Partnering: More than a Discipline…a Way of Life

By Mike Reno

Reno is vice president of St. Luke's Episcopal Health System in Houston. He can be reached at mreno@sleh.com.

I come from a military background and after transitioning into civilian life, I sometimes questioned the lifestyle. Where was the camaraderie, the esprit de corps, the sense of duty and responsibility?

And then came the flood. In June of 2001, a five-day tropical storm rocked the city of Houston, dropping 41 inches of rain and causing untold devastation. St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, like most facilities in the Texas Medical Center, was flooded and all of its utilities were lost, including emergency power. As special project manager to the CEO of St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, I was on the front lines of a battle to protect our patients and staff.

Within a few hours, employees from our contractor and subcontractor partners arrived, unsolicited, bringing water and generators and vowing to stand with us, whatever it took. Everyone knew exactly what they needed to do and set about doing it. Our damage was no less severe than our neighbors, but our hospital reopened in just 10 days while our competitors were out of commission for months. Without the shared vision, alignment and trust between St. Luke’s and great partners such as General Electric, Linbeck, Pin Oak Interests, Fisk, Gowan, Marek Brothers and countless others, St. Luke’s would have never been able to return to our mission of providing the Houston area with quality healthcare services in such a timely manner.

It is circumstances such as the flood that underscore the value of true partnering. There were no purchase orders issued or asked for. We didn’t write one contract or purchase order to a vendor or consultant during our ten-day recovery effort. There was no bureaucracy, just commitment to one vision: What can we do to best help the hospital reopen and serve this community? When partners share a common vision, suddenly work has meaning.

When the Chips Are Up I appreciate partnering when the chips are down; but in reality, a partnering relationship is something that can’t be forsaken on any given day. While you may not be thanking someone for showing up to work each day, your daily actions set the tone for whether or not you can understand and appreciate a deep and sustained level of commitment. You must feel a genuine sense that “we can’t do our best without you,” and vice versa. And you have to re-set that tone every day if you’re going to keep it real.

At St. Luke’s we call our system TLC-Texas Loving Care: Friends and Family Taking Care of Friends and Family. That’s the expectation and that’s the culture. Nurturing a partnering system based on culture and commitment demonstrates value but necessitates walking a delicate line. Somebody once said to me, “It’s a lot easier to yell at somebody you like and easier to have difficult conversations with those you respect.” I agree with that in sentiment because you feel a sense of duty to help people you partner with and you want them to be better and more successful; but that doesn’t make those difficult conversations any easier. Meaningful partnering is like a family dynamic. You hate to discipline your kids but you know that you’re helping them in the long run. When you’re communicating with partners you respect, it’s more of a challenge and you pay more attention to your words when you know you’ll be working together next year and the next.

Time Testing Trust, absolutely without a doubt, is the cornerstone to successful partnering. Any lack of trust distracts from being able to have honest conversations and that ultimately impacts the job and performance. But trust has to be earned over time. That is why some of our professional partnerships are into their second decade. Trust adds value; and value carries more meaning than economy in the long run.

Some of our competitors purchase professional services based on low bid or the bottom line. We don’t. Our most recent major projects are the Texas Heart Institute @ St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital: the Denton A. Cooley building and the Community Medical Center The Woodlands. These projects proved, on a cost per sq ft basis, that we could create medical facilities more economically than our competitors. Our partners were not the cheapest first cost; but no one was worried about maximizing their individual results; we were focused on a common vision, based on trust and integrity, which financially demonstrated a good outcome, the least expensive final cost.

Real partnering demonstrates that organizations are greater than the sum of their part. And then partnering accomplishes a greater good and fulfills a greater purpose. Partnering is more about purpose than process.