The title of this month's post is a misnomer (the Monthly part), given that I did not post a Favorites list in August. That was intentional.

Since I reduced my posting frequency from twice-weekly to weekly, I did not feel that it was appropriate to use the Favorites format for 25% of my posts. I feel that the Favorites don't have the gravitas of my usual posts. I might be wrong on that – but that's my thinking, so they may be a bit less frequent than before.

Leadership Favorites – September 2017 Edition

This month's favorites follow…

Email Overwhelm

Reading this post by The Productive Physician – Inbox Zero: The Ultimate Guide to Managing Your Email – I was reminded that this might be a good topic to revisit. Managing email can become a daunting task. Somehow, we find ourselves on dozens, if not hundreds, of email lists, and our Inbox may be perpetually clogged.

We may be in the habit of leaving email notifications on, and keeping our email services open during the day. This results in one of the most pervasive forms of distraction and shallow work imaginable. If we want to focus more on Deep Work, email is something we must get under control.

The first stop in our journey to explore possible solutions is Inbox Zero: The Ultimate Guide to Managing Your Email. It is a comprehensive review of every aspect of email management that can be improved, streamlined or eliminated, and includes the following steps:

1. Eliminate
2. Consolidate
3. Delegate
4. Automate
5. Process
6. Be a Good Email Citizen, and,
7. Close

I won't explain them any further. Rather, I recommend you check out the article. Be prepared to spend a little time there, or review it in pieces, because it's very detailed (the author is kind enough to provide a table of contents along the right margin).

I also appreciate the advice provided by other authors, some of which overlaps with TPP's post. Here are two other productivity experts and their advice, in case you're interested.

Michael Hyatt's Advice

• How I Cut My Email Load By 83% In Less Than a Week
• Declare Email Bankruptcy and Get a Fresh Start
• Managing Email with an Assistant

Productivityist's Suggestions

• How To Handle Hundreds Of Emails In Just One Hour
• 3 Ways to Power Through Your Email Inbox
• 6 Email Principles To Boost Productivity And Reduce Stress

You'll see that some of the tactics are redundant. But if email is your albatross, scan through all of these posts for ideas, write down 2 or 3, implement them over the next week or so and get your email under control!

Are Physicians Better Leaders?

I addressed this issue in my own articles Become a Physician Leader and Save the Profession and Why We Need More Physician Leadership.

But I found the Forbes article Study Shows That Doctors Make Better Hospital Leaders, by Bruce Lee (no, not the deceased martial artist), to have a nice list of absurd examples of careers to highlight the issue. Can you imagine a…

• coach who never played the sport;
• conductor who cannot read music and never played an instrument; or
• a hospital executive who never cared for a patient?

Unfortunately, the last absurdity is the norm rather than the exception.

He also lists some of the hospital leadership skills almost all physicians develop, which looks to be pretty accurate to me.

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Are You Biased?

As a group, physicians should be one of the least biased professions. We're trained from day one to treat all patients with dignity and compassion, to not be judgmental and not react to what we think are strange or inappropriate behaviors or dress. And, we're instructed to be culturally sensitive when interviewing and treating patients.

Reeeeeally!?

Well, let's just see about that.

Visit Project Implicit and test that assumption about yourself. Sign in as a guest and take one of the Implicit Association Tests. Maybe you should start with the Black-White IAT. Or how about the Gay-Straight, the Young-Old, or the Fat-Thin IAT?

I dare you.

You may find that you have some fairly ingrained, yet well-hidden, prejudices. Perhaps exposing them using these assessments will help you recognize and address them.

Keep Up with C-Suite Titles

As the healthcare industry has become more complicated, new disciplines have emerged, and new leaders of these disciplines have appeared. In Hail to the chiefs: Healthcare's new C-suite titles are here to stay, Jeff Lagasse writes in Healthcare Finance about some of the new titles.

He also provides some insight into when a new C-suite level executive might be required. Here are some new positions that might be appropriate for physicians to fill:

• Chief Integration Officer promotes the coordination of all of the major systems within an organization.
• Chief Quality Officer ensures that quality measurement tools are available and being used, and leads initiatives to address quality issues.
• Chief Strategy Officer assists the CEO in identifying and executing major corporate strategic initiatives.

