The TMC IT Department Prayer
Last Thursday, September 15, 2011, we had an IT Department (ITD) staff meeting. I wanted the IT staff to appreciate what the department accomplished for The Medical City in the past year. This was also an exercise to improve our intra-departmental communications.
After the managers of the different sections of the department—development, SQA, support and technical—shared their activities and accomplishments, I presented possible projects and activities for next year. I also expressed the need to be more focused and proactive to ensure successful implementations.
I also wanted to end the meeting with an inspiring message. So I shared the Serenity Prayer:
Grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
I highlighted the three concepts—serenity, courage and wisdom—and then told them that the prayer was wrong.
First off, the prayer got the order of the 3 concepts wrong. Starting with “accepting things we cannot change” is not serenity—it is surrender.
Second, it’s misleading to call it the Serenity prayer when what we need to change the world is courage. It should be the Courage prayer. I wanted my IT Department to have balls!
Lastly, the wisdom part assumed it was easy to know the difference. It is not.
So, how do we know which ones we can change and which ones we cannot?
The answer: We don’t know—and won’t know—until we try.
Therein lies the true wisdom: Going through life with the conviction to MAKE a difference is the only way to KNOW the difference.
So, I rewrote the prayer for our IT Department. I rewrote it matching the order of things we need to continually support the operations of the hospital, contribute towards better patient care and forge the way into the future.
Here it is:
Grant us the wisdom to make a difference, the courage to change the things we can change and the serenity to accept the things we cannot.
Our work in Health IT is not easy. We should first be wise enough and brave enough to challenge the status quo. Serenity should be our last resort.
Amen?
Amen.
