I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Clif Colley, Corporate Director of Materials Management for Baptist Health Care (BHC) in Pensacola, Florida. Colley described the history, structure, process and results of BHC’s very effective and comprehensive Margin Improvement Teams. Colley and his colleagues have achieved significant margin improvements throughout many areas of their healthcare system thanks to their carefully structured and monitored margin improvement efforts.

BHC’s approach to margin improvement involves focusing on specific areas of the organization, identifying targets through the budget process and asking, “how can we improve margin in each of these specific areas?” Each Margin Improvement Team member is expected to suggest new specific ideas and opportunities. As effective cost-saving strategies are recognized, they are quickly applied; Colley emphasized a “take-action” approach, “It’s not only going to be identified, it’s going to be implemented!”

The Margin Improvement Teams are comprised of leaders who focus on specific areas. The teams include (1) Clinical Quality Value Analysis with responsibility for Perioperative, Patient Care Services, Cardiology, Imaging, Laboratory and Pharmacy; (2) Facility & Support Services Value Analysis with responsibility for Environment of Care, Information Services, Purchased Services & Professional Fees; (3) Labor and Benefits Analysis; (4) Supply Chain Value Analysis with responsibility for Logistics/Transportation/Distribution, Linen Services; (5) GPO/SESS Maximization; and (6) Revenue Cycle.

Team leaders choose team members who have appropriate expertise and can help drive value. For example, the Perioperative team chairperson is the CFO of a hospital in the BHC system. Her fifteen-member team is comprised of leaders from OR, SPD and Service Line, OR Buyers, a Financial Analyst and a Supply Chain Representative. The team meets every other week to identify projects and update the team on current projects and status. Colley states, “we are well on our way to achieving our goals for 2012.”

Each team has an executive sponsor, and an Executive Steering Committee meets monthly to hear reports and progress as well as deal with barriers or obstacles that may be preventing a specific team from reaching its desired target. The Executive Steering Committee is led by the Vice President & Comptroller for BHC. The CEO and CFO also attend these meetings.

The bottom line of BHC’s focus on margin improvement is, “to improve profitability through an integrated approval process for new supplies or replacement of existing supplies with an emphasis on patient safety, patient outcomes and cost containment.” Colley states that the key is to “always keep patient safety first – to first focus on patient safety and doing the right thing for the patient – but then to balance the financial realities of patient care and healthcare providers.”

Colley, who has been with BHC for 18 years, currently chairs or participates in several margin improvement teams, and has helped drive millions in savings to the organization, and to the physician preference areas in particular.

Even with the success and results-oriented focus of their margin improvement teams, Colley and his team continue their clear focus on BHC’s top priorities; “The number one focus is… patient safety and quality of care.” The leadership of BHC stands firmly behind the philosophy that “improving margin by sacrificing quality is absolutely unacceptable.”

Colley will be presenting at the upcoming Healthcare Supplier/Provider Institute (HSI) meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 9 & 10, 2012. Colley will be available to answer questions regarding the history, structure, process and results of the Baptist Health Care Margin Improvement Teams. For more information about the HSI meeting, please visit the following website: http://www.jhconline.com/healthcare-supplierprovider-institute-meeting-2012.html.

Our guest author this week is Emily Sirkel, Chief Operating Officer of the Dan Nielsen Company:

French actress and writer Sarah Bernhardt once said, “Life begets life. Energy creates energy. It is by spending oneself that one becomes rich.” This famous quote has been interpreted in multiple ways over the years, but considering the indomitable spirit and vibrant energy that Sarah exuded, I believe this statement reflects the idea that what you put into life determines what you get back – so give it your all!

Have you ever “caught” a seemingly contagious sour mood from your spouse, or noticed the positive energy of your coworker wearing off on you? Have you ever woken up in the morning with a groan and the prediction that it was going to be a bad day and were proven right? Have you ever treated an acquaintance you disliked with courteous deference until you realized you were actually starting to enjoy their company?

