In the book, Better, Dr. Atul Gawande (2007) proposes three essential components to get better in any endeavor that requires risk and responsibility: diligence, to do right, and ingenuity.
These three core concepts from Gawande work together and interconnect with each other.
First, using the practice of medicine as his canvas, Gawande (2007) paints the picture that leadership requires a diligent approach to the tasks we need to accomplish. Gawande (2007) offers the example of his father’s medical practice and the extreme lengths he would take to ensure his patients received the highest level of care possible. From wearing examination gloves to taking notes to washing hands, physicians must diligently execute these and other tasks associated with the medical profession in order to meet the high standards of excellence demanded by this important work. Gawande illustrates how taxing the faithful practice of these behaviors can become over time, leading to cutting corners and to the detriment of the patient’s care. Leaders - and in Gawande’s (2007) case, doctors - must remain diligent in the core practices of their professions.
This points to the second essential component of high performance in any endeavor that requires risk and responsibility: to do right. Being diligent in the many functions of one’s sector is the right thing to do. It is right for doctors to wash their hands prior to visiting patients in order to mitigate the spread of infectious diseases. Similarly, it is right for doctors to maintain atmospheres within examination rooms that prevent the appearance or actual occurrences of impropriety. In other words, doing the right things requires and demands diligence. Once again, cutting corners and taking shortcuts often leads to detrimental outcomes from huge lawsuits to revocations of licenses to abuses, destruction and even death.
This leads to Gawande’s (2007) third essential component to leading in situations that involve risk and responsibility: ingenuity. Gawande (2007) explains that even the most diligent practice of functions that are the right things to do can become stale, plateau, and/or even perpetuate less than ideal performances. In these circumstances leaders must be willing to deviate from current practices and innovate in order to do what is right.
For example, Gawande (2007) explains this three-pronged approach - diligence, doing what’s right, and ingenuity - allowed him to see that in most parts of the world, saving lives was most likely to take place by raising the performance of doctors, not in some sort of medicinal breakthrough. Instead of relying on the newest technology, Gawande (2007) argues that understanding the mundane, ordinary details that must go right in a particular situation is the key to finding solutions. Despite potentially having limited resources or power, Gawande (2007) proposes that enhancing one’s skills and collaborating with other people in complex situations can spark ingenuity and progress.
As Gawande (2007) remarked, in the face of seemingly insurmountable problems, better is possible through diligence, a commitment to doing what is right, and the willingness to embrace ingenuity.
Consider ways in which you can invite, guide, and challenge yourselves and your schools to get better: through diligently pursuing the procedures, checklists (sorry), and policies that ensure the safety and security of our communities, the mission alignment of our behaviors, the fiduciary soundness of our budgets, the pedagogically proficient teaching and learning in our classrooms, and the philanthropic moves of our advancement offices.
Similarly, may you lead your schools to do what is right - supervising students, communicating with families, having a plan to ensure efficiency, using research based teaching and assessment practices, showing gratitude, holding people (and ourselves) accountable through performance monitoring and review, and putting every decision through the rubric of "what would Christ do?"
Finally, improving performance and working with others - collaboration multiples our forces - can lead to ingenious innovations and enhancements to our efforts. Our communities and our commitment to our unifying missions are our greatest commodities. From third options to the synergistic effects of working with others, let us rally our efforts around our missions and pray for the intercession of the Holy Spirit to keep getting better.
Using this recipe: diligence, doing what's right, and ingenuity the best - or at least better - is always yet to come.
Reference:
Gawande, A. (2007). Better: A surgeon’s notes on performance. New York: Holt and Company.
