How Being in Medicine Is Transforming Patient Outcomes - Dr. Corey Anderson

Meredith Bell: 00:00:04

Announcer, thank you for tuning in to The Ultimate Coach podcast, a companion to the transformative book The Ultimate Coach written by Amy Hardison and Alan D Thompson. Each conversation is designed to be a powerful wake up call, reminding us of what's possible for you and your life. So if you're on a journey to expand your state of being, this podcast is for you.

Meredith Bell: 00:00:37

Welcome to The Ultimate Coach Podcast. I'm Meredith Bell, your host for this episode, and joining me today is someone I have just loved getting to know. His name is Corey Anderson, welcome to the show, Corey.

Meredith Bell: 00:00:52

Dr. Corey Anderson: Well, thank you for having me. Thanks for the invitation. I love the show and I love being here, so thank you.

Meredith Bell: 00:00:57

Well, I know our listeners are going to love having you here today too, as I do, and I want to just give a brief introduction to my listeners. As a listener, if you attended the ultimate event in Phoenix this past January, you're already familiar with Corey because he and Jeff Mars spoke together on stage. Corey and Jeff have worked together for 15 years at Black Hills surgical hospital in South Dakota, where Corey is the Director of Operations. 18 months ago, the two of them decided they wanted to transform medicine not a small task, and they've created a model for doing that built around the concept of being Corey is also the co founder, keynote speaker and consultant at the being group, and he's being coached right now with Steve Hardison. You're going to love what Corey has to share about his journey and what he's creating in the world. So Corey, let's start with how you got involved in the being movement to begin with.

Meredith Bell: 00:02:06

Dr. Corey Anderson: Yeah, that's, that's a very good question. And like many people, the journey has been long in life, lifelong, in a way, and so but bringing myself to the being move actually came through Jeff Mars, who's my my business partner, and who also coaches with Steve, and so forth and so, yeah, probably, I don't even know how many years ago now, three or four years ago, I was going through some things that work leadership wise, challenging wise, and I had just finished a PhD in leadership. And thought, Man, I knew all I know about leadership, right? And I had an interaction with, with one of the leaders at the hospital. And Jeff, you know, was brilliant enough. And he had been introduced to to the being Movement said, you know, I think maybe who you're being is impacting the outcome here. And so he, he introduced me to, to first, you know, the tbolit NFL, and he introduced me to another group called onto core, which was run by Brandon Craig, which he is, he's the introduction in tbolitnfl. So I got an opportunity to listen to that. And thought, wow, there is, there is way more here that I that I need to dive into. And so obviously, along the way, went to a course on onto core, which is all about being, ontology. And so that was a fantastic introduction into being. And then obviously got introduced to the book. The ultimate coach read that, and thought, Man, I need to be involved. I need to learn more. And so my wife and I actually committed, and we went to the to to the second Arizona event, just as as attendees to learn and to listen. And man, that blew my mind wide open going to that event. And next thing you know, I actually Jeff and I actually were in Birmingham and spoke in Birmingham as well on the stage at the ultimate experience there. And so, and it's just been diving in and learning so much. And that's, that's kind of the journey in the best way I could describe it.

Meredith Bell: 00:04:04

Well, that's, yeah, everyone's journey is so interesting and unique, and it's interesting where you were coming from, going into that. I would love for you to talk about the vision that you and Jeff have for transforming medicine. And I'd love for you to start with, what is it you see going on right now that's not working. What is it that needs transforming?

