Slingshot Designs

Tag: Systems Thinking

  • Compliance Is Not Trust

    Compliance Is Not Trust

    Administrative Harm: Field Notes from the Patient Side A completed form is not evidence of informed participation, psychological safety or trust. One unseen electronic signature reveals how easily administrative efficiency can override patient agency before care even begins.

  • Steelers & Plaid: The Weight We Never Measured

    Steelers & Plaid: The Weight We Never Measured

    Navigating the hidden work systems quietly transfer to us can be a daunting task. In my experience, changing primary care providers took nearly 200 hours, revealing a deeper issue than just administrative complexity. It was about capacity and the value we create or simply keep the system moving. By observing these patterns, we can apply…

  • Ask the Question That Removes the Burden

    A good survey question does more than collect feedback. It reduces burden, clarifies value, and shows whether the system is asking the right people to do the right work.

  • The Goal Was Always Zero

    The Goal Was Always Zero

    This essay is one of the more personal pieces I have shared. It sits at the intersection of motherhood, adoption, leadership, and quality—and asks what becomes possible when we finally acknowledge the human systems producing our outcomes.

  • Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks

    Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks

    A backyard game with Dylan became a leadership lesson in trust, change, play, and why resistance is often risk assessment—not refusal.

  • Worry Is Creativity’s Shadow

    Worry Is Creativity’s Shadow

    Worry and creativity both create something from nothing. The question is what we are building with that imagination.

  • I Wish Perspective Was Available at the Gas Pump

    I Wish Perspective Was Available at the Gas Pump

    The conversation about artificial intelligence isn’t really about technology. It’s about judgment, discernment, and how we choose to lead through change. The lessons I learned growing up in my family’s gas station service business continue to shape how I think about innovation, accessibility, and the responsibility that comes with every new tool.

  • What Problem Are We Trying to Solve Today?

    What Problem Are We Trying to Solve Today?

    Leadership begins long before the first meeting. A cup of coffee, a yoga pose, and one simple question reminded me why alignment always comes before strength.

  • Recovery Isn’t Returning. It’s Finally Becoming Yourself.

    Recovery Isn’t Returning. It’s Finally Becoming Yourself.

    Recovery isn’t about returning to who you were. Sometimes it’s about becoming the first version of yourself whose body, mind, and leadership finally align. Reflections on grief, resilience, chronic illness, leadership, and what healing has taught me about people and systems.

  • When KPIs Tell You It’s Too Late

    When KPIs Tell You It’s Too Late

    The best organizations don’t wait for metrics to tell them something is wrong. They pay attention to the behaviors creating those results in the first place.

  • Root Cause Starts with the Leader

    Root Cause Starts with the Leader

    Most leaders don’t wake up looking for leadership advice. They wake up knowing something feels different. Before we diagnose an organization, we should learn to observe the system making the diagnosis—including ourselves.

  • Winning Is a Practice

    Winning Is a Practice

    Five years of Winning Wednesday taught me something unexpected: winning isn’t about achievement. It’s about learning to notice evidence of progress, one week at a time.

  • Your Efficiency Program Didn’t Eliminate Work. It Moved It.

    Your Efficiency Program Didn’t Eliminate Work. It Moved It.

    Technology was supposed to eliminate friction and free us for higher-value work. Instead, much of the work still exists—it has simply been transferred. From healthcare and customer service to authentication systems and self-checkout lanes, we increasingly perform labor that once belonged to organizations. The question leaders should ask isn’t whether work was eliminated. It’s whether…

  • Alignment Requires Measurement

    Alignment Requires Measurement

    A photo in the garden wasn’t about yoga. It was about prediction, measurement, and learning. The same questions that guide coaching, leadership, and continuous improvement can guide personal growth too: What do we expect to happen? What actually happened? What did we learn?

  • The Work We Don’t Count

    The Work We Don’t Count

    I spent years believing work only counted if it appeared on a job description or generated a paycheck. Then I started paying attention to where value was actually being created. What I found changed how I see leadership, talent, and the people organizations overlook every day.