51: Effective Communication for Healthcare Leaders with Becky Wolfe

September 18, 2023 The New Generation Leader Podcast 00:41:4457.34M

Ever been frustrated with your healthcare experience?

Every conversation I have with Becky Wolfe gives me hope for the future of what is happening in health care. Becky’s work as a health care practitioner turned leadership coach and consultant is inspirational.

She gives me hope that there is a path forward. There is a way where we can find hope and health, and our doctors, nurses, and healthcare leaders can find balance, rhythm, and sustainability in their work.

Becky talks about consistency and accountability and how to build those into every engagement she has with healthcare leaders.

Show Outline

  • 00:01:19 – The stressful ER experience
  • 04:34 – Reacting and responding in stressful situations
  • 08:15 – Life transformation and serving healthcare
  • 08:21 – The cardiology practice and patient disconnect
  • 09:15 – Finding a new job and feeling stuck
  • 10:06 – Transitioning to coaching and consulting
  • 17:19 – The shift in culture for collaboration
  • 18:04 – Building a system of development and transformation
  • 22:09 – Innovations in healthcare: value-based care and direct primary care
  • 26:29 – The frustration of autonomy in healthcare
  • 27:43 – The impact of high expectations on healthcare professionals
  • 31:53 – The importance of self-awareness and emotional intelligence
  • 35:02 – The power of collaboration
  • 36:27 – The journey of self-confidence
  • 37:46 – Value in every voice

Quotes from the Show

  • “You have to understand what your emotions are…you’re a human, you’re not a robot.”
  • “[In healthcare] the culture is built into them that they have to have all the answers.”

Episode 51 presented by:

Connect with Becky

Episode 51 – Full transcript

Aaron Lee – Host (00:00:00) – Ever been frustrated with your health care experience? Every conversation I have with Becky Wolfe gives me hope for the future of what is happening in health care. Becky’s work as a health care practitioner turned leadership coach consultant is inspirational. It’s giving me an idea that there is a path forward. There is a way where we can find hope and health, and our doctors, nurses and health care leaders can find balance and rhythm and sustainability in their work. Becky talks about tools, consistency, accountability and building those into every engagement she has with health care leaders. Let’s dive into this conversation today with Becky on her journey and experience as a health care leader turned health care coach to leaders and how she is bringing hope and sustainability into the health care space.

Jay Smack – Voice of the Show (00:00:55) – Welcome to the New Generation Leader podcast. We’re giving you the tools you need to lead in the digital world ready to reach your true potential. This is the New Generation Leader podcast.

Aaron Lee – Host (00:01:09) – In a previous chapter of life, you were in patient care. What’s the most stressed you have ever been taking care of a patient?

Becky Wolfe (00:01:17) – That’s a good question.

Becky Wolfe (00:01:19) – So a couple of things come to mind. So my first experience that was really stressful was working in the Er. I was young, 20, and graduated from school. The E.R. that I worked at was it was like a level three trauma. So it is not something where you see usually a ton of trauma cases. Those go to higher acuity hospitals. So remember we had multiple car accidents come in at the same time. So had actually been there, I think it had been like a year. And I was taking care of a critical patient and didn’t know how critical until I walked into the room. And she was 21, walk in and do a physical exam on her. And my physician that worked closely with me at the end of the E.R. was actually taking care of another trauma patient. I go in and somebody one of the nurses had done like a quick scan. They’re like, she’s okay. You know, go in and take a look at her. I’m like, okay, great. So walk in the door and look at her.

Becky Wolfe (00:02:07) – Her abdomen is bloated. I’m like, Oh, that doesn’t look good. I look at the monitor. She’s really tachycardic or heart rate’s really high and oxygen levels. Okay, she’s on oxygen. And I just kind of do a quick scan, do a quick exam. And I’m like, She probably has a spleen laceration. And I started freaking out a little bit. She had a laceration on her leg that was pretty deep. And I’m like, okay, this is scary. You know, I’ve been trained to handle this, but in like real life situations. I also had the benefit of working with a physician close to me. So just talk to the nurse, sort of directing care of like, okay, this is what I need. I need a CT scan in here, stat. I need you to get somebody from CT, get them in here. So I remember just going through all the directives and remember like walking out the room and I was like, talked to the doc that was on.

Becky Wolfe (00:02:49) – I said, You need to see this patient immediately. And the cool thing was in that situation, the E.R. in particular, I didn’t feel alone in patient care. When there’s high acuity patients in situations like that, I always felt like I had back up. So the team that we had with the docs, I always felt like was was a really great team.

