I am live in person with Dr. Saria Saccocio. Dr. Sacocio is the Chief Medical Officer at Essence Healthcare and a board -certified family physician. Dr. Saccocio, welcome back to the show.
Anne Marie, it’s so good to see you, to connect with you, and have a conversation today.
I’m really excited about this because you are a communication champion, you’re a health equity champion, so I’m really eager to get into the four questions that I ask all my guests. Dr. Saccocio, what is an issue or a problem in communication in health care that you’re facing these days?
Well, what I’m experiencing, I don’t believe is so personalized to health care. In fact, I believe across the entire workspace, or even in our own household: Chaos ensues. And the challenge is, how do we take a chaotic world and create sanity around it? That is the challenge today and it’s not going away.
It’s a massive challenge. You’re speaking to a lot of people right now. You’re right. So how are you facing this challenge?
Sometimes with challenge myself–and I say that because I am an eternal longitudinal learner–no one has got it all figured out, Anne Marie. Nope. And sometimes I forget what I know.
Legit.
And so I’m focusing on two things to manage this chaotic space.With healthcare, as we talked about just a moment ago, the bar is raised. The challenges change. And with the change in the challenge, so comes the chaos that we can contribute to, or we can help manage. So the two things are: one, I’m in charge of my own destiny! And so what I mean by that is, what I recognize is, that I set the road map for me. We all have a manager. We all have rules to follow, but I had to turn on the light bulb and say, “Hmm, am I waiting for someone to create my space in the roadmap?” And I realized, “No, this is my roadmap to create.” Whether you’re the leader or you work for a manager, you have an opportunity to set the example and to create a world the way that you’d like to see it. So set your structure. Set your organization.
Not waiting for permission. I love that. Not waiting for someone to say, “Okay, do this.” I love that.
Well, and being a manager myself, and having a supervisor, this is refreshing when people demonstrate and they skate to the puck and already solve for their problems. Yes! And for my supervisor, remember, he benefits from the same thing. So how do I create that world where I have the roadmap in place and I show up in my space and demonstrate and model myself?
I love this. I love this. So you said two things. What is the second thing?
Yes. And the number two, find your best friend forever at work.
Ooh. Tell me about this. I love this.
Who is your BFF? Find a BFF. Press Ganey, an organization that focuses on employee satisfaction, retention, and engagement, says that one of the key factors is having a BFF at work. And so who is that person? Who do you have a safe space with? Who raises you up rather than keeping you where you are? That’s critical too.
I love this idea of “do you have a BFF?” If you do, this is a time to tap into them. If you don’t, this is a time to warm up to somebody and have that conversation that maybe you’ve been avoiding having. Or there is a potential friendship there, there is a potential collaborator there, that you haven’t reached out to yet. Maybe this is the time, so that you can help yourself manage this enormous amount of change that we’re all under right now. So Dr. Saccocio, what are you learning from this? What are you learning from charting your own path, not waiting for permission or somebody to create the piece for you? What are you learning from reaching out to your BFFs?
Well, here’s what I’ve learned. Anne -Marie, I’ve had a BFF at work in the last several organizations I worked in because I clued into, “That’s healthy for me.” And let’s flip the coin. Is it healthy for them also. Be a good BFF. And that’s what I’ve also learned. Don’t find someone who drags you down or commiserates with everything you say. You need a moment, and a safe space for that reaction, response, and then raise them up. So that they raise you up. So what do I mean by that? Let’s say you had a rotten day at work. get it out, say it, move on. But the expectation I challenge you to set for and what I’ve learned myself is not to stay there. The purpose is not to vent. We do a lot of venting. venting is good. It can be healthy. What do you want to get out of the vent, and what’s the direction forward? Lean on your BFF to help guide you, and for you to guide them to a level up. to above the line. So here’s one thing. There’s this book that I follow, The 15 Conscious Commitments of Leadership by Jim Dethmer and crew [Diana Chapman and Kaley Klemp]. And every time I read it, Anne Marie, I pick up something else. It’s staying above the line and help your BFF to stay above the line too.
I love that, the important pivot that our friends can help us make. We’ve got to be intentional about it: going from venting to turning to action. So what are next steps for you as a leader? Where do you want to go in this moment?
And what I’ve learned in this moment, is that I continue to practice, practice, practice, practice. We are in a state of chaos and change, and you have control over your own behaviors, and how you show up at work. Do not set it and forget it because as the world changes, we must evolve with it. Practice, practice, practice.
I love this. Dr. Saria Saccocio, Chief Medical Officer at Essence Healthcare. Thank you for being on the show today. Thank you for coming back. Thank you for being the kind of leader that we need right now.
And it is so fun and it’s so fun to do it together with you, Anne Marie.
Thanks so much, Saria.