Organizations are molded according to the tone their leaders set.
Three hospital CEOs and a senior vice president shared their definitions of excellent leadership as well as insight from their extensive careers as leaders in the healthcare industry, during the Becker's Hospital Review 6th Annual CEO + CFO Roundtable, Nov. 14, in Chicago.
Panel participants included:
• Mark Madden, senior vice president, senior executive search, B.E. Smith in Lenexa, Kan.
• Philip M. Kambic, president and CEO, Riverside Medical Center in Kankakee, Ill.
• Jose R. Sanchez, president and CEO, Norwegian American Hospital in Chicago
• Brenda Wolf, president and CEO, La Rabida Children's Hospital in Chicago
Touching on various topics from culture to succession plans, these four leaders dived into the qualities that differentiate a leader with followers from a leader who travels alone.
On what makes a great leader
Positivity, integrity, trust and adaptability are a few key characteristics often attributed to strong leaders. These same characteristics often pop up when discussing great leaders, but individual definitions often emphasize different traits based on experience.
- Ms. Wolf described a great leader as "someone that responds to the situation, the constituencies and to the immediate and long-term needs."
- "When I think about leadership, it continues to redefine the definition, because of all the challenge we face. I don't think that I follow any rules. I try to adapt and also be flexible about the things that are in front of me every single day," said Mr. Sanchez.
- "The core of things that I find is that there has to be integrity and trust. As a leader, not only do you have to be adaptive, you have to be able to help your organization and employees adapt and thrive in a changing environment," said Mr. Madden.
- Mr. Kambic added, "The leader of an organization has to set out a vision and communicate that vision to the people around them."
On an organization's culture
Mr. Madden commented relationship-building is at an all-time high right now, both inside an organization and externally.
"It's relationship building on steroids. I want to be able to see how a leader has been able to improve culture," he said.
Mr. Kambic agreed, noting the importance of finding the right people to integrate into an organization.
"You control the culture and if somebody is not fitting into that culture, no matter how good of a performer they might be, you need to make those hard decisions," he said.
On equipping the next generation of leaders
The panelists wrapped up the discussion by sharing a few initiatives at their organizations to train the leaders of the future.
Riverside Medical Center created Riverside Young Professionals, which allows employees to receive face time with Mr. Kambic monthly. Mr. Sanchez said at Norwegian American Hospital they encourage their leaders to focus on self-development and training opportunities as well as offer a formal mentorship program. At La Rabida Children's Hospital, Ms. Wolf said they identify those employees who are keen to tackle leadership roles and set up mentoring relationships.
Mr. Madden said the healthcare industry could be doing a lot more, though, as he's seen very few organizations with formal succession programs in place.
"You have to develop the next group of leaders. We're going to be relying on them to be running a healthcare system that we're going to use more and more as we get older," he added. "Make it a priority."