Root beer, ice cream and a go-to guy!

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
—1 Thessalonians 5:10-11

It was 82 degrees outside and it was only 9:30…at night. The humidity made you feel like a wet blanket but it was the summer solstice—June 21, the first day of summer. Summers in Tampa have a certain reputation that intimidates folk like me who have yet to experience the joy of August’s full embrace. I am however intrigued when my new friends here just grin as they say, "This is your first summer isn’t it?"!

To make the start of summer special, the hospital's Employees' Activities Committee (EAC) planned root beer floats for everyone. I served so well during the afternoon shift that I got to take a big cart around to the units that evening.

You have no idea how much joy a guy with an ice-cream/soda cart can bring to hard working associates! But it was much more than the floats!

Still learning my way around the hospital, after serving Pepin Heart Hospital and The Women’s Center, I came across folk taking a break near the garden fountains and offered them a float. Asking if they had any fellow associates who might enjoy a break, we went to find them. It was then we met Lamar from the Materials Department. Sipping on his Orange soda float he asked about the departments I had visited.

"Man, your night is only beginning. We have a lot of ground to cover."

We set off, leading me and my cart around parts of the hospital I know I will never find again. Sterile Processing, Recovery, Surgery, Anesthesia, Medical Records, Security, One Day Surgery…all were so grateful.

I simply told them Lamar was their best friend! By now my scooping and pouring hand was getting tired and the ice cream was staring to melt.

"Come on!" Lamar said, "You can’t miss ER, they never get a break when they are busy." Off we went and served EMS crews, nurses, techs, docs, and a couple of waiting families. Smiles and thanks all around.

You can have all the right stuff, like ice cream and soda, but if you don’t get them to the right people it is of no good. You need a Lamar to take you around and introduce you to all his friends.

Lamar is a go-to guy. You probably have a couple of go-to people you work with each day.

An article about "go-to-people" from my business school in Canada caught my eye:

"Every organization has these so called go-to people. Surprisingly, they are not necessarily the people who hold the highest positions or are in the most powerful departments. They are the individuals who:

• They know how their organizations work and how to work their organizations.
• They are politically astute without being corporate politicians.
• They know how to use power when it’s needed but seldom use it, preferring to influence and persuade others to get-with-the-program
• They are consummate negotiators but getting it done is non-negotiable.
• They use networks of reciprocation rather than deals.
• They think out of the box while acting inside the box.
• They are analytical and intuitive, aggressive and patient, confident and humble, deliberate and decisive."

"Go-To People: What Every Organization Should Have," by Jeffrey Gandz (Ivey Business Journal March/April 2007) 

Let’s face it; life would be pretty tough without "go-to people." A lot of folk would have missed out on ice cream floats!

Right now you are getting ready to care for a patient, counsel a family or work alongside a physician partner or fellow associate. Be their "go-to-person." Don’t let them down!