Page 114 - The Power to Change Anything

Make the Undesirable Desirable 103

The way Berwick helps executives reconnect to the human
elements of every safety problem is by creating powerful vicar-
ious and direct experiences. As we explained earlier, Berwick
relies on stories and significant emotional events to increase his
ability to create change. Were he to use the much-abused tool
of verbal persuasion, particularly facts and figures, he’d lose both
credibility and power. Ironically, when you want an individual
disaster—one with a name and a face—to seem even more
important, you’re tempted to bundle it with dozens of other indi-
vidual disasters into a one-lump “impressive” number. In so
doing, you drop the names, the faces, and the humanity; even-
tually you also drop your ability to exert influence.
Dr. Berwick never makes this mistake. Instead he helps hos-
pital CEOs create vicarious experiences by asking them to,
“Find an injured patient in your system and investigate the
injury. Don’t delegate it. Do it yourself. Then return and share
your story.” The CEOs Berwick is working with already know
the statistics about hospital injuries and accidental deaths. But
what makes them “zealots for quality improvement” from that
experience forward is the dramatic experience they have first-
hand with human consequences. They can no longer remain
morally disengaged through the use of dehumanizing statistics
because they now know a name.
Now for a corporate application. If you’re a leader attempt-
ing to break down silos, encourage collaboration, and engage
teamwork across your organization, take note. Moral dis-
engagement always accompanies political, combative, and
self-centered behavior. You’ll see this kind of routine moral
disengagement in the form of narrow labels (“bean counters,”
“gear heads,” “corporate,” “the field,” “them,” and “they”)
used to dehumanize other individuals or groups. To reengage
people morally—and to rehumanize targets that people read-
ily and easily abuse—drop labels and substitute names.
Confront self-serving and judgmental descriptions of other
people and groups. Finally, demonstrate by example the