Several of the professional healthcare organizations and associations 

have developed their own  competency models. So how does a physician

Patricia A. Hoffmeir

leader know which competencies to adopt? You could seek to improve your skills to be in alignment with the competencies published by any of these major associations - the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE), the National Center for Healthcare Leadership (NCHL), the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), or even the writings of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).

Rather than chase a moving bus, I recommend you take a broader approach to developing your core competencies by focusing on the skills all healthcare executives need today.

Core Competencies

A core competency is defined as an underlying characteristic of an individual that is related to superior performance in a job or situation. Naturally, hiring organizations expect every job candidate to have certain core competencies. This is because, in practical terms, they determine who will be particularly effective in any given job.

J. Larry Tyler, Chairman and CEO of Tyler & Company, and Andrew N. Garman, PsyD, MS, of Rush University, worked with ACHE on a one-year research project to develop a job-relevant multisource feedback survey. The seven competency clusters defined below were born from this research as a set of criteria to develop leadership talent in healthcare administration. Adopting these 7 competencies provides senior healthcare executives with the skills they need to lead their organizations, grow professionally and mentor "up and comers." The seven clusters are:

♦ Charting the course,

♦ Developing work relationships,

♦ Using broad influence,

♦ Structuring the work environment,

♦ Inspiring commitment,

♦ Communication, and

♦ Self-management.

Let's look more closely at each....Read More.   

Patricia A. Hoffmeir

Senior Vice President, Tyler & Company
phoffmeir@tylerandco.com

© 2012 WESH                

Anne-Marie Slaughter, JD (Harvard), PhD (Oxford) is a trailblazer. She is the Bert G. Kerstetter '66 University Professor of Politics and International Affairs and in 2002 was the first woman Dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public International Affairs at Princeton University. Appointed as the first woman Director of Policy Planning for the U.S. State Department (January 2009 to February 2011) alongside Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, after two years Slaughter stopped the Washington, DC-New Jersey weekend commute lifestyle for the sake of more family stability. She returned to be more available to her two sons, especially her struggling 14 year-old, and resumed her Princeton University position as the Bert G. Kerstetter '66 University Professor of Politics and International Affairs.

Slaughter recounted her recent decision in Why Women Still Can't Have It All, published in the Atlantic (see link below). She discusses the many problems that still exist as women become top professionals and try to have healthy family and personal lives.

Read More 

Vilferdo Pareto (1848-1923), an economist in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, is not the usual figure associated with leadership guidance or insight into difficult issues confronted by individuals in academic leadership. Nonetheless, he applied economic theory to sociological observations and demonstrated economic principles related to workplace behaviors.

Illogical Actions

In his sociological masterpiece, Trattato di sociologia generale published in 1916, Pareto noted that people's behaviors are often based upon illogical actions followed by the creation of justifications for the actions afterwards.1 He went on to posit that these illogical behaviors are underlying problems at the core of an individual's aspirations and drives. A simple example is the faculty member, clinical or non-clinical, who regularly misses meetings because they are too busy - an illogical behavior in the opinion of those people who attend the meeting as scheduled and a poor justification by the person who thinks personal work is more important than that of other committee members. The individual core aspirations are not about being a member of the committee and accomplishing tasks together but demonstrating self-importance.

Defenders of Status Quo vs. Innovators

Pareto classified illogical actions into six classes, but the most important two are:

• Conservative defenders of the status quo and

• Radical promoters of change, or innovators

 Read More

Linda R. Adkison, PhD

Professor of Genetics

Associate Dean for Curricular Affairs

Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences

Kansas City, MO

ladkison@kcumb.edu

©WESH 2012

Highlights of 2012

 Renew and Redirect

      3rd Executive Leadership Spring Summit

Transformation                                         New mission

Progressive vision                             Diverse outreach

Greater goals               Expanded strategies

Advance and promote

The key words above describe the new identity and directions of WESH (Women Executives in Science & Healthcare), formerly known as SELAM (Society for Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine). WESH has undergone a major transformation with a new mission, progressive vision, and diverse outreach, to move in new and greater directions with expanded strategies to advance and promote women in diverse health and science careers into senior leadership positions.

Launching this WESH transformation, the 3rd Executive Leadership Spring Summit: Renew and Redirect (held May 4-6, 2012 in downtown Philadelphia) provided several nationally respected speakers and exciting sessions. The speakers discussed key issues, challenging dilemmas from their professional experiences, and recommendations to spur and guide women in the rise to top levels of leadership. Program Chair Sara Jo Grethlein, MD and her committee put together an engaging and enlightening program. Highlights of Renew and Redirect follow.

The Roberta E. Sonnino Keynote Session: Janet Bickel, MA

Janet Bickel, MA (Career and Leadership Development Coach at Janet Bickel & Associates, LLC, www.janetbickel.com/) discussed Resilience: How is Your Vision of Success Changing? What do you need to do to keep growing? Janet Bickel described resilience as the ability to reboot under positions of change. She challenged attendees to keep growing, achieve success, and stay "plugged in to the abundance of life". Leaders often live with ongoing pressures from themselves as well as a boss (or bosses); past successes often breed expectations to do more. And more is never enough! There may be unrealistic metrics, the lack of inspiring role models or mentors, and unsolvable problems such as funding issues beyond your control. Janet Bickel suggested identifying your own:

• goals such as learning a new skill that interests you,
• realistic metrics such as how many papers you want to write in the next year, and 
•  limitations or mistakes and ways to adjust.

 Click Here to Read More Highlights of the Meeting including:

• Life in the C-Suite and the Boardroom
• Talent Management: Hiring, Firing, and Moving People On
•  Intergenerational Professionals
• The Joys of Networking: LinkedIn
• 4th Executive Leadership Spring Summit 

   

   

  Leilani  Doty, PhD

  Director, University of Florida Cognitive & Memory Disorder Clinics

  WESH, Communication Chair