Transformational Leadership

Collaboration and Creativity in Healthcare: Can They Coexist?

A New York Times article, “The Rise of New Groupthink,” shares intriguing insights about the conditions that foster “creativity.” Contrary to popular belief, “brainstorming” sessions do not produce innovation. Shock! Well, if you’re a creative person, you’re no so shocked. Many of my clients who are creative and strategic thinkers know they need “alone time” [...]

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Does Creativity Matter in Healthcare? 5 Rules for a Creative Culture

An interesting article worth reading in Fast Company about the company MailChimp highlights their approach to building a culture where creativity is encouraged. In healthcare our emphasis is on reducing variation and developing standards of practice. Physicians in general are analytical by natural selection, but that doesn’t mean there’s no need for creativity. The question [...]

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Engaging and Changing Behavior: What Physician Leaders Can Learn From Research in Data Presentation

I ran across this interesting TEDMED presentation, given by Thomas Getz, Executive Director of Wired. Initially I was prepared to be skeptical (hey I’m a doc!) about what he might advise on the topic of “redesigning medical data.” His recommendations, based on research his organization conducted on what causes people to change behavior when it [...]

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People Are Not Cogs: How We Can Be GREAT in Healthcare

A piercing and entertaining article in Harvard Business Review online, “People Are Not Cogs,” by Nilofer Merchant, author of The New How, offers keen insights worth considering by healthcare executives and physician leaders. Merchant makes some incisive points about how industry has traditionally measured productivity and hence factored in the ‘value’ of the individuals on [...]

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Physician, What Hinders Your Vision? 10 Obstacles to Overcome

We see things not as they are, but as we are. (This quote is attributed to several sources, including the Talmud). Ever wonder what factors limit your ability to see beyond today’s possibilities? Or what keeps your organization or practice from achieving the results you see other groups can meet? Or what keeps YOU from [...]

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TEAMWORK in PCMH: How Well Are Health Systems Developing This Competency?

The Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) is an idea whose time has come—although it’s not a new concept. Internal Medicine, Family Physicians and Pediatricians all claim to have proposed this idea 20+ years ago. In fact, for those of us who were practicing 20 years ago PCMH sounds like the way we practiced all the time [...]

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Physician Leaders Benefit From Revisiting “The Fifth Discipline”

A conversation with a leader this week prompted me to recommend Peter Senge’s excellent classic, The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization. Originally published in 1994, Senge introduces the concept of “the learning organization.’ I recall health systems were enthusiastic about this concept many years ago, and I discern an uptick [...]

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Integrating Healthcare Organizations Present Three Transformation Coaching Opportunities

I came across an excellent article by Dan Zismer in ACPE Journal, on the psychology of newly integrating healthcare organizations: The Psychology of Organizational Structure in Integrated Health System. Zismer is becoming a thought leader on the topic of integrated healthcare and leadership structure required to lead this new paradigm of care. One of the topics [...]

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“Physician, HEEL Thyself” Tells a Sad Tale of Physicians and Nurses

My eye caught what I thought was a typo in the New York Times last week: HEEL…. instead of HEAL… “Physician, Heel Thyself” is a biting story by Theresa Brown, a nurse and NYT blogger, about her experience getting verbally clubbed by a physician. Ouch…. I felt embarrassed for my profession. It is shocking to [...]

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Physician Leaders: Reposition Your Role to Stay Engaged

A recent session I hosted for physician leaders highlighted the “evolution” of a physician leader’s journey: Where do you go next when you’re at the pinnacle of your career? At the top of the heap? Or maybe you’re finding yourself at a professional plateau after just a few years in practice. For some physician leaders, [...]

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Physician Leaders and Their Accountability for Primary Care Shortage

An article in the Wall Street Journal, “Medical Schools Can’t Keep Up” projects a shortage of 150,000 physicians in 15 years got me thinking about what role physician leaders must take in addressing what will be be a shortage of primary care physicians.. If you ask physicians how to make family medicine more attractive to [...]

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What Can Military Medicine Teach Physician Leaders?

This month’s issue of the ACPE’s Physician Executive highlights Military Medicine. The timing is interesting for me because over the past six months I’ve been supporting physician adoption of technology in military health facilities through a Department of Defense contractor, KSJ Associates. Not having any experience in military medicine, this project has been fascinating on [...]

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