Leadership Skills for Mid Career Faculty

Douglas A. Girod, MD FACS

What areas do you need help?

• Take 5 minutes • List 3 areas do feel you need to develop leadership skills

Leadership Career Phases

• Team Leaders (Early career) • Group Leaders (Mid career) • Organizational Leaders (Late career)

Medical Leaders

• To practice medicine is to serve in the capacity of leader or team member on multiple teams simultaneously at any given time.

Teams in Medicine (Early Career) • Physician teams – Fellows – Senior residents – Junior residents – Students • Clinic teams – Physicians – Front desk staff – Nursing staff – Ancillary staff • Hospital Teams – Physicians – Nursing staff – Ward staff – Ancillary providers • Operating Room Teams – Surgeons – Anesthesia – Nursing – Scrub Techs – OR desk staff

Teams in Medicine (Early Career) Physician – Patient Team

Groups in Medicine (Mid Career) • Departmental – Section chief – Division head – Vice chair – Clinic director – Lab director • Hospital – Partnership leader – Medical Staff Committees • Educational – Student rotation director – Residency director – Fellowship director • School – Faculty council – Search committees • Medical Society – committees – Meeting program chairs • Academy leadership roles

Leadership Skills

• All physicians function as a leader on a daily basis • Most physicians have some baseline skills • Some are naturally better at it than others • Leadership skills can learned, developed and honed

Leadership Skills

• Endless amount of literature, books, courses, seminars, and institutes dedicated to leadership • Inadequate time to study leadership skills • Medical curricula do not include an emphasis on leadership

Traditional Leadership in Medicine • Hierarchical • Tyrannical • Intimidation • Fear • Abusive • Malignant • Inflexible • Intolerant “Never argue with the Chief”

Traditional Leadership in Medicine • No longer considered a successful approach • Not tolerated in clinical settings – Disruptive physician clauses in bylaws of medical staff and state boards

Successful Leadership Skills

• Leadership skills carry over between different environments (business, military, medicine, etc) • Successful skill sets have been defined and are in demand

Learning Successful Leadership Skills • Formal training – Leadership series • University/School courses – Seminars • Edwards Campus • Non-medical – Formal Leadership Courses • Harvard Course: Leadership Development for Physicians in Academic Health Centers • AAMC – New Manager’s Training Program • ACS – Leadership Skills to Overcome Obstacles • etc

Learning Successful Leadership

Leadership texts

Skills

• Good to Great by Jim Collins • Dealing with Difficult People by Harvard Press • Bargaining for Advantage By G Richard Shell

Learning Successful Leadership Skills

• Reading – Biographies of great leaders

Learning Successful Leadership Skills • Observation – Learn from those around you

Learning Successful Leadership Skills Endless supply of role models in medicine (good and bad)

Learning Successful Leadership Skills • Can learn as much from a poor leader as from a good one

Get Involved and Practice

• Volunteer for leadership positions – School – Hospital – Medical Specialty Societies • Local • Regional • National

Learning Successful Leadership Skills • Learning from experience “A little experience upsets a lot of theory.” S. Parkes Cadman, Cleric

Learning Successful Leadership Skills • Find a mentor – Someone you respect – Someone you can approach repeatedly and in a crisis – Ask if they will consent to being your mentor – Recognize your mentors efforts – Expect to do the same for others (be a mentor)

Traits of Successful Leaders

Traits of Successful Leaders

• Fair – Can’t play favorites • Consistent – Inconsistency erodes confidence • Predictable – Helps people know what to expect • Avoid the abuse of authority

Traits of Successful Leaders

• Seek input • Spread authority • Treat people with respect • Don’t dictate • Challenge your team members

Traits of Successful Leaders

• Patience – Not everyone has your agenda, goals or motivation – That doesn’t mean they aren’t an important part of the team – Doesn’t mean they are wrong

“Patience is something you admire in the driver behind you, but not in the one ahead.” Bill McGlashen

Traits of Successful Leaders

• Sense of humor – Don’t take yourself or the world too seriously – A smiling cheerful leader wins more cooperation than a grim or gloomy one.

Traits of Successful Leaders

• Sense of humor – Don’t take yourself or the world too seriously – A smiling cheerful leader wins more cooperation than a grim or gloomy one.

“The happiest people don’t necessarily have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything.” Anonymous

Traits of Successful Leaders

• Know yourself • Have/demonstrate a sense of direction and mission • Make the hard decision – Part of leadership is making the decision no one else will or wants to make – Take responsibility for the decision

Decision Making

“When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” Yogi Berra, Baseball philosopher

Traits of Successful Leaders

“People don’t respond to titles, they respond to people whom they respect” Doug Girod, Struggling Chairman

• • • • • • • Seven Five Deadly Sins “of a Leader”

Truth

, if it becomes a weapon against persons.

Beauty

, if it becomes a vanity.

Love

, if it becomes possessive.

Loyalty

, if it becomes blind, careless trust.

Tolerance

, if it becomes indifference.

Self-confidence

, if it becomes arrogance.

Faith

, if it becomes self-righteous.

Ashley Cooper, Writer

Conclusion

• You must become a leader to practice medicine successfully.

• Mid Career requires more complex and sophisticated leadership skills • Make leadership development a part of your daily routine.

• Learn from those around you.

• Seek out opportunities for skill development • Practice at every opportunity.