Steven Sheris, MD, is the president of N.J.-based Atlantic Medical Group and the executive vice president and chief physician executive of N.J.-based Atlantic Health System.
Dr. Sheris will serve on the panel " Medical Group Management: Top Issues and Strategies for 2023" at Becker's 10th Annual CEO + CFO Roundtable. As part of an ongoing series, Becker's is talking to healthcare leaders who plan to speak at the conference on Nov. 7-10 in Chicago.
To learn more and register, click here.
Becker's Healthcare aims to foster peer-to-peer conversation between healthcare's brightest leaders and thinkers. In that vein, responses to our Speaker Series are published straight from interviewees. Here is what our speakers had to say.
Question: What is the smartest thing you've done in the last year to set your system up for success?
Dr. Steven Sheris: I think we have created an environment of psychological safety and workplace safety, where people can feel comfortable bringing forth new ideas to advance Atlantic Health's agenda. The way that plays out is that a lot of our decision-making is a product of ideas generated from lower levels in the organization and brought forth to leaders to help vet and execute, rather than a top-down strategy. It's a collaborative environment for all 18,000 team members as possible.
Q: What are you most excited about right now and what makes you nervous?
SS: I'm excited to continue to work for an organization at Atlantic Health that is forward-thinking and progressive in advancing the Healthcare Transformation Agenda. We have a different view of how healthcare should be in America and our region. And for the last six years or so, we've been on this journey to differentiate ourselves through the lens of superior outcomes, extraordinary experience, and affordability. We're trying to align all the contributors in the healthcare ecosystem around that plan so everyone can execute the transformation agenda.
What makes me nervous is that the pace of change is slow and that the external environment, and the economic pressures on healthcare, are advancing farther than the whole healthcare ecosystem's ability to execute on change. The economic pressures make it challenging to conduct the daily healthcare business for many health systems. When you're in the process of change, you can only control what you can control, but I worry about the things we can't control.
Q: How are you thinking about growth and investments for the next year or two?
SS: Even in this economic and healthcare uncertainty area, I think the solution is to continue growing. I believe our growth agenda becomes even more imperative in this time of uncertainty. When faced with external stressors, many organizations' default posture is to retrench to an overly conservative strategy. Fortunately, Atlantic Health System has a strong balance sheet and we will continue to invest in those areas that help support our unique strategy. We think that's the best defense against the economic pressures.
Q: What will healthcare executives need to be effective leaders for the next five years?
SS: I think the traits that make an effective leader are no different and are more important in the next five years. I think it's important to be an adaptive leader in helping empower your teams and give them the tools to execute your strategy. It's best to tell your team what the destination looks like and where the goal line is. Let them use their intuition, operational and clinical maturity, and expertise to help execute that agenda and get you to the finish line. Suppose you think that in this time of stress, being hyper-managerial is the strategy or trait that will get you the best outcome. I think you're mistaken at this point. You need to lean harder on your teams and let them support you as leaders. You need to be a humble and servant leader. You need to be humble and a servant leader to be successful in the next five years.
Q: How are you building resilient and diverse teams?
SS: Our diversity at Atlantic Health is what enriches us. People bring different skill sets and perspectives. They bring the lessons learned from life stresses and pressures to their job and create this fabric that drives Atlantic Health forward. Now in doing so, because the environment that we're in is stressful, we need to make sure that our team is resilient. We make sure we take care of our whole team. We make sure they get time off. We remove unnecessary processes that erode resiliency and contribute to burnout. Empowering your teams and allowing them to perform at the top of their capabilities creates a professionally rewarding environment and helps enhance resiliency. That's our strategy.