Relationship-Centered
A Personal Reflection by Nancy Steiger

“I have always felt that relationships are the way to get things done. It’s the people, not the organization, that achieve outcomes, and it’s working with and through people that you achieve great things. I’ve never really seen a way to accomplish great things without first building good relationships and good teams.

“Part of what attracted me to PeaceHealth was the strength of our mission, vision and values. In particular, I was drawn to having Mission, Culture and People as the first pillar of our Vision 2012 because this clearly emphasizes relationships and being in relationship with other people. And when you look at our values, you again see the importance of relationships in our value of collaboration. You can’t collaborate without relationships. But you don’t have relationships without collaboration. They go hand in hand.

“The relationship of mission, vision and values to the leadership model was so authentic and so important to me that it was a major draw to PeaceHealth. I believe this is central to me in my role as Chief Mission Officer. To be in charge of this inspiring mission and ministry means that relationships are central to what I do. The way to lead mission and ministry is through relationships; really understanding the hearts and minds of people, what their hopes and dreams are, and using the mission, vision and values as roots and wings for the mission and ministry. You can’t do any of those things unless you are in a relationship to people, to teams and ultimately to the community.

“Relationships and collaboration are about the greater good. And relationships help you achieve the greater good. It keeps you focused on the greater good. Ultimately that’s what it’s all about.

“Relationships demand that you have integrity and humility. If you want to get an outcome and to be outcomes focused, draw upon your relationships by being humble and having integrity in those relationships. It’s also about compassion, which is where the ministries and the mission lead you to being a compassionate presence, and caring about personal and community health and well being and caring for your patient as the whole person, and ultimately the whole community. As you can see, our leadership attributes are interwoven and continual, and perhaps even circular. But I believe that the beginning really is relationships and I think everything flows from that.

“Last but not least, relationships are about spirituality. To be in relationship I have to know who I am and have a spiritual sense, which lets me understand my boundaries of who I am, how I connect with the greater world and the greater being.  Spirituality is not about what religion or belief you have, it’s about being part of a greater whole. It’s about being connected beyond yourself and thinking, breathing, feeling and living our mission, vision and values for every patient and every colleague every day.”