The Power of the Appreciative Story in Healthcare
Positive Questions and Interview Guides
Judy Schueler , Chief Learning Officer
University of Chicago Hospitals
Chicago, IL
Date 01/01/2003
Annotation: The University of Chicago Hospital has been experimenting with the power of the positive story and is finding wonderful results from continually sharing these stories. They have leveraged these stories--to promulgate the language around their mission, vision, and values.
The project is called "Values in Action" and it is the process of gathering stories and sharing them throughout the organization. The stories have been shared across the organization as a strategy for employee recognition----as well as setting a standard for servant leadership behaviors. Below are two of the stories as examples of their inpsiration.
The Process used:
They first trained staff on the art of constructing questions---using AI
methodology.
They then interviewed staff in patient centered care courses and asked the question:
"When did you feel most proud of your work at the University of Chicago Hospitals?"
Staff then wrote a short essay---generally 1-2 paragraphs. They found a pattern
in these responses---
a) Many staff reported on the same story---illustrating the impact that patient
experience had on their practice/personal lives. They followed up these stories
by interviewing different staff who experienced the situation from different views (The Against All Odds story would be an example)
b) They also observed that staff reported the same story that was linked to innovation/clinical breakthroughs specific to U of C (first living donor liver transplant).
Over 100 stories were collected. Now one story per month is shared with employees via a
paycheck stuffer. They have been getting Great Feedback---reminding staff of the impact they have on others each day through their important work.
Resource Files:
The Power of Stories (doc )
An Example of one of the Stories (pdf )
Another example of one of the Stories (pdf )
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