Areaka: Welcome back to another episode of Accreditation Made Easy. I am your host, Areaka Jewell. Today I want to talk about four words that I think every accreditation manager needs to remember from time to time. This too shall pass. Because accreditation is a funny way of making whatever is happening right now feel like the biggest problem in the world. Am I right? Especially during an assessment. Because you've spent months preparing, you've checked and rechecked your files, you coordinated interviews, static displays, you confirmed schedules and made hotel arrangements. You tried to think of every possible thing that could go wrong. And then the assessment week arrives, and something you never even thought of goes wrong. Of course it does. Maybe the person coordinating your static display Calls out sick the morning they're supposed to be there. Maybe an assessor asks for something you absolutely weren't expecting. Or maybe you're reviewing a standard with an assessor and discover that the proof you thought was solid isn't gonna work. Maybe the internet goes down right when the assessors need to access your assessment. Or maybe you're in the middle of something and one of the assessors calls you because the hotel charged their credit card for the entire stay. Instead of just the incidentals. And somehow, that's now your problem too. These things can feel enormous when they're happening. But here's something I've learned over the years. Accreditation problems almost always feel bigger in the moment than they do later. Think about some stressful accreditation situation you've dealt with in the past. At the time, you probably thought, how am I going to fix this? What's the assessors going to think? Is this going to become an issue? What am I going to do now? And yet, here you are. You got through it. You figured something out. Maybe you solved the problem exactly the way you wanted to. Maybe you didn't. Maybe you had to improvise. Maybe somebody else stepped in and helped. Maybe the thing you were incredibly worried about turned out not to be nearly as important as you thought it would, and maybe you didn't have any control over the outcome at all. But eventually that moment ended. It passed. That's the perspective I want to talk about today. Because preparation is incredibly important in accreditation. You know, I'm always going to encourage you to prepare. Plan ahead, build your files throughout the cycle, know your standards, communicate with your people, prepare for your assessment before the assessors arrive. Do everything you reasonably can to put yourself and your agency in a good position. But here's the reality. No amount of preparation guarantees that everything is going to go according to plan. Because let's face it, people get sick, technology fails, schedules change, assessors ask questions you weren't expecting. And sometimes documents don't always prove what you thought they proved. Sometimes things just happen. But being prepared matters. But so does your ability to pivot when your preparation meets reality. And I think that's where the mindset of this too shall pass can be super helpful not because the problem doesn't matter, but because it helps you keep the problem in perspective. One unexpected issue doesn't mean your entire assessment is falling apart. One proof that doesn't work doesn't mean your files are terrible. One question you weren't prepared for doesn't mean you don't know what you're doing. It means something unexpected happened. Now, what can you do about it? That's the question. And one of the Things that you can do in those situations is to separate what you can control and what you can't. Let's say you discover during the assessment that a proof you thought was great isn't gonna work. Okay, that's something you may be able to address. Is there another proof? Can you explain the situation? Can the assessor do an interview? Can your agency show it in some other way? You have options. So focus your attention there. But let's say the internet goes down. You personally cannot restore the internet. But maybe you can contact IT. You can figure out whether there's another way for the assessors to access what they need. You can adjust the schedule, you can work on something else while the issue's being resolved. But sitting there worrying about the fact that the internet is down isn't going to bring it back up any faster. Do what you can do, then deal with what's next. And sometimes the hardest situations are actually the ones where there is nothing left for you to do. The waiting? If you've been through an assessment, you probably know exactly what I mean. You've answered the question, you provided the proof, the assessors are discussing something, and now you wait. Is everything okay? Is there a problem? Do they need something? Should I go check? Should I leave them alone? What's happening in there? Trust me, I've been there. That waiting can be incredibly uncomfortable because accreditation managers are used to doing things. We solve things, we find things, we organize, we follow up with people, give us a problem, and we're probably gonna start looking for a solution. That's just how we are. But sometimes during an assessment, you've done everything that you can possibly do. The assessors have what they need, and now you wait. That's when those four words can come in handy. Again, this too shall pass. This assessment will end, the waiting will end, and you're gonna get an answer. whatever that answer is, you deal with it when you have the information. I think that perspective becomes especially important because accreditation managers can put on an enormous amount of pressure on themselves. We know how much work went into getting the agency to this point. We know all the little things that had to happen behind the scenes. We know where the weaknesses are, where the standards we're worried about are. We know the proof that took forever to get. And when something unexpected happens, our minds can jump very quickly from we have a problem with this one thing to this is a disaster. And those are not the same thing. A problem is a problem, and deal with the problem that's actually in front of you, not all the other problems your imagination is creating around it. That's easier said than done, I know. But I've also found that experience helps. The more accreditation situations you go through, the more you realize that something unexpected is almost always going to happen. And somehow, you figured it out. You pivoted, you asked for help, you find another document. You move to an interview, you call IT, you find someone else to handle the static display, you get the point, right? And then you move on, you move forward. That's part of accreditation too. I actually think the ability to adapt is one of the most valuable skills an accreditation manager develops because you can create the best checklist in the world, you can have a beautiful assessment plan, and then suddenly someone calls out sick. That's just life. The goal isn't to create an accreditation program where nothing goes wrong, because obviously that's impossible. The goal is to become confident enough in yourself, your preparation, and your program that when something goes wrong, you don't immediately assume everything else is going wrong with it. You handle what's in front of you, determine what you can control, pivot if necessary, and keep moving. So here's my challenge for you this week. The next time something accreditation related feels enormous in the moment, ask yourself two questions. What part of this can I actually control? And how big is this going to feel a week from now? Sometimes the answer to that second question gives you exactly the perspective you need for the first. Because whatever accreditation challenge you're dealing with today, Whether it's the assessor question, the proof, the person who called out, the technology, the waiting, whatever. You deal with it. You figure out what comes next, and eventually it'll probably become another accreditation story you tell. So again, this too shall pass. Now of course I have a companion document that goes right along with this podcast, and I'll leave a link to it in the show notes. If you're not already signed up for my free helpful tips, it's super easy to do. Just head over to www.accreditationacademy.net forward slash sign up. Thanks so much for listening to another episode of Accreditation Made Easy. And of course, if you know an accreditation manager who could use a little reminder this week, share this episode with them. Alright, friends, until next time, let's keep making accreditation easy, one step at a time.