“The transformational changes we need in healthcare begin with the exchange of information and ideas and thought provoking discussions featured throughout this series … with respectful tension, really challenging the status quo.”
—Scott Wolf, DO, MPH, FACP, physician executive, associate director with Berkeley Research Group
I opened this series by calling attention to the many challenges and threats facing healthcare organizations, but by also saying it’s not the threats themselves that make healthcare leaders vulnerable: it’s their inability to respond in real time when those threats arise.
This is the last article in a 14-part weekly series, in which I am sharing insights from the 2024 Healthcare in the Age of Personalization Summit. We heard from a wide range of healthcare experts—leaders spanning all facets of healthcare organizations from the boardroom and C-suite to the patient’s bedside. We covered topics such as why better care requires honoring individuality, how industry incentives work against personalization, how we can shape our organizational cultures so people know they matter, and more.
In this article, I’ll share highlights from my discussion with Scott Wolf, DO, MPH, FACP, physician executive, associate director with Berkeley Research Group. Dr. Wolf was a practicing physician and he’s also led health system organizations as president and in various administrative positions.
To close out the summit, we addressed the question: What are the most critical reinvention strategies for healthcare leadership in today’s age of personalization?
We framed that conversation around six strategies I’ve identified over the years as the foundation for innovation.
1. See Opportunities in Everything
Dr. Wolf reiterated some of the major challenges the U.S. healthcare industry faces, many of which have been discussed throughout this article series.
“We’re approaching or almost exceeding 20% of our GDP on healthcare in the United States, yet our quality outcomes lag far beyond those in other developed nations,” said Dr. Wolf. “We have supply chain issues, we have unprecedented workforce challenges, we have regulatory and compliance issues. The future of healthcare depends on the leaders of today and the impact they can have on learning, unlearning, relearning, repeat—the mantra that you started us out with.”
We have to see these challenges and threats as opportunities. But that can be challenging when we’re in the middle of it.
“One of the reasons we don’t see opportunities is because we’re constantly dealing with the fires of the day,” said Dr. Wolf. “We’re going from a financial fire, a quality fire, a workforce fire. We need to address the immediacy of some of those issues so we can create some opening in our minds and our thinking and really provide that time for our teams to come together to think about what those opportunities are.”
But we have to be intentional.
“We have to be specific about answering particular questions, because so many opportunities might be out there,” he said. “And for every one of those opportunities, there’s a ‘shiny light.’ And often we chase those shiny lights because we feel that they’re going to come and resolve a problem for us without actually asking, is that shiny light answering a very specific question?”
2. Anticipate the Unexpected
Answering a specific question is one thing. But we also need to go in search of questions that we’re not even asking ourselves yet.
“To anticipate the unexpected, we have to engage those perspectives of all of the stakeholders sitting around our table,” said Dr. Wolf. “Our patients, our colleagues, all of the providers and the caregivers in the organization from the very top of the organization all throughout—everybody brings a different perspective. What might be very apparent to one person might be a complete blind spot to somebody else.”
It’s also not enough to just invite people to participate. We have to show them that it’s not only safe, but also beneficial, to share their ideas and perspectives.
“We need to develop a culture of total engagement,” he said. “You need to create that funnel of innovation. The top of the funnel is very large, where everybody is invited to put ideas, and then it goes through a discernment process. So, at the bottom, you have a well-thought-out solution. But those ideas are coming from everybody in the organization and even from the community, to help direct the ideas and the strategies that would then take you to that next level.”
3. Unleash Your Passionate Pursuits
People will surprise you with what they’re capable of when they feel unleashed—when they feel free to achieve at their highest capacity.
“There’s nothing more empowering and invigorating than offering people the opportunity to contribute,” said Dr. Wolf. “The key is engaging, welcoming those thoughts and input. And it’s empowering people to make a decision.”
Dr. Wolf gave an example of this in action. At one of his previous organizations, there was a surgical tech who arrived at 5:30 every morning, and it was his job to make sure that all the ORs were stocked with the appropriate materials for the day. During the day, if anything ran out, he’d have to run down the corridor and around the corner, get more supplies, bring them back. One day, he brought an idea to Dr. Wolf.
“If I could just put floor-to-ceiling racks outside of every operating room, I would stock the racks so that during the day I would be able to just open the door and there would be my materials.”
They did it.
“It was a small investment, but we did it,” said Dr. Wolf. “It saved turnover time because he didn’t have to waste a few minutes. If you multiply a few minutes several times a day, it adds up.”
But saving time was not the only benefit.
“The passion that this young boy had, because his idea was welcomed and acted upon, was immeasurable,” said Dr. Wolf. “And then it led to a number of other ideas and thoughts from his colleagues in the group. So just by engaging, just by inviting and recognizing his input, unleashed tremendous passion.”
4. Live With an Entrepreneurial Spirit
You don’t have to be an entrepreneur to be entrepreneurial. You just have to have an entrepreneurial attitude.
“Our current state is not working, so you have to welcome that entrepreneurial spirit and be willing to take a risk,” said Dr. Wolf. “Failure is going to happen, but you just have to fail fast and learn from those experiences. But you have to be willing to at least take that chance, think differently, and garner the support and input from your colleagues so that you’re doing it together.”
If you’re not seeing much innovation from within your organization, take a close look at the systems you’ve built and the culture you’ve established. You might be getting in the way.
“That spirit of innovation has to be cultivated in an organization in order to be able to think differently, look differently, and act differently,” said Dr. Wolf. “Like the saying goes, you get the results that your system is designed to get. We can’t expect any changes in our outcomes if we are not changing our systems.”
Sometimes the hardest part of reinvention and transformation is first removing everything that is standing in the way.
5. Work with a Generous Purpose
I believe that healthcare was born on the spirit of giving and sharing and serving others. How can we remain in that mindset while working to meet the challenges every day?
“It’s the concept of servant leadership—serving others before yourself,” said Dr. Wolf. “I’ve tried to emulate that my entire career. I’ve always hit lumps and bumps—after a while, you get mired in the status quo. And so it’s about reigniting that passion so that you can lead with servant leadership. You can lead with that generous purpose and that feeling of giving.”
In this industry, the stakes are so high.
“The outcome of [leading with a generous purpose] will be the perception by the patient,” said Dr. Wolf. “They know when they are truly being served. And it’s the same with our healthcare providers and our employees—they know when they’re being served by the organization, but even more they know when they’re not being served.”
6. Lead to Leave a Legacy
Leaders have so much influence over the direction of the organization: How are you using your influence?
“This one is one of the most important and rises to the top,” said Dr. Wolf. “Leaders today have to serve as coaches and mentors, because you might have three or even four generations of people working in your organization serving a common good. If our leaders don’t lead with the desire to leave a legacy, with the desire to be a mentor, to be generous with their leadership, there’s going to be a gap in our future leaders.”
That’s so true, and it also goes both ways: leaders also have to realize there’s a lot they can learn from younger people who come to this industry without all the baggage of the status quo.
“As leaders, we have to be vulnerable,” said Dr. Wolf. “We have to be vulnerable to invite innovation and ideas. That’s the job of a leader. The leader is not supposed to have every idea. The leader is just supposed to pave the way, so when those brilliant ideas come forward and percolate up to the top, that can actually be impactful. They smooth the way to allow those ideas to be executed.”
Watch this short video for more from the panel.
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