I’m not a scientist or a psychologist, but I find it remarkable how significantly our attitude can affect our actions, and our actions affect our attitude. Similarly, it’s incredible how much we influence, and are influenced by, those we spend time with. I find myself even being affected by pets – having a “blue” day? Take an energetic dog to the park and the only blue left by the end of your day will be the sky. It’s amazing to me how that works!

So, “Life begets life. Energy creates energy. It is by spending oneself that one becomes rich.” The energy, effort and enthusiasm we put into life determines what we get back – and is often reflected right back to us by the people whom we are influencing.

What are you putting into your life? How are you influencing those around you and how are those around you influencing you? Live a contagious life, exude positive energy, and invest generously in those within your sphere of influence – you’ll be impressed by the results!

During a recent interview and discussion, I asked Gene Kirtser, President/CEO of ROi a wide range of questions regarding ROi’s role in improving the performance and success of those they serve. Gene will be presenting and answering questions at the upcoming Healthcare Supplier/Provider Institute meeting, April 9-10, 2012 in Las Vegas.

Kirtser’s 3 highest priorities are:                                                 

1.“Setting a compelling vision that will allow ROi to achieve its mission.

2.Talent Management – We want to create a culture that results in recruiting and retaining the absolute best talent in the world. If you hire the right people, they will serve your customers extremely well.

3.Communication that insures that our coworkers have a clear understanding of our vision and mission, our strategies, and probably most important, how their individual role fits within the larger organization and how their role aligns with the company’s vision and strategies.”

I asked Kirtser what makes ROi unique and special in his opinion. His response:

“We have a complete integrated model that includes distribution, manufacturing, consulting, and contracting. These services can be brought in-house in order to extract significant value from them. We want to work with and serve those healthcare providers who are truly committed to this model. If a healthcare provider is not totally committed to this fully integrated model, then we are not their solution. Proper selection, commitment and discipline are very important.”

I asked Kirtser to list 2 of the most important reasons ROi is recognized by Gartner “as one of the top three global supply chains in healthcare.” His response:

“First again is our integrated model; it’s clearly industry unique, it clearly has delivered value. We produce a value report every year and that value report is validated by our CFOs across Sisters of Mercy. The value report consistently shows that we deliver anywhere from $20-$30 million dollars of bottom line value to the organization every year like clockwork, and that’s fairly significant. We have a laser-like focus on supply chain excellence and that’s what we are very good at. We hire people who are true supply chain experts from industry and from providers. We encourage them to push the envelope.”

“Second, what I think differentiates us in Gartner’s eyes is we are very transparent with the industry. We build trusting relationships with stakeholders, with other providers, and with manufacturers and suppliers. We very openly share. We don’t try to hoard our processes or knowledge for ourselves. We have a bigger goal of reforming the industry and we share a common goal of trying to move the industry forward. I think Gartner sees us as somewhat different and unique from the rest of the marketplace.”

Kirtser spent 16 years in the healthcare supply industry with companies such as Baxter Healthcare, small startup organizations, private equity companies, and publicly traded companies. During these years, he spent significant time in sales, marketing, operations and finance. Kirtser has been with ROi in the healthcare provider industry for nearly 5 years.

Don’t miss Gene Kirtser’s presentation the morning of April 10, 2012 at the Healthcare Supplier/Provider Institute meeting in Las Vegas. His presentation is titled Supply Chain is a Strategy, Not a Department. To learn more about this meeting please visit the website at http://www.jhconline.com/healthcare-supplierprovider-institute-meeting-2012.html

How do you squeeze the most out of the most important gift and asset you will ever have?  That gift, that asset, is your priceless, irreplaceable and very limited time on this planet.  Other than where and how you will spend eternity, there is no question more important and more relevant than how you spend and invest – yes literally “spend and invest” – your priceless, irreplaceable and very limited time on this planet.

The Achievement Newsletter recently featured an article by Brian Tracy entitled, How to Squeeze the Most Out of Your Time.  Here is how Brian Tracy, a very successful  author, speaker, publisher and business executive starts his day:

“Years ago I started planning [my day] by writing everything down I would have to do, the night before.  I found that drawing up your list the night before prompts your subconscious to work on your plans and goals while you sleep.  When you wake up, you feel ready to tackle your challenges.”

