By Lee Ann Liska

I just spent the weekend retreating with a group of executives, the top females in their respective companies. We have strict rules for our group – we cannot solicit business from each other and we cannot share our member information. Even though many of us have business relationships with each other, the purpose of our forum is to share camaraderie and friendship. We have retreated together for years, locally and across the country.

By Michael “Mike” J. Jones

It seems we’ve become more self-centered and focused on personal gains and benefits, especially in today’s society. When narrowing our perspectives to “self,” we create resistance to change because our sole focus is “What’s in it for me?” (WIIFM).

By Rodney D. Reider

Making regular rounds to talk with hospital staff and patients is a regular practice of mine. I so enjoy the candid conversations and impressions that this provides, that I’ve continued the practice of making rounds even when I’m interviewing for a position.

When I’m considering a job, I arrive a few days early and round the hospital to get a feel for the culture, to see how friendly the staff are, and gain a sense of the community’s relationship with the hospital. I am continually inspired and impressed by the people I meet as I make my way through the hospital.

By E.W. Tibbs

The best way to provide exemplary patient access is to go to where the patients are. It seems like a simple approach, but healthcare tends to invest in communities by population density usually defined by home address. My team at Centra Health, a four-hospital, not-for-profit integrated healthcare delivery system in Virginia, took a different approach, and it paid off in ways we could not imagine.

By Joanie White-Wagoner

Often managers and directors are hired because they have become known as experts in their departments or they have been with the organization for several years and want to advance. But are you setting these great employees up for success with this new advancement in their career?

By Gary Goettl

As patient expectations continue to grow with the changing health care industry, so too must the way organizations deliver care also change. That includes not just delivering high-quality care to patients, but providing a caring, hospitable environment to heal.

By Pamela J. Gallagher

The relationship between physician and patient, has been the foundation of healthcare, built on empathy, honesty, and trust. Will moves toward increased price transparency change this foundational aspect of healthcare?

JOANIE WHITE-WAGONER

By Joanie White-Wagoner

So, you’ve finally had the ribbon-cutting ceremony on your new hospital or health clinic.

You’ve wrapped up all the media events and private tours with major donors and community leaders. Now it’s time to get to work.

By Renee Jensen

As healthcare leaders, we want to inspire and empower our employees to do creative, high-quality work that serves our patients and our communities. There is seemingly no end to the methods executives can use to accomplish this goal, but I have found that no strategic plan, incentive, or leadership development program can foster this kind of work like an organizational culture where it’s safe to fail. When employees aren’t afraid to take a risk on an innovative idea, they are free to do their very best work.

By Rand O’Leary

While building a culture of trust is essential to a leadership team’s growth and success, the fear of conflict can stop any positive growth in its tracks. Conflict happens, especially in business, and the key is to embrace rather than avoid it. As Patrick Lencioni writes in the Five Dysfunctions of a Team, “All great relationships, the ones that last over time, require productive conflict in order to grow.”

By Rodney D. Reider

As industry leaders look to the future of healthcare, patient experience continues to gain top priority as a critical pathway to optimizing care and improving patient outcomes.  Healthcare providers are visibly aware that the culture of their organization ultimately determines the perception of the patient.  This “sum of interactions,” as defined by the Beryl Institute, can be shaped and influenced by leadership’s listening and support of their caregivers as well as correctly applied technology. The efficient use of technology provides our caregivers more time with the patient—the reason they entered the healthcare field in the first place.

By E.W. Tibbs

As a longtime healthcare Chief Executive Officer who began my career as a registered nurse, my passion has always been to take great care of people, both patients and caregivers. In doing so, I lead with my heart and care deeply about not hurting people.

How we accomplished this in the organizations where I have served is through disciplined process improvement and by investing in our people.  We applied methodologies such as LEAN and focused on eliminating variation and waste.

By Lee Ann Liska

Just before the holidays, I read a great article in the New York Times, “When the Surgeon Is a Mom.” I found it even more relevant on my second reading after the new year.

The article speaks to the tough choices female physicians make when they choose the field of surgery. All medical students have an opportunity to rotate through surgical specialties. When one chooses surgery for their career, they have made a decision that others may find tough to support.

By Joanie White-Wagoner

Launching a major capital project is a challenging and rewarding undertaking, especially in health care, where your new facility will transform and save lives. Whether a new hospital, clinic or urgent care, it is critical that you have a strategic plan in place as you navigate the difficult nuances of following a capital project through to completion.

By Joanie White-Wagoner

It’s January 2020. Do you know what that means? It means succession planning. If you do nothing else this month, start your succession planning.  Succession planning is one of the most important parts of leadership development. Why? Because you are going to lose people this year. It is inevitable. The baby-boomer generation is retiring at alarming speeds and people are leaving for a variety of reasons, whether voluntarily, involuntarily, or in some dreadful cases, tragically.

Things happen; life happens.  And when they leave, all that intellectual capital leaves with them. Are you prepared?

By Michael “Mike” J. Jones

Well-known public speaker Wolfgang Riebe noted, “No one is perfect… That’s why pencils have erasers.” And, while the first part––none of us is perfect––is true, the second part is a bit glib. Some mistakes aren’t easily erased.

In recent weeks, I’ve been in multiple conversations about the prevailing “blame culture” in healthcare. When something happens, the finger-pointing begins — those involved in the incident look at who to blame––an individual at fault. A consequence of a culture of blame is that those who make mistakes, or who see something that’s not right, may put themselves at risk if they bring it to the attention of leadership. This is because, very often, the person who blows the whistle risks termination.

By Pamela J. Gallagher

The federal government has introduced price transparency policies in hopes that consumers will be able to compare services and receive quality care that won’t break the bank. But not enough has been done to equip consumers to determine the overall value of the care they receive.

By EW Tibbs

EW Tibbs offers up personal strategies he uses to guide himself as a human being and also as a leader.

By Joanie White-Wagoner

How are you taking care of your employees during the holidays?

The holidays are considered a time of year when families gather the most. Consider this: are your newer employees able to enjoy this time with family? Is the time off policy equitable in your organization or are you, as a leader, shacked to the “way we’ve always done things” mentality of your organization’s culture? Are new employees offered the same time off considerations as those with seniority, or are they just the “low man on the totem pole” and have to wait for another new employee to come before enjoying the luxuries of seniority? Are you having problems retaining employees?

By Pamela J. Gallagher

With increased calls for healthcare pricing transparency from consumers and government entities alike, hospitals’ chargemasters are moving from proprietary information to public knowledge.  However, putting chargemasters under the microscope has not led to the clarity that patients are seeking regarding quality care at a price they can afford.