You can read all about the complete list of Chiefs in Hail to the chiefs: Healthcare's new C-suite titles are here to stay.

Those are some of the articles I found inspiring and educational this month.

To keep this content coming Subscribe here.

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Contact me by email johnjurica@nonclinical.buzzmybrand.net or voicemail.

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See you in the next post.

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Leadership Favorites – July 2017 Edition

This month's favorites follow…

Accumulate More Wealth as an Administrator

Medscape recently presented the findings from its most recent salary survey. It included a list of factors that correlate with higher levels of accumulated wealth. The authors identified ten such reasons, beyond specialty and years in practice.

The physicians who were considered rainmakers and superstars fell into this group.

But the reason that caught my eye was this: moving into an administrative role. According to Medscape, even part-time administrators tend to earn and accumulate more.

Some of the other reasons were fairly obvious: seeing more patients, and not working in “low-paying practice venues.”

Check out the rest of the reasons in 10 Reasons Why Some Doctors Earn More

Why Don't Organizations Embrace Physician Leadership?

In an interesting opinion piece by Larry Sobal of MedAxiom Why Aren’t We Embracing Physician Leadership? the author describes his continued confusion around the fact that “some organizations simply can’t (or don’t want to) go beyond lip service when it comes to building a culture, structure and processes where physicians have a predominant (or at least equal) voice in the Board Room, C-Suite, at the service line, at the department, and even at the physician practice level.”

Sobal is Executive Vice President and a Senior Consultant at MedAxiom (a cardiovascular consulting firm). He has a 35-year career as a senior executive in medical group and hospital leadership and health insurance. He contributes weekly to MedAxiom's blog.

I was drawn to this article because it aligns with one of my core beliefs: that physicians need to take on a much bigger role in leading healthcare.

I've been frustrated by the failure by many hospitals and health systems to fully engage physicians, to be transparent with physicians, and to place physicians in major leadership roles.

In his article, Sobel describes why he believes healthcare institutions need to involve physicians more in leadership roles. His primary reasons include:

1. The need to design complex systems to address quality, access and cost, and meet pay for performance initiatives mandated by CMS and other payers;
2. Maintaining a sense of ownership and accountability by physicians in their organizations.

Possible Reasons for Leaving Physicians Out

He then goes on to describe the reasons that organizations don't recognize the need for more physician leadership:

1. They have never had the opportunity to experience the multiple benefits and successes enjoyed by physician led organizations [VPE: e.g., Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic and many smaller but equally dynamic regional physician-led hospitals and group practices];
2. They, therefore, do not believe that physicians can add value to key decisions and strategies.

[VPE: I have some of my own cynical reasons that administrators don't want to involve more physicians:

1. It's time-consuming. Schedules must be accommodated. It takes time to have delicate or uncomfortable conversations and engage physicians;
2. They don't want to take physicians away from direct revenue-generating activities seeing patients and performing procedures. They don't understand that the benefits of involving committed, passionate physician leaders will return much more in the long-term;
3. They're intimidated by their intellect and educational achievements;
4. Keeping them in the dark maintians leverage with physicians;
5. They would rather not invest the resources needed to provide management and leadership education for physicians;
6. They don't trust physicians to maintain confidentiality fearing they might leak important strategic information.

I'm not saying that all administrators think this way. But I have witnessed all of these sentiments expressed by healthcare executives during my career.] 

He finally offers advice for changing the current situation:

1. Place physician leaders in important positions, give them more authority, and see what happens;
2. Use dyads (partnering a physician leader with an administrator) to get things started.

Finally, he then lists ten questions that should be answered when building these dyad teams.

I encourage you to read the entire article at Why Aren’t We Embracing Physician Leadership?

Leadership Blunders

Dan Rockwell, the Leadership Freak, lists what he believes are the 7  biggest blunders of the experienced leader. Lo and behold, item #4. Hanging on to poor performers is the greatest shortcoming that I discussed in My Greatest Shortcoming as a Senior Hospital Leader.

He describes 6 other blunders. The other one that rings true with me is #5. Getting stuff done while neglecting people development.

