Coping with Ever Changing Technology

For decades, we believed that the best kind of financial portfolio was one that was diversified. We now believe that, in addition to the diversified financial portfolio, we should also be maintaining a diversified "life portfolio." The latter portfolio suggest that our lives should be divided into 5 arenas or centers of activity. And, as we age, the amount of energy and life resource invested in the five area will vary.

The five centers of activity were:

1. Family, Friends, and relationships. This is the amount of energy and resource that is required to be a part of a larger circle than simply you alone. It is what it takes to b a spouse, partner, mother father, sib, aunt, uncle, grandparent, friend, confidant, cousin, grandchild, or BFF. It Is a network that you have invested in heavily and is there for you, when needed. It is the circle that celebrates with you and grieves with you.
2. Work and Wages. This is the career(s); you have built, The path you have taken with preparation and training leading you to advancement, bigger responsibilities, and rewards.
3. Lifelong Learning. In this arena we ask about how things work, we gain intellectual perspective and satisfaction. This can be learning a new language, traveling, engaging in a hobby, getting lost in a novel, learning a new musical instrument, bowling in a league, doing something that you have always wanted to do but time didn't allow.
4. Civic engagement. Some call it volunteering. It is that piece that many of us play when we make a commitment to heal the world, to make it a better place. It allows each of us to determine the role we want to play and the action we want to take in creating change.
5. Health. Here we travel from the carefree years to the "wonder years", these are the years where we wonder what will happen to our bodies next! This is the path that takes us from driving our kids' carpools, to driving to multipole doctor's appointments in a single day. This is the path that leads from dinners with friends to organ recitals. Wondering which organ has us worried today?

At different stages of life, our diversified life portfolio and experiences shift in terms of where our time, energy, resources, passion, and concern get spent.

But, over the past ten years, there has been a new and dramatic push to add one additional center of activity. More specifically, it is how we accept, engage, and live/survive in a world that is becoming increasingly technology driven. Research has demonstrated that the more one denies the existence of the trend or fights the trend, the more likely they are to feel disenfranchised, helpless, and depressed. Reminded each day by the push to bank online, place a call in which a human voice is heard, buy or change a plane ticket, refill a prescription, experience a phone or computer problem or receive spam or robo calls, or create yet another username or password, the world of technology is exhausting!

So, what can an organization or business do to help its clients, patients, consumers cope with and make the best of these technological challenges and opportunities?

Here are five things to think about:

1. The person to whom you are attempting to explain a perhaps complex issue does not have the benefit of your years of specialized education. Find language and examples that they will understand. Stay away from acronyms that are part of your medical universe.
2. In constructing questionnaires and surveys, ask yourself how important is the specific question you are asking people? What are you going to do with the data you are gathering? In a kind and civil way, ask if you are being understood. The medical field is flooded with studies which show a significant gap between the patient's and doctor's perceptions as to how clear follow up instructions have been given.
3. Accept the fact that people process information differently. For example, some are auditory learners while others are visual leaners. Some like their information on their smart phone, others on their tablet and yet others on their computers. Give them the choice that works for them.
4. Constantly remind yourself that the path you have taken which embraces a combination of High Touch and Hi tech does not survive without trial and error and a constant drive to provide experiences which are understood and leave clients/patients with a feeling that they were heard.
5. Find a language that helps define and explain a new technology element in a way which allows the recipient to feel it is going to result in a benefit to them. A regional hospital in the foothills of Appalachia struggled with how to explain a million-dollar piece of medical equipment found in each of its rooms in the Neonatal Intensive care Unit (NICU). The families in the area surrounding the hospital were both poorly educated and highly suspect of the doctor's motives. A decision was made to limit the explanation of the machine's purpose to 5 words. Rather than recite a litany of complex functions provided by the machine, the suspect and concerned parents of the child in the ICU room were told, "This machine helps Susie eat."

We think daily about the expansion of our client's diversified “life portfolios." We take very seriously the new demands of technology on their lives. Curious how you are grappling with the concept of technology and how it is impacting the lives of your clients/patients?

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