Spinning the future

You may not be able to predict the future, but you can create scenarios to help you think about the future proactively. Instead of attempting to tell the future, tell stories about it. Here are eight steps to help you zero in on the future--they are designed to take you through the process of spinning scenarios in order to make decision-making, long-term planning, and thinking about the future more fruitful. Spinning scenarios is a highly sophisticated, singularly useful, and imminently practical way to think about the future. Yet, it is simple enough that you can do it yourself.     

Welcome everything

The failure of management is largely a failure to bring our whole selves to it. What parts of your self do you bring to your work? Do you bring only the management mind, only logic, only the company guidelines? Or do you bring your passions, your values, your soul, your deepest self? Do you react? Or do you respond? Letting go of what you think you know can be the first step to a creative and powerful response. Many of the tools we use in management can actually remove us from the experience and make it harder to respond. Reacting closes down options. Responding opens up possibilities and nurtures trust. This is kindness transformed into a business imperative--responsiveness.     

Elected medical staff leaders: who needs 'em?

Authority, influence, and power are not synonyms. In working with elected medical staff leaders, a physician executive who chooses to exert authority may soon find him- or herself relatively powerless. But one who chooses to downplay authority, to influence through persuasion, and to coach leaders to lead effectively soon generates support for his or her ideas. The need to coax, cajole, explain, persuade, and "seek input" frustrates many leaders in all kinds of organizations. It would be much easier just to order people about. It's so tempting to think: "Who needs 'em? I'm the 'chief physician.' I know what needs to be done. Let's weigh anchor, take her out, and do what it takes to sail those rough, uncharted seas." If you really enjoy sailing a large ship in rough seas without a crew, go right ahead. Or if you think it makes sense to run an organization with only an executive staff and no knowledgeable middle managers, by all means let clinician leaders know that, now that you're aboard, they're just window-dressing. If you can make this approach work, well and good. Your life will be much less complicated, each day will have far fewer frustrations, and progress toward established goals will be much faster. However, given the reality of traditionally thinking physicians, it would be best to keep an up-dated resume in the locked lower left-hand drawer of your desk.     

Changing what goes on in your head: how to stop "ain't it awful?"

How can you change your negative thinking? This column describes a process that, on the surface, seems too simplistic to be beneficial, but that works: choose a few good words to repeat to yourself constantly, progress to better thoughts, and then improve what you say to others. If you want to be more satisfied with your work life and your personal life, you must change the internal dialogue in your head. If you have some version of negative internal chatter, you need to substitute positive statements. You need to say something different from what you have been saying every spare minute of the day. You must say it even if it is the biggest lie you have ever heard yourself think. You must say it for days or weeks before you notice a difference in your attitude, relationships, and health. Eventually, you will notice you feel better and people are behaving better.     

Naked reverse: unexpected plays for exceptional results

Following the herd is easy when it comes to business ventures. But if you really want to start something new, you must first carefully think it through. Learn some ways to do that before you set out on a new path.     

Thriving in change

The turbulent state of health care and the rapid changes that show no sign of abating point to many career-related challenges for physician executives. How can you predict the impact of these changes on your career? What measures can be taken to prevent any negative impact of change? And how can you prevail when dealt a negative blow like job loss? The signs that foreshadow the unraveling of a physician executive's career are described. The warning signs are: Not keeping up with change, losing your influence; getting negative feedback; turning your "concerns" into complaints; the economy working against you; and being blindsided because we think leaders operate logically. Being proactive puts more control in your hands and leaves less to chance. You can prevent being blindsided if you: develop your people skills; get comfortable and involved with e-business; stay abreast of health care trends; pick up the pace; and develop "You, Inc." There is a final component to prevailing over adverse circumstances--find your work-related passion and apply it to your career.     

Controlled burn! Physician executives must be ready to handle job burnout, career stress

Job burnout for workers in any career can be frightening. It's truly debilitating to think that your job and career are worthless, that your future isn't bright. There are, however, some steps you can take to recognize, avoid or overcome the stress and anxiety that leads to job burnout.     

Communication skills: a prerequisite for leadership

A man once said, "He who would be first among you, let him be your servant." I think he also would have said, "If you would be the leader of the troops in health care, you must be able to communicate." You must be a good listener, be able to facilitate conflict resolution, be a good interviewer, deal effectively with problem physicians and employees, speak effectively in front of an audience, and communicate well in writing. Do not assume that you are good at any of these skills because you went to medical school. All of us need improvement in these areas.     

Can you take your soul to work?

David White in The Heart Aroused: Poetry and the Preservation of Soul in Corporate America explores ways for professionals to take their souls to work, instead of checking them at the door. "We simply spend too much time and have too much psychic and emotional energy invested in the workplace for us to declare it a spiritual desert bereft of life-giving water." Several ideas are presented to help physician executives preserve their souls in an increasingly corporatized U.S. health care system: (1) Figure out what you are meant to do as your life's calling; (2) know what you think and want; (3) share some of what you think at work, while being careful to not lose your job unless you choose to; (4) be a trustworthy listener and find one; (5) get yourself outside; (6) pay attention to your physical space; and (7) develop some new hobbies or refresh old ones. "One of the disciplines of building a rich soul life seems to be the simple act, on a daily basis, of remembering what is most important to us."     

Got curiosity?

