The heart of transformation

Recently, we’ve all been hearing a lot about our company’s transformation. Personally, I closely followed the articles written by Herald-Times reporter Bill Strother and editor Bob Zaltsberg (links provided below) in August 2016, which gave a great overview of why Cook is going through a transformation, what we’ve already accomplished, and what’s in store for the future. It’s also exciting that we will continue learning about the transformation through a webcast with regular company updates and Transformation Update newsletters.

All of these communications have been very open and transparent about the long-term vision for Cook Medical. They even discussed the FDA Warning Letter that Cook Inc. received in late 2014. The letter prompted us to meet certain requirements, but, in typical Cook fashion, it also prompted our leaders and team members to go above and beyond and make broader improvements.

When I hear the word “transformation,” I think of change. Often, people fear change and can be resistant to the idea of change. But we should not fear the changes Cook Medical is making because they are vital to Cook’s future success. Instead, these changes should be enthusiastically accepted.

There are several reasons I believe our transformation will be a success, but one very simple reason stands out above the rest: Our communication!

We hear it all the time: “Communication is a two-way street.” When you stop to think about what that means, you realize that it means sharing information is just as important as listening. Our leadership team has been out talking with employees and getting feedback about how we can improve. Our leaders are then taking the information shared with them and making changes to fix the problems they heard about. In other words, we are sharing and they are listening!

My experience with communication

On a much smaller scale, I used this same approach when I was an engineering technician within Cook Medical. The engineering technician’s role is to support operations, which includes designing and implementing new fixtures, incorporating new machinery, identifying bottlenecks that decrease production lead times, and creating efficiencies. In addition to this support, I also worked closely with production and marketing to ensure products launched smoothly.

I found the best way to do my job was to simply go out to the production floor and spend time listening and learning from my “internal Cook customers.” When I first ventured out onto the production floor, I felt disconnected—almost like I was unwelcome or distrusted. To remedy this, I worked to build trusting relationships with members of the production team by spending time with them and getting to know them on a more personal level.

Once I began to establish trust as an engineering tech, I would almost always have individuals approach me to ask questions or offer suggestions. As a result, instead of having to spend hours looking for production issues or potential areas for improvement, the information was being handed to me on a silver platter. All I had to do was communicate the issues or desired improvements to other areas within the company that could help document, develop, and implement a solution.

I have had a similar experience in my current role at Cook as a sales representative. It takes time to build the relationships and establish trust with customers. Once it’s established, though, the line of communication opens and I can instantly provide value to build our professional relationship.

So how does all of this result in a successful Cook Medical transformation?

We are successfully communicating! I applaud our leadership team’s genuine efforts to open communication with all Cook team members. As a member of the START Team in 2014, I remember Pete Yonkman and other company leaders coming to our building on Acuff Road in Bloomington, Indiana. They spoke with everyone to learn what was working well, what could be improved, and to simply learn more about who we were as individuals. I have since come to learn that our leadership team does this often, each time in a different area of the company. Awesome!

It’s pretty exciting to imagine what Cook’s leadership team can do simply by communicating with and listening to thousands of us share our ideas.

How can Cook team members help the effort?

Communicate often, openly, and honestly. We should all continue sending our leadership teams ideas to generate positive change!

Personally, I have found it helpful to ask myself: “Who are my internal and external Cook customers?” I encourage all Cook team members to ask the same question; it will help point out who you could be in better communication with during your day-to-day work. Let’s learn from what our leadership team is doing and improve our communication with all of our co-workers and “customers,” all the while remembering that listening is as important as sharing.

Cheers to the next 53 years!

In case you missed the three Herald-Times articles that focused on Cook and its transformation:

Stung by critical FDA report, Cook reassesses, looks to evolve — Aug 5, 2016

Cook addresses FDA criticism, doesn’t stop there — Aug 6, 2016

Carl Cook inherited his father’s company — and his vision — Aug 6, 2016