Aaron Lee – Host (00:03:09) – So in that moment it sounds like it was one of those made for TV moments. Yes. How much of your patient care was a made for TV experience?

Becky Wolfe (00:03:20) – I would say those were rare experiences. So I’ll give you like just the complete opposite. And it’s funny. So I worked some night shifts and one of the other docs that was on night shift, he was cool as a cucumber and we had three patients that were a little more in the critical stages. We had a patient who was hypertensive in pregnancy, so other complications she was experiencing. So not super bad, but it’s enough to like where my blood pressure would go up a little bit and I’m like, Oh, okay.

Becky Wolfe (00:03:47) – Like this is a little hierarchy. We have to keep an eye on this patient. And then we had someone to come in that was was having a heart attack. And then the next patient was had like a traumatic fall and had a brain bleed. And he’s like, boy, it’s a really busy night. And I’m like, whoa. It was like just like the opposite end of the spectrum where I would get a little more anxious with those situations. And he was just like, Wow, you know, this is like run of the mill, we can handle this. But I would say majority of the situations in the E.R. were not like that. It was more so taking care of like injuries. For me, it was minor laceration care. It was sinus infection, sometimes ear infections with kiddos in the middle of the night, strep throat. So honestly, a lot of the things in the E.R. are not anything that was, like you said, made for TV moments. And it was a lot more subdued than that.

Aaron Lee – Host (00:04:34) – In episode 50, we talked to Kevin Dyches about change and the monumental shifts happening and how reacting and responding to crisis in athletics leadership. It’s it’s coming every day, every week. We just recorded that one. And already I’m seeing headlines this morning about, you know, big new things coming. What did you learn about reacting and responding in stressful situations that you’ve carried forward as kind of life lessons that you now pass on to other leaders?

Becky Wolfe (00:05:06) – Yeah. So I would say everything in life, there’s evolution and maturation. So I went from taking care of patients in an setting for about two and a half years and then transitioned to cardiology. So it’s so interesting because those high acuity patients I actually saw several in the office setting and it didn’t stress me out as much because I was able to understand like what was really happening and cardiology was the thing I absolutely loved. So I would say just the more you see them, I think you get maybe a little bit more desensitized. Or you can understand for me the physiology behind things of like, okay, this isn’t as urgent, is it can sometimes seem.

Becky Wolfe (00:05:42) – And I think at that point I was getting like towards my 30s and I’m like, okay, like I just need to make sure that the patient is okay because this is their heart we’re talking about. It can be really like a sensitive thing. It’s scary and I need to make sure. That I’m emotionally taken out of the equation because they are the ones that are experiencing this. It’s not my experience, it’s theirs. So I need to make sure that when I’m going into a room describing that their heart may be not functioning as a normal heart, that I can put it in a way to them that doesn’t put them on high alert, because most of the time, you know, it is your heart. But most of the time those situations, there’s medications you can give. There are modifications to be made that were therapeutic and it would result in improvement of the heart function. So just knowing what I know, knowing what I knew, I had to be really cautious on how to communicate that to a patient because it really was like, we can manage this.

Becky Wolfe (00:06:36) – This is you walking into a patient’s room. You’re saying you have heart failure. They think my heart there’s no going back like that, is it? This is a terminal diagnosis. And it’s like, you know, we deal with this all the time. We put patients on medications and they actually improve. So this is not something that’s life threatening at the moment. We’re going to help you. So it is really being cognizant of the language that I’m using. And the high acuity really isn’t as high as I think sometimes it can be portrayed.

Aaron Lee – Host (00:07:03) – What got you into health care?

Becky Wolfe (00:07:06) – So it’s funny, I talking to my mom about it. My mom’s mom’s and my grandmother was sick when I was young and I was in the hospital with my mom consistently because I was home with her. And so as far back as I remember, I was in a hospital setting. And I just remember, like looking at the doctors and nurses and I’m like, man, like, they’re doing really cool stuff. They’re actually like helping people feel better.

Becky Wolfe (00:07:30) – So I think that experience was like the first one I remember. And then moving forward from there, my mom was diagnosed with cancer when I was young, so I was a freshman in high school during Think Freshman in high school during her first diagnosis, and she’s been in and out of her mission since that time. So it was almost like a natural thing for me to be in that setting. And I just felt comfortable and then really curious about language the docs were using and just the variety of different types of medicine that you could practice. So it was really intriguing to me.