The newest scientific models of decision-making suggest that the way we actually decide to do something is different from the story we put on it later. Organizations think that way, too. The real process of decision-making is hidden. Management is complex--and a key tool is curiosity. A critical question would be: "What experience are we creating?" When you get curious, separate what you notice from the story you tell yourself about it--even if the story is true. Look for the meaningful experience: your own, your employees', your customers', your physicians'. The essential act of management is to notice, to not look away.     

Power negotiating for physician executives

Whenever you deal with another person, you use exactly the same techniques that international negotiators use to reach agreement on world problems. Learning to improve your negotiating skills is the highest and best use of your time. You can't make money faster than you can when you're negotiating well. Presented here are negotiating gambits to use to your advantage at the bargaining table.     

Influence by learning how people process information

To have a successful career in management, you have to pay more attention to refining your communication skills than you ever thought was necessary. In a survey of 100 physician executives, 94 percent felt training was needed in communication skills if you are thinking about becoming a physician executive. When recruiters talk to us about the basic requirements for physician executives, one of the things they say the person needs to have is excellent communication skills. Most people have good communication skills, but what can move you into the category of excellent is paying careful attention to how the person you are talking to processes information. You can only do this if you listen before you do much talking. What do I mean by processing information? When we get up in the morning, the world is out there separate from us. We have to take in information about that world and make decisions all day long. We don't all do this in the same way. In this article, I am going to discuss four ways to process information.     

Why acting managers rarely survive

Can acting managers win the job? Or are the scales tipped so far in the outside candidates' favor that it's not worth venturing into this shaky territory? If you want to be your former boss' successor, take note of the cautionary tales offered here. From power and control issues to strategies for protecting yourself if the unmentionable happens--you lose the position to some outsider--insights are offered on why you should think twice about accepting the acting manager job.     

When it's time to say goodbye

You've landed the perfect job, but now you must face your current employer and deliver the news that you're leaving the organization. While an exciting time, this can also certainly be a stressful one. Here are some strategies and ideas for saying goodbye to an employer that may be useful in guiding your actions. From being ready for counter-offers to downright hostility, you need to be prepared to deal with various scenarios. No matter how you have steeled yourself to go into the boss's office to share your news, you cannot predict with total accuracy just what his or her response will be. There will always be surprises, although usually things are never as bad as your imagined worst-case scenario. However, when you are ready to make your plans known, one simple rule is always required: You must have total commitment to your new position.     

Can physicians lead other physicians into the future?

This article reflects upon some of the dynamics that prevent physicians from successfully engaging change. Physicians are enculturated to the competitive and hierarchical, and to value personal autonomy. These traits promote distrust and inhibit the formation of collaborative relationships. At this time of growing complexity, when most other industries are developing styles of work based on teamwork, worker empowerment, cross training, and information sharing, physicians cling to the metaphor of the ship's captain, a lone decision-marker and authoritarian possessor of grand knowledge. And yet, in order to lead, physicians need to learn to work differently and nurture a more collaborative approach. The author's blueprint for change includes: Stop trying to manage consensus; commit to measured accountability; think systemically; don't make the mistake of thinking that people will follow because you are right; and, most importantly, create relationships based on shared purpose and principles.     

How to keep good staff from leaving

There are many moves you can make to maintain staff morale, provide staff with challenges and keep them content.     

Habits of mind for turbulent times

How do you deal with change--in either personal circumstances or in the turbulent health care environment? Do you rail against the variables that seem to put you in the uncomfortable situation, blame yourself, take it personally? Are there ways to start looking at change differently and more effectively? Here's the key: It's all weather. Whatever you can't control, no matter who does it or why, is just part of the weather--where you are right now. How do we treat weather? We try to find out as much as we can about what's coming, but we keep its unpredictability in mind. We prepare for its extremes as wisely as possible. We grieve any losses it causes us, and celebrate the lovely spring days and quiet summer evenings it gives us. And never once do we take it personally, think that the weather is out to get us, or that lousy weather means that somehow we have failed. We just know that its not personal.     

领导-成员关系对组织与员工间社会交换的调节作用研究

通过对256位员工和他们的主管的调查,发现主管和员工报告的领导-成员关系对组织投入与员工贡献之间的关系有一定的调节作用,这说明主管扮演的员工代言人角色的确会对组织代理人的角色产生影响.主管认为领导-成员关系较好时,可以促进组织与员工间社会交换的顺利进行,使组织的投入能得到员工较高的绩效回报;而员工认为领导-成员关系较好,也有助于提升其对组织的承诺.     

Delegation can make (or break) your career

Delegation is not a soft skill. Physician executives who do not delegate well and strategically cannot expect to achieve the top jobs now or in the future. It's not enough to have great communications skills to convey your vision. You won't achieve that vision alone; you must have a great team to bring that vision to fruition. However, you can't delegate your first and most important step--self-assessment. To maximize your strengths and minimize your weaknesses, you'll need a clear view of what makes you tick. Then start thinking about your executive role in these terms: Conceptualize work mandates as projects; choose people who are better than you for your team; and try to work yourself out of a job. By learning to delegate, physician executives can make their own careers (as well as those on their team) richer and more fulfilled.     

Can you recognize the winds of change?

If you find yourself between a rock and a hard place during your career, there are some tough choices you will have to make. Read how one physician executive made these choices.