Tracy’s system is certainly not new.  A variation of Tracy’s system is used by virtually every high achieving, highly successful person on the planet.  The question is, do you consistently, day after day, year after year, use such a system in order to most effectively leverage your priceless, irreplaceable and limited  time?  Do you use such a system in order to focus on what you have already decided is most important to you?

Millions of people do not use such a system, and many people have no system at all; they just “go with the flow.”  How sad, limiting, wasteful and tragic!

Tracy suggests that, when prioritizing and planning your time,  you should consider the following key questions:

• “What is the highest value-added action I can do?

• What can I, and only I, do that I’ve done well before to make a difference?

• Why am I on the payroll?”

Tracy believes your answers to these questions will help you  identify all that needs to be done and in what order.

Time is limited and irreplaceable.  Be sure you have a system to maximize focus and effectiveness on what is most important to you and those you serve!

What is the highest value-added action you can do?  What can you, and only you, do that you have done well before to make a difference?  Why are you on the payroll?

Your Achievement Newsletter recently published an article titled Sam Walton’s Rules for Success written by Harvey Mackay.  The full article is available at yoursuccessstore.com.

Let’s not forget that regardless of negative press, constant competitor attacks, as well as both legitimate and frivolous lawsuits, Wal-Mart continues to be, by far, the largest retailer in the world.

Bottom line (no pun intended) action speaks far louder than words.  Over 125 million people visit a Wal-Mart store every week.  Over 18 million people a day!  Net sales in 2010 were 405 billion!

Regardless of how you feel about Sam Walton or Wal-Mart, there is absolutely no question that Sam was very successful and Wal-Mart continues to be one of the most successful companies and enterprises the world has ever known.

So, what can we learn from them?  I encourage you to carefully think about each of Sam’s “Rules for Success” as written by Harvey Mackay.  How does each apply to you in both your personal and professional life?  What will you do, and what will your organization do to improve in each of these critical “Success Rules?”

• “Commit to your business. Believe in it more than anyone does.  Passion is at the top of the list of the skills you need to excel.

• Share profits with your employees. If you treat them as partners, they will treat you as a partner, and together you will perform beyond your wildest dreams.

• Motivate your partners. Money and ownership are not enough. Set high goals, encourage competition and then keep score. Competition makes you better and stronger.

• Communicate everything you possibly can to your employees. The more they know, the more they will understand.

• Appreciate everything your associates do for the business. In addition to point #2, find ways to let your employees know that you value their contributions.

• Celebrate your successes. Find some humor in your failures.  Don’t take yourself so seriously. Maintain a positive tone, even when things don’t go as planned.

• Listen to everyone in your company, and figure out ways to get them talking. Many people think that communication means getting others to do what you want them to do. For them, good listening means, “I talk, you  listen.”

• Exceed your customers’ expectations. There’s one thing no business has enough of: customers.

• Control your expenses better than your competition.

• Swim upstream. If everyone else is doing it one way, there is a  good chance you can find your niche by going in the opposite direction.”

These “rules,” strategies  or principles work.  There is no question.  The hard evidence is in, and it is overwhelming.  The only question is, what will you do to improve in each of these critical areas?

“If it’s to be, it’s up to me.”   And now it’s up to you!

A recent Harvard Business Review “Management Tip of The Day” provides excellent advice for each and every person who desires greater success.  The management tip was adapted from “Five Steps to Assess Your Strengths”  by Bill Barnett.

To grow, achieve and enjoy greater success in any area of your life, you must know and understand your strengths.  You must also be able to concisely and effectively articulate your strengths.  If you don’t know your strengths, or if you are not able to effectively express your strengths, how will the major influencers and enablers in your life know and understand them?

The Harvard Business Review “Management Tip of The Day” suggests the following:

• “List your strengths. Include skills and knowledge you’ve acquired through experience and education as well as softer intrinsic strengths, such as insightfulness or empathy.