Read the whole list at The 7  Biggest Blunders of the Experienced Leader.

More on Listening

I've written about the importance of learning good listening skills. In an article on Medium, Elle Kaplan (CEO & Founder of @LexionCapital) explains why she believes listening is the most important leadership skill.

She goes on to list simple ways to improve active listening that will ultimately enhance your ability to influence and lead. Here is her list:

1. Don't just stand there, but verbally encourage questions and delve deeper.
2. Build others' self esteem by avoiding critical comments while listening.
3. “Ditch the digital” by silencing phones and closing laptops.
4. Practice by spending time trying different techniques to enhance listening.
5. Clarify and dig deeper.
6. Keep your body language in check.

Please check out Learning This Simple Skill Will Make You an Exceptional Leader and read more about the science behind listening and examples for each of Kaplan's tips for better listening.

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Monthly “Dose” of Humor

To wrap things up this month, I think it's best to stop being so serious for a few minutes. [VPE – the following articles are satirical, not real.]

For example, the authors at GomerBlog might be on to something. They write about an ingenious way to improve health while cutting out the need for physicians in McDonald’s Introduces Value Meals With Cholesterol and Diabetes Medications Blended In. This might be one of the solutions to our ongoing healthcare crisis.

In a related article, a hospital has come up with another combination of food and medications to prevent the frustration of long waits in the emergency room. This is described in New Haldol Creamy Spread Added to Emergency Room Sandwiches

In Closing

Those are some of the articles I found inspiring, educational, and humorous.

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Contact me: johnjurica@nonclinical.buzzmybrand.net.

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See you in the next post.

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Leadership Favorites – June 2017 Edition

This month's favorites follow…

How Leaders Kill Trust

In 16 Ways Leaders Kill Trust, Skip Prichard provides a guest post by his colleague Bruce Rhoades. Rhoades lists 16 things leaders commonly do that erode trust in team members, including:

• Micromanage
• Publicly criticize
• Overreact to mistakes

As Rhoades writes: “When a leader exhibits any of these trust-killing behaviors, it not only undermines the trust of the team member directly involved but also threatens the trust of other team members. Even when not done in public, the word will spread among the team and damage the environment for trust.”

To see the complete list of bad behaviors, with examples, check out 16 Ways Leaders Kill Trust.

How Much Risk Should a Rising Physician Leader Take?

Here is another guest post, this time by Jeff Goins on Michael Hyatt's blog. Goins addresses his advice to entrepreneurs, but I think it applies to physicians who are contemplating a move from clinical to non-clinical work. In How Much Risk Should Entrepreneurs Really Take? Goins lists three actions to take to move in the direction of your dreams:

• Believe you have what it takes. So, if you're still a clinician, but working part-time as medical director, tell yourself that you are becoming a healthcare executive. Then live into that vision as you expand your efforts to take on that role.
• Behave as if it's true. Start reading management journals and books and join leadership associations like the AAPL and ACHE as described in Resources for the Emerging Physician Leader.
• Become your dream. Slowly take on more management and leadership responsibilities until you have morphed into the physician executive you want to be.

Some of his advice is similar to what is presented in the book, Pivot, by Jenny Blake that I wrote about in How to Pivot and Launch a New Career.

You can read much more about this topic in Jeff Goins' new book Real Artists Don't Starve.

What the Best Leaders Do

There are probably hundreds of articles written by leaders in which they describe what the major requirements for the job are, including skills, attitudes and behaviors. But I find it useful to be reminded of some of the core responsibilities of an effective leader every so often.

In What the Best Leaders Do, Claire Lew, CEO of a software company, describes what she sees as her role as leader of her company:

“…you assume that people already have innate talents, gifts, and capabilities within them… to provide an environment for those inherent qualities to come to light.”

She then goes on to describe exactly how she tries to do accomplish that.

In a related article, Jason Cudriet describes Three Simple Principles for Creative Leadership. He has developed his leadership framework around three core duties: to inspire, direct and support. And he gives specific ideas on how to accomplish each of those.