Aaron Lee – Host (00:07:58) – All right, So you get into health care. You’ve talked about multiple phases. Even in that part of your career now fast forwarding, you’ve shifted out of health care, but you’re serving health care. Talk about that life transformation that’s gotten you to where you are today.

Becky Wolfe (00:08:15) – Oh, my gosh. It’s so cool. I get to talk to you about this because, you know, like Power of Giant and how things like shift and change.

Becky Wolfe (00:08:21) – So fast forward. I think another critical point for me to mention is the cardiology practice that I worked in. I absolutely loved working for that practice. I got to work with eight different doctors. They practice medicine a little differently, but I just loved working with them, love working with all the staff. And then the biggest disconnect for me during that time, though, was that we weren’t able to help patients kind of get what they wanted and keeping a listening ear to what they were saying, they wanted off medications, they wanted to be healthy, they wanted to lose weight, and we didn’t have a way to really help them with that. We had some resources and handouts and things to give them, but it really wasn’t transformation and I knew that’s what they wanted. So part of who I am as I research everything and I try to figure out solutions for people. So that’s what I did. And then started at that point looking into coaching. So I became a health coach and loved that part of my life and it was the thing that gave me the most energy in life during the practice and cardiology.

Becky Wolfe (00:09:15) – Well, then what happened was that practice closed. So the docs, it was an independent practice. They all had shareholder stake events, they were all owners. And what happened was they couldn’t get along. It ended up the practice closed and I found myself looking for a new job and then found myself in urgent care and then doing medicine within a health clinic of a university. I love that experience, very small group of people that I got to work with, but I felt like something was missing. So 2018 rolled around and just this feeling of stuckness and I would say probably a little bit of it was burnout of like feeling like my life. There wasn’t a lot of hope moving forward. So then found Giant. Actually, Susie Lantz invited me in to do an X Corps, and it was funny, I remember seeing something just posted on Facebook. She’s like, Oh, you’re interested in doing this, like, leadership development? I’m like, Don’t know what that is, but I’m going to just check it out, join it.

Becky Wolfe (00:10:06) – And I remember going through five voices identifying that I’m a creative voice, and I kind of felt lost most of my life. I feel like like I was a great chameleon. I could do whatever anybody asks me to do, but I didn’t have my own voice. And that changed me. And I remember like going through this process of like, okay, God, like, you know how you built me. So now what? And I would just ask the question and I’m like, My hands are open, not what, and went through a significant life shift and change at that point to so I ended up going through a divorce in 2019, 2020 and still ask the same question. Okay, God, not what like you built me as a coach, like, I love this. This is where my highest potential is and led me to a health coaching company which was remote and my values aligned. And the cool thing about Giant is I figured. On my values. I figured out, you know, so much more about myself, the tendencies that I had as a leader.

Becky Wolfe (00:11:00) – And I’m like, okay, this is the company I’m going to retire from. This is amazing. Absolutely Love this company. And then about a year into it, kind of just saw the writing on the wall that it wasn’t going to be able to stay the way that they had created it. The business model was going to have to shift if they wanted to make the impact they wanted to make and agreed with that because I knew they were making a huge impact at that point. I’m like, So do I give this giant thing a try? Do I start my own coaching consulting thing on the side? And then started just asking people around me. I’m like, Hey, what do you think if I offer this in the health care space, would it take off? And had a friend of mine who was a consultant and he said, Well, let’s try it. I have a couple practices. You can try it on. I’m like, okay, so we did. And that was proof of concept for myself that I’m like, Ooh, this could work.

Becky Wolfe (00:11:48) – And then the way I see it now is it’s a larger way to practice medicine, but not traditionally because as I’m able to serve all those people that are helping heal people and keep them well and just from a different aspect, because if I look at health care, I don’t see a lot of collaboration. I see still some toxic culture and it it hurts me, hurt, honestly, it kills me because I spent so much time in that arena and everybody’s hearts are good. They go into the field to serve and to help. And I think what they’re getting right now is they just feel kind of lost and broken. If there’s some small way I can help, that’s what I want to do.

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Aaron Lee – Host (00:14:11) – No pressure. Explore your needs and see if it’s a good match. If they can’t add value to your technology spending after 15 minutes, they’ll let you know. Explore your tech spending at new generation leader.fm/sandler. One of the interesting things about all of the time I’ve spent with nurses is understanding the intersection, as you mentioned, of the five voices, understanding them, wanting to get into a career to be servants. And you’ve had a few conversations on your podcast. I’ve had episode 36 with Corey Feist. We talked about the issue of mental health in health care. There’s so many competing priorities, and you talked about this a little while ago that you had to be healthy walking into that exam room to have a conversation with somebody. But the people who we are trusting to help support, serve us, care for us and our health care needs, they aren’t receiving that. So how are you confronting that and serving them in a way that helps to elevate their own health?

