Closing Session: How to ‘Rock Your Beat’

ENA’s reinvigorating return to in-person education and networking closed with an energetic and drum-filled presentation about rhythm, perspective and motivation.

“I want you all to be excited, to walk out of here with a new rhythm on life,” said Justin Jones-Fosu as he took the stage to deliver the Closing Session keynote at Emergency Nursing 2022.

Jones-Fosu brought 2023 ENA President Terry Foster and Conference Education Planning Committee Co-Chairs Heidi Gilbert and Bradley Rund on stage and asked them to start drumming, illustrating how each person has a different rhythm, whether expressing passion, warning of danger or living it up.

“You can choose your beat, you can get on beat and you can rock your beat,” Jones-Fosu said.

Research has shown individual rhythms make a difference at home and at work — two parts of a whole that invariably overlap.

In his work as the founder and CEO of Work Meaningful, Jones-Fosu began to seek out meaningful moments in the lives of those he encountered as a way to have more positive experiences. He challenged himself to “catch people doing things right.”

Jones-Fosu, author of “The Inclusive Mindset: How to Cultivate Diversity in Your Everyday Life,” shared the story of a smiling airport worker named Joseph who demonstrated a positive energy as he collected trash and recyclables. Jones-Fosu talked with Joseph about his pride in his work and his concern about a garbage patch as big as Texas floating in the Pacific Ocean. Joseph considered it his mission to keep the airport clean and reduce the amount of waste at sea — work that helped put a smile on his face as he completed his rounds.

“We have the same power to choose our beat and to show up in a unique way,” Jones-Fosu said. He detailed his model for getting back on beat through perspective, task and relationship rhythms.

When dealing with critical challenges, how a person chooses to view the situation contributes to the outcome, he explained. This perspective begins with what motivates an individual, or their “why.”

“When we know our ‘why’ in what we do, it ultimately impacts ‘how’ we do, and the ‘when,’” Jones-Fosu explained. “And when we do all of these things, our results come forward in a powerful way.”

The task rhythm focuses on what a person chooses to do. Jones uses a template of intentional tasks in four categories — perspective, personal, professional and people — to create meaning in each day. He challenges leaders and managers to start meetings by asking their team about the positive things that have happened to them. He recommends everyone identify something they can do each day to grow personally and professionally and to engage with the people around them to form relationships.

“These are four things, if we start off our day with perspective and even if we do just one thing in each of these areas, it completes a full, meaningful day,” Jones Fosu said.

After an animated impersonation of James Brown’s dance moves, Jones-Fosu emphasized the importance of each person committing to bringing their signature style to everything they do, much like Brown’s trademark energy.

“What are the things your patients, your colleagues, hospitals, emergency rooms expect of you?” he asked. “Because without that stellar performance, no matter what’s going on around you, they wonder why they didn’t get the best. We call those rock-your-beat behaviors.”

Jones-Fosu closed with a message of gratitude for a specialty filled with people keeping emergency care on beat.

“Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the love, the care, how you’re committed to care, how you enjoy the work that you do,” he said.