I've addressed some of my core principles of leadership in posts like these:

• Unlock Leadership Through Coaching
• Preparing to Be a Better Physician Leader – Part 1
• Preparing to Be a Better Physician Leader – Part 2
• Attitudes You Should Drop Now

Drop Out Club

In the first article I've seen from the online journal STAT, author Sarah Kwon does a pretty good job of describing the rising problem of burn-out in physicians. One of the things I liked about her article (In ‘Drop Out Club,’ desperate doctors counsel each other on quitting the field) is that she describes the Drop Out Club.

The DOC provides resources for physicians and other professionals that are useful for those looking to change careers. DOC has job postings, forums for physicians looking for career advice, and other resources.

In Closing

Those are some of the articles I found inspiring and educational this month.

Let me know what you think in the Comments.

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Contact me: johnjurica@nonclinical.buzzmybrand.net.

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See you in the next post.

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Leadership Favorites May 2017 Edition

This month's favorites follow…

Leadership Through Coaching

Michael Hyatt provides some great advice in 3 Habits of Highly Effective Coaches. In this post, he mentions a book written by Michael Bungay Stanier: The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever.

Michael summarizes how leaders should use coaching to bring out the best in others:

• Give less advice;
• Ask questions instead; and,
• Ask better questions.

I have seen this play out so many times.

Telling direct reports what to do and how to do it, rather than taking the time to coach them to identify their own solutions, definitely stunts their growth as leaders. And it prevents you from being able to delegate important tasks so that you can spend time on deep work in the future.

As I described in Unlock Leadership Through Coaching, I am struck by how much coaching can contribute to effective leadership. I have not read Stanier's book yet, but I just ordered it and will let you know if it lives up to Michael Hyatt's accolades.

Becoming a Powerful Decision-Maker

At the other end of the coaching/leadership continuum, there are times when only you can make an important decision, whether as CEO, head of your division, or owner of your practice. The decision is just too big, and the potential consequences too risky, to delegate.

In How Great Leaders Make Quality Decisions, Paul Grau provides a good model to follow when make such decisions.

He outlines a straightforward process:

1. Define your values;
2. Learn your organizational values;
3. Find consistencies; and,
4. Implement decisiveness.

He explains: “Whenever difficult decisions arise, you can simply fall back on your combined set of values. If the decision goes against the values, you automatically know it is a bad decision and you can alter it before making it. Regardless of the outcome, you can always look back at the choice you made with confidence, providing you made it based on the combined set of values you clearly know and understand.”

Our Physicians Are Reaching the Breaking Point

Many of us lead large groups of physicians. We often hear complaints from them. Time with patients is limited. Paperwork is excessive. MACRA requirements are onerous. And none of these recent changes improves patient care.

These concerns are well described by Matthew Hahn in Is It Time For Physicians To Fight Back. Now., posted on KevinMD.

For those of us who have completely withdrawn from clinical medicine (i.e., full-time administrators), it is easy to become insulated from these ever-growing frustrations felt by our physicans. This is especially true if our C-suite comrades make comments like:

• “Physicians can be such complainers.”
• “The EMR will eventually improve productivity; it'll just take more time.”
• “It's no better anywhere else, so they need to get over it.”

I was especially interested in Hahn's article because it not only presented a list of frustrations, but it also brought up a potential ‘solution': organizing and/or unionizing.

I have personally had the same thoughts. I've gone so far as to research the legality of physicians unionizing on behalf of my county medical society. In Illinois, it is very difficult for physicians to unionize. We are considered to be management, even if treated exactly like other employees. And management cannot unionize.

My point is this, however: If our employed physicians are seriously exploring this, then they have reached a breaking point.

As leaders, we should address these issues head on. And we should prepare for the approaching conflicts that will occur as our physicians threaten unionization and other tactics that signal that their patience has ended.

Follow-up on United Airlines Debacle

[VPE Note: Humor ahead]

Last month, I shared some of the reports and commentary regarding the forcible removal (“re-accommodation”) of an elderly physician in my Monthly Leadership Favorites – April Edition.

Scott Adams posted several commentaries and comic strips related to the event. One example is noted below.

[VPE Note: In order to avoid the accusation of copyright infringement, the above excerpt is from Scott Adams Blog, and represents my attempt to promote his blog to my readers. Check it out at: Scott Adams' Blog.]