Becky Wolfe (00:15:19) – Yeah, it is thinking about education and health care, and you and Erin both know about like five voices.

Becky Wolfe (00:15:25) – So a lot of the population there are going to be nurtures because they love the 1 to 1 care with people. So nurture guardians guardian nurtures because they’re exceptional, taking care of other people. And the mindset shift I have to walk into those conversations with is if you aren’t healthy, you can’t give optimal health to the people that you’re working with. So it is a huge mindset and it takes time. I’ll use five gears with them and think about people that I’ve worked with, both in health care and education over this last year. We talk about do you have time for yourself? Do you have time like we’re intentional to spend with your people? Instead of it being like a checklist of things you have to cross off? Like, does it really feel like you’re connecting with them and for yourself? Like, what does it look like for you to do something for yourself, to stay healthy so you actually prevent burnout? So it is this huge mindset shift that we have to confront head on for that to actually penetrate, because it is a different type of mentality than we’ve ever been taught going into any type of health care field.

Becky Wolfe (00:16:24) – So nursing, being a PA and physician, anything like that, you do have the service mindset because your patient comes first to a degree. And I would say to the degree of like you have to be able to check your own emotions at the door when you’re walking in and taking care of a patient because you have to be able to help them navigate theirs. But think the thing to drive home there is like, you have to understand what your emotions are. You have to understand what your triggers are because you’re walking into it having other experiences too. Having taken care of previous patients who may have been close to you or that you might have developed a relationship to, or that you might have had an experience in your family with somebody with having the same diagnosis and that can trigger you. And that’s okay because you’re a human, you’re not a robot. So I think that has been the biggest takeaway for me with talking to so many people in healthcare, you know, docs in particular too, because their mindset, their culture is built in, it is built into them that they have to have all the answers.

Becky Wolfe (00:17:19) – And if they don’t, then there’s a retaliation almost from attending physicians when they’re going through training. And I’ve seen it firsthand and it’s not fair because they’re learning and the process of learning and growth, like they’re not going to know all the answers and they shouldn’t expect to have all the answers that they’re still learning and growing. So it is this huge shift of culture that needs to take place in order for collaboration to be more effective. And that’s the thing that gets me awake every morning, like, how can I help and serve and get in front of these people to really be part of the change?

Aaron Lee – Host (00:17:50) – Let’s dive into the nuts and bolts of that. When you’re working with a practice or any health care leaders, what does that look like? Nuts and bolts for them to build that system inside their practice or their team.

Becky Wolfe (00:18:04) – So the initial mentality you have to break through is one of training in health care. We have like medical education credits. We have to get so many of our year every two years.

Becky Wolfe (00:18:14) – So it is this kind of a kind of checklist type of mentality of like we have to go in and get the checklist over with. So that’s the first hurdle I have to overcome of like, hey, this isn’t a. Study more. This is your health and people recognize it. They don’t have language for it, though. So giving them that language of like, this is development and transformation. This isn’t just another training to check off has been helpful to kind of go in and dive in and dig into these types of conversations. So that’s been really helpful. From there, there is a training element and I’ll tell them that there’s training elements. However, if you want something to actually change, what you have to do is this is the coaching part of it. So hold people accountable. Without the accountability, it’s not as effective. So I usually say tools, consistency and accountability. Those are the three ingredients you need for a process to be effective within your organization. If you have those three elements and you’re committed to doing those, you’ll have success and transformation.

Becky Wolfe (00:19:11) – But it really is education up front of what that looks like, because again, we’ve never done it in health care. So that’s the upfront part of it. And then it’s being really explicit of like, we’re going to have touch points of what this is going to look like and to be really effective, we’re going to have to talk about what’s working, what’s not. And again, that’s a different mindset shift because usually it’s just the training element over the training piece of it. And it’s not so much like, well, this has to work. We’re going to be doing the one thing and it’s the black and white type of mentality. Like, Nope, there’s lots of shades of gray and we’re going to figure out what those shades of gray look like as we’re working through the process.

Aaron Lee – Host (00:19:48) – I see that training, expectation, tradition. I don’t know what you call it, but everybody looks at education or training that way and expects that we can download the information. And going back a few episodes, Brian came on the podcast and as the leader of now two startups, he talked about the posture of failing and how we take that learning approach to, okay, that didn’t go wrong, it wasn’t a failure, but what do we learn from that? And I love your how much you lean on accountability, that there is a process and we want to engage with this.

