Is Healthcare Leadership a victim of its culture?
Lethargic Cultures
Healthcare’s cultures seem to be in a vicious cycle of self-perpetuation in an organizational climate of mistrust, miscommunications, finger pointing, discrediting and hoarding of control.
Dysfunctional behaviors are condoned and rewarded every day by performance reviews, salary increases, budget appropriations and contract approvals. Healthcare cultures appear to be in a survival state of physical slowness and mental dullness.
Where is Healthcare Leadership?
Why is it so hard to see and feel the confidence and courage in the board of trustees, hospital management and medical staff leadership who are responsible for the cultures in their organization?
The board of trustees must step up and become accountable for setting a process for renewing their organizational cultures by realigning key stakeholders’ roles, expectations and behaviors for themselves, hospital management and medical staff leadership.
Most boards do not know they are accountable for their organization’s culture and continue operating in a traditional hospital governance model—which is the status quo.
Going Forward
The board of trustees should consider the following:
- Discussing and coming to a consensus on a strategic initiative to develop new and better ways to communicate between and among board members, medical staff and hospital senior management.
- Engaging an experienced relationship assessment consultant to ascertain what it will take to improve one-to-one key stakeholders’ relationships and communications.
- Providing an assessment feedback to the board of trustees, hospital senior management and medical staff leadership characterizing (a) behaviors and beliefs, (b) interacting tendencies, (c) areas of strength and (d) areas of conflict and tension.
- Establishing a collaborative plan of action with accountabilities and timetables for the board of trustees, the hospital’s senior management and medical staff leadership to renew, as well as reenergize their key stakeholders’ partnerships.
The board of trustees must require commitment and accountability of itself, hospital senior management and medical staff leadership. In doing so, working together as business partners with direct, honest and open communications, establishes the beginning of new rules of engagement.
