Clinically, we all come across situations for which our training and experience have not prepared us. If the situation needs immediate attention, we often rely on a rapid assessment and solutions-generating thought process based primarily on intuition and experience. But for those other perplexing non-emergent situations, we have the luxury of a more methodological approach. At these times, we often use a combination of our own professional (even personal) knowledge and experience, in addition to the host of resources in the environment around us.
Disruptive influences may challenge us because of our implicit biases, perhaps because of our entrenched paradigms and preferred stereotypes, and perhaps because of our strong beliefs in the long-term legacy systems we have become comfortable with over time. Perhaps we don’t know the root of our challenge. What we do recognize is that we are uncomfortable and prefer that the disruptive influence has not actually arrived.
For me, there have been several moments, professionally and personally, when I wished I were anywhere else than where I was at the time the proverbial stuff hit the fan and disrupted my life. When I was younger, I wanted to run away so I could sort things out from afar and then later resolve the circumstances. As I grew older and more mature, I was able to stay in the game to work through these situations and their related circumstances.
Something that helped me mature, perhaps surprisingly, was learning how to quickly assess and manage trauma resuscitations with patients actively dying because of their exsanguinating injuries.
A mentor provided this advice: “No matter how bad the situation, Peter, you always have a moment to assess before reacting.” As a result, my clinical skill maturation clearly rolled over to my personal maturation and subsequently helped with my administrative leadership maturation.
Yes, there were other factors for me as well, but the teachings we all obtain in our clinical lives can clearly provide us with insights, appreciation, and discernments for our leadership approaches in uncomfortable circumstances — whether these are on a professional, personal, or even parenting level.
INFLUENCE OF DISRUPTIVE INFLUENCES
So, think back to a recent disruptive influence, clinical or nonclinical, and how you navigated the situation. Were you successful? Were you unsuccessful? How did others react? What was the outcome for you and for the organization you were involved with?
My initial guess is that you initially assessed, reacted for damage control, reassessed, and planned. Perhaps you called in added resources, developed and implemented solutions, prepared to adjust as the situation evolved under those solutions, continued to assess and reassess as the situation gradually resolved, and then finally reviewed what worked or did not work for the eventual outcome so you could do it all better the next time. It’s what good clinicians do … and it’s what superb leaders do as well.
As physician leaders in a complex industry that depends on the patient-physician relationship, all physicians now have an opportunity to recognize the additional stresses recently placed on the industry. The shifts and changes being created at the macro federal level, regardless of whether you agree or disagree with them, are disrupting entrenched paradigms, affecting a multitude of steadfast stereotypes, and potentially even abolishing several long-term legacy systems.
These disruptive influences are active and continuous. This, in an industry that has also been trying for generations to disrupt itself through its own efforts to make healthcare better. This, in an industry that already aspires to high quality, safe, efficient, and better value health and healthcare for society.
WHAT WE REALLY KNOW
So, in this next era of change for healthcare, now that we know, what do we actually know?
Leadership is what we really know!
Given the dependency on the patient-physician relationship and the legacy of physicians being stewards of this industry, physician leadership is critical at this time. We have a terrific opportunity to positively leverage the impact of disruptive influences to make the industry evolve better and more rapidly than it has in the past. It is an opportunity to assess and reassess what has worked for many years, but it is also an opportunity to adapt and adjust to the beneficial effects being created by these disruptive influences. New solutions are possible, perhaps even better, if considered with the proper context.
And yet, this is also a time when we must not indiscriminately abandon the knowledge or the scientific methodologies that have made American healthcare the envy of the world in so many ways. This is an industry that provides innumerable positive benefits to untold millions of lives around the world.
Can we refine some of our systems and processes? Most certainly. Must we deconstruct all that has been invested in the industry over decades? Certainly not. Can we learn from these disruptive influences? Absolutely.
The “fight or flight” hormonal reflex is just that, a reflex. As physician leaders, we must be prepared to react at a higher level of refinement beyond reflexes. After all, this evolving period of disruption is not a true emergency despite how a few may have initially reacted. At some level, all physicians are viewed as leaders, and so we must each appreciate how our own reactions might create subsequent reactions for others within our spheres of influence and how those others will then perpetuate what they gleaned from us as physicians. As leaders, we must be readily adaptable and balanced, not reflexive, during these times.
We can all draw on the leadership experiences we learned during our clinical maturation process as well as from the lessons we each learned administratively over time. No matter the situation, we all have a moment to assess further before reacting — hopefully in a positive fashion for the benefit of others and for the places where we work.
SEEKING DEEPER LEVELS OF DEVELOPMENT
Remember, leading and helping to create significant positive change is our overall intent as physician leaders. AAPL focuses on maximizing the potential of physician-led, interprofessional leadership to help create personal and organizational transformation that benefits patient outcomes, improves workforce wellness, and refines the delivery of healthcare internationally.
Therefore, as physician leaders, we must embrace the complexities of our industry. We can choose to embrace the opportunities where our individual and collective energies can create the beneficial changes needed desperately for our industry. We must continue to be innovative and adaptive in our efforts. Let us keep maximizing the opportunities continually in front of our profession.
Through this AAPL community, we all can continue seeking deeper levels of professional and personal development and recognize ways we can each generate constructive influence at all levels. As physician leaders, let us become more engaged, stay engaged, and help others to become engaged. Exploring and creating opportunities for broader levels of positive transformation in healthcare is within our reach, individually and collectively.