On April 12th, John Newman will speak on a panel at Becker’s Hospital Review 9th Annual Meeting. As part of an ongoing series, Becker’s is talking to healthcare leaders who plan to speak at the conference, which will take place April 11-14, 2018 in Chicago.
To learn more about the conference and John’s session, click here.
Question: Describe one of your best colleagues. What it is that person does/brings that makes them indispensable to your organization?
John Newman: They listen. We all have two ears and one mouth. They should be used proportionately. No one can have all the answers or possess expertise in every area of our uniquely complex industry. Those leaders who reach out to others for guidance and embrace a collaborative model tend to both garner more respect and produce greater results.
Q: As a leader, what is the best investment you made in your own professional development in the past five years?
JN: The best investment I’ve made is seeking out educational opportunities in other areas, such as finance and IT, to gain a better appreciation of other key areas of our operations. I’m certainly not trying to supplant the expertise of our leaders in those areas, but having a deeper understanding of some of the central aspects of their operations and the challenges they face enables me to provide better counsel to them. This fosters a closer collaboration, allowing us to work proactively to avoid problems and to produce a better team product for the system, whether in terms of developing internal policies or in crafting dealings with third parties.
Q: How do you see the barrier between competitors and collaborators changing?
JN: Those barriers, in many instances, are relics of the past. We all face similar challenges. For community hospitals such as those in our system to survive and thrive, we need to know the communities we serve and the resources that exist in the local market. Our success needs to be based on leveraging our resources through mindful collaborations, not zero sum competitions. We have to focus on our core competencies while reaching out to others in areas of their strength. Whether it is crafting physician-hospital dealings or developing multi-institution service delivery models, I see a transformative shift towards collaborations that bodes well for our future, in my opinion.
