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Leadership is more than a title

Medical Staff Leader Connection, April 1, 2004

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Dear Medical Staff Leader: 

Granting a practitioner a leadership title does not make him or her a leader. However, an individual who is selected or elected to be a department chairperson, medical staff officer, or committee chair is expected to provide significant leadership. But leadership entails more than chairing a meeting, signing credentials files, and putting out fires. Leadership requires the creation of a vision, the ability to communication that vision to others, and the drive to develop a game plan for achieving that vision. 

Medical staff leaders without a clearly articulated vision are simply passing the time until they can pass the baton to the next individual in line for the position. Individuals who have developed a vision but have not clearly communicated that vision to others are dreamers. Dreaming does have merit. However, when one wakes from a dream they generally find themselves in the same bed they went to sleep in.

And lastly, individuals with a clearly articulated vision but no game plan are often frustrated and disillusioned with the individuals that they expect to follow them. On the other hand, leaders with a clearly articulated vision, a game plan, and the support of those they are leading will often achieve success. Such successes are more necessary within the medical staff today than ever before.

The medical staff as an organization is, in fact, in a period of decline. Such decline can be arrested or reversed only if leaders achieve measurable goals. Ideally such goals should be in concert with those set by the institution. To successfully lead, leaders must find a way to work with the hospital to achieve a shared vision. 

That's all for this week.

All the best,

Hugh Greeley
http://www.greeley.com/seminars/

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