Patterns

If you look around enough, you see patterns. You see patterns in nature and patterns in man-made structures and organizations. Sometimes I think it is hard to say which came first – patterns we created or patterns that were there prior and we just happen to notice. Patterns of behavior, constructs, design, landscapes, rivers, mountains, processes, anatomy.

In medicine, you are trained to notice patterns of diseases and recognize what the patterns mean, interpret their significance and act on them. Once you have mastered pattern recognition, the practice of medicine becomes a little easier – follow the patterns to their logical conclusion and find the appropriate treatment. Then you and the patient have a course of action and way forward. There is even a pattern of recovery from disease states – in physiatry we see this pretty frequently in stroke victims, spinal cord injury patients, and musculoskeletal injuries. We see it less predictably in brain injury patients because, well, it’s the brain.

But that in of itself tells us something. When a brain injury occurs, all sorts of functions change. People’s personality changes, their tastes and preferences change, all kinds of patterns change. Most patients and their families have a difficult time with this. They are uncomfortable with these new patterns. It is unfamiliar and often disruptive. In the rehabilitation hospital, it is often our job to anticipate these changes in patterns and work with them so the patient and their support network can make the most of them to optimize the patient’s function.

I would say the same could be said for business. Many of us get comfortable and complacent in our preferred patterns and any disruption can cause major chaos. We have a certain way we like to do things and we think it is the most efficient way to do them, so why disrupt the pattern?

Because disrupting the pattern presents opportunity. Just as brain-injured patients sometimes need to “think differently,” quite literally with new axon connections and altered anatomy, so do we need to think differently in our work, with new contexts we did not anticipate, new rules, regulations, or new techniques and approaches we had not considered or that may not have existed in the past.

It takes courage to disrupt a comfortable pattern and it may not be best to change every single thing at the same time. Small changes and controlled disruptions could pave the way for real progress in many fields. In medicine this happens pretty frequently, with new procedures and guidelines. But the business of medicine is changing right in front of us, with telemedicine, new and better apps on smartphones to provide counseling and treatment, the inevitable rise of AI, and increased use of data analytics to optimize care for patients. More and more disruptions are coming, as technology advances physician interactions with patients and potentially upends the basic prevailing model of clinic and patient encounters. Just as with brain-injured patients, new patterns emerge and often they open doors we had not considered.

I think the best strategy is to embrace disruptions to a certain extent, maybe with one foot in the established pattern and one foot in the new. That way, one is adaptable to go with the benefits of a new direction but hold on to what works from experience. An alternative would be to jump in with both feet to a new way of doing things and process and tweak it along the way. Either way, being open to the change that these disruptors present will well prepare you and your business for what’s next. What do you think? Are there disruptors facing your business that you may be able to embrace or are the changes too much to handle? Leave a comment and let me know.