This morning, I heard the phrase, "slow down to speed up" one two different scenarios. One time was while I was swimming before work and the second time during a discussion with our executive team.

This means, slow down, focus on the right technique or process and ultimately you will be able to do the same activity faster and more efficiently without "running out of steam."

As a hospital executive, many decisions need to be made on a daily basis. I do not take this responsibility lightly. Many of us, throughout the hospital, make balanced decisions every day keeping in mind various perspectives before moving ahead.

While swimming in the morning, there is a Coach who constantly watches our performance. He provides very timely and direct feedback. This morning he said to me "Every time you try to go too fast, you lose the intended technique and you slow down. You have to keep thinking and being mindful of what you are doing in the water as you swim. When you slow down, you will find that you will think more about your form and ultimately speed up. In the process, you will use less energy (wasted time) than you use now."

Please take note that he also enjoyed watching several others essentially swim over me as my form weakened and I slowed down. It was certainly a direct way of receiving immediate feedback! Getting the cues to slow down is not always so obvious. There is a need to constantly communicate and gain perspective from one another.

One way we needed to slow down happened this evening...tonight, I discussed a patient transfer with a few physicians and our Nursing Officer. The issue had been brought to me from a couple different people with differing viewpoints. "Slowing down" and reviewing our current processes with all the key stakeholders allows us a chance to "speed-up" and improve the process moving forward.

I look forward to hearing from you.