Aaron Lee – Host (00:20:24) – It’s not something you’re doing on your own. You don’t have to do this by yourself. We truly are better together. All of us are better together. It sounds like from what you’re seeing in health care and in really in so many other industries, there’s this idea that we’ve got to do it ourselves, take care of ourselves. But for doctors and nurses, there’s also the added licensure component that you’re doing this to meet a certain level of expectations.

Becky Wolfe (00:20:52) – Yeah, there is. And I think that gets in the way because again, if they can’t check the box of like, well, you know, this isn’t pertinent to my medical education credits, then it gets in the way of the root issue of if you want to have a healthy, efficient practice, then we have to do some work with people because your practice is built on people. It’s a service based industry and in order for it to grow and bring it to the modern age, you really have to focus on getting your people around the new technology.

Becky Wolfe (00:21:22) – And that’s one thing I’ve noticed in health care and education. We’re behind the game as far as technology goes. So, you know, just some different little things like scheduling. You know, you can schedule a plane ticket, you can schedule just about anything on your own. But if you want to try to get in with your doctor, you have to call to make an appointment. It’s not always easy access. It’s actually preventing patients from getting the care that they need because it’s not as quick and easy as like ordering food from DoorDash or or ordering from Amazon. It’s like it’s a process. And people think it’s it’s just it is it’s behind the times and there’s got to be more efficient and effective ways for those things to happen.

Aaron Lee – Host (00:21:57) – As you’ve been out talking to health care leaders, coaching, guiding, working with them, having conversations on your podcast, what are some of the innovations you’re starting to see people latch onto in health care?

Becky Wolfe (00:22:09) – This is probably what excites me the most, honestly. I love talking with the health care innovators and so value based care huge.

Becky Wolfe (00:22:16) – And it is you know, if you talk to a several of the doctors, it’s the wave of the future and it’s not a bad thing. I don’t think it’s a bad thing personally, just the research that I’ve done on it, but especially for Medicare patients, because it really puts some constraints on medical spending for practitioners, for doctors and providers, and it is a little bit more patient focused in my opinion. So really being cautious of the dollar spent for care. The other one that’s really exciting is direct primary care. So I’ve had a few conversations with people in my network and on the podcast and some clients and such, and that gives me a lot of excitement because it is more accessible health care. So it combines some telehealth with home visits and you have more of a 1 to 1 relationship with your physician or your provider. That’s what we’ve been missing, I feel like for such a long time, and I think it takes a lot of the strain away from ERs, urgent cares and those types of practices because you have higher access to your physician and it’s still emerging.

Becky Wolfe (00:23:13) – I will say like one of the clients that I have, he started his business about six years ago and like it was too soon and I can see it. But now post-COVID, I’m like, Nope, you’re exactly where you need to be because you can take better care of your patients. Now. So it is just driving that forward and getting the word out. But there’s so many emerging products out there. There are so many emerging different revenue models for healthcare, which is really exciting because I think it gets us back to the backbone of what health care is supposed to be really focused on the patient.

Aaron Lee – Host (00:23:42) – So to break down direct primary care for people who aren’t familiar with it and are thinking about, okay, I know health care now, what is this Becky’s talking about? Take an instance where you are seeing multiple specialists, a few different doctors. How does direct primary care integrate those multiple different needs? Yeah.

Becky Wolfe (00:24:02) – So direct primary care, I will say, is a little bit more wellness focused too.

Becky Wolfe (00:24:07) – So if you’ve been in the traditional health care system, it’s more so chronic disease management. And there’s a lot of research suggesting that direct primary care is focused on a couple of the docs that I know are obesity medicine focused, their hormone balance focused for men and women, which is not traditionally done. So usually you’re seeing specialists for those types of things, endocrinologists which still, in my opinion, they don’t think go as deep as we need to because they’re not addressing some dietary needs in those situations. And these docs will. So they’re really focused on holistic nutrition. They’re focused on just the preventative care and even so much so that they’re really talking to each person about stress levels, which I’ll be honest in my practice for 13 years. I can even tell you that I even asked much about stress, to be honest with you, even in cardiology, because it was really focused on diet and exercise. And I don’t remember focusing too much on stress. Those are some big pivots. I see it making is more so on wellness focused.

