Healthcare Organizations
Healthcare organizations, particularly academic healthcare organizations, are among the most complex organizations there are.
Healthcare organizations manage distinct challenges
They often comprise several separately governed entities, including hospitals, physician practices, school and research institutes with overlapping distinct incentives and priorities.
Leaders in these institutions experience all of the challenges of complex organizations, with some industry-specific dynamics:
Operational complexity
Emotionally demanding work and constant engagement with patients and families in moments of extreme duress and vulnerability
The need to deliver an enormous variety of highly specialized services, with precision, on an as-needed basis, 24/7
Leaders who often also serve as experts or providers and have to transition between multiple roles (e.g. leader, clinician and researcher), often within the same day or hour
Highly complex regulatory and payment policies and requirements
Pressure to integrate across services and entities
Industry pressure to integrate services across multiple entities, sites of care and types of services, while also being responsive to local and specialty-specific needs
Incentives and priorities that are not aligned across all partners or all parts of the organization
Distinct professional norms and practices
Distinct reporting structures for different professional groups that are sensitive to established professional norms and expectations.
Variable training and preparation for leadership roles across professions and institutions
Commitments to honor deeply held personal, professional and organizational values
Workforce challenges
Workforce shortages and high rates of turnover in critical roles and fields
High levels of provider and employee burnout and disengagement
Project Summary
Engaging a health system to clarify its values and culture
As part of an effort to improve effectiveness and patient experience, I worked with a mid-sized health system to revise its organizational values and develop behavioral markers to clarify the meaning of those values within the work of the organization.
This effort engaged thousands of employees in exploring their own professional values and reflecting on the characteristics of their teams and departments, so that even before the values statements were finalized the organization began to see a shift in how people worked with one another.
Client Testimonial
"Elizabeth enters the work with expertise and experience as well as a desire to learn, allowing her to offer an effective solution that can be sustained by internal resources."
Executive in an academic health system
Services for Healthcare Organizations
While I offer distinct consulting and coaching services, I find the best approach for a complex healthcare organization is often a customized one.
To ensure we are focused on the most impactful intervention, every engagement starts with an exploration of your specific goals and challenges, and a review of relevant data. I can then design a targeted scope and process with real value for you, often combining aspects of multiple services, such as:
Strategy Development
A strategic plan is, at its most basic, the answer to two questions: “What is success?” and “How will we get there?”
Organizational Design
Complex academic and service organizations often grant considerable autonomy to department and local leaders. At the same time, they must coordinate activity across multiple functions and sometimes large distances.
Change Management
Getting the most from your teams and colleagues in a rapidly changing environment is hard, particularly when teams are challenged just to keep up with daily demands.
Executive Coaching
Executive coaching is an opportunity to address the organizational and business issues most on your mind, while also exploring and cultivating your leadership identity and voice.
Team Development
Effective teamwork can amplify the impact of talented individual leaders and team members.