WIHI: New Leadership Skills for Better Health and Health Care

Date: November 21, 2013

Featuring:  

• Gary R. Yates, MD, President, Sentara Quality Care Network; former Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, Sentara Healthcare
• Lee Sacks, MD, Executive Vice President & Chief Medical Officer, Advocate Health Care; Chief Executive Officer, Advocate Physician Partners
• Derek Feeley, Executive Vice President, Institute for Healthcare Improvement
• Andrea Kabcenell, RN, MPH, Vice President, Institute for Healthcare Improvement

IHI has been doing a lot of thinking of late about leaders and leadership… in particular the skills, behaviors, and outlook necessary to steer today's health care organizations toward a very different future. A new IHI white paper (working title: High-Impact Leadership) will be out before the end of the year that captures this complex transition. Among other things, it offers a new framework for leaders who are not just responsible for making change manageable, but enthusiastically supported by all staff. You can get an early look at the new leadership framework on the Nov. 21 WIHI: New Leadership Skills for Better Health and Health Care. One of the goals of this WIHI is to clarify the relationship between the growing focus on population health and the shift from volume to value, and the corresponding leadership skills required to address these challenges.

At Advocate Health Care, Dr. Lee Sacks has been hard at work learning by doing, with the help of other physician leaders. He explains in concrete terms what his team’s leadership practices look like day to day, including those needed to lead an Accountable Care Organization (ACO). Sentara’s Dr. Gary Yates spent his time on WIHI outlining key leadership behaviors that signal to staff how change is going to come about and what’s expected of everyone. If leaders want to alter the perception that they alone have all the answers, hashed out in some corner office, they must become a regular, approachable, and authentic presence throughout the organization. Discussions in the hallways talking with staff, and learning from patients and patient stories, need to become the norm.
 
Fresh from his NHS Scotland leadership perch, IHI’s Derek Feeley has been thinking hard about what’s applicable and relevant to the US context and in many other countries seeking better health for their citizens. He, along with Andrea Kabcenell, discuss how leaders can better manage and prioritize all the tasks necessary to succeed.