Following some additional research, I found commentary that identified The Top 10 Reasons That United is Forcibly Dragging Doctors Off Planes that I have to share with my you. This scholarly article is definitely worth reading. It is a good example of the kind of satire that can be found regularly at GomerBlog.

In a related story, given its skills at removing even reluctant passengers from its airliners, apparently United has been asked to remove certain recalcitrant hospital patients as described in United Airlines Asked to Forcibly Remove Patient From Hospital. This could be the long-awaited solution to avoidable days (aka avoidable delays) that so many hospitals have struggled to eliminate.

In Closing

I think I better stop right there.

I hope you've enjoyed this edition of Monthly Favorites.

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Leadership Favorites – April 2017 Edition

This month's favorites follow…

United Airlines Faux Pas

United Airlines provided some obvious examples recently of how NOT to treat your customers (a.k.a. patients). Without getting into the weeds, here is what was reported:

• United Airlines overbooked a flight;
• UAL subsequently found that it needed four of the seats for its own employees to travel;
• The discovery did not happen until after the paying passengers were already seated;
• Four passengers were reportedly selected, using an unclear algorithm, to leave the plane to accommodate the employees;
• Three of them left quietly, but one passenger refused to exit;
• The passenger that refused to give up his seat was confronted and forcibly removed by airport security personnel;
• Much of the altercation was videotaped by other passengers and has been extensively shared on YouTube and other social media;
• The initial responses to the incident by the CEO of UAL was less than stellar.

There are several lessons to learn here, for sure. I think two of the best analyses that I have seen, especially regarding the importance of leadership in the face of a public relations nightmare, are provided by Skip Prichard and Michael Hyatt.

A Sincere Apology is a Must

Skip Prichard presents several very astute observations, and offers suggestions for dealing with a situation like this:

“United apparently chose policy over principle, chose employees over customers, chose to save a few dollars only to lose millions.” – Skip Prichard

His advice for addressing an incident such as this:

• Avoid it in the first place by establishing protocols and giving employees freedom to do the right thing.
• Admit your mistake and don't trivialize it.
• Apologize sincerely for the mistake.
• Assess the situation thoroughly before it spirals out of control.
• Acknowledge what went wrong.
• Act to resolve the issue and take steps to prevent future occurrences.

The first rule of holes: When you’re in one, stop digging. – Molly Ivins

Next is some sage advice from Michael Hyatt: Why United’s PR Disaster Didn’t Fly.

He notes that Oscar Munoz initially gave a “defensive, legalistic apology” and then tried to blame the customer. He recommends that leaders display “extreme ownership” when attempting to control the narrative in a situation like this.

Making Excuses

One of the traps that Munoz fell into was making excuses for the failures at UAL that led to the PR embarrassment. It is unusual for a seasoned leader to fall into that trap.

But our teammates and direct reports can easily forget the difference between the cause of a failure and an excuse. In How to Confront Excuse Makers, Leadership Freak Dan Rockwell provides specific responses for the four most common excuses leaders hear:

• “I didn't have time.”
• “I'm not ready.”
• “It's just the way I am.”
• “I'm afraid I might fail.”

Have these responses ready the next time of your direct reports tries to lower your expectation of him/her using one of these excuses.

Reverse Delegation

There is another maneuver that employees sometimes use to avoid accountability. Dan Rockwell calls this reverse delegation and provides some advice for combatting it in 12 Sentences That Prevent Reverse Delegation.

He explains what reverse delegation is:

Reverse delegation happens when delegated tasks end up back in your bucket.

A couple of examples of statements that can be used to deflect reverse delegation follow:

• “What’s the next step you can take?” Use “You,” not “we.”
• “No. It’s better for your career for you to grab this opportunity.”

You can find the full discussion by Rockwell in his recent article.

More on Powerful Language for Leaders

As leaders, we need to use language to inspire and motivate others. This is not manipulation. This is using our words to bring out the best in those that we influence.

Skip Prichard provides a list of Powerful Phrases that every leader should use regularly. The first one brings us back to the UAL debacle that I started this post with:

I'm sorry.

Prichard goes on to explain that this short phrase demonstrates self-awareness and personal responsibility, and is very powerful.