Meredith Bell: 00:04:28

Dr. Corey Anderson: Yeah, that's a great question. Jeff and I love to talk about this, because what we see going on in medicine right now is really a disconnect to our whole self, to the human centered nature of medicine, we do a lot of doings in medicine. We have a lot of knowing and a lot of doing, but we miss that human centered connection a lot of times, which is what people are really seeking most often, is to feel heard and to feel seen and to to really be present with someone. And so, you know, way before even. The 1960s before it kind of started to become a business, there's a lot more human centered approach to medicine, just being with someone and and seeing them as their whole self and heal, creating that healing environment. And over the years, for lots of reasons, we've started to shift our way, our shift our ourselves away from that. And it's become more about doing, which is fine, because there's a lot of doings that can be done in medicine, so to speak, but we've lost a little bit of that, that connection to just the healing nature of the human as a whole. And that's, that's where I see we've kind of, we're kind of gone and through COVID and through all the challenging things that we've experienced, we've really seen how people have have really missed that connection to the human center, the human kind of spirit of sorts, in the way of medicine. And so we've been doing that work at our hospital with our teams to kind of bring people back to the purpose, and bring people back to the human centeredness of medicine, so that we can create those healing environments. And so that's what we're looking to create, is really bringing being into medicine in a way in which we can all look at a individual person and their being and the wholeness of them, and creating an environment in medicine where we can, we can do that. And that's simply the best way I can describe what we're looking to do is to transform medicine in that direction.

Meredith Bell: 00:06:29

First of all, I want to encourage my listeners to just imagine whatever work you're involved with. How can you bring that human connection more to your work, because to me, it's so much broader than just a hospital setting or healthcare. We can all have that way of being with others that brings that same connection that you're talking about.

Meredith Bell: 00:06:54

Dr. Corey Anderson: Yeah, imagine in healthcare, if, if the system at the healthcare system where every patient felt seen, every clinician felt supported, and every employee felt empowered. And that's that's what we're looking to do, is to transform the patient, clinician and employee experience in the world of medicine. Because it's really smart strategy to do so, because when we start to operate that way and transforming people's experiences within that space. It starts to improve pro you know, improves our productivity, improves outcomes. It reduces burnout for us in medicine, it drives, you know, loyalty with employees. It helps them feel empowered and find purpose in what they do. And it really helps to just humanize healthcare, really from the inside out. And you know that way, especially in medicine, we're not just treating a disease, but we're really building a system that heals people and inspires them to kind of deliver all of the care that they need and and that, you know, that message is, yeah, for us, focused on medicine, but also focused. I mean, that that's a formula that works in all areas, to be honest with you, yeah, yeah,

Meredith Bell: 00:08:03

Talk about your formula, because I love it. It's easy to remember,

Meredith Bell: 00:08:08

Dr. Corey Anderson: Yeah. Well, you know, we weren't the ones that created the formula, so to speak, right? Albert Einstein created the formula. And he created it, E equals MC squared, which is, you know, the from the theory of relativity. And we repurposed that, and we wanted to recreate that in a way that would help us transform medicine. And so what we have done is we've repurposed that, that theory of relativity, E equals MC squared, and we we created it in this way. We created it as an experience is equal to our mission, times our compassion, times our competence. And so our mission, you know, is what drives us. It is the thing that you know sets us and kind of puts that, that vision out in front of us and helps us move in the direction of creating something in our lives. And so when we have a mission or a purpose, it really shapes what we do. And so in our hospital setting, we've worked with our teams and with our employees and surgeons and so forth to really make sure that we're connecting to our purse, our purpose, which is to show and heal and be present for people that's that's our mission is to create an environment that offers healing. And so we work with folks to understand the mission that we all have, and then compassion for us is, you know, how are we being with a for us being with a patient? You know, that is really a multiplier in this particular equation, because it doesn't it's not just one person. It's the ripple effect that when we're all being compassionate, when we all show up being kind and so forth, we start to relieve that fear, you know. And for compassion for us is, you know, kind of multifactorial, when we can get into all this, but showing up compassionate in medicine is showing up being kind, showing up being empathetic, and showing up, you know, being the. To be present for patients. That's That's what compassion for us looks like in the healthcare space. And then finally, competence, right? And so in medicine, as in in many industries, you have to there is a set of knowledge that you have to be, you have to have, you have to know. And for us, we created that competency through making sure that people did have the knowledge base and the information readily available to provide care and to do the work that they need to do to heal patients. But also competence shows up as how we're communicating with patients, how we're staying in integrity with patients through our words and so forth and so. Competency shows up in a lot of different ways too, but for this equation, it's the easiest way for us to kind of drive, drive that message and drive that experience, which is experience equals mission times compassion times competence. That's that's our equation that we use,