Becky Wolfe (00:25:06) – And the other thing about direct primary care is they don’t go through insurance. So if you’re it’s a membership kind of service, so it’s just membership based, but you have access, you can text your doctor, you can call them if there’s something happening on the weekend, you just have a lot more access, which I think is great.

Aaron Lee – Host (00:25:21) – It definitely is. I remember those early days with our oldest, especially. It always seemed it was like 530 on a Friday afternoon when she would get sick. Yeah. And those 72 hours from Friday afternoon to Monday morning can be very, very long. Yes, exactly. And health care needs don’t fit into 9 to 5.

Becky Wolfe (00:25:42) – Exactly. Exactly. So higher access to care is huge.

Aaron Lee – Host (00:25:46) – Yeah. I’m sitting here thinking through a specialist doctor I’ve seen recently for a shoulder injury, and I’m recognizing they’re a niche focus. They’re a startup only located in a few states. But I’m sitting here going back through and thinking, okay, they have an app for the follow up care.

Aaron Lee – Host (00:26:04) – They have the communication with the provider and billing directly. But the key that you talked about that I haven’t even considered in a big picture sense is just how easy it was to schedule an appointment. And it’s regimented. It’s structured so that it serves them, it serves the patients, it keeps the machine of the business going, but it also allows them to provide care and know that what they’re doing, they have the time for it.

Becky Wolfe (00:26:29) – Yeah, it gives them a sense of autonomy, which if they’re part of a hospital system, they don’t have. And that is a huge frustration point and a huge source of burnout. So just talking with the different physicians that I have, they will pretty much all identify that That’s a huge source of burnout for them. They’re built to almost be like a business owner coming out. They don’t sometimes know, like the business logistics. They want to practice medicine and they need the autonomy to do it in a way that feels good for them. So that is a huge source of burnout for the docs.

Aaron Lee – Host (00:26:59) – We have a number of doctor friends every time we talk to them. It’s a discussion about the business side and the intersection of business and health care, and it’s talking about burnout and how much they’re working and how much of an uphill climb it is to carve out that space, to create the boundaries. But also for the two, especially that I’m thinking of at their core, they’re in to serve and they want to go above and beyond what the expectations are. And so you take expectations, external expectations add on the internal drive to go above and beyond, and unfortunately, it isn’t turning out well for them on a day to day basis. But there is light at the end of the tunnel. They’re both working on it and pursuing the resources to rediscover a healthy balance for themselves.

Becky Wolfe (00:27:43) – Yeah, it is a hamster wheel sometimes because most providers and physicians that I know, there’s so little, it’s almost like the perfectionist, high expectation mentality that they have and to a degree it’s ingrained in them because they’re like, I have to have all the answers.

Becky Wolfe (00:27:58) – Like I have to have this high drive. It’s just who I am. But you’re right, I think it can get out of hand. And the expectation and the pressure put on from executives can be really tough. And physician suicide rates are actually much higher for that reason because they feel like they can’t get off the hamster wheel. So the thing that I try to portray in the podcast is there’s hope, because if you’re feeling like you’re in that stuck space, don’t not talk to anybody. There are a number. Our physicians that are physician coaches out there and they’re doing phenomenal work, just helping people realign their values with the current environments that they’re in or helping them find other solutions to get out of it. But it is hard and I can kind of put myself back in that place to where I would I mean, in cardiology, I remember working like 80 hour workweeks. I was working all weekend. I was working during the week, ten, 12 hours and not even thinking twice about it because it was the expectation that was had by our practice back then.

Becky Wolfe (00:28:54) – I didn’t have kids. I didn’t have like a lot of other extraneous worries or anything. But I look back and I’m like, Wow, that’s a lot. It’s a lot. And the docs, I mean, in residency, they used to be they’re working 100 plus hours a week and like, I can’t even imagine that. And they finally have some constraints. It’s 80 hours now. But yeah, I can identify with the high expectation, putting it on ourselves and feeling it from other people.

Aaron Lee – Host (00:29:18) – We’ll link to a couple resources in the show notes at New Generation leader.fm/51. If you are a health care leader and don’t have somebody trusted that you can have those conversations with, make sure you reach out to someone and we’ll include links to the episode with Corey Feist at Ways to Connect with Becky and others. But all the way back to 2020, one of our giant friends on the West Coast commented about the concept of peace. I was doing a lot of work with nurses at that point, and so ever since, that’s been an important conversation that I haven’t left out of any conversation with health care leaders is how are you doing? And if nobody’s asked you that lately, we’re asking you and we want to have the conversation with you.

