LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS

Keep an eye out for an article I’m writing for ACHE’s (American College of Healthcare Executives) Frontiers of Health Service Management (Consider joining if you haven’t!). The summer issue features actions organizations are taking to address workforce challenges. In it I will highlight six RWHC Member hospitals who are doing everything they can to attract and keep great people.

For those who can do their jobs from home, this genie isn’t going back in the bottle, and many leaders are not innately comfortable with this. How will you attract and keep the best and brightest in a changed workplace?

I recently asked our class of newly promoted leaders to submit their questions about performance reviews. Here’s the Q & A for some of them.

“I don’t know anything.” This may not be the best first sentence to get you to read on, but then again, maybe you feel the same way sometimes. No? Am I the only one who is a little lost in sorting out what diversity, equity and inclusion-DEI-all means?

This claim is one of a tiny number of things I am fairly certain about: most people underestimate their impact on others, you and me included. For a variety of reasons, most of us go around assuming that what we do on a day-to-day basis is not that noticed by others. It can be especially disconcerting to adapt to the increased visibility that comes with a higher level leadership title.

I polled myself and the result was: I’m tired and angry a lot lately. NPR confirmed that I’m not alone, reporting (from a poll much larger than my own) that August 2021, was one of the lowest points in our collective “morale” response to the pandemic. Hope lightened our step in early summer when COVID numbers were low. At my workplace we were nearly all vaccinated and being in the building felt almost like old times. Then Delta. And hurricanes. And the ever-growing political divisiveness. Th...

(Issue 130) I wrote a few months ago about mediating conflict between employees. What happens after you hold that challenging conversation? We want to believe things will be fine now that the air is cleared, but agreements to new behaviors can be fragile. When you say to your employees, “I’m going to be checking back in with you (at a specified time) to follow up on the agreements we made today,” and then you do check back, you increase accountability.

(Issue 129) “I’m so proud of you.” This is easy to say to someone else when they have reached a goal, accomplished something they set out to do, or overcome a difficult challenge. That is why I’m going to be proud of you at the end of this article if you can say to yourself, “I’m proud of myself.” How do you lead with a sense of pride, and why does it matter that you do?

(Issue 128) Wisconsin rural hospital CEO and CFO rock stars inspired possibility thinking with a group of emerging leaders recently, demonstrating that striving for the C-suite might not be an unreachable-or undesirable-goal after all. We may sense “distance” between ourselves and those at higher levels of position or success, but we’re all just people under our name tags. These senior leaders shared their extraordinarily human leadership journeys and the habits that keep their head above tur...

(Issue 127) The crisis is here and now: there are not enough lab techs, pharmacy techs, or certified nursing/medical assistants. These, and many other entry-level positions in healthcare are remaining open for months without any applicants in some cases. But even if you currently have all positions filled and your employees adore you, leading a team with these positions offers unique challenges.