Meredith Bell: 00:10:57

That is so powerful, again, has application for us in so many different settings. What I'd love to do is make this concrete. So let's think about each one of those three groups, the patients, the doctors, and then the members of the team. And what is it? Let's take each one of them in turn, and you can start with everyone you want. But what is it typically we would see that group have or be or experience, and what is it you're helping them transition or add to or become different than typical?

Meredith Bell: 00:11:35

Dr. Corey Anderson: That's great. Let's take the clinicians or the physicians. We'll group that together clinicians, because there's a lot of folks that fall into that fall into that category. You know, in medicine specifically, the clinicians are generally moving fast, you know, trying to take information in and then move on to the next, the next process, the next doing, so to speak. And what happens when we operate in that particular space is, we're not we're not being present to the moment, and we're not really listening and often hearing what patients are are saying to us, or even team members are saying for us, because we look at this really as kind of like a three legged stool. We have our clinicians, we have our our our team members, and we have our patients. And if something is off balance on any of those legs of that stool, then the stool is not going to work, right? And so physicians interact with team members. Team members interact with physicians. They all interact with patients. So it's really important that we address this in each one of those, those legs of the stool, so to speak, if that makes sense. And so physicians are moving quickly. The clinicians are moving quickly. And and what we are generally working on in this space with physicians is they have a purpose. Most of them have been called to medicine to heal and care for people. They generally have a deep sense of their purpose. Sometimes we need to help them reconnect to that purpose, because they they may have lost it, but mostly with the clinicians, what we're working with is slowing down and being present and and really listening to patients. I am a true believer in in my medical training, that the patients will give you 90% of the diagnosis that you need, and it's whether or not we slow down enough to listen to what's going on with them, wholly, whether it be physically, whether it be mentally thoughts, or were their spiritual needs, or what's going on with them in that domain. And so with the clinicians, it's generally slow down and listen, be present. And that goes with patients, and it goes with team members, in terms of the, you know, kind of the team members, the employee experience, we focus heavily in that world on really driving their purpose, connecting to what they do every day with with their internal, personal purpose in life, and then creating a space in our hospital that empowers them to drive that purpose for themselves. And it is amazing what we see when, when our team members feel empowered to live out their purpose every day at the hospital, and how that really shows up? I mean, it shows up in ways that you can't even really imagine, just from small details of taking care of patients to, you know, our admissions staff handing out chocolates to family members who just to create a different little environment, because they find joy in creating that environment. I mean, it's really fun to see that happen.

Meredith Bell: 00:14:26

I would love for you to share before you go on. I want you to give some specific examples, because I think we touch others hearts, right? Can tell stories about the significance or difference somebody makes. So just like the chocolates you mentioned, I would love for you to share some stories, because I can hear it in your voice. I can see it in your face. How meaningful these actions are, and it's because of where they're coming from in delivery of these services,

Meredith Bell: 00:14:57

Dr. Corey Anderson: Absolutely, you know, I'm going to use an example. Of one of our nurses who we have a team of folks who work with our patients before surgery, really to get them ready for surgery, get them educated, get their families prepared. Most of it is over the phone, some of it is in person, but they create really a unique connection with people. They get really invested in the patient's outcomes. And our hospital and where these nurses are residing are not in the same place, and it is not uncommon. And I can think of one nurse specifically who will feel such a connection to the outcome of that patient that they will often say, hey, Corey, can I drive over to the hospital and be with the family and just sit with them and make sure that they they got all the information that they need. I've been really worried about them, and it's yes, of course, please do so they feel empowered to go do that and to create that space that you know, for the for the patients and their families, is a real meaningful, really meaningful value that that they get from that. So that's one, just one of a ton of examples I could probably share with you. But you know that commitment to seeing it through and to helping patients have the outcome and the family feel supported, drove that nurse to leave where she works, and we've created the space for them to do that, to go and be with the families, or to be with a patient, or to check in on them, and that's a powerful, powerful experience that is created from that. Yeah. I hope that helps.

