The Truth Shall Set You Free
John Halamka offers five tips for managing events when things go wrong.
5. Openly discuss the events, their cause, the immediate corrective action taken and the long-term changes made to prevent the problem from happening again. Declare that you've made a mistake and apologize for it. This may be painful and could result in a great deal of short-term publicity, but it's better than a long-term investigation. Imagine how things would have been different had Bill Clinton had said early on, "I did have an affair with that woman, and that was wrong. I will seek counseling from religious mentors and mental health experts to ensure that my future behavior is exemplary." The issue would have disappeared in a few weeks.
In my many years of leading change and making mistakes along the way, I've found that great communication, openness, candor and admission of mistakes, followed by a sincere apology, result in healing the organization and bringing rapid closure to the situation.
John D. Halamka is CIO at CareGroup Healthcare System, CIO and associate dean for educational technology at Harvard Medical School, chairman of the New England Health Electronic Data Interchange Network, chairman of the national Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel and a practicing emergency physician. You can contact him at jhalamka@caregroup.harvard.edu.
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