Sally Jeffcoat, president and CEO of Saint Alphonsus Health System in Boise, Idaho, discussed "six leadership imperatives that have stood the test of time" at the American College of Healthcare Executives' 56th Congress on Healthcare Leadership in Chicago Monday.
Ms. Jeffcoat has led four-hospital Saint Alphonsus, part of Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health, since it formed in 2010 when Trinity brought four of its hospitals under one umbrella. The organization includes more than 4,300 associates and a medical staff of more than 1,000. Before she was named to lead the system, Ms. Jeffcoat led 387-bed Saint Alphonsus Medical Center since 2009. Ms. Jeffcoat said she's adapted her own leadership style throughout her healthcare career, which exceeds 30 years. "You learn what works and what doesn't. These are the six imperatives I think are important," she said.
1. Gain command of vision and strategic direction. Ms. Jeffcoat said leaders need to take a "deep dive" with their boards, associates and physicians to create clarity around the hospital's or system's strategic vision. This should be an ongoing conversation and it will ultimately lead the organization to its desired brand. This is particularly important for retail strategies, "as individuals begin to choose rather than employers choosing [what providers] they will align with," said Ms. Jeffcoat.
She also emphasized that branding goes beyond marketing purposes. "It's not just about how you advertise yourself, but how you manage and how the organization thinks internally." She encouraged leaders to spend time pondering this question: "Why are we different as an organization?"
2. Consistently define essential leadership skills and strategic contributions. Once employees understand their individual roles and how they need to work differently, Ms. Jeffcoat said leaders need to define "what they need to come to the dance with." This refers to crucial conversations and objective assessments of leadership skills and competencies. It may also include realignment of employees, recruitment and internal promotions. "We've realigned people who had skill sets that were very valuable to the organization," said Ms. Jeffcoat. "We brought talent up from inside the organization."
3. Inspire creativity and focus on invocation and collaboration. After an organization has created clarity around its vision and has defined necessary leadership skills, Ms. Jeffcoat said it's time to encourage employee engagement in decision-making. "How can you solve problems together? It's not an easy task. We're creatures of habit and we want to solve problems in the same way," she said.
One major aspect of this is physician involvement. "We need to be a physician-led organization in a population health management world," said Ms. Jeffcoat. "It's important we establish the kind of leadership development and engagement we've never had before." She said that every time Saint Alphonsus ponders a major decision, she wants her team to ask physicians what they think. "We're much more intentional about that and are beginning to have more of those conversations than before."
4. Rigorously drive performance improvement and change management. Ms. Jeffcoat calls herself a "big believer" in project management. "It really does drive success," she said. Saint Alphonsus has trained more than 1,000 managers across its system to drive major projects this fiscal year. The system has also equipped managers with the proper analytics and dashboards to track their progress. Ms. Jeffcoat said that for hospitals and health systems to drive out waste and improve quality, leaders need to think innovatively and implement new tactics for project management. "We have to give [employees] the tools to do this work," she said.
5. Invest in and renew leadership. Ms. Jeffcoat said succession planning is absolutely critical to any organization and called it her duty to deliver a succession strategy. "This way, if I were to ever leave, Trinity would have a pool of candidates. We have 200 top leaders and we've identified 10 percent of those who will have leadership development plans. We also have a leadership development academy," said Ms. Jeffcoat. System leadership also spends a significant amount of time with the board, educating members on what it will mean as healthcare shifts from a hospital-centric model focused on inpatient stays to a population health management model.
6. Create a high-performing team. High-performing teams have an innate sense of when they need to refocus and they also rely on collective wisdom of the group. This creates an environment of mutual membership "that doesn't rely on the CEO to be the glue," said Ms. Jeffcoat. "I think they have enough confidence that they aren't dependent on the CEO, and they have an innate passion for the mission." She said these teams thrive on interdependence, mutual trust and respect, which is demonstrated through willingness to question and challenge one another.