Meredith Bell: 00:16:30

It does so that leads it very well to the third group, the patients, themselves. Patients,

Meredith Bell: 00:16:35

Dr. Corey Anderson: Yeah, so I'm gonna just shout out Jeff Mars, because he's absolutely brilliant as this as an orthopedic surgeon, he's done a lot of work at what we call enrolling patients in their care. We really work with our nursing staff and with our teams and our physicians the best we can to enroll patients into their care. And so what does that mean? Well, for us, what that means is being with them and helping them understand their role in the outcome that we're looking to create. And if people are familiar with you know Steve Chandler and all of his work and in the work around agreements, we teach working through agreements in our hospital, and that includes creating agreements with patients about how they're going to interact in the patient experience, in the outcome. And so we create agreements with them about, you know, appointments that we need them to go to and participate in. We create agreements with them about how they're going to show up for their care. Agreements around how they're going to bring their mindsets to surgery, or to taking care of their body, to get ready for surgery, or whatever chronic disease we're looking to improve. We will work with them to create agreements on how they're going to show up and handle pain and manage their pain postoperatively. In our world, we do a lot of joint replacement so like total knees, and we'll work with patients on creating agreements about showing up to their physical therapy appointments so that they get the outcome that they need to have. And usually those conversations for us with patients families start with understanding which which comes from our you know, who we're being is a desire to understand what is the outcome that they're looking to create. We do a lot of in our hospital. It's a lot of surgeries, and so we are a surgical hospital. And so when we work with providers, to be with patients, to understand what the patients and their families outcomes are, what they desire as an outcome, it helps us to enroll patients in creating that outcome together, and that's really important for the work that we do in healthcare.

Meredith Bell: 00:18:49

Yeah, yeah. And so what have you seen since you started incorporating that aspect of the patient preparation, yeah, and their entire experience? What differences are you seeing in the outcomes?

Meredith Bell: 00:19:02

Dr. Corey Anderson: Yeah, a lot of differences. I could give you lots and lots of experiences around that, but for us, we do a lot of joint replacements, so total knee replacements, and everyone has two knees, and most of the time, if one wears out, the other one does too. And so we have a lot of patients who come to us who have had knee replacements, and other parts of the country, other parts of the world, and they'll come to us, and we will in, you know, and they'll say, you know, it's okay. It's okay. My knee works. Okay, right? It's it's not, it's not ideal, it's not the way I would like it, but it works okay. And so we we say, Okay, well, let's what are we looking to create with this one? And we will enroll them in their care, and we'll enroll them in what we do in terms of listening to them and being present for them and creating that experience for them. And it's not uncommon for us, with most patients, to hear Wow. That is way different than before. That is such a different experience. But now this one. Is way better. And, you know, there's, there's some around that where it's, you know, is it, is it's their mindset, it's what we've done, it's what we've done to create that experience, and who they're being with, who we are being, that created that, that mindset for them, that this is a different experience, this outcome is way different than the last one. How did this happen? I didn't, I didn't think that this was going to happen. And that happens for us quite frequently, to be quite honest with you. And so the outcomes that we see from this are even in the challenging world of medicine and surgery, where complications do happen, we have laid the groundwork on the front end of that surgical experience that when we do have things that come up because they do that. They do come up. We now have such a relationship with patients that we just have full transparency and honesty, and we can be with them in a way which says, you know we we care about you, we love you. We are looking for that outcome for you. And unfortunately, this happened, and the trust that is granted both ways when you create that sort of environment is just hard to even describe, too hard to put into words to be honest with you. And so, you know, even in challenging times when the outcome is not what you would want it to be, this the space that we've created has been such, such a space, that the relationship is so strong that we move forward together, right? And that's a really remarkable thing. But even on, you know, generally speaking, you know, 99% of the surgeries go really well, and the outcomes that we have seen with this approach to medicine is impactful. We've had patients get out of the hospital sooner because they understand how to manage pain and do they've committed to doing the physical therapy necessary to get out of that get out of the hospital. We have less readmissions into the hospital because we've enrolled their families into their care so they are knowledgeable about what needs to happen after surgery, and we've worked with our nursing staff so that they feel called to answer questions and take care of patients in a way that create that environment for them. And so you know, our length of stays have gone down, our readmissions have gone down, our infection rates go down. All of those things that we monitor around surgery and healthcare experiences really improve when we come from who we are being, and create that space to be, that

