Think about it!
While there have been an increasing number of articles and reviews on physician engagement the past several years, much like the concept of employee engagement, there is little agreement on the specifics and essentials of physician engagement. Definitions vary and vary greatly. In some respects, there is likely greater variance on what comprises physician engagement than employee engagement. Thoughts?
Don't get so wrapped up in working toward organizational mission that you fail to recognize the individual needs of others around you.
Effective leaders learn the needs and wants of each follower. This does take time but it is necessary.
Ego-centric leaders are self-absorbed.
Leadership matters - Yep.
HAP Talks - 12 noon Monday and Tuesday at ACHE - 4 authors each each day - 8 minutes each author. My session =
Tuesday - 12 noon - Physician Leadership
What do readers think about the following as effective screening criteria (“entrance preferences”) for physician leaders?
Ø Sees leadership as different than clinical medicine
Ø Willing to develop as leaders
Ø Can think long term
Ø Sees the bigger issues
Ø Practice & promote collaboration
Ø Are advocates of both the organization & patients
Ø Enjoy a team-based environment
Ø Are strong listeners & communicators
Jeff Goldsmith, a highly regarded strategist, wrote an article entitled Physicians and Executives: Different Species Who Must Work Together in H&HN Daily. He said, in part,
The two groups undergo vastly different training and come from very different viewpoints. Understanding the chasm and building trust are critical for working together.
This article is an excellent one and deserves much review and discussion and debate. I am persuaded that my friend Dr. Ken Cohn, raises some very good points regarding Jeff’s article in his blog. Ken states –
I agree with his points that in general we physicians are:
· -- competitive and empirical
· -- caring about the people and families we care for
And further --
I do not believe that physicians are a different species. Both administrators and physicians generally have chosen healthcare careers to make a difference in patients’ lives. The collaborative reality is that we can overcome differences in training, outlook, and beliefs by focusing on the why and listening actively about ways that differences in the how can lead to improved patient care outcomes.
I think Ken makes good points. But I also see Jeff’s point of view. Perhaps some of this is semantics and perhaps some of this is quite substantive. But I do think the dialogue is necessary.
Consider also another point Jeff made was –
I have believed for years that health care management programs have underprepared their graduates for the complexities of even understanding, let alone managing, medical professionals.
An excellent point Jeff.
More to come on this. I would encourage readers to review both of these articles in depth.
For the Goldsmith article, see -
http://www.hhnmag.com/display/HHN-news-article.dhtml?dcrPath=/templatedata/HF_Common/NewsArticle/data/HHN/Daily/2015/February/physician-alignment-building-trust-CEO-goldsmith&utm_source=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=HHN&eid=280791991&bid=1014466
For Ken Cohn’s material, see –
http://healthcarecollaboration.com/collaborative-reality/
I am quite partial to those in the military. I am so appreciative of their service. I have been fortunate over the years to have worked with many officers in the medical service corps of the various branches. I found this listing of competencies on an Army website and recommend it as a great short hand view of leadership competencies.
http://www.armystudyguide.com/content/army_board_study_guide_topics/leadership/core-leader-competencies.shtml
Dye and Garman, Exceptional Leadership: 16 Critical Competencies for Healthcare Executives, Second Edition (ACHE Management Series) 2015
I continue to hear so much about “leadership competencies.” It is interesting to note that when Andy Garman and I first wrote out competency book in 2006, the topic was not quite the rage that it is now. I think at this time, it is possible that the subject has been overdone. Yet there is still great merit in understanding competencies because I think it is the best way to truly understand leadership. Consider this:
“While the organizations that use competencies are admirable, some organizations believe that implementing leadership competency models will solve leadership problems. This simply is not the case. Ulrich, Zenger, and Smallwood, (1999, 27) wrote about the “search for a ‘holy grail’ of leadership attributes” and how adopting one does not necessarily mean that leadership issues are resolved. William Linesch (2014), a human resources executive, stated, “Leadership competency models can be great assets to a talent management program, but organizations need to be careful not to allow them to become another bureaucratic burden on managers.” Exceptional Leadership: 16 Critical Competencies for Healthcare Executives, Second Edition, 2015, Health Administration Press.
Thoughts?
I really liked this in the Wall Street Journal -
http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-power-of-ohio-states-positive-thinking-1420738209?autologin=y
“There are a lot of quotes, posters and best-selling authors that come in and talk to the team for a half-hour,” he said. “But what Coach Meyer has done with us is brought a systematic, disciplined way of building these skills.”
This is so true -- LinkedIn is so filled with all the motivational quotes and posters and such. In a way, I think that what they are talking about here are fundamental leadership competencies.
Go Bucks!
Go Bucks!
I like Mark Murphy’s material a lot (https://www.leadershipiq.com/). He gives a lot of credible and fundamental counsel. One of my favorites relates to interviewing questions. Read the excerpt below:
“I want to address the questions that interviewers ask that are useless to their hiring process. Here are some of the biggies:
Tell me about yourself.
What are your strengths?
What are your weaknesses? Etc.
These are not necessarily inherently bad questions, but they are cliché, wherein lies their flaw. When you ask questions candidates are expecting, you’re guaranteed to get canned, rehearsed answers that waste everyone’s time. There is a book called “101 Great Answers to the Toughest Interview Questions.” Every hiring manager should have a book like this on hand.
If you find yourself asking questions that appear in this book, you probably want to rethink them, because you can bet your candidates have read the book, too.
Another bad question is the hypothetical question. (e.g. If you were an animal, what kind of animal would you be?) Now, if you knew, for example, that every high performer in your organization said cheetah and every low performer said elephant this might be a valid question. But until you know that, these are just quirky, nonsensical questions that are useless to your hiring process.”
See the following for the full article –
http://www.leadershipiq.com/materials/Hiring_For_Attitude_1.pdf
What questions do YOU ask in interviews?
Are they valid predictors of future success?