"If you want your team to excel and be top performers, you must model the way . . . Leaders Go First"
Never in the history of healthcare has the need for physician leaders been greater. Yet the educational system through which we were trained has not been geared to teach the unique skills and broad perspectives required for effective leadership in today’s complex business environment. In fact, the skills and knowledge imparted through traditional medical training are essentially the opposite of those required for leading in today’s business environment.
New physician leaders are often overwhelmed to realize they need to master:
· Time management
· Delegation
· Presentation skills
· The ability to drive values and objectives throughout the organization
· Complex decision making & broad perspective taking
· Effective communication for collaboration and consensus building
· Performance management
· Dealing effectively with difficult conversations
· Learning to tap one’s innovation and creativity in times of great challenge
· Team building
· Giving and receiving constructive feedback that promotes growth
· Developing others
· Taking ownership of results (accountability)
· Self awareness and self-management
How do aspiring physician leaders go about learning these critical skills? The leadership skills characteristic of star performers at the executive level are not all skills that can be learned by attending a weekend course or reading a book. These are skills best learned over time. However in today’s unforgiving business environment, both seasoned executives and physicians coming into new leadership roles need to hit the ground running, or at the very least, come up to speed quickly.
If you want to learn how you measure up as a leader, take the first step and complete my FREE Leadership Effectiveness Check-up. This will give you some direction and tips about where to go next to develop yourself as a physician leader.