Aaron Lee – Host (00:30:02) – So make sure you reach out to somebody and have that discussion. Shifting gears just a little bit, zoom back out. Big picture, what’s something you’ve picked up, discovered, learned here lately? That’s exciting. Mind blowing has got your creative wheels spinning, not just limited to health care. It can be anything.

Becky Wolfe (00:30:23) – Oh, gosh, it’s gotten my wheels spinning. Or exciting. I feel like that could go in a number of different ways. Honestly, I honestly, I every day I get up and love the work that we’re doing with Giant. I think the cool thing that I see is like having conversations with you and then having conversations with other people in the ecosystem, like our little ecosystem and just getting really excited about the impact that’s being made and seeing it branch out even further, which is really cool and really exciting. And I think I just I get so proud, honestly, of our company because I’m like, this change I see in all of us to like the growth that I see.

Becky Wolfe (00:31:00) – Like even in the people that I am in a pack with, that is what excites me too. It’s like just to see the growth and development of the people around and being able to be some small part in that. And people just like reaching out and asking about the things that we’re doing. It just excites me beyond belief. So not specifically within health care, but I think just the work that we get to do is really exciting.

Aaron Lee – Host (00:31:24) – I know you’re you’re lending your voice into the ecosystem in a variety of ways. I just saw your name last night on the speaker list. So soon after this episode comes out, you’re doing a workshop at our gathering in Florida. So super exciting.

Becky Wolfe (00:31:39) – Yeah, it’ll be fun. I’m excited.

Aaron Lee – Host (00:31:42) – All right, so let’s rewind a little bit. Now, the question I ask everybody is what’s something you’ve learned throughout your career that you wish you had known early on?

Becky Wolfe (00:31:53) – Yeah. Oh, this this is a great question. And the first thing that comes to mind for me is I wish I would have known what self awareness was in my 20, 20 years old.

Becky Wolfe (00:32:06) – I wish I would have known what that was and emotional intelligence, because I feel like that would have just the game would have been so different even. Well, I don’t know that honestly, many life changes would have been significantly different, but I feel like I would have had a better understanding of like listening to my cell phone intuition. And I think about this too. I got to work with a client’s daughter and she’s 21 and I got to do an intensive with her. Probably the most impactful work that I’ve gotten to do this year, honestly, because I’m thinking she’s a creative connector pioneer like I am. I’m like, Oh God, I wish I would have had this language when I was 21, and she’s way further down the line than I am as far as self-awareness and like this, you know, was a great accent to what she already knew. And I remember finishing the session with her and she’s like, This is life changing. I’m like, Oh my gosh, Like, this is incredible.

Becky Wolfe (00:32:59) – That meant the world to me. And I’m like, And I told her, I’m like, I wish I would have had this at your age. I wish because things likely would have been very different in some ways, maybe not in others. And I don’t regret any of the steps I took to get here. All of it was growth and development. But I think just having some of that maybe the impact that we’re doing now could have started sooner, but maybe not. I don’t know either way. I think it’s just that’s what I wish I would have had.

Aaron Lee – Host (00:33:25) – That’s awesome. I’ve been having some conversations. The first time I had that conversation was with somebody nearing retirement. I had it the other day with somebody nearing retirement. And one of the things that I keep coming back to as a pioneer, creative, I thought I had all of the answers in my 20s. I thought, why not just take on the world? Who says we can’t? And recognizing now. And Jeremy says our key influence years aren’t until our mid 50s and the 1015 years beyond that.

Aaron Lee – Host (00:33:58) – And so that’s really insightful to think about how much we have left to contribute. And this preparation work that you talk about. Whenever we do that earlier, let’s do that and begin building up. So when we hit those peak years, we’re really ready to to shine and bring our best not then for ourselves, but developing other people, investing in other people and bringing the best out of everyone around us.

Becky Wolfe (00:34:22) – Yeah, I love that. No, I’m going to ask you a question, Erin. So now that you know all the voices. So we were we were actually having a conversation about this and knowing that you’re a pioneer, creative, and I love everything you shared because I think it does. You know, we just mature, we evolve, We just gain new information. We’re able to share that in the later years. So nothing is for granted, Nothing. You know, you’re not learning things just to not use them later feel like. So knowing what you know about the voices, would you change your voice order in any way and would you keep it exactly the same?

Aaron Lee – Host (00:34:52) – I think I would keep it, and part of it is probably part of it is that pioneer tendency that, well, I have all the best answers already.

