21 June 2010

The Vuvuzela Variations

Hard to tell which noise has been the loudest, the sound of the massed vuvuzelas at the World Cup or the complaints and moans about them. From a Scots' perspective, they certainly make our bagpipes sound even better than they already are and anything that irritates Christiano Ronaldo and drowns out English chants and singing can’t be all bad. And of course, the ubiquitous Hitler/Downfall ‘vuvuzela parody’ has already appeared: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/sportvideo/7834508/World-Cup-2010-Adolf-Hitlers-take-on-the-vuvuzela-hes-not-a-fan.html


But you don’t have to go to South Africa for the full vuvuzela effect.

What’s your organisation's vuvuzela?

A former hospital CEO colleague told me that hospital staff often see their executive leadership as just so much ‘background noise’. In many organisations there an overpowering noise or message that drowns out all else. In one hospital that I visited recently, the only ‘message’ being sounded on the agenda was about reducing the level of spending and getting the budget down. The Francis Report into Mid Staffs Hospital highlighted the dangers of such a ‘vuvuzela vision’ when it noted the poor care and safety dangers and warning signs that were missed as discussions at the hospital executive and board level focused almost exclusively on achieving ‘Foundation Trust’ status. A healthy hospital needs to hear different voices and views and cannot allow itself a myopic focus on only one issue or priority, especially if it is discussions of the actual quality of care that are drowned out.

Who is your workplace vuvuzela?

Individuals too are quite capable of becoming the human vuvuzelas of the department or unit. I heard recently from a colleague that meetings in her department were almost dysfunctional because one member of staff dominates every meeting with almost constant expression of their views. Now, staff try to avoid the meetings or sit silently hoping that they will soon be over. Few of us will be strangers to this phenomena of the meeting as a talkfest and a soapbox for the most powerful and vocal. The human vuvuzela can be muted by having a good, strong chairperson who will stop them in their tracks and refocus on other attendees and their views but a timed agenda and clear meeting guidelines and specific aims are invaluable also.


When do you blow your own vuvuzela?

I often tell audiences of health professionals that “If you do not articulate your practices, people will assume that you have none”. There is absolutely a time and place to blow your own vuvuzela. In nursing we seem almost incapable at times of saying what we did well and describing the positive difference that we made in our interactions and encounters with a particular patient, client or community. This is neither arrogance nor boastfulness, nor is it suggesting that you are ‘better than’ your colleagues. It is about making visible and demonstrating the value and benefits of your skills and abilities. Surely that’s worth a toot of the trumpet in anyones language.

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