• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

Free form: Stages of hospitalist leadership transition

Hospitalist Leadership Connection, June 23, 2009

As the ranks of hospital medicine continue to swell, the need for leadership development is becoming increasingly important. Much like an airplane without a pilot, a hospital medicine group without strong and well-trained leaders is bound to implode and fail in its mission. Leadership development is an especially big challenge for hospital medicine–a subspecialty with a large proportion of relatively young physicians thrust into positions traditionally reserved for more experienced individuals. Nevertheless, hospitalists are in a unique position to establish themselves as forward-thinking practitioners laying the found for medical leadership.

The leadership transition from hospitalist to hospitalist leader generally occurs in five predictable stages of unpredictable duration. Those stages are:

Stage I: Take hold (orientation, evaluation, and corrective action)
•    Develop an understanding of the new situation
•    Develop an initial set of priorities
•    Develop an initial set of expectation with key subordinates
•    Establish the basis for effective working relationships

Stage II: Immersion (Exploratory learning and managing business)
•    Develop a deeper understanding of the situation and the people
•    Assess the consequences of the “taking hold” period
•    Reassess priorities
•    Settle questions and problems concerning key personnel

Stage III: Reshaping (Acting on revised concept)
•    Reconfigure the organization based on a finer-grained understanding
•    Deal with the underlying causes of residual problems
•    Be open to unanticipated problems

Stage IV: Consolidation (Evaluative learning, follow-through, and corrective action)
•    Follow through on reshaping actions
•    Deal with unanticipated problems of the reshaping stage
•    Remain open to new developments

Stage V: Refinement (Period of calm, slow incremental learning, and credibility and power base establishment)
•    Refine operations
•    Search for opportunities
•    Avoid the summit syndrome (paradox of experience and expertise, in which a hospitalist may feel there is no longer a challenge or peak to climb to the work he or she performs)

The above excerpt is adapted from The Hospitalist Program Management Guide, 2nd edition, by Kenneth G. Simone, DO, and Jeffrey R. Dichter, MD, FACP, published by HCPro, Inc., Marblehead, MA.

The “Stages of Leadership Transition” document is available for download at HospitalistLeadership.com.

• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive