Mindset is a critical component to effective leadership, and having the right outlook can make managing the changes in healthcare less difficult. A positive attitude promotes accountability, improves communication, and helps to set realistic expectations, both for the team and the leader. The business of healthcare is unpredictable, with new mountains to climb at every turn. Never has a defeatist approach resulted in long-term results; maintaining an “I think I can” mindset is necessary to improving performance and attaining goals.
The story of The Little Engine that Could teaches the timeless lesson that success comes from a willingness to try and not just from capability. While your team might be equipped with the right skills, data, and tools to realize greater efficiencies, it might be a “resistance to change” mindset that restricts future growth. You, as the leader, set the example. Make sure progress is not derailed by these common missteps:
- Avoidance: evading difficult tasks, situations, or conflicts
- Whether it is diverting attention away from something that needs to be addressed or procrastinating to delay in dealing with it directly, avoidance prevents improvement. There is no time like the present; be proactive vs. reactive!
- Burnout: feeling run-down and exhausted
- Understanding limits is an important part of strong leadership. Burnout can result in incomplete tasks and even leave “the train without a conductor.” Self-care is as important to you as it is to members of your team.
- Bottleneck: feeling you must make all decisions or taking on too much work yourself, causing delays
- There is no “I” in team for a reason. Performance improvement should be a group effort with staff input and support at all stages. While the final decisions reside with the leader, preparation and execution should be collaborative.
- Lack of Delegation: not entrusting tasks to others sufficiently, leading to reduced motivation
- Capitalizing on your team members’ strengths not only alleviates the burden on you, the leader, but also encourages engagement. Employees need to be part of the change process to ensure buy-in and support.
- Feedback: not providing feedback well, often enough, or not receiving it well
- Open communication is essential to success. When everyone is on the same page, change occurs seamlessly. As the leader, you must be visible, provide regular updates—good or bad—and actively listen to the information staff shares with you. Leadership is a two-way “track!”
- Insecurity: lacking confidence or feeling unqualified to lead; being unassertive
- There is a common misconception that leaders should have all of the answers. The reality is that staff are often promoted to management roles without the proper training. Instead of projecting discomfort, seek to balance areas of personal weakness by relying on the expertise of others. No one is ever above needing help!
- Perfectionism: setting unrealistic expectations for yourself or others
- As a healthcare leader, it should be obvious that things seldom go as planned. In order effect positive change, leaders need to be flexible and always prepared to “pivot.” A focus on continuous planning, evaluating, and adjusting will result in achievable goals and sustained improvements.
Change can be overwhelming, and, like the larger locomotives in the story, bigger is not always better. Small, continuous improvements can have a monumental impact. After all, efficiency is not always about doing more with less, but rather about effective resource utilization. Sometimes, it is not the obvious choice that gets you where you need to go.
Let ALTIUS help to keep your leadership train on track! Partner with us for the reporting, tools, and support necessary to realize improved performance, empowered leadership, sustained cost-savings, and enhanced operations. To learn more, contact us here!