Be willing to say you were wrong
One way Bastone encourages communication is by being a proponent of executive and management vulnerability.
“There have been a couple of times when I’ve had to stand infront of my managers and say, ‘Bad decision; we shouldn’t havegone in that direction,’” he says.
“All of the decisions and all the things we do in terms of leadingthe organization may not be the right thing. It may be the wrongpolicy, wrong investment or wrong focus. But if we make a mistake and we’re not making the impact we need to have or if it’scontrary to where we want to go as an organization, I’ve taughteveryone here that it’s important to stand in the middle of theroom, in front of everyone, and say, ‘I goofed.’”
Once you accept responsibility for a mistake, Bastone says takea step backward. Look at other recommendations that weremade at the time of the decision, and re-evaluate them. Mostimportantly, ask for help. Your way of doing things didn’t work,but maybe someone else in the organization has an idea thatcould fix what went wrong.
By promoting the idea of executive vulnerability, Bastone has lifted the illusion of management infallibility. When your staff understands that the boss isn’t always right — and that it’s OK that theboss isn’t always right — the barrier between management andstaff breaks down. The staff members know it’s OK to disagreewith their managers, because their managers might be wrong.Bastone says his emphasis on management vulnerability hasstrengthened the interdepartmental bonds at Mission Hospital andintegrated the management and staff into one entity.
