With so much time now spent at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, what shall we do besides binging on Netflix and perfecting the art of making Dalgona coffee?

Yeap, tis’ the season for growth! 📈

MPS YPC Professional Development team had taken this opportunity to organize the very first YPC Live Podcast. What better way to kick off the podcast than to share about a very applicable topic – Workplace Communication?

Our very own YPC associate Winnie Ong helmed the conversation as a moderator, while Xiao Qian was our special guest of the day. Winnie is currently involved in health policy advocacy in a Kuala Lumpur-based think tank, Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy. Xiao Qian is the Clinical Lead, Dietitian & Health Coach of LiveSmart Malaysia and has 10 years of international experience spanning across many aspects of the healthcare industry.

As a fellow participant, I really enjoyed the intellectual synergy between Winnie and Xiao Qian, as they brought the discussion to life with their practical sharing and advice.

With that said, here are 8 key takeaways from the session:

1. Be intentional with regular communication

Set up regular meetings, both with the whole team and 1:1 sessions.

Although there may be no work-related issue to bring up during these meetings, providing a regular avenue to express emotions or ideas is helpful to provide the human touch at work (because we are not robots *wink*).

2. Align communication expectations

There is no need to be shy when it comes to discussing and setting our expectations for a healthy workplace. After all, no one wants to bear the anxiety of sending emails after office hours for an urgent matter, not knowing if it is considered fine or a corporate faux pas.

Define and agree on what form of communication is expected, frequency of communication, and when are suitable hours for communication or protected time (i.e. time blocked for no interruptions).

Overcommunicating on communication (yes that’s a mouthful) is vital to establish clear expectations which prevents conflicts or misunderstandings.

3. Adapt during changes

The pandemic has transformed how we work and communicate, some more drastically than others.

With these changes, it is important to clarify with your superior and team how job responsibilities, expected outcomes, and communication expectations are affected.

As changes occur, different types of struggles may follow. Being transparent with our struggles will allow our superiors/teammates to help us cope as doing our job well helps them too.

4. Empathy and behavioral change

One of the job scopes for healthcare professionals in the clinical setting is to provide advice and counselling to patients/clients. Behavioral change is arguably one of the hardest subsets of counselling to achieve.

Xiao Qian shared her 3-step effective framework for behavioral change:

• Congratulate the patient/client for taking the 1st step to seek counselling (if applicable)
• Gather information to understand the root cause of behavior and motivating factors to leave the behavior
• Craft action plan based on root cause and motivating factors

Throughout the entire process, empathy provides a safe space for patients/clients to be vulnerable and share information that will assist us to help them. As their counsellors, we can affirm vulnerability by saying “I really appreciate you sharing this to me”.

5. Unite for patient safety, clinical outcome, and patient satisfaction

Healthcare professionals often work in a multi-disciplinary team, with each bringing different perspectives to a case.

However, it can be challenging to manage or work in a multi-disciplinary team, as each discipline naturally focuses on the desired outcome of their specialties.

Disagreements are uncomfortable, but it does not have to be unproductive. When there are disagreements, providing evidence to support our argument can help us to convey our opinion without being subjective/emotional about it.

At the end of the day, the team should collectively make decisions that focus on patient-centered goals: patient safety, clinical outcome, and patient satisfaction.

6. Building rapport with healthcare professionals

The same strategy above is also helpful when building rapport and persuading other healthcare professionals to adopt a particular product in their practice. As with any relationship, building rapport takes persistence, and the small gestures (i.e. greeting them in the hallway) do count in the long run.

When we communicate with them, we also need to align their interests with ours and communicate the benefit of our proposed approach. Armed also with an evidence-based approach and with mutual understanding of patient-centered goals, respect is bound to be earned and a professional relationship can then be established. Win-win for both!

7. Learning from a good mentor

Professional growth depends largely on the resources that are available around us. Often, a good mentor will supercharge our growth.

The ideal mentor does not necessarily have to be a PhD holder or someone with 30+ years of experience in the field.

Instead, we should identify a good mentor based on our needs and desired outcomes from the mentorship.

Find someone that can truly relate to your situation, and communicate on expectations (frequency of meeting, outcome of mentorships, etc).

8. Purpose-driven Communication

Xiao Qian also shared her experience in bringing her own chair to the discussion table.

For example, on a hematology ward where only parenteral nutrition was practised, she took one year to gather evidence and gain the hematologist’s trust to highlight the benefits of enteral nutrition so that it can be an option for suitable patients.

As demonstrated by her successful experiences to advocate for improved clinical outcomes, communication in the professional world is much more than just words and body language.

In fact, without purpose-driven communication, we may be stuck with outdated beliefs and practices instead of updating our practice with the latest evidence, akin to the latest smartphone being released but still choosing to stick with old chunky phones.

However, this is no easy feat. Being professional and evidence-based requires deliberate, repeated attempts to communicate to the decision-maker with a purpose in mind. This often requires continuous effort to build rapport and credibility.

Conclusion

A participant aptly mentioned that “1 hour was not enough”.

Indeed, all of us gained so many nuggets of wisdom on workplace communication. All that’s left to do is to put this information to good use. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect!

Needless to say, I am looking forward to the next podcast organized by the MPS YPC Professional Development team. Do join us whenever you can!