Lead with grace, not fear.
Pros
On the outside, the mission and vision of PCH are enough to draw anyone in. On the inside, the medical professionals and the children and families they support are enough to make you stay a lot longer than you probably would have otherwise.
Cons
You want to believe in everything PCH stands for. The hope, healing and healthcare provided to patients and their families should be more than enough to make you love going into the office every day. And even on those days where the politics of it all gets in the way, you hold out hope, because you want to believe in the mission and vision so badly, often times sacrificing your own physical and mental health to do so. I have more fond memories of my time at PCH than I can count, but most of those memories are overshadowed by the toxicity and competitive culture created and enforced by leadership. And now, when I think of PCH, I’m left with a sour taste in my mouth. I departed on my own teams - albeit not great ones - because I felt like I had no choice. If I had stayed at PCH, not only would I have been doing a disservice to an organization I had dedicated six years of my working life to because I was incredibly unhappy, but I would have been doing a disservice to my health. Every day I went into the office wanting to do well, often times working upwards of 60-70+ hours/week to check off all of the to-dos, only to repeatedly feel belittled, disrespected and discouraged by whoever my boss was at the time (I had six in six years, and only one switch was by choice ... the others were the results of reorgs or “new opportunities”). I cried more times out of frustration than any employee should. I turned friends and trusted colleagues into competitors, because leadership openly told us we had to “prove our worth to keep our jobs.” Never in my life have I been so discouraged by the person I had become than when I look back at my last few years at PCH. The leadership is toxic, and it starts at the top. Looking back, I had to remind myself on a DAILY basis that I was enough, and most days, I didn’t believe it. Not because I wasn’t enough; I was darn good at my job. But because the leadership at PCH (at least the leadership I experienced) fosters a toxic environment and culture where no matter how successful or kind or honest or hardworking you are, it will never be enough.