Moving away from accountability, his list of powerful phrases includes:

Tell me more.

What's working?

I'm proud of you.

I think you'll appreciate the other 8 phrases and Prichard's explanation of why these work so well.

Tools for Quality

On a more practical note, Becker's brought together a list of 19 Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Toolkits. Several come from the AHRQ, an organization whose tools I described in Six Steps for Delivering Outstanding Patient Safety and Addressing Disruptive Behavior.

These toolkits can help to address quality and safety issues in ambulatory, hospital and nursing home settings. I recommend that you or your quality staff check them out and use the ones that can help in your QI efforts.

In Closing

Those are some of the articles I found inspiring and educational this month.

I will be attending the AAPL Spring Institute and Annual Meeting in New York City in a few days. My plan is to write a couple of posts with fresh information and/or news from the meeting.

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March Favorites

This month's favorites follow…

Productivity Pointers

Create a Personal Mission Statement for the Life YOU Want by the Productive Physician should inspire us to become more intentional

This is the first time I am offering content from The Productive Physician. I have been following him for about 6 months.

I found his post about creating a personal mission statement very intriguing. He is one of the physician bloggers that I failed to include in my last update on physician authored blogs.

My bad.

His blog will definitely be on the next update. In any event, if you like his Personal Mission Statement post, I think you'll really enjoy his 4,000+ word article Achieve Your Big Hairy Audacious Goals in a 12 Week Year. Have fun!

Inspiration

See Skip Prichard's Great Basketball Quotes To Up Your Game

The author collects and publishes inspirational quotes. His most recent list is inspired by March Madness.

It makes sense, because of the season and because successful teams always seem to have great leaders. John Wooden was the coach for the legendary UCLA team. Skip includes several quotes from him.

My favorite quote from the list is one of Wooden's:

When opportunity comes, it’s too late to prepare. – John Wooden

Accountability and Teams

Here is Leadership Freak's Over-Engaged Leaders Produce Disengaged Teams

Dan Rockwell, the Leadership Freak, has some really sound advice in this post. He reminds us that the best leaders step back, loosen their grip and ask questions rather than provide answers.

Another gem from Dan Rockwell: Two Questions That Crackdown On Excuse Making

As leaders, we must demonstrate consistent accountability in order to maintain trust and engagement. But we also have a responsibility to nurture and demand accountability in others.

Rockwell provides more insight on accountability and he notes that In nearly 25% of Businesses, Leaders Believe 30%-50% of Employees Avoid Responsibility

In addition to trust and engagement, Rockwell talks about the importance of clarity and follow-up in maintaining accountability in team members.

Be Prepared

Mo Kasti lists 8 major trends in Top Trends in 2017 for Physicians and Healthcare Administrators

Kasti leads CTI and its Physician Leadership Institute. In this short post, he highlights eight trends that are likely to continue well into 2017 and beyond. We should contemplate these trends and reflect on how they might affect our organization.

Recognizing Our Suffering Colleagues

Take a look at Dike Drummond's advice in Stop Physician Burnout – how to reach out to a colleague in distress.

There are two uncommon and challenging issues that physician leaders need to address: the so-called disruptive physician, and the impaired physician. Both problems can arise from a common malady that seems to be growing in frequency: Physician Burn Out.

The Happy MD author, Dike Drummond, has produced a very helpful blog post and video that can teach us how to recognize the symptoms of burnout and begin a conversation that might prevent its most deadly consequence, suicide.

Watch the video and rehearse the questions. And the next time you're alone with a potentially burned out colleague, give it a try.

Another Opinion on The Value of an MBA

Finally, here is The Path to MD/MBA

This is an article posted on The White Coat Investor about why, when and how to pursue an MBA. It's a guest post by an anonymous writer. It presents some arguments that go beyond getting the degree to become a physician manager or executive, which was my focus in a previous post.

In Closing

Those are some of the articles I found inspiring and educational. There is at least one nugget of really useful advice in each one.

If you have any favorite blogs or podcasts addressing leadership and related topics (or humorous ones) please share in the Comments.

To keep this content coming Subscribe here.

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Contact me at john.jurica.md@gmail.com.

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See you in the next post.

