Omar Zalatimo

This si from a student in our Delaware cohort and I thought it worth posting here as well.

“Daniel J Meara, MD, DMD wrote: I have been in an organization that embraced Deming’s idea of Quality Leadership.  Attempts were made to improve processes and involve all staff so as to enhance engagement and performance.  However, the organizational s…[Read more]

Me too Clement.  When I thought about myself, comparing a financial reward (extrinsic) with an intrinsic motivator, there really was no comparison.  The financial award comes and goes quickly.  When your performance is recognized by other organizations members it has major lasting power.  It also allows you to be creative and inclusive when det…[Read more]

Randi

I am interested in hearing about how conflicted leadership styles have had an adverse affect on your practice.  Both you and Betty seem to be on the right track.  When you hire someone who is going to be empowered to make decisions, how are they incorporated into the practice leadership culture?  A formal mentoring process is one way, un…[Read more]

Stephen

Thanks so much for this comment, it helps us all to see what is going on with other organizations so that we can compare and improve.  I had physicians at Hopkins where the department was being reimbursed using RVUs and yet they were setting performance goals using # cases taken to the OR.  If you were under quota in # cases you were p…[Read more]

Great comment Rob.  It really comes down to actions and not words or feelings.  I am a good listener, and then I do exactly what I want.  That is not leadership.  Creating a meeting environment that uses equality driven technique for idea generation and then establishing a fair and transparent decision making process up front will go farther to…[Read more]

Just to make it a little more relevant to you.  You are doing work for your department at AAMC.  That work is entered into the revenue cycle and a payment comes back associated with you.   Granted it all gets mushed together as a department income statement and them all the departments come together in a hospital wide income statement, but you…[Read more]

You all are way ahead of the curve.  I see major parallels in your employee’s story and that of many physicians in practice today, a leadership style that places them in an unsustainable practice pattern that affects their ability to deliver quality care and ends up adversely impacting the fulfillment we all look for in our lives.  I know I am g…[Read more]

Randi, I use that phase all the time to describe physicians and business skills.  When I started business training and started knowing what I didn’t know, my head almost exploded.

As I mentioned in another reply, the Ritz Carlton, has one of the most engaged workforces in the world.  They have a 5 minute huddle every day and one person has to t…[Read more]

Randi and Betty, you both are truly physician business people.  I am interested in the person who just left.  The position may have been not so well defined so she took on as much as she wanted with not very good insight into the sustainability of the job.  We had a resident from Hopkins who went to a practice in Chicago.  He would be und…[Read more]

Imagine the Ritz Carlton Hotel Company.  They have the most engaged workforce, maybe in the world.  The employees are not paid any higher that other Marriott (partner company) employees, yet their turnover is much less and their performance much higher.  They practice “Quality Leadership” beginning with a beginning of shift huddle to in…[Read more]

What you describe is common to most organizations.  When you think of it even in very large organizations the work unit is actually relatively small.  Let’s say you work for a large medical center in a large 20 physician department.  Most of your work is being done in small teams.  OR work, team of 4 or 5.  Office works, team of 4 or 5.  Lots…[Read more]

Very insightful Piyush, in fact that is exactly what is done.  Let’s suppose there is some inherent problem in the collection process.  If you only are looking at yearly averages, if the problem arises in Feb and influences collection for 11 months, you have a major problem and many months of lost revenue.  I mean lost, never to be collected.  You…[Read more]