An important truism in healthcare today is that change is the only constant. The external and internal environments are populated with new rules, regulations, devices and demands. These changes beg the question: How prepared are you to develop a pipeline of leaders for a future we cannot accurately predict?
If healthcare executives are going to flourish in the years to come, senior leaders should start now to strategically develop a workforce capable of navigating today’s and tomorrow’s changing environment. Through mentoring and executive coaching, senior leaders can help executives adopt five new leadership competencies and personal practices that will help prepare them and the organization for an uncertain future.
1. Emotional and Social Intelligence
For too long, some assumed that intelligence as measured by IQ was the critical measure of leadership and organizational success. While leaders must be competent at the technical part of their work, managing and leading well requires mastering psychosocial behaviors. There are five key elements to emotional intelligence: knowing one’s emotions, managing emotions, motivating oneself, recognizing emotions in others and handling relationships. The field of social neuroscience—how biological mechanisms influence psychological and social behavior—is also expanding our understanding of social interactions or what some consider our “social intelligence.” To help other leaders develop these skills, encourage mentees to reflect on why they do certain actions or say certain things and how to adapt their behavior and communication in social contexts. Given the centrality of human interactions at all levels in healthcare, each of these skills is vital for healthcare leaders.
2. Think Big Picture in Terms of Systems
Too often, each group, department or division within healthcare organizations operates independently to optimize their world without considering how others might be affected.
The challenge for highly effective healthcare leaders is to create organizations where the hardened walls of operational silos are transformed into “semipermeable membranes” that allow for the free flow of information and best practices out of one part of the organization into another. By demonstrating through your own actions that collaboration and cooperation are key to highly effective systems, senior leaders can help develop systems thinking across organizations, as well as competencies in how to build health systems that are capable of learning.
3. Change Management
Effective healthcare leaders accept the fact that when encountering change, everyone is giving up something, no matter how large or small. This sacrifice automatically triggers an emotional response that varies depending on the scope and intensity of the change at hand. Key elements of effective change management are ensuring staff are given a compelling reason for change, a clear sense of hope and optimism for the outcome of change, and adequate time to integrate the new change into their routine.
While change is constant, the human response to change is also constant. By sharing insights and experiences, senior leaders can help cultivate other leaders’ abilities to lead change with the understanding that change management is an ongoing and continuous process.
4. Adaptability to Chaos and Complexity
Some days our organizations can be chaotic and complex. This observation aligns with how the universe actually works: Chaos and complexity are the norm. Organizations try to manage chaotic and complex behavior by imposing rules and regulations or policies and procedures. But how well are those working?
There is a compelling body of scientific and organizational literature that suggests over-controlling a complex system, such as a healthcare organization, has little chance of lasting success. An alternative is to present a few simple rules that apply throughout the organization and then consistently put them into operation. You can help up-and-coming healthcare leaders adopt this perspective and get all staff moving in the same direction and working with a common purpose by offering guidance on how to create a plan, or by demonstrating how you have handled similar situations. Share examples of how such actions have helped build resilience and allowed organizations where you have worked to maneuver through challenging times that were difficult to anticipate.
5. Open-Mindedness and Introspection
The future will bring new ways of experiencing the world around us, disrupting our models of the way the world works. Challenge leaders you are mentoring or coaching to consider how individual and social definitions of identity and diversity are morphing and how they will need to adapt to evolving patient and staff expectations. Emphasize the importance of letting go of preconceived ideas and biases and adopting new lenses to view the world. Self-reflection is a necessary competency to understand one’s values, biases and mental models. Encourage early or mid-careerists to avail themselves of self-assessment instruments to gain greater self-awareness. Completing a competencies assessment can have a powerful impact on a leader’s transition from good to great.
The challenge for senior leaders is how to teach these competencies. What’s more, how do we continually demonstrate and improve upon these competencies in our own daily practice? The consistent execution of these competencies and sharing them with future leaders will make a profound difference in the performance of healthcare organizations now and in the future.
Leonard H. Friedman, PhD, FACHE, is director of the MHA program at The George Washington University, Washington, D.C. (friedmal@gwu.edu), and Wayne Psek, MD, PhD, is assistant professor, Department of Health Policy and Management, The George Washington University, Washington, D.C. (psek@gwu.edu).