LEADERSHIP: PHYSICIAN HEAL THYSELF

The author of this article opens with an unbeatable leadership confession. He states that “The problem with health care is people like me.” He’s a doctor but the article equally applies if “doctor” is replaced by engineer (my training), actuary, lawyer or any other profession. By definition, leaders start with some specialisation – technical, social or commercial. And the better we perform, the more likely someone will appoint us to lead others – first in the same area and later across others. And the rot starts there – unless, like Thomas Lee, we recognise that changing roles requires changing priorities. Leadership is another profession. But we often fail to see that or we come to it after starting to lose our flexibility of thinking and behaviour. How well would your people say you’ve transitioned? High, medium or low?

Most of us are still too contaminated by our career-entry skills. Ex-engineers with numbers. Ex-HR specialists with people issues. And, so on. A good leader must be holistic: at home with qualitative and quantitative, people and things, EQ and IQ.

Lee emphasises the doctor’s need to embrace patient-centric performance benchmarking, delivery efficiency and teamwork that crosses disciplines. But having worked with legal and accounting practices, these challenges resonate strongly. It’s not easy for a partner to abandon the my-client mentality. But client-centric demands we rethink the relationship from the client’s perspective. What are their needs, which team of lawyers will best address them? And, which partner should currently be the lead contact? Most professionals are still organised by technical specialty – whether surgery, endocrinology and oncology, or litigation, contracts and industrial relations. An exception is the recent reorganisation of accounting firms to create Financial Services practices combining all relevant offerings for banks, insurance companies and asset managers. In medical terms, that’s patient-centric.

Let’s return to your leadership and that question I asked earlier. How well have you transitioned? More importantly, what have you got planned in terms of further adjustment or training to ensure you understand all areas under your control and their latest developments, including in your own original specialisation? Is the biggest challenge around technical up-skilling, understanding customer needs, getting across market or industry developments, honing your interpersonal skills or something else – like efficiency, communication or creating fun and celebration for your people?

If Thomas Lee checked you out, would he force you to admit (as he did of himself) “the problem with my business is leaders like me?” He’d tell you that, as a leader, patient-centric means follower-centric: being aware of what your team and other colleagues need from you. If so, what concerns are holding them back from supporting what you’re trying to achieve? And what do you need to do to address these? Where’s your Leadership Action Plan?

Categories for this Potshot:

HBR articles, Excel as a technician, Show self-leadership, Demonstrate efficiency, Lift benchmarks and IP, Build teamwork, Attend to customers, Understand your marketplace, Monitor and shape change, Engage people, Be EQ-effective, Communicate key messages, Create fun and celebration,

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