Meredith Bell: 00:22:29

That helps describe Well, there are two different things that come to mind well. The first one I want to mention is it seems to me that when these patients go through this experience with you and your team that that transforms them. You're not just talking about transforming medicine, we're talking about transforming individuals and then the ripple effect on their families, because you've really enrolled the families in the process too. So I wonder if you're not seeing or you probably are seeing these dynamics change within the families themselves.

Meredith Bell: 00:23:07

Dr. Corey Anderson: Yeah, it's not uncommon. So I practice and practiced orthopedics for about 14 years, and I've been in administration for a while now, so it was not uncommon in my practice when I would see patients who would come to us with just really debilitating lives, like they're in wheelchairs, they're using canes, they they aren't engaging in life in in a rich way, right? They can't go to their grandchildren's or their child's school's plays and activities because they're in pain, or they're hurting, or they're or they're chronic disease or limiting them in some way, that's that's where they're at, that's where they're at, that's where they're the reality that they're they're in for them, and it's a really beautiful and remarkable thing when you can create an environment where they see themselves accomplishing something and creating something and empowering them to do that, and being with them in a way that says, Yes, I I believe in you, and I trust you, and I love you as a person, and I'm committed to helping you get there, as long as you know we have an agreement that you're committed to, right? You're committed to getting there as well, to watch that play out, and then to see them, not I mean not long after a surgery, and that experience that they go through, and all that we do we now have their their chronic disease like diabetes or hypertension or something much more manageable. They're they're, they're healthier in that domain, and now they're able to get to their grandkids events, and they go back to work, and they feel more empowered and more lively and more enriched in their life. That's a really remarkable experience. And you know, that's the beauty of medicine, is being able to be a part of that story for people is artful thing, which is, is this is what called most people to get into. Medicine in the first place is to have that sort of healing impact on them. And you know, we do a lot of orthopedic surgery, so bones and muscles and things like that, and so it's really a great space. And we see how medicine can really transform people's lives by giving them the ability to just participate in life fully again, which a lot of them have lost that sense of ability to do that.

Meredith Bell: 00:25:26

And I know you and Jeff now have this bigger vision, yeah, of taking this impact that you've been able to create within your own hospital, to transform medicine altogether, which is an amazing goal. And so what does that look like in terms of how you're going about that?

Meredith Bell: 00:25:44

Dr. Corey Anderson: Yeah, that looks like a lot of things. To be honest with you, one of the things that that we're looking to do is to bring being into medicine, and what I mean by that is creating awareness around it. So, you know, we've started a podcast as well called being in medicine to create a space where people can listen and engage in these conversations. But what that looks like, to be quite honest with you, is bringing the the awareness and the knowledge of what being is and how to create that, that exceptional experience for patients through these through these ideas, not ideas, but through who we are, being and being present and being loved and being loved and being trusting and being compassionate and being competent, and these are things that are been shown over and over again. Yeah, our hospital has done the work for us in a lot of ways, but there's a lot of other places that are also doing this work that show just as just as good quality outcomes, you know? So from Stanford to Harvard to Mayo Clinic, they have incorporated a lot of beingness, without them really understanding that it's really being but concepts of just being present, concepts of listening deeply to patients, physician coaching, and team member coaching, Nurse coaching, all of those things are playing a role in bringing being into medicine. And so our vision really is to incorporate being into healthcare schools so that they learn and understand some of these concepts about being present and listening and enrolling patients. So we're doing a lot of talking around around creating the awareness around it, if that makes sense, for sure,

Meredith Bell: 00:27:20

Yeah, and I'm curious where you're finding the receptivity, yeah, the highest at what level within an organization are they saying? Absolutely, this makes perfect sense.