• Ask for input. Ask colleagues for honest feedback.

• Revisit past feedback. Reread old performance reviews or think back on coaching from previous bosses.

• Modify your list. Adjust your original list to reflect what you’ve learned.  Make sure the strengths are specific so that they are credible and useful.”

No matter how successful or unsuccessful they may be, there is not one person in the entire world who cannot improve by following this simple, yet powerful formula.

List your strengths, ask for input, revisit past feedback, and modify your list.  Then focus on implementation, execution and improvement of your strengths.  Do this and you will positively change your life and your success, and also impact the lives and success of those around  you!

A critically important, universal success principle is presented on page 14 of the February 6, 2012 Fortune magazine.  The very brief  article is part of “The Best Advice  I Ever Got” series.

Bob Rodriguez, managing partner and CEO of First Pacific Advisors, tells the story of approaching a guest lecturer while in graduate school at the University of Southern California.

The guest lecturer happened to be Charlie Munger, who became one of the most successful investors in America.   Charlie’s long time investment partner is none other than one of the most successful investors in history; that would be mega-billionaire Warren Buffet.

After the lecture, Bob Rodriguez approached Charlie Munger and asked the following question:

“What one thing can I do to make me a better investment professional?”

Charlie Munger’s answer was straightforward, direct and simple:

“Read history, read history, read history.”

Based on that excellent advice, Bob Rodriguez became what he calls, “a good historian,” reading economic, financial and general history.  Rodriquez writes:

“So when the crisis of 2008 came, it felt like an old friend to me because it had so many similarities to the banking crisis of 1907.”

Regardless of the massive change since Charlie Munger gave Bob Rodriguez that excellent advice in 1974, history continues to repeat itself.

Not only will history continue to repeat itself in the future,  you and I, and every person we have met, or will ever meet, also continually repeats himself or herself; in words, intent, habits and actions.

Charlie Munger was and is exactly right.  Read, learn, remember and leverage the lessons of history.

The cumulative knowledge and leverage of history is called wisdom. Wisdom is one of the most priceless possessions in the world.

If you desire more wisdom and success in your personal and professional life, “read history, read history, read history.”  Read, learn, remember and leverage the lessons of history!

Seth Godin, the world-class thought-leader, best-selling author, excellent speaker, and one of the most read bloggers in the world is on target once again.  Earlier this week, Seth wrote a blog (blog@sethgodin.com) entitled: An  Endless Series of Difficult but Achievable Hills.  This blog, repeated below, provides excellent  food for thought – and action for success!

“Lightning rarely strikes. Instead, achievement is often the result of stepwise progress, of doing something increasingly difficult until you get the result you seek. For a comedian to get on the Tonight Show in 1980 was a triumph. How to get there? A series of steps… open mike nights, sleeping in vans, gigging, polishing, working up the ladder until the booker both saw you and liked you.

Same thing goes for the CEO job, the TED talk on the main stage, the line outside the restaurant after a great review in the local paper.

 

Repeating easy tasks again and again gets you not very far. Attacking only steep cliffs where no progress is made isn’t particularly effective either. No, the best path is an endless series of difficult (but achievable) hills.

 

Just about all of the stuck projects and failed endeavors I see are the result of poor hill choices. I still remember meeting a guy 30 years ago with a new kind of controller for the Atari game system. He told me that he had raised $500,000 and was going to spend it all (every penny) on a single ad during the Cosby show. His exact words, “my product will be on fire, like a thresher through a wheat field, like a hot knife through butter!” He was praying for lightning, and of course, it didn’t strike.

 

There are plenty of obvious reasons why we avoid picking the right interim steps, why we either settle for too little or foolishly shoot for too much. Mostly it comes down to fear and impatience.

 

The craft of your career comes in picking the right hills. Hills just challenging enough that you can barely make it over. A series of hills becomes a mountain, and a series of mountains is a career.”

Why should you read, listen to and learn from Seth Godin?  Great question.  Here is the answer.

