Culture can be a very powerful tool in shaping the outcomes of medical care.
Four panelists discussed how their organizations are building a strong workplace culture with transformational leadership at the Becker's Hospital Review 5th Annual Health IT + Revenue Cycle Conference in Chicago on Oct. 9. The panel included Bradley Brimhall, MD, medical director of integrated healthcare analytics and bioinformatics at UT Health San Antonio; Michelle Burris, CFO of Delaware Hospice; Babatope Fatuyi, MD, CMIO of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston-UTHealth; and Brendan Williams, risk manager for Whitney Center Incorporated.
By definition, transformational leadership requires the leaders to motivate and inspire their team members to initiate and drive change. Under this leadership model, direct reports are comfortable enough to lead the team; they might make mistakes, but they're able to correct them.
Here are five takeaways from the panel:
1. Transformational leadership occurs when leaders coach their teams through mistakes so they can make better decisions in the future; individuals learn through leading. Transformational leadership is designed for organizations to make changes over time and have those changes stick; many organizations have experienced projects that invoke change, but then backslide because people revert to their old habits. Instead, transformational leadership becomes a consistent and repetitive aspect of the system's culture.
2. The most successful organizations that go through a transformation don't have a top-down leadership structure. Instead, they have more "permissive" C-level executives so that their team can avoid tedious bureaucracy and get things done. When leaders entrust their teams to carry out projects and work through mistakes collaboratively, the organization can move forward and their success with attract top talent.
3. Some organizations appoint an individual to provide a high degree of coaching and mentorship to individuals throughout the organization as it adapts to a transformational leadership culture.
4. If the top-level leadership at the health system is in disarray, there is a great opportunity to employ vertical transformation across all levels. By completely restructuring, the organization can engage leaders at different levels who hadn't previously been part of the leadership and management structure; this brings in new ideas and fresh perspective. In a short amount of time, changing the leadership structure has the potential to improve the health system's bottom line. In one case outlined during the session, a health system improved its bottom line by $10 million in 18 months.
5. The philosophy behind transformational leadership allows all team members to work at the top of their license and to the best of their ability. They also have permission to fail, and "fail better" to move the organization forward.
Don't miss the Becker's 3rd Annual Health IT + Clinical Leadership + Pharmacy event in Chicago, May 19-21, 2020. Click here to learn more and register.