Leadership is one of those words that is freely tossed about but quite open to interpretation. As a noun it can designate position, capacity or direction. Common usage though loads this simple word with the power of “the boss”. And this is where the line gets blurry; when you start talking about “being a leader” as opposed to being “an effective leader”. The first step between the two is connection; something physicians can be really good at.
How many times have you witnessed (or worse, been subject to) a plan or a boss that you, along with everyone else, knew was never going to leave the gate? The reason you and everyone else knew this? There was no connection. No connection in the form of solicited opinion, team meeting, pre-launch education or even the old fashioned, yet still appropriate MBWA (Management By Walking Around). There was no sense that the decision makers cared a whit about you, your concerns or your very important role in implementation. No indication that other than their stamped signature at the bottom of your paycheck that they even knew you where alive! Is it any wonder the program or person failed?
Fortunately, most leaders are aware of this basic pitfall through the myriad of management books published in the last couple of decades. Some however still do fall face first in the dirt not because they can’t read but because they lack the ability to make that basic connection. This is where physicians enjoy an advantage.
Physicians are usually drawn to the profession because of a desire to serve, a desire to connect on a personal level. Medical school instills an awareness of and explanation for the interactions, the connectedness of complicated organ systems. Residency and practice foster the development of connection into something the public simultaneously sees as physician competence and bedside manner. As a physician based on your personality, education and practice you have not only an understanding of but a firm grasp in the utilization of this basic leadership requirement…connection. That said, it is apparent to anyone that has participated in our health care system that some physicians have a better bedside manner than others; some are inherently better at connection. Yet, simply because of their “physician-ness” they enjoy by practice and experience what many managers, even with years of experience, never get at all; an understanding of the nature of people and what quite literally makes them tick.
You may be beginning to notice that when I talk about connection I am referring not just to a desire to interact with another person. By connecting I also mean to imply a drive to understand and have a certain compassion for another person’s position, plight or circumstance no matter how obtuse or apparently inexplicable. As a physician leader your greatest challenge indeed will not be in “the connecting”. Your greatest challenge will be in stopping at connection; stopping before you begin to “fix it”.
Understand that you have an innate talent that gives you a tremendous advantage to take charge at the forefront of change. I can help you develop that advantage to your and your organizations benefit.
