I am a Clinician! — My Journey of Finding Purpose in my Work and Tips for Others
“I am helping to put a man on the moon” — Those were the words of a janitor who was mopping the floor as he described what he was doing for President John F Kennedy during one of his trips to a NASA facility in early 60’s. What a profound understanding of the connection between an individual’s contribution to the mission of the organization and a sense of purpose for his work!
My journey of finding purpose in my work:
If you were to ask me a few years ago what I do — I would have answered by associating my work with that of any number of the disciplines and roles I was involved in at that time. It could be as a Developer, Technical Architect, Project Manager, Program Manager, IT Service Manager, IT Security Specialist, IS Auditor, Program Director, or Operations Director.
However, during my journey through numerous progressive roles at Ascension, a mission-oriented, leading non-profit Catholic Health system in the US with 151 hospitals and 2600+ sites of care across 21 states, I have been afforded the opportunity to realize how every one of my daily actions, decisions, and contributions are directly affecting patient care even though all the roles I have performed to date are in a back office setting as opposed to direct patient interaction like physicians or nursing staff.
Examples include: 1) A supply chain process that I helped implement ensures the availability of clinical supplies and medication as they are depleted from supply bins. 2) A team I lead ensures smooth flow of several millions of messages a day across numerous IT applications in our system so that correct information about the patient is available at the points of care to the clinicians and other staff. 3) Cost savings realized in another initiative where I contribute makes those savings available for much-needed charity care to help the poor and vulnerable. 4) My contributions to another initiative in collaboration with the CDC help define population health policies across the US.
In all the above examples, as the result of my contributions through technology, management or leadership propagate through the system, at the end of the chain there is always a physical person, typically a patient, whose health condition gets better. That is what physicians and nurses do. They make a patient’s health condition better. If they are called Clinicians, so am I. I am a Clinician! I help people’s health getting better. This is my purpose no matter what role I perform at Ascension.
How this realization of Purpose helped me conduct myself and realize my potential:
Since this realization, I have observed transformational changes which better my work ethics and focus deliberate attention on my daily actions and interactions and how they affect patient care. My understanding of Ascension’s mission and values like service for the poor and vulnerable, the vision of leading the transformation of healthcare, and well-being of communities we serve has become clearer. More deeply, I was able to reflect on understanding what my personal values are, like the spirit of continuous learning and demonstrating strong work ethics. I was able to better understand the strategic direction of the organization, the intents of various levels of leadership and how to effectively articulate those visions and strategies in my sphere of influence. Furthermore, in alignment with those strategies, I was able to set bold goals for the teams I lead as well as for myself and to rally the support of the broader associate community through benefit realization. Continuous learning and continuous Improvements have become my primary operating model, not only challenging myself but also helping others achieve their full potential by sharing my knowledge and coaching as opportunities are presented. My thought process has changed to the positive towards outcome-based thinking and at times has afforded me the courage to influence change and act as an evangelist for innovative ideas, not only with the teams I am involved with but also by influencing associates across our IT organization. Together all those improvements made me a better leader and a better human being.
“Purpose is the most powerful motivator in the world. The secret of passion truly is the purpose that unlocks tremendous potential in human beings”- Robin Sharma
My advice to those who seek to understand the steps involved in their journey to find purpose in work:
1. Understand the mission of your organization. Example: Every Googler’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible. Any public service organization’s employees are contributing to the well-being of their citizens.
2. Understand the people your organization serves, their pain points and their problems to be solved — from their perspective.
3. Make the connection between your work and those pain points, how you impact the solution and make their lives better. Making this human connection is the key to realizing the purpose of your work.
In conclusion, in my experience making that connection to the mission, and realizing how your contribution is impacting the service to the end user is the crucial step in realizing the ‘purpose’ which spurs passion and unlocks potential in individuals to achieve great things.
This article is dedicated to my numerous mission-oriented friends and colleagues at Ascension with long tenures, in some cases 20, 30 and 40 years of service, who come into work every day because they believe in serving people. These individuals have long realized their purpose and are living it day in and day out. Thanks for all their friendship in shaping my perspectives in life.
About the Author: Ram Dittakavi, Director of Data Operations at Ascension, largest non-profit healthcare organization, is a Multi-Disciplinary purpose driven Leader with a passion for Continuous Learning and Relentless Improvement.