Aaron Lee – Host (00:35:02) – So some of that winning competitive drive, that’s just innate. But really at the core, I recognize we know this numerically, but I also see this play out that I don’t know a lot of other people like me who have that perspective that I have. So not that it’s better, just that it’s different. It’s unique and so fitting that piece of the puzzle in with every other voice. I see the benefit of bringing my voice to the table, and that’s one of the things I’ve recognized over these last few years. I’ve shifted more from the independent mindset of How can I do this all on my own? Back Here on the Shelf is the book Who Not How That’s given me words to describe. Let me find out who else is really good at this because I don’t need to be the expert at all of the things. And so I’m in that phase right now of offloading certain things that I’ve tried to be expert at all these years. And so in that I think I have recognized the power of collaboration, the power of working together.

Aaron Lee – Host (00:36:04) – So I don’t think I would change it. But there are certainly other voices that I wish, like you, that I had known this language earlier on, knowing where my weaknesses were and maybe not activated my pioneer weapon as many times as I did earlier in my career.

Becky Wolfe (00:36:22) – Yeah, no, that’s good. That’s good.

Aaron Lee – Host (00:36:25) – What about you? Would you change anything?

Becky Wolfe (00:36:27) – I was talking to Lori Simonides about this the other day, and initially my answer was, I would love to be like a female pioneer guardian because I feel like the pioneers and, like, guardians, like they don’t have a lot of inhibitions. They’re just like, We’re going to go figure it out. You make it happen, you know, just like you said, Like you’re like, I have all the right answers. Like in your 20s, you’re like, That’s how I feel. And for a creative connector pioneer, I think I spent so much of my life hiding. And that was like the thing that always came up for me.

Becky Wolfe (00:37:02) – Like, What are you trying to hide? Because I didn’t don’t know. There was like just something in me that never felt confident to share my opinion or intelligence or competence or anything like that because I was afraid it would be challenged and I wouldn’t have the answer. And then what? Right. I would feel like incompetent at that point. Now I’m like, If I don’t have the answer, you better think that’s a gift because I will figure it out and I’ll bring a better answer the way you can imagine. So initially my thought was Pioneer guardian, and then I kind of sat with it. I’m like, I don’t think I would want to be anything else anymore because kind of like your perspective too. Like creative connector pioneers are a little bit on the rare side. I think it is kind of cool that I can see different perspectives, so I don’t think I would change at this point.

Aaron Lee – Host (00:37:46) – That’s a good answer. I like it. Well, there’s certainly value and that’s that’s at the core of the Five voices is that there’s value in every voice, in every combination of voices.

Aaron Lee – Host (00:37:57) – And we want to draw that out from all of you. We want to hear your unique perspective. And you as a creative connector pioneer, Becky, are different from every other creative connector pioneer because and you’ve highlighted a few of your pivotal life experiences that if we were laying out your life map, some of the highs and some of the lows and those shape who we are, how we react and respond and see the world and we all have those and we all have an. And ready to use those going forward. So awesome, fun conversation. Always good to to banter back and forth. And thanks for turning the tables on me. Absolutely. So if listeners want to connect with you, follow along with your work and health care and what you’re doing, how can they find you?

Becky Wolfe (00:38:43) – Yeah, so I’m really active on LinkedIn. So Becky Wolfe, you’ll find me Becky Wolf on LinkedIn, Instagram, Becky Wolf Coaching. And then my podcast is the Leadership Pulse Podcast or highlight different healthcare. Usually physicians on the podcast or executives doing things in health care that are just a little bit different.

Becky Wolfe (00:38:59) – Those would be the ways that I would say the easiest to get in touch with me.

Aaron Lee – Host (00:39:03) – We’ll link to all that in the show. Notes. New Generation leader.fm/5 one. Thanks so much for the conversation. Becky. I’m excited for what you’re doing and to continue watching. It’s been really fun to watch all of your reflections on social media in conversation, and I’ve really loved listening in to some of your podcast guests because of their unique perspectives, their world changing work and what they’re doing. So if you’re not following Becky, go do that now and look forward to seeing what’s coming in the weeks and months ahead.

Becky Wolfe (00:39:34) – Thank you, Erin. Appreciate it. And appreciate all the work that you’re doing. And the heart of keeping peace within health care with the work that you’re doing. So thank you. Thanks for having me on.

Jay Smack – Voice of the Show (00:39:46) – Thanks for listening to the New Generation Leader podcast. Subscribe today on your podcasting platform. Download the show notes and unlock your true leadership potential at New Generation Leader FM. Thanks for listening today and we look forward to seeing you next time on the New Generation Leader podcast.