Canada’s role in shaping Radiology’s Purpose
Tyler Hughes started his career in Bayer as a Medical Advisor. A medical physicist by training, Tyler always had patients and patient care top of mind. In his rotations through marketing, strategy, and operations roles within the Canadian Radiology organization, Tyler identified that serving patients was near and dear to his colleagues, although his thinking was progressive, there was still work to be done to rally the rest of the organization.
When Tyler moved on to take increased responsibility as the Chief of Staff to the Head of the Americas Radiology organization, he became part of a small passionate team who saw an opportunity to move the patient more to the foreground of the work Radiology did and connect the work of the Radiology organization to a greater purpose. Together, they championed the concept of kicking off a process to define the organization’s purpose around patient care.
The first major step occurred at an annual meeting attended by the top commercial leaders from across North and South America. Rather than focus on the typical topics such as acute business challenges or team building, the decision was to dedicate the entire time to pinning down the question ‘Why Bayer Radiology exists’. This included asking the leaders to put themselves into the shoes of the patient by mapping out their journey; digging deep into the ‘why’ behind our business; breaking into groups to draft purpose statements; regrouping to hear the results, then voting on what resonated most. The team then took the evening to crystalize the major themes into a clear statement: “Everyone deserves clear answers about their health” (see sidebar). The group voted quickly and unanimously to adopt it as the Radiology purpose.
“When I heard the statement, it immediately tapped into the reason I chose healthcare and the reason I chose Radiology. I couldn’t clearly articulate why I try to go the extra mile for our customers and for patients, but this statement brought it all together” said Ben Aylesworth, Marketing Director in Canada and workshop participant.
The power of the statement was evidenced by the adoption by the entire global Radiology organization and was rolled out at the European, Asian, and Americas annual kick off meetings which included over 1,500 employees.
“I’m proud of how the organization has embraced and contributed to this effort. It speaks to the energy and passion of employees to connect our work as an organization.” Said Tyler in a recent phone call, “However, getting to the purpose is only the first step. The real test is how we live the purpose every day at work. This includes doubling down on what we were doing to support the delivery of clear answers, but also challenging ourselves to make changes where needed”
Radiology Insider will launch a series of updates to share how the organization lives up to its purpose in Canada.
[Side Note]
These words are meaningful to our business for a number of reasons:
Everyone. The healthcare system exists to maintain or improve health across a population. In this context, much like our customers and our industry, our business is about serving everyone.
Deserves. As the primary stakeholder in healthcare, patients should never be secondary to costs or access. They deserve the absolute best from the healthcare system – we all do.
Clear answers. Radiology is about answers. And with our legacy and our brand, we represent reliability, quality and precision of these answers at times of great stress and confusion.
About their health. Radiology plays a pivotal role in the patient experience across healthcare and disease states. Through our work, we are with them along the entire journey.
Stay tuned to Radiology Insider where we will be bringing you more patient purpose focused articles in the coming editions.