Joseph Swedish, president and CEO of Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health, shared this session with Ms. Jeffcoat. To read about Mr. Swedish's presentation, click here.
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Ms. Jeffcoat has led four-hospital Saint Alphonsus, part of Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health, since it formed in 2010 when Trinity brought four of its hospitals under one umbrella. The organization includes more than 4,300 associates and a medical staff of more than 1,000. Before she was named to lead the system, Ms. Jeffcoat led 387-bed Saint Alphonsus Medical Center since 2009. Ms. Jeffcoat said she's adapted her own leadership style throughout her healthcare career, which exceeds 30 years. "You learn what works and what doesn't. These are the six imperatives I think are important," she said.
1. Gain command of vision and strategic direction. Ms. Jeffcoat said leaders need to take a "deep dive" with their boards, associates and physicians to create clarity around the hospital's or system's strategic vision. This should be an ongoing conversation and it will ultimately lead the organization to its desired brand. This is particularly important for retail strategies, "as individuals begin to choose rather than employers choosing [what providers] they will align with," said Ms. Jeffcoat.
She also emphasized that branding goes beyond marketing purposes. "It's not just about how you advertise yourself, but how you manage and how the organization thinks internally." She encouraged leaders to spend time pondering this question: "Why are we different as an organization?"
2. Consistently define essential leadership skills and strategic contributions. Once employees understand their individual roles and how they need to work differently, Ms. Jeffcoat said leaders need to define "what they need to come to the dance with." This refers to crucial conversations and objective assessments of leadership skills and competencies. It may also include realignment of employees, recruitment and internal promotions. "We've realigned people who had skill sets that were very valuable to the organization," said Ms. Jeffcoat. "We brought talent up from inside the organization."
3. Inspire creativity and focus on invocation and collaboration. After an organization has created clarity around its vision and has defined necessary leadership skills, Ms. Jeffcoat said it's time to encourage employee engagement in decision-making. "How can you solve problems together? It's not an easy task. We're creatures of habit and we want to solve problems in the same way," she said.
One major aspect of this is physician involvement. "We need to be a physician-led organization in a population health management world," said Ms. Jeffcoat. "It's important we establish the kind of leadership development and engagement we've never had before." She said that every time Saint Alphonsus ponders a major decision, she wants her team to ask physicians what they think. "We're much more intentional about that and are beginning to have more of those conversations than before."
4. Rigorously drive performance improvement and change management. Ms. Jeffcoat calls herself a "big believer" in project management. "It really does drive success," she said. Saint Alphonsus has trained more than 1,000 managers across its system to drive major projects this fiscal year. The system has also equipped managers with the proper analytics and dashboards to track their progress. Ms. Jeffcoat said that for hospitals and health systems to drive out waste and improve quality, leaders need to think innovatively and implement new tactics for project management. "We have to give [employees] the tools to do this work," she said.
5. Invest in and renew leadership. Ms. Jeffcoat said succession planning is absolutely critical to any organization and called it her duty to deliver a succession strategy. "This way, if I were to ever leave, Trinity would have a pool of candidates. We have 200 top leaders and we've identified 10 percent of those who will have leadership development plans. We also have a leadership development academy," said Ms. Jeffcoat. System leadership also spends a significant amount of time with the board, educating members on what it will mean as healthcare shifts from a hospital-centric model focused on inpatient stays to a population health management model.
6. Create a high-performing team. High-performing teams have an innate sense of when they need to refocus and they also rely on collective wisdom of the group. This creates an environment of mutual membership "that doesn't rely on the CEO to be the glue," said Ms. Jeffcoat. "I think they have enough confidence that they aren't dependent on the CEO, and they have an innate passion for the mission." She said these teams thrive on interdependence, mutual trust and respect, which is demonstrated through willingness to question and challenge one another.
Joseph Swedish, president and CEO of Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health, shared this session with Ms. Jeffcoat. To read about Mr. Swedish's presentation, click here.
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