Chapter 10 from Making Leadership Change by Thomas N. Gilmore

Jennifer Tomasik, Rosa Colon-Kolacko, and Brooke Tyson Hynes

Part 2 in the Wharton Healthcare Quarterly “From Transaction to Transition” Series

Part 1 in a series that explores how organizations can leverage moments of leadership transition to advance their purpose and take advantage of the strategic, cultural, and organizational opportunities inherent to integrating new leaders. In this article, we focus on the value of establishing a Transition Committee, and the ways that leadership transitions can both inform and be informed by strategic thinking. Subsequent entries in the series will unpack issues related to cultural and organizational
effectiveness.

We have looked at how leaders can travel into the past to identify and pull forward essential aspects to the organization’s continued identity. In the present, leaders need to encourage followers to be vigilant for the immanent future. We have set forth both the method and power of traveling to some future time and constructing a plausible narrative to link up the present with that future. All these journeys are in the service of people in the present being able to make high quality, committed choices that work with the complexity rather than flee it.

Organizations managing leadership transitions for continuity begin by addressing the interdependent transition issues that impact success.

Published in Wharton Healthcare Quarterly, Winter 2023, Vol 12, No 1

Published in the July/August 2022 issue of Family Business Magazine

In a previous article we introduced three guiding principles: (1) slowing down to speed up, (2) leveraging the power of stuck, and (3) using resistance as feedback. In this article, we expand on these principles to create systemic value from the fragile current state of the healthcare workforce.

When confronting an unignorable moment like the workforce crisis, healthcare leaders might feel stuck within a complex dilemma without clear solutions. Carey Gallagher and Jason Pradarelli share three guiding principles for leaders to address this unignorable moment in healthcare.

A look at the barriers and benefits in utilizing coaching as a way to support healthcare leaders at various stages of development.

Top executives of post-acute organizations are fielding clear signals that their people are depleted.
There are ways to respond to these signals that will foster a reset and redirection toward future strategy. In this article we share steps to advance those aims.

CFAR recently convened a diverse group of 19 leading CEOs from a wide range of associations to come together and discuss both the current challenges and opportunities in this disruptive time, as well as the variety of shifts impacting their members and fields. The discussion proved to be a rich one, both about the present and the future. Associations have been hit hard by COVID, as national and regional gatherings have gone virtual, membership numbers are in decline, and challenges to traditional value propositions have arisen. Associations play a vital role in the industries they serve and in the larger economy, particularly in healthcare, where they are leading voices in influencing policy, supporting research, and advocating for their professions.

Our discussion focused on three critical, interconnected areas in the business of associations—rethinking association business models given recent disruptions, creating the culture and conditions to be truly diverse and inclusive organizations, and engaging boards for greatest impact.

In any merger, each partner brings its own history, culture, and approach to getting work done. And in healthcare, the local environment plays a critical role in shaping success, even as organizations merge to increase market share and to strengthen population health-based models. Cultural gaps between partners can derail success. On the other hand,
if done right, the work of creating cultural alignment can be the source of powerful innovation in a merger.

So, what does it mean to create value from understanding culture in these mergers and acquisitions?

CFAR recently helped two healthcare systems poised to merge assess their cultural fit. Together, they aspired to develop a leading-edge model of value-based care to serve populations as both a payor and a provider of care. And yet, their cultures differed in significant ways.

A key facet of both business and family engagement, naturally, is meeting face to face; however, the reality of COVID-19 dictates that doing so in-person is largely not worth the risk. As a result, families have had to get creative in order to maintain connection with one another. Virtual meetings have become ubiquitous—hosted on Zoom, WebEx, etc.—but do these technologies support the same kind of connection as an in-person gathering? Do virtual meetings provide a safe and viable alternative to in-person meetings?

To be a “best company” you need to incorporate both the hard and the soft.

There is indeed something to be learned about greatness from companies that have survived 100 years or more. What is it about companies that have reached or surpassed the century mark that provide lessons to businesses that seek to be a best place to work? Here’s just one example, followed by some thoughts to guide “younger” companies in their quest to be great places to work.

Strategies for “creating pull” — identifying what will make changing behavior easier for people, which helps put changes in place.

A follow up to our series on interprofessional collaboration in healthcare

The final article in a series of four about actionable practices for effective interprofessional collaboration in healthcare.

The third in a series of four articles about working towards being a “superconducting organization,” where results come faster and are sustainable.

We find ourselves at a time when the profile of the healthcare industry is transforming, the rules of the game are changing, and the way people bring themselves to work is evolving — how do leaders need to adapt to help their organizations thrive and benefit the communities they serve?

The third in a series of three articles about engaging patients in population health management.

The first in a series of three articles about engaging patients in population health management, exploring ways in which providers can foster collaboration with patients in care management and the questions this work raises for the identity of providers in the future.