Past versus Present in the Health 2.0 Era

By Susan Bock; MAOM, SPHR

If you don’t know where you’re going, any road can take you there.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of books, articles and training materials have been published on leadership skills; far fewer for physicians of course; but the basics remain the same.

Self Help Proliferation

Why is there such a proliferation of paper devoted to this subject? Perhaps, it is due to the fact that business leadership today is ever so different from leadership of yesterday. Every aspect of leadership has been under intense scrutiny, by employees, industry experts, physician-executives and business gurus. Much like healthcare today, the very form of leadership is in a state of evolution – changing, modifying and redefining its core values. A multitude of leadership theories or models have been developed, revised, reviewed and assessed by the experts. What is needed, therefore, is an integration of several models specifically appropriate for today’s healthcare business environment and modern healthcare executive.  

Yesterday’s Death Knoll for Medicine

Replication of the leadership skills of yesterday is the death knoll for business today; especially for the business of healthcare. Leadership is no longer based on managing, directing, or supervising [top-down or command and control model].  As stated by James S. Doyle in his book The Business Coach [A Game Plan for the New Work Environment],

 “Today’s employees … do not respond well to bosses. Quite simply, they have plenty of other options where they will be treated as full members of a team.” 

Societal norms, generational beliefs and expanding diversity in healthcare are, in part, contributing to the new business environment. Likewise, medical leaders are required to respond, react and re-direct in the moment.

What Makes a Leader?

In a recent Harvard Business Review publication, “What Makes a Leader”, author Daniel Goleman says that the desired traits most often sited were intelligence, toughness, determination, and vision.  A sufficient level of technical and analytical ability is even more essential now that we have moved into the new millennium. 

However, the leadership skills of this era are placing much more emphasis on the so-called ‘soft skills’ or ‘emotional intelligence’ and this may very well be the key attribute that distinguishes outstanding healthcare leaders from those who are merely adequate.

Multi Generations

It is common to have three generations represented in any organization. We have the Baby-boomers, Gen X and now, Gen Y. The Baby Boomer generation is saying with some sadness, “It sure isn’t want it used to be!”, while Generation Xers are saying “It’s about time things changed!” and the latest generation to enter the medical workforce, Gen Y’s, are saying “Ready or not, we’re here”. 

Each generation is extraordinarily complex, bringing various skills, expertise and expectations to the work environment. Determining the best methods to unite such diverse thinking is one of the many challenges faced by business leaders.

Assessment

Is it any wonder that many leaders in the Baby Boomer generation find themselves at a loss? The days of functional leadership are gone and suddenly, no one cares about the expertise of the Baby Boomers or how they climbed the corporate ladder, in medicine or elsewhere. The concept of ‘paying your dues’ is as foreign to the younger generations as is life without email, wikis or social networks. Still not convinced? Just think about the election of Barack Obama as 44th president of these United States. Leadership in the era of Health 2.0 is no longer about controlling or dictating with intense focus on the bottom line; it is about collaboration, empowerment and communication. 

Conclusion

And so, your thoughts and comments on this Medical Executive-Post are appreciated. How does the digital generation change the leadership equation in healthcare today?

Speaker: If you need a moderator or speaker for an upcoming event, Dr. David E. Marcinko; MBA – Publisher-in-Chief of the Executive-Post – is available for seminar or speaking engagements. Contact: MarcinkoAdvisors@msn.com  or Bio: www.stpub.com/pubs/authors/MARCINKO.htm

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Filed under: "Doctors Only", Career Development, Managed Care, Practice Management, Recommended Books, Research & Development | Tagged: Gn X, leadership, next gen, physician leadership, Susan Bock | 4 Comments »