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This month's favorites follow…

February Favorites

Check out “How to Take Responsiblity After Making a Major Mistake.”

Michael Hyatt gives an excellent 4-step process for acknowledging a mistake and making it right. The ability to take ownership of a mistake is the hallmark of a great leader. The inability to demonstrate this leve of accountability will hamper your ability to move upward in an organization.

See Skip Prichard's “Customer Experience Starts by Ignoring Your Customer.”

The author reminds us that the best approach to achieving high customer (patient) satisfaction is to focus on improving employee satisfaction. I think this is a good reminder for all of us that if our staff is not engaged and satisfied, it will be very difficult to create loyalty in our clients.

Here is Leadership Freak's “3 People to Throw Off the Team.“

I remember discussing the importance of creating and sustaining a powerful team in our senior executive meetings. Our leadership coach would admonish us with simple advice like:

“Keep your “A” players, try to get your “B” players to become “A” players, and free up the “C” players to pursue other opportunities,” or

“If you were to go out and start a brand new company, would you really bring all of your current team members along? If not, you need to think about moving some of them off the team.”

I think that Dan Rockwell, the Leadership Freak has some really sound advice in the post I am highlighting this week. He describes three types of “C” players that need to go, and why they can be so destructive to any team.

Here is another gem from Dan Rockwell: “4 Ways to Lead Action-Taking Meetings.“

He reminds us that meetings should rarely be held simply to share information. And he gives some sound advice about how to make your meetings more “action-taking.”

Finally, here is an entertaining video rant by ZDoggMD (aka Zubin Damania, MD): Antivaccine Cleveland Clinic Doctor Just Made Our Jobs So Much Harder

You might not agree with all of ZDoggMD's points, but he certainly makes them in an enthusiastic (and perhaps condescending) fashion. I think he represents the indignation that many of us feel when so-called experts make proclamations that go unchallenged. ZDoggMD definitely challenges them in this video.

In Closing

Those are the posts that I found worthwhile reading (and watching).

If you have any favorite blogs or podcasts addressing leadership and related topics (or humorous ones) please let me know. I am always looking for new sources of inspiration and wisdom.

For more of my thoughts on healthcare and leadership Subscribe here.

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And feel free to email me directly at john.jurica.md@gmail.com with any questions about anything.

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See you in the next post.

The post Monthly Leadership Favorites February 2017 Edition appeared first on NonClinical Physicians.

This month's favorites…

Leadership

Note: The links below might not be obvious, but just click on the titles and you will be sent to the articles.

This first article by Michael Hyatt has several practical tips for achieving goals. He defines implementation intentions, which he has renamed (and trademarked) “Activation Triggers.” As the term implies, these are prompts that remind you to follow through on your self-assigned goals. He also describes SMARTER Goals, which appear to be an enhanced version of SMART Goals.

Check out “How to Use Activation Triggers to Reach Your Goals” to read about his 5 steps for optimizing this process.

Next, let's turn to another of my other leaderships favorite's, Leadership Freak. In this post, Dan Rockwell talks about the three attributes you should seek in new hires.

See Leadership Freak's “3 Must-Haves for Every Great Team Member.”

The only comment on his suggestions would be the following. He talks about only hiring people with the three characteristics he describes. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to identify these attributes clearly before hiring. So, you may need to confirm their presence within 90 days after hiring a new employee, and be prepared to terminate them if they do not demonstrate these, and other necessary traits.

Personal Finance

This following post by Physician on FIRE was published right around Christmas – thus the “gift-giving” topic. I found the advice to be very practical. And he explains a term called “degifting.” I must admit that it was a new concept for me.

Now go read Physician on Fire's “What to Give Those Who Have ‘Everything'.”

Let's move on to…

Humor

Zubin Damania continues to produce regular commentary on the ironic and sometimes pathetic aspects of medical care and the healthcare industry. He created a new character about 20 episodes back. It appears to be the fusion of Darth Vader and an annoyed surgeon, whose name is Doc Vader. I found these two recent episodes to be HILARIOUS.

Feel free to comment below if you think my sense of humor is disturbed.

