Embarking on a path along career stepping stones may seem daunting,
exciting or a combination of both. It raises a question, what if we
fall off a stone? Just as on those lovely walks, it’s sometimes
refreshing to fall into the water. To be unencumbered by the “shoulds”
of a predetermined path and accept the remarkable gifts that accompany
serendipity. As long as our path is not across a raging torrent that
could carry us away, occasional spills into the water offer the
opportunity to refocus and reset the direction. If we keep falling in,
then a mentor or friend might help us keep our balance. We may also
need to look carefully at the stones to assess their solidity.
A much worse fate is stay on the bank, never taking that first step.
For that can limit the full expression of who we are. Just as we are
taking these steps, perhaps a little hesitantly, so are the
organizations with which we are associated. Our steps help guide our
organizations and communities on paths that make this a better place for
all of us. We are part of bringing forth a new Spring.
Health Care
Health care in the U.S. has become the Civil Rights issue of our time.
Just as in earlier times when slavery and child labor were finally
abolished after much resistance, there are powerful forces seeking to
prosper at the expense of many today by perpetuating inefficient and
unjust health care insurance practices. Insurance companies seek to
maintain today’s status quo, profiting at the expense of many.
Unfortunately they are aided by those many politicians who receive their
financial support. The questionable tactics used by insurance companies
to advance their position were clearly described in a recent Bill Moyers
interview with Wendell Potter, previously head of Public Relations for
CIGNA:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07102009/profile.html
Here’s one perspective about the current situation and the resistance to
real reform:
Source: Physicians for a National Health Program
The growth of the private health care insurance administrative
bureaucracy in the U.S. is shown in the following figure and contrasted
with a much smaller increase in the number of physicians (the following
figures are provided by Physicians for a National Health Program):
Recently I was the unfortunate recipient of an e-mail carrying
propaganda about the Canadian health care system. In the absence of
factual information this e-mail provided one negative anecdote. Here
are the facts (from Physicians for a National Health Program):
Health care costs are much lower in Canada than in the U.S. and they
have increased much more slowly since a national health plan was enacted
in Canada:
Outcomes are better:
So not surprisingly few Canadians seek treatment in the U.S.:
In summary:
Source: Michael Rachlis MD, Progressive Democrats of America, June 16,
2009
People in the U.S. understand the serious need for fundamental health
care reform to eliminate the bureaucratic nightmare that exits due to
private insurance:
Source: Ruy Teixeira Center for American Progress, June 15, 2009,
citing Kaiser Family Foundation (not Kaiser Permanente)
People also recognize the value of a public health care option:
Source: Ruy Teixeira Center for American Progress, June 15, 2009,
citing Kaiser Family Foundation (not Kaiser Permanente)
and the criticality of such an approach to address inflated
administrative costs from the private insurance bureaucracy, which are
escalating at an alarming and unsustainable rate:
Source: Ruy Teixeira Center for American Progress, June 15, 2009,
citing Kaiser Family Foundation (not Kaiser Permanente)
Not surprisingly the majority of physicians today support a single payer
system of national health insurance:
We need an approach that has these attributes:
· Everybody is in, nobody is out
· It’s portable when moving to different jobs
· It provides access to many skilled health care providers
· It’s sustainable with administrative costs about one fifth of
our current insurance bureaucracy
· Nobody is bankrupted by health care costs
Single Payer is an approach that does this. It’s a highly efficient way
of paying for health care through a single organization. Health care
continues to be delivered through multiple providers giving broad choice
about where services are received. Everybody is in; nobody is out, even
when between jobs, and nobody is made bankrupt by health care expenses.
Experiences in other countries show the Single Payer approach to be more
effective in delivering better health care outcomes, for example people
live longer, as we saw in an earlier figure. Sometimes we are given a
remarkable gift; Single Payer health care is such a gift. It benefits
each of us and our economy. We have compelling information that points
to the success of the Single Payer approach in other developed countries
(Bringing Work to Life, Second Quarter 2008). It is our duty and
responsibility to seek health care justice for all, the Civil Rights
issue of our time. This means at a minimum establishing a strong public
option, and, as soon as possible, embracing a Single Payer approach.
Quotes
“Courage, my friends; ‘tis not too late to make a better world.”
Tommy Douglas (founder of the Canadian health care system – a national
hero)
"Too often we underestimate the power of touch, a smile, a kind word, a
listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all
of which have the potential to turn a life around."
Leo Buscaglia (from ACAeNews)
Elsdon Organizational Renewal (EOR) Mentions
·
Reviews of
“Affiliation in the Workplace: Value Creation in the New
Organization.” Ron Elsdon. Praeger, Westport, CT (2003)
o
Harvard
Business School
·
HBS Working Knowledge: Organizations
o
Global Diversity Institute
·
Global Diversity Institute - The Journal of Diversity Praxis
o
Journal of Asian Economics
·
ScienceDirect - Journal of Asian Economics : Ron Elsdon, Affiliation in
the Workplace: Value Creation in the New Organization, Praeger
Publishers, Westport, CT (2003) 280 pp. (hardcover), ISBN 1-56720-436-8,
$49.95.