Meredith Bell: 00:27:34

Dr. Corey Anderson: Yeah. So that's a really good question. And to be honest, if I'm going to be really honest about this, nurses are great at this space, their nursing, the nursing curriculum and the nursing approach to medicine really is a holistic, well rounded wholeness. They, they nurses do a great job of seeing the big picture of a of a human spirit and just the human wholeness. And so nurses have latched on to this. They get this intuitively, to be quite frank with you, and also team members, folks who just really understand what it's like to take care of, people who feel called to serve others, really latch on to this. And we've seen some good traction in physicians too. There's a lot of physicians that have really started to understand the value of slowing down and being present can lead to better outcomes, but also, in a way, strangely, leads to being more productive. Because when you slow down and be with patients in a way in which you understand what, what's going on for them, and then you can, you can address that with them. These people don't come back over and over again because you haven't listened to them, which is what happens in medicine a lot. Is when we got 15 minutes to see this patient, and we don't take the time to sit down and listen to what's happening for them as as a as a human being, we kind of just listen to a portion of it, address it, and move on. Well, those people are right back in our clinic about two weeks later trying to readdress it or address something else that we didn't take the time to listen to. So we're finding a lot of physicians who are really interested in in that particular work. And so yeah, and there's some administrators as well who really do see the bigger picture of of that, and they definitely understand creating experiences, because one of the things that we are repeatedly measured on and as reported for healthcare is what we call patient reported outcomes. So when you go to a healthcare setting and you go to say, get a surgery as a patient or a family member, you're going to get a survey after that experience, and it's your opportunity to describe what's going on for you and how that that experience was. Because most patients, and I talked about this before, is that most patients don't necessarily understand the outcome. They know where they're trying to get to. But they don't understand all the details, and that goes in almost any industry. A lot of lot of people don't really understand the mechanism of what what it is that's going to happen for them. But what they do understand and get really well is the experience that they had while they were doing it right and so administratively, where we look to create experiences in medicine that patients will walk away from and say, Yeah, that was a wonderful experience for me, and that's what they fill out on their surveys, which is how hospitals and healthcare settings get scored and get reimbursed. To be quite honest with you, though, all of those things matter, and when we talk about that for in terms of bringing being to medicine, what better way to create an amazing experience when we're helping our physicians, our patients and our team members come to that, that setting from their being, their authentic being of who they are and why they're there, man that creates the most profound experience for patients?

Meredith Bell: 00:31:02

Yeah, I'm sure it does. And as I'm listening to describe that, I'm kind of zooming out just this word experience, and what that means for anyone we think about, how do I create the experience of my spouse living with me? Oh yes, you know, or my children living with me, or my coworkers or my whatever, and it's leading me to think about your work with Steve and your experience of him, and what impact that work has had on you in terms of what you're focused on doing now,

Meredith Bell: 00:31:39

Dr. Corey Anderson: Yeah, oh man, That's a great question. So my work with Steve. So when I went through the my own internalness of how I was going to come to work with Steve, we had some conversations, and Steve asked me simply, what, what do you want to create? And so it was, it came to me, and it wasn't a specific and a specific thing that I wanted to create, but it was this. It was I want to enrich my life. That's what it was, and that's what was called to me, and was sitting with me. And man, have we done that in so many ways I can't even describe, to be honest with you, but one of the most impactful ways is how he creates love, and how love shows up for him. And one of my mission and my purpose in life is to love and serve others. That's That's what my purpose is, and what he has taught me about love and shared with me about love, just unconditional love is has been probably the most impactful thing that has enriched my life is just being with people as you know. I have a I have a strong faith, strong faith and something that guides me, that you know, whether you believe in a religion or a faith of some sort, I do have a strong faith. And so how I show up being love every day is, is what's been the most profound enrichment in my life through my work with Steve and his chapter in the book, I think it's What chapter 35 love. I've drawn a blank on what it is right now, but how he creates that every day, creates love in his life, and just is being unconditional love is, yeah, that's, that's what's been most enrichful.

