We are humans first. Before we are male or female, before we are married or single, before we are fathers and mothers, and certainly before we are employers and employees or doctors and patients – we are human.

Starting from there – and considering that the societal, political, and global dynamics shaping the Employer / Employee and Doctor / Patient experiences are more complex today than at any time in the past 50 years – the value of designing “human-centric systems” seems clearer than ever.

Human-centric vs. role-centric
We design employee benefit systems because they’re nigh-on a necessity for employers and employees alike. Similarly, we design patient services systems – a necessity for the doctor / patient relationship.

But notice that neither system really takes the other into account in its design elements.

Both are role-centric.

So also drug distribution systems and health insurance systems. Not to say this is wrong, but just to recognize the limits that are inherent in each of these systems.

 Still, it is a single human being who plays all of these roles (and more):

• Employee

• Patient

• Consumer

• Member

So, as we move towards the end of Q1 of this century – and particularly given the amplification capabilities that are emerging with AI, there is a profound opportunity to re-imagine the healthcare delivery system and the employee benefits industry in the context of “macro-mappings” that begin to weave these diverse roles together into more coherent, adaptable, and resilient societal systems.

Designing to our shared humanity
If we choose to recognize our shared humanity as the core essence that's underneath our diverse roles, we can tap into a powerful – perhaps alchemical – framework for transforming our workplaces and healthcare settings into evolutionary laboratories that can operate to reflect that profound truth. And it’s a choice; we certainly don’t have to do so - sometimes I question if we even can, or if we even want to!

But if we reorient on and embrace a compassionate, systems-focused approach that acknowledges the complexity and interdependency of our relationships as employers and employees, and doctors and patients, we enter a realm where our businesses are no longer just detached entities operating in an economic vacuum.

Companies and healthcare practices are living, breathing systems – in many ways akin to the human body: organs & cells, departments and employees, facilities and practitioners – who share a common goal.

In the tumult, how can we not view our organizations through the lens of systems theory? And, not “systems” as an abstract concept, but as a vital, empathic roadmap guiding us through economic, societal, and political challenges? It's a call not merely to survive, but to thrive.

Interdependence fosters independence
The relationship between employers and employees isn't a one-way street. Nor is the relationship between physicians and their patients.

Every decision, every action taken by an employer or a physician, has a ripple effect. It touches the morale, productivity, and well-being of the workforce, and the literal lifeblood, the will, and the livelihood of the patient.

Conversely, an employee's or a patient's attitude, performance, and overall satisfaction feed back into the lifeblood of the company organization and the medical practice. Our collective and personal capacities for self-determination emerge from our understanding that we are inviolably interconnected.

Opportunity #1: Recognize these interrelationships and honor them.

Feedback isn't just a bureaucratic checkbox
Soliciting a real conversation - a connection with employees and patients – can become a lifeline within our organizations. Employers and physicians have not only the opportunity – but perhaps even the duty – to nurture and guide, and to provide appropriate feedback that fuels growth. And from an even higher perspective, employees’ and patients' insights and experiences are invaluable. Each voice can help shape and refine the very heart of our employer and healthcare enterprises.

Opportunity #2: “Get” that real dialog is necessary (and desirable) for adapting and flourishing.

Response-ability beats react-ivity
There is depth and strength in a system experiencing harmonious equilibrium. It’s far more than just hitting KPIs and meeting deadlines. It's about fostering healthy work and care environments that yield those peculiar balances that - for a company, encourages job satisfaction, reduces turnover, and enhances productivity - and for a healthcare practice, encourages patient awareness, responsibility, and clinical compliance. It's about keeping the pulse of our organizations steady and robust. 

         Opportunity #3: Orient on “people” as primary, rather than secondary, to profit.

Adaptability amidst flux
Who hasn’t heard the phrase “adapt or die?” As Lawrence “Larry the Liquidator” Garfield (Danny DeVito) said in Other People’s Money, “I bet the last buggy-whip manufacturer made the best buggy whip you ever saw! How would you like to have been an investor in that company?”

Our world is in constant flux. Markets, technologies, societal needs - they're evolving at breakneck speed. And, as "systems," organizations must be nimble, responsive, and ready to adapt. It's not enough to merely react; one must anticipate, pivot, respond, and embrace change.

Opportunity #4: Shift away from a manic focus on quarterly earnings (or other operational equivalencies). Study what’s coming and hone your intuition.

Cultivating whole-ism
Finally, adopt a holistic perspective. The relationships between employers and employees, and doctors and patients, don't exist in isolation. They are but single pieces in the complex puzzle that constitutes our organizations as part of the larger systems of our communities, our states, and our economies.

Consider your entire system – the physical work environment, the organizational culture, your industry's trends, and the profit pressures. Every element is interwoven; each part contributes to the overall tapestry of the whole.

The last word
Our collective path forward requires a conscious shift towards integrating these principles of systems theory. It's a compassionate approach, one that sees our organizations not as machines, but as – literally – living human systems. And it is through understanding, honoring, and nurturing these systems – ourselves, really – that we will navigate the challenges of our era - and emerge stronger.

~ Mark Head
© 2023. All Rights Reserved.

Aspirations
"It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the one who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

~ Theodore Roosevelt

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