Medical Costs Increasing. Leadership Changes Could Help!

A study reported in the Epoch Times this morning cited that medical claims costs will rise by 32% in the next year.   Medical claim costs drive the cost of insurance premiums.   For those companies that are self-insured (i.e., larger companies pay for every visit to the doctor; the insurance company of record for the company is only there to issue cards and negotiate rates with doctors), every ailment, sickness, or dis-Ease is a direct cost to the business and a hit to the bottom line. 

As a former HR leader, our third largest cost - to the tune of millions of dollars every year – was healthcare.    Every dollar we saved by keeping our associates healthy was a direct increase to our earnings.

We spent over $1,000,000 a year with a company that provided biometric screenings and nutrition counseling via a web interface.    We saw no difference in our medical claims data.   Why?  Well, any doctor will tell you that 80% of what we see the doctor for today is stress related.   We can treat the symptoms, but the underlying problem is still there.

What I don’t understand, and I still don’t, is why ‘mindfulness’ at work has not been fully embraced.   At the Moksha Institute, we totally transform companies - their culture, their communication patterns, the sense of meaning people get from work, the feeling of warmth they feel at work - and also dramatically reduce healthcare costs, which is reason in and of itself to engage in this work.   We have seen the fruits of our work – in increased engagement and profitability.

The science of Mindfulness, with roots in health care, is making significant contributions to the fields of communications, conflict resolution, leadership, and cognition (among others).  When combined with what we know from Positive Psychology research, the formula for success in life, abundant health, increased energy, and strong performance is not complicated.   It isn’t a long process that requires 3 sigma’s, 6 sigma’s, or even 9.   There are no white, yellow, or black belts needed.   And, unlike TQM programs, health management initiatives, or even large, multi-focused firms like Hewitt, Aon, or McKinsey – the cost of this work is often paid for by the savings and increased performance before our contract is even up.

What it does require is a mental shift – a paradigm change.   It requires the John Wayne type that is leading your company who came up through the ranks by “taking charge,” “getting things done,” and “kicking  ass” to do a complete do a 180.   And, that’s really, really hard.  

Our signature strengths often become our leveraged limitations.   Those “Type A” attributes – the use of direct will – to get things done are catalyzing for sure, but the road to transformation requires both will and grace, fire and rain, hardness and softness, yin and yang, control and submission, pride and humility, assertiveness and acceptance, faith in self and accountability and release from expectations of perfection.   It requires the will to serve as much as to lead, the desire for profit as much as wellbeing, and the understanding that no one thing can flourish at the expense of other things suffering.   Thriving results from the whole of a person, team, or system working in oneness and synchronicity. 

We see this same pattern play out time and time again.   Industrialization wins at the cost of the environment, Investment bankers win at the cost of your brother, uncle, or cousin’s pension plan, you save time by going through the drive through, but deplete the body of nutrients and decrease your energy…   Humans are not very good at gray yet.   We will take the momentary satisfaction at the cost of later suffering.

The leadership crisis facing corporate America today is the call to answer the question – “Are you willing to let go of control?  Are you willing to release some of your Power?   Are you ready to involve your company?  Are you capable of turning inward and looking at your own self – your motivations, your actions and behaviors?  What do you stand for and where do you compromise?”   The call for leaders today is to let go.   The “story” of what it means to be a leader is and has already changed.   Your employees WANT meaning and purpose in their lives as much as they want financial gain.   Your associates want to contribute, create, and be a part of that which they are building, rather than a cog in the wheel.   They want to trust you.   They want to respect you.    And, given what has happened in the last 5 years in business, today… they don’t. 

And, when one part of your body starts to reject you, it’s called cancer.   In organizations, it’s misalignment, which is a form of malignancy.   

So much can be changed.   The time is now.   The way is not complicated.   And, doing so will impact all of us.  

Namaste, 

Ryan

 

Dr. Ryan Pride is the owner of the Moksha Institute, a firm dedicated to improving the wellbeing of individuals, teams, and organizations through culture transformation and leadership development.   A profit-for-purpose company, the Moksha Institute applies Ancient Teachings for the Modern Time in order to transform striving into thriving.  

For more information, please go to: www.mokshainstitute.com