Meredith Bell: 00:33:25

Yeah. What is that done in terms of how you show up every day?

Meredith Bell: 00:33:30

Dr. Corey Anderson: Yeah. And so for me, the second line of my document is, I am the living embodiment of love. For I am love. And that, you know when I say that, and I use come from my document, I come from that place of being. Everything that I do shifts every day, how I am being with my family, how I'm being a leader in the hospital, how I'm being with patients when I just am being loved. And look at them with with love, and look upon the space and everything was love. I mean that that totally changes the whole experience that I have, right? And I say this, sometimes I say it, whether it's it's great or not, I'm not sure, but I will say, you know, I love you, but I don't like your actions right now, right? And so sometimes I have to do that for myself and for people around me, but at least I can come from a place of I just love them as a human being and accept them for who they are and not judge. There's no judgment, and when I create that space for myself every day, yeah, the ripples effects of that are enormous, personally, professionally, in the hospital, the dynamics that I have with the people that I lead have shifted dramatically when I show up being loved because they know that I'm there for them. I'm with them. I love them, and we can disagree, and we can may not like each other's actions. At times, but at least there's that understanding that love between us in that particular way is, is there present in the moments?

Meredith Bell: 00:35:09

Yeah? Yeah. You know, I think that's one of the things that's so important to understand about love. It isn't like accepting everything that everybody does with no comment or no you know it isn't acquiescing new things that people do. But again, where you're coming from, when you do address the actions that have had negative consequences on you or someone else, how has that changed the way you communicate?

Meredith Bell: 00:35:43

Dr. Corey Anderson: Oh, quite a bit. You know, it's changed quite a bit. How can I describe that? You know, before I got into the being movement and really understanding of that as a leader, I found myself, I guess, talking at people, right? And, yeah, talking at people because, you know, like a lot of people, a lot of leaders, a lot of people, you know, there's this, I know, I know what we're doing. I have, I have the knowledge. I'm I'm I know what, I know what needs to be done. And I would talk at people and what I've found through my own personal journey, and through the journey of the being movement and all of those things, to be present and to be love creates that space where I can just accept people for who they are and listen to what they have to say, and I can be a better communicator when I'm showing up being loving, and see them as as that. Does that? Does that make sense?

Meredith Bell: 00:36:40

I guess. Oh, it absolutely does, because it to me when we show up that way, it totally changes how we listen to them, how we respond, and the whole dynamic that happens,

Meredith Bell: 00:36:55

Dr. Corey Anderson: Yeah, I guess the best way for me to describe it is when I approach someone to communicate now compared to when I prior to to being this way was, you know, now I show up being acceptance, being non judgment, being knowing that there's more context to the conversation that I need to learn and discover, And that alone has probably just been the most transformative thing for me as a communicator, being a communicator, as a leader, and we all leaders in our lives, is to show up, being curious and not judging what is happening and just knowing that there's more context to discover.

Meredith Bell: 00:37:39

Yeah, yeah. That's so powerful. You know, it sounds kind of simple, yeah, but it really is profound in how because what was occurring to me as I was listening to you, is that shift from our position of being prepared to prove we're right or make our point, or, you know, have the last word, whatever it is, where our ego is driving the conversation instead of what you're saying here, that that sense of love more to discover, and therefore the ability to be curious, yeah, When we can maintain that curiosity to recognize there's more to learn, it makes a huge difference in what the other person receives from us.