Seth Godin has enjoyed phenomenal success following his own advice; he lives what he preaches – and it works?  His blog goes to well over 200,000 subscribers all over the world, every day.  His books are always best sellers and his presentations are very popular and quickly sell-out.  He is an innovative entrepreneur who has created dozens of companies.  Altogether, he is considered to be a world-class achiever and thought-leader.  When Seth Godin writes or speaks, I read and listen.  And so should you!

It was Sunday afternoon November 20, 2011.  I had just completed an hour-long  workout at home on my recumbent bike.  As is true with most people, I was feeling relaxed and invigorated after a good workout.  Just as I was enjoying a refreshing glass of cool water, my cell phone rang.

My first thought was, “who might be calling me on a Sunday afternoon?”  When I picked up my phone and looked to see a name or number, I was surprised to see the name Jim Wetrich.  Even though he is a friend and business colleague, I thought “why would Jim Wetrich, President and General Manager of The Americas for Molnlycke Health Care be calling me on a Sunday afternoon? I hope there is not some sort of emergency.”

“Hey Jim, how are you?”  (I am still thinking, “why is Jim Wetrich calling me on a Sunday afternoon?”)

“I’m doing fine Dan… just fine.  How are you?”   (I am still wondering why Jim is calling me on a Sunday afternoon.)

Following a brief moment of small talk, Jim gets down to business.  “Dan, I just wanted to call and wish you a happy birthday.”

Needless to say, I was surprised, amazed and impressed that this very busy senior executive, whose international responsibilities take him around the globe, was calling me the day before my birthday… on a Sunday afternoon mind you.

A personal phone call, like I received from Jim Wetrich, has become a rare act and event among colleagues, even among  friends.  These days, automated  reminders, all sorts of automated messages and thousands of electronic greetings of all sorts have significantly reduced the sincerity and authenticity of “remembering and recognizing someone” on a special occasion.  We all know that social media not only provides, but also promotes and encourages automated processes that allow greetings or a note to be sent within seconds – and then we are immediately on to something else, with virtually no personalization or time invested.  A few keystrokes and we check that reminder off our list.

So what is the point of this true story? If you want more personal, professional and organizational success in your life, regardless of your profession or industry, follow the example of Jim Wetrich:

1. Jim understands the importance of people  – individual people.
2. Jim values people – unique, individual people.
3. Jim is sincerely interested in people.
4. Jim is a world-class, very sincere  networker – his active contact list rivals the old Sears catalog.
5. Jim consistently goes out of his way and invests precious time to sincerely recognize people – individual people.

If you want more personal, professional and organizational success in your life, regardless of your profession or industry, follow the example of my friend Jim Wetrich.

True success is virtually 100% about people – other people – individual people!

Do you want more success in all areas of your life?  Virtually 100% of all people on the planet desire more success in their lives (however they define success).   Here are three keys to more success in all areas of your life.

1. Focus on collaboration
2. Lead initiatives
3. Stay current

Whether in your family, within the organizations and communities you belong or engage, or within the organizations in which you work and serve; collaborate – lead initiatives – stay current.

Some people may think these 3 keys to success are too simple.   My answer?  “They are far from simple and they are exceedingly effective.”   Even the prestigious Harvard Business Review featured these keys to  success in a recent publication.

Focus on collaboration. Regularly ask yourself this question;  “How can I more effectively collaborate with others to achieve mutually beneficial goals and dreams?”  Then do something about it.

Lead initiatives. In all areas of your life, raise your hand  and offer to take on new or different initiatives.  Offer to identify or create more effective ways to serve others – to create additional value for  all.  Then implement the best of those ideas.

Stay current. Be a person who consistently synthesizes current information and events, in all areas of your life, in order to offer new or tweaked strategies and tactics for accomplishing mutually desired and beneficial goals and dreams.

Excel at these 3 critical keys to success, and you will have distinguished yourself from at least 90 percent of all people.  Probably 95 percent!

Be unique.  Achieve more success.  Make a bigger positive difference.  Focus on collaboration – lead initiatives – stay current.