In February, 1971, I was a more or less lost, nineteen year old human being. I'd failed the first year of college, during the height of the Viet Nam war and was in danger of losing my deferment. I had been told emphatically by friends in 'Nam to do everything in my power to avoid service. To that stress was added my mother's preparation to move to remote, Southeastern Arizona to take a mining company job at a copper mine in the mountains. My younger brother and sister were going with her, but I was on the cusp of leaving home, and I had to decide what to do.
I'd had a couple part time jobs since blowing my 69/70 freshman year, and was enrolled at community college. I'd also had a failed roommate relationship with a friend whose father heard that I partied too hard, and insisted that he move. I was...miserable, and lost.
My mother offered to help me get a job as an orderly in the operating room of the hospital where she was a nurse anesthetist. I hemmed and hawed, and was honestly frightened about that encounter with the rawness of the surgical environment. But things closed in, and I had to take the job. It was very rough going in the beginning, as needless to say, the OR is not for the faint of heart. But out of necessity, I persisted. The family was gone, and I had nowhere to go and no one to be with but my little efficiency apartment, my girlfriend, and school.
Compressing things somewhat, I was eventually trained to become a surgical assistant, and became quite proficient in almost all areas of surgery, but mainly in orthopedics, cardiovascular and chest, and neuro. I kept the job well past graduation, until I landed my first mental health job (another story altogether) and eventually went on to graduate school.
The OR is a concentrated heirarchical environment, with the surgeon at the pinnacle. You can see all manner of leadership styles there, from the totally insecure rage-aholics who throw things, insult staff, complain about everything and browbeat whoever will allow it on up to those whose grasp of leadership can be said to be sublime.
It is this last I want to talk about here. There was a surgeon named Dr. Wayne G, who had been a flight surgeon during the Korean Conflict and was the epitome of the 'right stuff'. Instead of putting on a show of arriving in the OR, Dr. G merely washed his hands, came in the room, gowned and gloved, and greeted each individual by name. He was quiet, but radiated strength and commitment.
When he asked any member of the team for something he needed, he always phrased it this way, "Blank, would you please get me this, hand me that, or find that for me? Thank you." If he needed particular assistance, he would say something like, "I would really appreciate it if you would X, Y, or Z" If someone was struggling with a request they didn't understand, he would educate them. When I was in my early training phase, he would tell me the instrument he needed, and if I did not recognize the name, he would point it out, matter of fact, without drama, impatience or sarcasm. He never, ever lost his cool, because he knew that would cause others to lose theirs, and with a human life hanging in the balance, cool heads must prevail.
When procedures were over, he thanked everybody for their help by name, and congratulated us for a good job.
In a study of leadership, we can see that Dr. G had a complete grasp of 'being a leader' as a state of being, rather than as a transitive verb. People automatically fell into line, because they felt safe to follow. He radiated confidence, politeness, gratitude, compassion, understanding. These are the qualities people look for in their leaders, and if they find them, then they will be looking for ways to fall in behind them.
I call this 'Sign Up'- the desire in all of us to join an enterprise larger than ourselves because we have been shown a way by a trustworthy leader. It should be obvious that this human tendency can also be used for negative purposes as well, i.e. cults, bigotry, war etc. But even in these negative environments, the leaders still show the basic quality of being 'safe to join'.
If you are a leader of other humans reading this, and are struggling with those you lead, ask yourself if you are using the methods employed by Dr. G-
Do you really know their names, and who they are?
Do you greet them, and ask how they are doing, even if you know you'll get stock answers?
Do you listen to what they say?
Do you use your manners, your Please and Thank You's?
Do you express your gratitude for their help?
Do you keep your cool at all costs?
Do you spread shame and anger, or do you spread confidence and cooperation?
Do you want your job to be easy or hard?
Dr. G made his job easier by helping staff to cooperate with him, freeing him to concentrate on the important work at hand.
If you've read this and would like to converse more about it, please feel free to contact me.