o
Greenwood Publishing Group
·
Affiliation in the Workplace — www.greenwood.com
·
Chapter titled
“How Can You Grow Your Practice with Purpose?” in National Career
Development Association Monograph, “Starting and Growing a Business in
the New Economy” Edited by Sally Gelardin, 2007
·
Recorded
webinars for the American Institute of Chemical Engineers
o
Staying Career Fit in Turbulent Times
·
http://apps.aiche.org/chemeondemand/Preview.aspx?ID=5b5ab7c8-d88a-4592-8b97-0a8c25eeea59
o
Networking and Connecting
·
http://apps.aiche.org/chemeondemand/Preview.aspx?ID=ccdc8053-0321-4c3f-b1c7-8c4254e2fffb
o
Progressing in Your Organization
·
http://apps.aiche.org/chemeondemand/Preview.aspx?ID=3fd526f3-ac7e-4a3e-b70b-08d771211e46
·
Webcast for
the Human Capital Institute (and associated white paper)
o
Building Workforce Affiliation to Keep Your Best and Brightest Talent
·
http://www.humancapitalinstitute.org/hci/research_community_product.guid;jsessionid=8C417EAC34880D6A38E82D4FBE2598C4?_webcastID=74366
·
Recorded
webinar for the Project Management Institute
o
“Becoming Career Fit in Turbulent Times”
·
http://pmi-issig.org/Default.aspx?tabid=319
·
“Building a
Strong Workforce Through Affiliation.” Chapter 26 in “On Staffing:
Advice and Perspectives from HR Leaders.” Eds. Nicholas Burkholder et
al, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken NJ (2004)
o
http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0471410691,descCd-tableOfContents.html
·
“The Growing
Divide Calls for Advocacy.”
o
Article in March, 2007, NCDA Career Convergence magazine
·
http://209.235.208.145/cgi-bin/WebSuite/tcsAssnWebSuite.pl?Action=DisplayNewsDetails&RecordID=947&Sections=&IncludeDropped=1&AssnID=NCDA&DBCode=130285
·
“Reaching for
Our Deep Gladness”
o
Article in May, 2005, NCDA Career Convergence magazine
·
http://209.235.208.145/cgi-bin/WebSuite/tcsAssnWebSuite.pl?Action=DisplayNewsDetails&RecordID=625&Sections=6&IncludeDropped=&AssnID=NCDA&DBCode=130285
·
Mention in
article on cost of turnover
o
East
Bay Business Times, April 2005
·
Turnover costs exceed employers' estimates - 2005-04-25
·
“Worklife
Survival: Finding a Fit”
o
Article for HR West, February 2005 (Northern California Human Resource
Association)
·
http://www.nchra.org/StaticContent/Download/EXT0205007.pdf
·
Interview in
the education field “Affiliation as a Unifying Principle in Education”
o
Career Pro News
·
Affiliation and Education
·
MBTI Step II
workshop
o
CCDA News, April 2005
·
Local Chapter News
·
Review of ICDC
Global Issues Forum
o
CCDA, January 2005
·
ICDC Global Issues Forum
About EOR: Our Value Contribution
We enhance
your workforce, leadership and organization by:
·
Using
proprietary approaches to understand workforce and leadership challenges
·
Creating
tailored action plans and solutions to strengthen workforce and
leadership practices
·
Building
individual capabilities and contributions
We enable you
to focus on external results and building value, confident that your
organization and leadership are operating at peak effectiveness.
Our Mission
To support
your organization by enhancing performance, productivity and
effectiveness through revitalized workforce relationships and leadership
practices.
Our Approach and Values
We tailor our engagements to the needs of each organization with a
process designed to surface critical issues, identify root causes, build
effective solutions, monitor progress and implement.
With a scope that ranges from system and organizational interventions to
work with individuals, our focus is on the heart of the relationship
among the individual, the organization and the community. We believe
that organizational and community prosperity are built on enabling each
person to fulfill his or her potential.
Our Services
We work with
individuals and groups in your organization to drive performance and
development for both the short and long term. As a result people will
choose to work in your organization and will prosper there.
We bring
solutions when you need to:
·
Reverse
declining revenues and performance
·
Revitalize
your workforce
·
Stem the loss
of key talent
·
Redirect your
organization to new areas
·
Stop losing
customers or market share
·
Penetrate new
markets
·
Combat
aggressive competitors
·
Handle major
change
·
Break down
communication barriers
·
Energize your
leadership team
·
Successfully
build on an acquisition or merger
Our
proprietary services include:
·
On-site career
services that support the development of your workforce, build strength
in depth, increase individual fulfillment and affiliation, and
accelerate productivity growth
o
On site career counseling
o
Individual and group delivery
o
Metrics to guide on-going system enhancement
o
Integrated with the needs of your organization
·
State-of-the-art tools to take the pulse of your organization and then
move to action
o
Web enabled systems
o
Experts to gather and analyze information, moving your organization to
action
·
Individual
leadership coaching to give you world class leadership capabilities
o
Leaders who know themselves and their aspirations, build their
capabilities and become catalysts developing others
·
Workshops to
build interpersonal skills in your organization so that:
o
Communication is timely, concise, accurate and personal
o
People listen to each other
o
Negotiations are quick and effective
o
Differences create rather than destroy value
o
Teams move forward, get results and quickly commercialize new products
and services
o
People understand and link their motivations to your organizational
needs
o
Your teams understand what it takes to create a committed, energized
workforce
o
People use their time well
·
Systems that
make it easy to drive performance and build capabilities by:
o
Linking objectives throughout the organization
o
Strengthening key competencies
o
Making sure you have the bench strength where and when you need it
o
Giving people tools to take charge of their own careers and development
and have a major long term influence on your organization
·
Proprietary
simulation and modeling techniques that let you explore how to maximize
the value of your workforce
o
Move from guessing what might happen to looking in depth at the
financial impact of different approaches
