Without question, compliance work is serious business. The work we do is important to patient care. It is important to the organizations we work for. And it is important to tax-payer-funded healthcare programs. Simply put, the work requires that it be taken seriously. But that does not mean a compliance officer needs to be a serious person...well... not all the time, at least.
If you want to effectively navigate the politics of healthcare, take your work seriously, but don’t take yourself too seriously. Now, you may be thinking, “Hey, man. I like a good joke as much as the next person. Are you saying I need to be a comedian?” Not exactly, but let’s break this down a little more.
Take Your Work Seriously
Taking your work seriously means you are passionate about your work. That is true, no matter what line of work you are in—accounting, painting, medicine, plumbing, etc.
In the compliance officer profession, there isn’t a more accurate indicator of taking your work seriously than passion. Whether it’s reviewing regulations or conducting an audit, the work is tedious and labor intensive. As I covered in a separate article a couple weeks ago, you have to unconditionally love the struggle of compliance work—and that takes a special person to voluntarily endure that kind of pain.
Don’t Take Yourself Too Seriously
So what do I mean by “Don’t take yourself too seriously”? A few thoughts come to mind.
First, it means not beating yourself up when you make a mistake. When you are passionate and thorough in the approach to your work, you have the capital to lighten up on yourself. You’re human, and all humans make mistakes. As it relates to how you externally process mistakes, of course, you need to take that seriously. That is your work. Genuinely apologize and follow through on your steps to correct so that trust is not lost.
As it relates to how you internally process the mistake, this is where some people vary in how they respond. You need to be able to laugh at yourself. People who take themselves too seriously become too afraid to fail, and when they do fail, it becomes too much for them to accept. People who are self-confident because they worked hard have no problem admitting their mistakes. They may even bounce back by throwing in a little self-deprecating humor. When you can laugh at yourself in front of others, you are not taking yourself too seriously.
Not taking yourself too seriously also means you have a healthy dose of humility. Now, humility can mean different things, but for me, humility looks like a person who is grateful for what they have. It looks like listening to others and enabling them to be heard. And it looks like asking for help when you need it. These are traits that one should possess, no matter one’s socioeconomic background. Let me give you an interesting example of humility that I experienced in my life.
In 1997, I was working as a bartender in Sun Valley, Idaho. Yes, it is true. I was “finding myself ” after college. It was a time that my father had really hoped wouldn’t last long.
If you’re not familiar with Sun Valley, think Beverly Hills but in the mountains. It’s filled with celebrities and the uber-wealthy either living or vacationing there. Every day was an out-of-body experience that resulted in me calling my folks to tell them whom I saw. It’s a ridiculous fantasyland. A perfect place for someone finding themselves.
One night I was working at an annual event put on by a major investment company out of New York. It was a who’s who of multimillionaires and multibillionaires. While I was serving drinks before dinner, a gentleman tapped me on the shoulder. He asked me if he could have a glass of wine sitting on the tray I was holding. As I turned around, my twenty-two-year-old male brain mumbled, “Yeah” to this person—but he didn’t quite hear me. He said, “Oh. No, I can’t have it?” in an almost apologetic tone. As I fully turned around to give him the glass of wine, I immediately recognized who it was. It was Bill Gates.
At the time, he was the second wealthiest person in the world, with a net worth of $36 billion. Though I politely replied, “Oh, yes, you can have it,” I will tell you inside I was actually thinking, “Holy crap!!! You’re Bill Gates! I believe you can have this free glass of house wine!”
I mention this story because I have never forgotten how impressed I was with how he carried himself. It was as if he were no better than I was, though Forbes would certainly feel otherwise. Humility is about understanding that we’re all equally valuable, and that is demonstrating that you are not taking yourself too seriously.
Pulling it All Together
The takeaway here is that if you want to be effective at navigating the politics of healthcare, take your work seriously but don’t take yourself too seriously. This approach can help you in building relationships and communicating with others. Since some healthcare leaders perceive us to be about as impersonal as a computer, this approach can help change the perception of compliance. It adds a human element to your work.
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