From “I Will” to I do.

Teach the commitment. Observe the behavior. Sustain the practice.

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COMMITMENT 02

I Will listen to patients, families, and staff before making decisions.

Learning objective: Demonstrate listening that changes or clarifies a leadership decision.

1. Understand the commitment

Listening is an active leadership practice: invite perspectives, summarize what was heard, and explain how the input informed the decision. Include voices that are easy to miss, such as night shift staff, people with communication barriers, and families involved with the patient’s permission. An urgent decision may require action before full consultation; explain the constraint and return to the people affected afterward.

Observable behaviors

Invite affected people to describe the problem before proposing a solution.
Summarize their concern and check that the summary is accurate.
Explain the decision and how input influenced it.

Describe a recent moment when this commitment was difficult. What could an observer have seen or heard you do?

2. Practice and reflect

You plan to extend clinic hours. Day staff agree, but evening staff and patients have not been asked. What is the strongest next step?

Choose the strongest leadership response Announce the plan because most people in the meeting agreed. Ask the team to vote without discussing constraints. Seek the missing perspectives, explore access and staffing effects, then explain the decision.

Read the facilitator’s explanation

Participation is meaningful when the people affected can influence the decision and understand the rationale. A simple majority does not establish that important perspectives were heard.

Reflect: What did you hear that changed your initial assumption? What did you explain when you could not meet a request?

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3. Observe and coach

Choose the behavioral level supported by your evidence. Unobserved commitments remain unscored.

Coach assessment1BeginningAsks for input after a reminder.2DevelopingCollects input but does not consistently confirm understanding or explain the decision.3ConsistentSeeks relevant voices, checks understanding, and closes the decision loop.4SustainingBuilds repeatable listening practices and corrects patterns of missing voices.

Evidence to look for

Meeting or rounding notes showing whose input was sought, the decision, and the response to participants.

Suggested process measure

Sampled decisions with affected-party input and a returned explanation / decisions reviewed.

Evidence-informed teaching. Sources: [2] [3]

Kelly Emrick, DHSc, PhD, MBA