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Carol Amore

ATD Links Archive - ATD Links

Leadership and Emotional Intelligence

Understanding how each generation operates can lead to a more congenial and efficient workplace.

Generational Awareness in the Workplace

INSTITUTIONAL LEARNING A MORE APPROPRIATE DEFINITION OF ROLES

Talent managers who understand the various types of ignition and the associated levers will have a more nuanced view of their team members.

Ignition: The Light and Dark Sides of What Drives Us

No More Excuses for Not Training Secretaries

Winsor Jenkins explains how the highly competitive global business world has become more and more like soccer.

Leveraging the “Beautiful Game” in the Age of Collaboration

Part 1 of this blog series asserted that the healthcare literacy challenge is akin to the language and communications challenges faced by every industry. Indeed, every market, company, and every project has its own lingo.Although the healthcare industry attempts to educate its patients and caregivers, it is teaching exactly opposite to how people actually learn language. Perhaps it is time to adjust the learning process to improve healthcare literacy. Current Approach Cannot Be Sustained According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), 90 percent of Americans need help understanding healthcare instructions. Dumbing down the language is not the best solution because the lingo and the language actually have meaning. A better approach is to smarten up the patients.  Research in linguistics, language acquisition, and neuroscience has uncovered the means by which adults learn new English terms and words.  That’s good; the path is known. (You can check out a summary in Part 1 of this series or review a detailed summary in another ATD blog series, “The Language of the Workplace.” In fact, adding words to patients’ vocabularies makes it easier to add even a few more words, thus building up a literacy capability.  Maybe words like “modality,” “asymptomatic,” and “lesion” simply need to be treated as new vocabulary words. The specific words that any one individual needs to learn will be hard to gauge. Language is a moving target, ranging from basic healthcare to disease-specific terminology to health and wellness. The good news: People are learning new terms all the time. Each new product introduction, television program, job, or neighborhood, and so on requires a new vocabulary. It stands to reason that, as a population, we can learn the language of healthcare—what we need and when we need it. If the language is continually stripped of its nuance and complexity, by presenting everything at the 6th grade level, then we are doomed to remain challenged by the vocabulary. Yet, the very definition of literacy is about the ability to comprehend complex vocabulary and concepts, and that includes medical terms or probability and risk.  The English language is rich in words and meanings. The greatest challenge to the healthcare community is that there is no way of knowing, in advance, which words and concepts are already in the vocabulary of its patients and caregivers. Let’s describe the complexity of the challenge with some data points:  There are 2400 words in the “kernel lexicon,” or those words needed for readers to understand 75 percent of what they read. Second language speakers are considered “fluent” with a vocabulary of 3000 words. The size of the vocabulary of a native English speaker depends on age, education, and experience, but it ranges from 10,000 to 25,000 words. For reference, the Oxford English Dictionary has 250,000 entries, including 50,000 obsolete words. There are 1 million words in the English language. People Want to Learn Is it possible for someone with a large vocabulary to not know the meaning of COBRA or NSAID?  Absolutely. Just as members of the medical community might not be comfortable talking about five-year ARMS or semi-definite positives. Patients and caregivers want to learn. According to Pew Research, 59 percent of U.S. adults looked up medical information on the Internet in 2013. Healthcare providers can help with this learning and educational challenge. Enter language learning tools. The way out of healthcare illiteracy isn’t to give in to it and talk to people in simplistic terms. Instead, let’s provide support and tools that enable patients and caregivers to grow their vocabularies and understanding. For example, while glossaries are considered “old school,” there are 21st century options. Healthcare provider can become the curator of language, identifying terms, abbreviations, and acronyms that will be valuable and useful to a specific patient and caregiver population. Imagine giving the newly diagnosed patient a complete collection of terms, with usage and meaning, that covers the entire topic of their care, including hospital locations and labs, medical terms, testing and monitoring lingo , as well as frequently used acronyms, phone numbers, and more. This information could be made available for reference on their smartphone—while they’re talking to family and friends, reading on the web, or looking at directions.  Bottom line: Rather than hoping patients took good notes, caregivers could take advantage of modern technology to support the language learning needs of healthcare consumers.

How to Achieve Healthcare Literacy, Part 2

New Brain Science Study Analyzes How to Maximize Learning Retention

A majority (71 percent) of CEOs face imposter syndrome during their leadership, according to Korn Ferry. While we might not all be CEOs, most of us experience imposter syndrome at some point. The Label and the Human ConditionIt’s perfectly natural to feel like a fraud—whether it’s when facing a new job, environment, or large challenge.But there’s an interesting thing about the human mind. If we label it, in this case, imposter syndrome, it often becomes that very label we want to avoid.Moreover, labels make it seem like we are the problem.It’s worth remembering where the term came from. Doctors Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes originally referred to the “Imposter Phenomenon” in their 1978 paper: “The Imposter Phenomenon in High Achieving Women: Dynamics and Therapeutic Intervention.”Interestingly, their paper was specifically about high-achieving women, and it never used the term “syndrome.” That was later added when psychologist Carol Tavris used both phenomenon and syndrome in her 1982 Vogue article, “Your Life, Your Health—Who’s in Control?”Why do all these details matter?In short, feeling like a fraud is a perfectly normal experience of the human condition. If we don’t doubt ourselves at times, we plow on making mistakes and missing details blinded by overconfidence.Instead, self-doubt allows us to reflect, check, and improve on ourselves.Of course, some cases can and do turn into a pathological syndrome, but it’s vital to understand and face the cause rather than jump onto symptoms.To manage imposter feelings, understand the root cause:How does your environment or work culture support or hinder your confidence? What is within your control to change? We can all do our part to nurture belonging as part of our work culture, including promoting book clubs, for example. Who or where are your allies such that you both support and promote each other? Feeling like you’re the only one in the trenches can turn into an imposter phenomenon.What biases or stereotypes operate around you? Sometimes we are hired into a leadership role because we are different, and this can quickly lead to feelings of not belonging and of being a fraud.Embrace the Whole of YouWhen facing imposter feelings, many try logic and reframing or mind over matter. “While these are valid techniques, the cognitive approach can only take you so far because imposter feelings are driven by emotions that want to be heard.”Instead, the art is to embrace all our emotions, an approach that can be built on the foundations of emotional intelligence at work. In the language of Internal Family Systems, we welcome all our internal parts.Essentially, we all have a family of inner parts, and it is within our power to embrace them. As such, we mediate harmony by leveraging our inner compassionate and confident core self.Everyone can connect to that inner core and become more grounded and at peace with their parts, including the imposter ones. The power of the approach is that it targets both our logical and emotional minds.Collaborate with your imposter part:Imagine your imposter part as a separate entity with shape and color, and try to get to know it. While this might sound strange, it naturally creates a space so that the emotions become less overwhelming.Practice self-compassion both toward yourself and your imposter part. It has been trying to protect you, even if over-enthusiastically. By highlighting self-doubt, it might be telling you to change your approach, for instance.Note when the imposter feelings come up and how they influence you. Sit with the emotions to deepen your understanding, and with time, they will gradually dissipate.Embrace Your Imposter Part for Future SuccessWorking with the mind means blending both logic and emotions. Most importantly, we need to deal with the root cause of imposter feelings. So, reflect on your inner imposter voice and collaborate with it. Furthermore, review how your environment and those around you perhaps feed the imposter part within you. As you connect with your imposter part and gradually shift what is within your control to change, you’ll find yourself feeling more grounded and self-assured. 

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