CONSCIENTIOUSNESS: THE Elusive Magic Key Mostly Missing in Making Tech (Software) Work for Medicine
Conscientiousness is required in medicine where lives are on the line as opposed to a food delivery order. Conscientiousness for individuals is totally different than designing and building conscientiousness for systems that must be delivered by teams and that’s why conscientiousness for software in medicine is almost impossible.
What is the biggest conflict where tech meets medicine?
It’s conscientiousness.
Conscientiousness is required for essential elements of making tech work for medicine: project management, implementation, compliance, cybersecurity, diversity, quality, and more. They’re a “whole of company,” culture- enabled effort. But conscientiousness can be extremely scarce. As an aside, that’s why conscientious talent with project and implementation competencies waste their lives, reputations, careers, and wellbeing in the wrong companies under the wrong cultures in my view.
I think it’s best to think of conscientiousness in terms of levels: individuals to team, market type, etc.
This isn’t just about competent delivery of product or technical features; conscientiousness where medicine meets technology is a lot like producing and delivering a graduate level textbook of a top publisher, it’s conscientiousness across several teams, dimensions, work streams: “features” or content is only part 2/5, though additionally: then you must have conscientiousness for sound research principles, competence for managing the enterprise organization partner, compliance to rules, quality review, British legal review, and marketing.
Conscientiousness as an individual and what it means: Below is an excerpt and link to a description; though it’s basically an Eagle Scout like our recent Medigram Head of Ops, Mike Ng. Once in a lifetime, you may come across boundary pushing innovators who are also conscientious like our coauthor William Harding, Ph.D. But that’s not the norm. The great paradox is that medicine desperately needs technical innovation though it must be developed, delivered, and implemented with conscientiousness. Why is this almost impossible? But first, what is conscientiousness?
“What Is Conscientiousness?
A conscientious person is someone who is diligent and thorough in their work. They pay attention to detail, and generally have good time keeping.
A study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that conscientiousness has two distinct parts. We each have them, to varying degrees. [1]
Industriousness stems from our desire for achievement. Common motivators are chances to produce quality work, to demonstrate expertise, and to increase knowledge. When you’re “industriously conscientious,” you excel in making plans and setting goals. You tenaciously pursue them through setbacks, and you show self-discipline, control and determination.
Orderliness is rooted less in ambition and more in a sense of duty to your team and organization. As an “orderly conscientious” person, you’re good at following rules and norms, and at being diligent, reliable and responsible. You’re organized, diplomatic and punctual. You think before you act, and you care about doing a good job.
If you’re a conscientious person, you resist behaviors that could harm your ability or reputation. A co-worker might be known for being slow to start work, but you avoid procrastination and “buckle down” without delay.”
At Medigram, thanks to Talent, Culture, Leadership advisor Karen Jaw Madson, we use Predictive Index to tell us if any team has even the potential to be conscientious as well as what they need to focus on to deliver conscientious results that medical stakeholders require.
“When applying the “who’s in the room, who’s in the building, and who’s on the street” concept, keep in mind that just because a team member falls outside a quadrant most closely associated with your strategy, that doesn’t mean they can’t execute the strategy. However, it does mean it may take more effort than it would for those who naturally have those behavioral traits. “
What is Conscientousness as a Team: Effort & Execution
“After analyzing millions of behavioral assessments, Predictive Index has identified 17 reference profiles that create behavioral maps for different types of people. These reference profiles are then placed in PI’s Behavioral Quadrants so that individuals, as well as leaders, can visualize how team members work relative to others in the organization.
Succeeding in Highly Regulated Innovation Work Requires All of This
Predictive Index Behavioral Quadrants
- Innovation & Agility — Visionary, innovative, and risk-oriented. These individuals are quick to make connections and comfortable in uncertain situations.
- Results & Discipline — Driven, competitive, and demanding. These individuals are focused on goals and disciplined with rules.
- Process & Precision — Well-organized, coordinated, and efficient. These individuals build connections selectively and work to minimize risk.
- Teamwork & Employee Experience — Supportive, transparent, and empathetic. These individuals are people-oriented and lenient with rules.”
https://jacoadvisorygroup.com/the-design-phase-of-talent-optimization/
Successful necessary conscientiousness for a medical technology innovation team means leveraging process and experience talents to balance innovation and driving for team level results. You need experience skills to make sure different kinds of people CAN work well together. This is especially critical when the leader is an innovator. The innovator can bring much needed innovation to stodgy industries. However, that innovator has to partner with colleagues that drive process and results as well as experience to achieve conscientious results.
I wish that identifying and building the right teams was the answer. It’s unfortunately only part of it.
However, there’s more: There’s also negotiating conflict. Today, the biggest misalignment internationally in tech and between tech and medicine are around regulation and compliance. Read “Negotiating the Non Negotiable” h/t Dr. Josh Tamayo-Sarver when exploring tribalism which applies to professions.
One side says “regulations just block innovation and are unnecessary bureaucracy!”
Another side says “Lives are at stake and therefore tools used in this space don’t just deserve but demand conscientious risk management.”
It’s plain to all who know me which side I’m on.
There are further tools in our book for building organizational conscientiousness for effective innovation in Advanced Health Technology.
In order to be able to address tribalism, one has to be humble as descibed by coauthors of Advanced Health Technology, Dr. Brian McBeth, Dr. Felix Ankel, Dr. Art Douville, and Brittany Partridge.
And finally, no progress on making teams more conscientiousness can happen if any team members are afflicted by hubris syndrome which blocks and disables learning which h/t Karen Jaw-Madson also discussed in the book.
Lack of Conscientiousness including through multidisciplinary teams paired with a lack of humility required to learn combine to block effective learning. This impacts cybersecurity, diversity, effective delivery and implementation of advanced technology required for transforming medicine and more.
[2] El Othman, R., El Othman, R., Hallit, R. et al. Personality traits, emotional intelligence and decision-making styles in Lebanese universities medical students.BMC Psychol 8, 46 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-020-00406-4
By Sherri Douville, CEO at Medigram, the Mobile Medicine company. Recognized in 8 categories of top CEOs by Board Room Media (Across SMS, mHealth, iOS, IT, Database, Big Data, Android, Healthcare). Top ranked medical market executive worldwide and #1 ranked in mobile technology categories (mhealth, iOS, Android), #1–2 (on any given day) for the cybersecurity market in the U.S. on Crunchbase. Best selling editor/author, Mobile Medicine: Overcoming People, Culture, and Governance & Advanced Health Technology: Managing Risk While Tackling Barriers to Rapid Acceleration, Taylor & Francis; Series Editor for Trustworthy Technology & Innovation + Trustworthy Technology & Innovation in Healthcare.