Meredith Bell: 00:38:29

Dr. Corey Anderson: Yeah, absolutely, very much. So, you know, that incident that I talked about that brought me to the being movement that Jeff Mars was so brilliant at pointing out was that it was communicating from a place of wanting to be right. And that led me to discover this whole space of the being movement, and man has it transformed just everything about the way that I approach communication and approach everything in life, obviously, but when we show up being, you know, love and being a communicator, and that's one. So one of the things that I do at the hospital is I do lead our, one of our our cultural program is called the ambassador program. And what we one of the things that we talk about, one of the modules that we go through, is being a communicator, where we do talk about this, where we talk about approaching each conversation, whether it's with a team member, a physician or a patient. We talk about showing up not, you know, not without judgment. We show up being acceptance, and then we show up being curious. Our goal and being a good communicator is to discover the context on the other side of that conversation. And the only way we can do that is through listening, being present to the moment and listen until you know they're empty so to speak, right? And listen to everything else to say. And so we teach that as part of our our culture, with our with our team members, is that that piece of it, which when they practice it and they put it in. Action and they show up. Being a communicator in that way really leads to way more, much more efficient conversations and much more enriched conversations in life. And, you know, I lead the program around healthcare, but it's amazing when we when we come together, when when our employees come back, because it's something that we do every other month, where most of the conversation is actually what's happening for them at home rather than what's happening for them in the hospital. Because they do take these things, and they'll often say, Hey, can you go talk to my wife, or can you go talk to my husband and show them this? Yeah, it's transformed their lives more than just outside of the hospital.

Meredith Bell: 00:40:38

Yeah, that was a sense that I got from what you had said earlier, this ripple effect with the patients and their families, with the people in your hospital who work there, in their all their relationships. I just love what you're helping to spread, yeah, in the way people are being with each other. Is there anything else Corey as we wrap up that we haven't talked about, that you're thinking, Oh, I would love to share this,

Meredith Bell: 00:41:07

Dr. Corey Anderson: Man, we've talked about a lot, that's for sure. You know, I think what I would just say is, you know, E equals MC squared is a really simple and equation that people can remember, and we apply it to healthcare, but it can be applied in every setting, in any industry, right? You can even apply it at home. It's free, right? And so you know, and I think it's important for just for people to remember that you know, whether you work in the financial industry or real estate or whatever you whatever manufacturing. Right? People don't necessarily always understand the process or the details of what's happening in that space, but what they do understand is the experience of what has happened in that space. That's what they walk away from. And when we create experiences from being, it transforms every space. So that's what I would leave us with in that regard.

Meredith Bell: 00:42:06

Oh, I love that. Thank you. That is a beautiful summary of what you've covered. Corey, I just love the work you're doing well. Thank you. And Jeff, are you, know, having such an impact in your own hospital, but now this ripple effect with you speaking and working with other organizations, your podcasts are so many ways that you're stepping out. Yeah, you know, carrying this in a bigger way.

Meredith Bell: 00:42:30

Dr. Corey Anderson: Yeah. We also have a book in pre publication called being in medicine, and it's kind of an allegorical story of a journey of a physician who enters into medicine and then comes to an understanding of being and applying that into this space. And it's a great journey to just understand what we're talking about when, when people are what, what is being in medicine? We're like, we're really excited about that.

Meredith Bell: 00:42:55

Oh, that's great. I'm eager to hear about it when it's when it's ready to be presented to the world. Thank you again, Corey, for being with me today. I know you've enriched the lives of every person who's listened to this conversation. Thank you.

Meredith Bell: 00:43:11

Dr. Corey Anderson: Yeah, well, thank you for the work that you and EPAC do with the podcast. It's wonderful. I love the conversations and all the work that you're doing to grow leaders. And yeah, thanks for the invite, and I appreciate being being a part of it. Thank you. Thank you.

Meredith Bell: 00:43:27

Thank you for joining us today. If there's someone you know who could benefit from this conversation, please share this episode with them. Also check out our website, being movement.com you'll find valuable resources and links to connect to an engaging and wonderfully supportive community. Together, we can inspire and support each other on the path to a greater understanding of being until next time, take care and be kind to yourself. You.