This Scientific Short is part of a series on laboratory personnel management.

Have you ever walked away from a conversation and thought “I feel understood”? Or maybe “I feel supported”? How about “That could have gone better.”? Whether or not the exact sentiments you may use, no doubt everyone has experienced instances where at the end of a conversation you felt either connect and understood or confused. Some of the more common instances where people may reflect on their own communication relate to change management, performance reviews and feedback, or preparing presentations. In these times, you may be prompted to consider one or more of the following: the message/messaging and audience alignment, the clarity of your examples/explanations/data, anticipating questions that may come up, or maybe something else entirely. The critical importance of effective communication is readily understood when reflecting on a time of misunderstanding as most often we tend to communicate without really thinking about it in our daily lives.

As indicated by recent surveys (1-3), even before the COVID-19 pandemic, most people in the clinical laboratory were experiencing burnout. This is not unique within the laboratory. In response many institutions are undertaking initiatives to improve mental health by building resiliency hoping it will lead to reduced burnout, as exemplified by ADLM’s SYCL wellness initiative (4). People are recognized as the most valuable resource within an organization. And yet, developing ourselves and learning new interpersonal skills are not typically taught during training. It’s not surprising that challenging or stressful situations can happen for all of us, like those encountered during the COVID pandemic, yet our ability to respond effectively can vary. This is especially true given the continued resource constraints within healthcare and clinical laboratories which contributes to burnout and fatigue.

Given the multitude of resources and strategies, there are options that will suit individual preferences for both your learning and communication styles. “Crucial Conversations” (5) and “Emotional Intelligence” (6) are two enduring books which can help you navigate your way toward improved communication in challenging or obviously stressful situations like those with high stakes or big emotions. An alternative to learning more via reading is working and practicing with a professional coach. Coaching provides an opportunity for a tailored approach to address your specific preferences and the unique needs for your situation. Coaching relationships are built actively by agreement between the two participants and focuses on helping to identify the goals and mechanisms to reach them as you’ve prioritized.

The benefits that come from coaching have been espoused by me and others (7). That author was a new professor, feeling overwhelmed in her role so worked with a coach and succeeded in changing her email habits. The goal was to improve her time away from her email and her work-life balance as an outcome of that coaching experience. I found her email example strikingly similar to my own coaching experience regarding this common work communication tool. For some people, upon receiving emails sent outside of “normal work hours”, they may experience stress as described in a Harvard Business Review (8). As the article notes, when receiving a late-night email some people respond immediately and therefore manage their stress by taking immediate actions instead of delaying to business hours. Others may manage this by only drafting a response or otherwise starting to address the request. Unfortunately, delaying was neither my nor my team members response. They interpreted my email as needing a priority response given the middle of the night request, so they met me at the door of the lab to follow up the next morning. Subsequently we discussed what would work best for future email etiquette between us given the disconnect in expectations. That experience helped lead to a balanced approach to managing my email, which I continue to use, where drafting emails occurs on my timeline and are sent during normal business hours to the recipients. The impact of that change went beyond the one individual who had spoken up, as it turns out they were not the only one experiencing stress along with the email. Based on my experience it seems likely the professors’ change likely was two-fold, with improvement felt by her students as well.

While anecdotal these examples highlight there are potential untapped benefits to be gained by examining and intentionally thinking about the ways you personally communicate. Explore and identify your own opportunities to try communicating more thoughtfully outside of your typical experiences. You too may find a new way and discover it helps improve the emotional wellbeing for yourself and those you communicate with.

References

  1. Melissa Kelly, Ryan Soles, Edna Garcia, Iman Kundu, Job Stress, Burnout, Work-Life Balance, Well-Being, and Job Satisfaction Among Pathology Residents and Fellows, American Journal of Clinical Pathology, Volume 153, Issue 4, April 2020, Pages 449–469, https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcp/aqaa013.
  2. Edna Garcia, Iman Kundu, Melissa Kelly, Ryan Soles, Lotte Mulder, Geoffrey A Talmon, The American Society for Clinical Pathology’s Job Satisfaction, Well-Being, and Burnout Survey of Pathologists, American Journal of Clinical Pathology, Volume 153, Issue 4, April 2020, Pages 435–448, https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcp/aqaa010.
  3. Edna Garcia, Iman Kundu, Melissa Kelly, Ryan Soles, Lotte Mulder, Geoffrey A Talmon, The American Society for Clinical Pathology’s Job Satisfaction, Well-Being, and Burnout Survey of Laboratory Professionals, American Journal of Clinical Pathology, Volume 153, Issue 4, April 2020, Pages 470–486, https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcp/aqaa008
  4. Jennifer M Colby, Jessica M Colon-Franco, Janetta Bryksin, Sarah A Hackenmueller, A SYCL of Wellness, The Journal of Applied Laboratory Medicine, Volume 5, Issue 6, November 2020, Pages 1424–1425, https://doi.org/10.1093/jalm/jfaa058
  5. Patterson K Grenny J McMillan R Switzler A. Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High. Second ed. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2012.
  6. Goleman D. Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ. New York: Bantam Books; 1995.
  7. https://www.science.org/content/article/i-felt-overwhelmed-new-professor-until-i-hired-personal-coach
  8. https://hbr.org/2023/02/the-hidden-toll-of-microstress