The Eeyore Mentality Can Stymie Performance Improvement

In the work place, you will often interface with an array of personalities. In most cases, this diversity brings strength and stimulation to the work place environment. However, if you are a quality professional in a hospital, you must be watchful and aware of one personality in particular. . . . .the Eeyore.

Using industry jargon, we refer to these individuals as "late adopters" or "non-believers." Anywhere you find pivot points for change, there will be those that want to move forward and those few that remain fixed upon "what can go wrong," "it will not be successful," and "it takes to much of my time," and "we have always done it this way, why change."

You might think that these individuals can be conveniently isolated from the continuous improvement town hall. How untrue, my friends.

In practice, if we apply the Pareto Principle, the 20% can have a meaningful and stymieing impact on the remaining 80%. The quality professional must be able to interact effectively with Eeyores and diligently work to dilute the mentality's toxicity. For if unchecked, it can spread.

Organizations that are successful posssess a culture that appropriately curbs the doom and gloom while promoting the positive and productive elements of the Eeyore Mentality.

A Description of Eeyore's character traits:

• Eeyore is a favorite amongst most admirers of Winnie the Pooh characters and he is a lovable donkey who is dismally gloomy for almost eternity. But that’s not Eeyore’s perception of himself, according to him; he doesn’t expect too much of himself and therefore remains quiet for most of the time. That in no ways means he isn’t an intelligent animal, he is actually quite knowledgeable yet he confines his knowledge to himself. This is the reason why he is very quiet most of the time and a bit depressed. Eeyore, a very gloomy, blue-gray donkey, is stuffed with sawdust. His appearance is highlighted by a small light pink bow on his tail; this reflects well on this animal when there is an occasional hint of joy that surfaces in Eeyore.

Definition Please, Q?

A colleague approached me in the hallway, yesterday, and asked if I could define "Quality." Brilliant! This is the best question that I have been asked since the new year.

At the end of the day, do we all agree on the same definition? How can you improve what you cannot define? How can one ask others to join in the effort, if one cannot articulate the product?

Webster's Dictionary defines Quality as: having a high degree of excellence; superiority of kind.

The colleague and I went on to have a spontaneous 15 minute chat about Quality, and its application to the hospital setting. A synthesis of my response:

• Quality is not a process, but rather an end product. The product should be engineered to meet the voice of the customer (VOC). In a hospital, there are many customers and "voices" converging simultaneously on care delivery, each day, at any one time. For example, customers include: patients, patients' families, nurses, physicians, and Medicare to name a few. However, if we position the patient as the primary customer, then our work product or our "Quality" must be appropriately designed, tested, and continuously improved to meet expectations. Keep in mind customer expectations may evolve over time.

• A common statement utilized in the industry is: ensuring the right patient, gets the right care, at that right time. Well, if this statement reflects the expectations of the patient and the healthcare industry (an advocate for the patient) then quality professionals need to work to design processes and systems that yield a favorable and reliable product = quality. When not met, the organization yields defects, waste, or poor quality.

• Therefore, all service departments (including information technology, environmental services, social services, materials management, to name a few) contribute to the processes which in turn yield . . . Quality. It is everyone's principle business objective.

Defining Quality: Aiming for a Better Health Care System