! And I guess I had to leave home and the business he started because I wanted somehow to catch that tenth ball!”
Lack of encouragement can hinder a person from living a healthy, productive life. But when a person feels encouraged, he can face the impossible and overcome incredible adversity. And the person who gives the gift of encouragement becomes an influencer in his life.
Become a positive influence in someone's life today. Perhaps your son or daughter - or wife or husband - needs an encouraging word. Or perhaps it is a co-worker that needs some encouragement. Find something to compliment them on. It can make their day. And you may be get a positive comment back. It could change your day.
Happy Hump Day!
Blessings!
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