ZDoggMD's “Doc Vader on Hospital Life“

As I mentioned – one episode was not enough. Here is another of Doc Vader's rants…

ZDoggMD's “Doc Vader on Medical Marijuana“

In Closing

Those are the posts that I found worthwhile reading (and watching). I will keep track of new material and post my favorites at least once a month.

If you have any favorite blogs addressing leadership or related topics (or humorous ones) please let me know.

For more of my thoughts on healthcare and leadership Subscribe here.

Please help me out by taking a short survey:  Survey Page

And feel free to email me directly at john.jurica.md@gmail.com with any questions about anything.

And if you enjoyed this, then share it or tweet it using the links below!!

See you in the next post.

The post Monthly Favorites – January 2017 Edition appeared first on NonClinical Physicians.

Let's get started…

Leadership

First of all, we have a couple from one of my favorite book authors and blog and podcast producers, Michael Hyatt. Please do not be too irritated by the pop-ups that might appear on his site. Just blow by them and read the post, if you would. This first one is awesome! Michael gives the BEST reason why the physician hospital executive should welcome problems that arise at work. (Note: The links below might not be obvious, but just click on the titles and you will be sent to the articles.)

Michael Hyatt's Why You Should Welcome Problems

Since this is my first attempt at providing a list of monthly favorites, I am going to pick two from my first author. So, Michael Hyatt gets a second link because he comes up with timeless advice. In this post he reminds us that unless we get to our zone of discomfort, we're probably not growing.

Michael Hyatt's Why Discomfort is Good for You

Next, let's turn to another of my favorite's, Skip Prichard. In this first post, he interviews Paul Larsen, author of Find Your Voice as a Leader. It is a very nice interview:

Skip Prichard's How to Find Your Voice as a Leader

I might argue that we should develop our voice, rather than find it, but I might be splitting hairs here. Now, let's move into another realm.

Personal Finance

I find these writers so interesting. The content is useful for physicians at any stage in their career. Granted, it might not directly relate to physician leadership or management, but I think my audience is always learning. And making a career change from practicing clinician to VPMA or CMO definitely requires some financial planning.

The White Coat Investor is one of the best out there. He has been blogging for at least 7 years and has written a successful book called The White Coat Investor: A Doctor's Guide To Personal Finance And Investing. I believe the author is a practicing emergency medicine physician, and earns more from of his blog and book than his practice at this point.

I found this post about financial aid planning for college and use of the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) very intriguing. It might save you hours of time.

The White Coat Investor's Why Most Doctors Shouldn't Bother with Financial Aid Planning

This following post by Physician on FIRE is hilarious. The link to some of the content is R-rated due to rough language. But I think you can take it! It is actually a Q & A with J.L. Collins. It is both funny AND worth reading just to find out how to keep your young children from misbehaving when out for dinner. J. L. Collins is the author of The Simple Path to Wealth.

Physician on Fire's Interview with J. L. Collins

By the way, it was this interview format that inspired me to create some of my own written interviews. These should be coming soon.

Let's move on to…

Humor

Well, the previous recommendation could fit here as well. But I must include a sample from ZDoggMD in my monthly favorites. In this repurpose of an Eminem rap song, he finds a way to include HCAHPS, Press Ganey and other frustrating topics as he rants about “unbreaking” healthcare. (It is a video, of course).

ZDoggMD's Lose Yourself/Unbreak Healthcare

Doctors are apparently funnier than I thought. I enjoy reading Dr. Grumpy in the House. Here is a recent article about some news stories that Dr. Grumpy found entertaining and shared with the world, along with his commentary.

Dr. Grumpy in the House's Breaking News

In Closing

That is some of the recent content that I found worthwhile reading (and watching). I will keep track of new material and post my favorites at least once a month.

If you have any favorite blogs addressing leadership, please let me know.

As I noted above, I am also in the process of putting together some interviews of physicians in leadership positions, with a focus on their journeys from practicing clinician to physician executive.

For more of my thoughts on healthcare and leadership Subscribe here.

Please help me out by taking a short survey:  Survey Page

And feel free to email me directly at john.jurica.md@gmail.com with any questions about anything.

See you in the next post!

The post The Monthly Favorites – December 2016 Edition appeared first on NonClinical Physicians.