On October 10th, Dr. Sreeramoju will serve on the panel “Women’s Leadership and Diversity Issues in Healthcare and Health Systems” at Becker’s Annual Health IT + Revenue Cycle Conference. As part of an ongoing series, Becker’s is talking to healthcare leaders who plan to speak at the conference, which will take place October 9-12, 2019 in Chicago.
To learn more about the conference and Dr. Sreeramoju’s session, click here.
Question: As a leader, how do you stay connected to the actual work that is being done – and not just by watching others execute, but by executing yourself? If so, how do you balance between leading and executing personally?
Pranavi Sreeramoju: I stay connected to the actual work by initially painting a picture of what success would look like, setting a structural plan that includes team composition, budget, and resources needed, defining boundaries, and by doing some of it myself. It is important for me as the leader to make sure the team knows the right things to work on and that the expectation is they are empowered to determine how to do it right and execute the plan required to achieve our goal. Results matter. I also stay connected by asking team members to allow me to observe them do the work, and conversations with them about the actual work. The balance between leading and executing personally comes from directing the team members towards the actual work through probing and clarifying questions, and through aligning the work to their individual strengths and abilities. Most of the time, I invite team members to volunteer for the work and own it, rather than assign the work. I only assign work that no one volunteered to do or if there is a doubt about self-identified strengths and abilities. I monitor progress actively, do focused work on tough situations, and make myself available for troubleshooting. I keep a journal, make reflection notes to myself, and actively seek feedback about how the work is progressing.
Q: What does healthcare need more of? Less of?
PS: Healthcare needs more: 1. Coordination, 2. Data-driven conversations (active, healthy and productive dialogue all around), 3. Thoughtfulness, 4. Discipline, 5. Innovative problem solving, 6. Research, 7. Price transparency and 8. Leadership
Healthcare needs less: 1. Duplication of work, 2. Documentation-based reimbursements, 3. Fee-for-service, 4. Burnout and 5. Bureaucracy
Q: What contributes to better conversations between a health system’s financial and clinical leaders?
PS: It distills down to “humble inquiry”, great, healthy, and productive relationships. I think the seven aspects of relational coordination offer a good framework – frequent, timely, accurate, and problem-solving communications, along with shared goals, shared knowledge, and mutual respect. Talking across disciplines requires acknowledgment of a certain amount of ignorance, humility, and courage on everyone’s part. The environment that supports these conversations has to have trust, respect, and transparency built into it. Technical skills have an important role. Conversations are much better between numerically and financially savvy clinical leaders and financial leaders who appreciate the non-financial value of clinical care. We cannot afford to perpetuate stereotypes of financial leaders as ‘bean counters’ and clinical leaders as making decisions ‘away from the cash register.’ In academic medicine, there has to be a shared appreciation for the teaching and research missions as well. Healthcare systems, including academic medical centers, are increasingly recognizing and responding to the need for investments in leadership development, rather than allowing themselves to be ‘consumers’ and ‘buyers’ of leadership. Investing in the development of ‘hybrid skills’ is important.
At Becker's 4th Annual CEO + CFO Roundtable, taking place November 2–5 in Chicago, more than 1,500 hospital and health system executives tackle decisions that determine whether organizations thrive or merely survive: protecting margins under cost pressure, choosing where to grow, renegotiating payer relationships, stabilizing the workforce and proving real ROI on technology. This is where leaders work through them together, face-to-face. Apply for complimentary registration now.
