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Kate Hilton

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How to lead effective clinical teams

Kate Hilton, of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, writing in FierceHealthcare’s Hospital Impact publication, reports on how to best to lead clinical teams in an essay headlined “How to lead teams with purpose”.

Among her observations:

“Healthcare providers are constantly trying to keep up with changes coming from all sides; policymakers, health system executives, and payers mandate new ways of working all the time. Often, executives and C-suite leaders ask teams to change direction without presenting a clear vision for what lies ahead. This never-ending struggle results in increasingly high levels of burnout among healthcare teams and team leaders.

“Taking a step back, we know that staff in the caring professions are intrinsically motivated to do better for the people they serve. But how can leaders unlock their overworked teams’ potential? By learning unique leadership skills that will allow them to capture the hearts and minds of the people around them. By leading and organizing for change.”

Among her recommendations:

  • “Tap into our own motivations for change. Sharing … personal experiences became a much more effective motivational tactic than relaying a new mandate from the C-suite.’’
  • “Grow our power through our relationships. In organizing, we don’t teach leaders to ask, ‘What is my issue?’ Instead, we encourage them to ask, ‘Who are my people?’ In other words, get to know your people, who they are, what they value, and what hidden assets they bring.’’
  • “Develop shared purpose. Once leaders have recruited a team, they should kick off their first meeting by co-producing a shared purpose statement. Clarifying the compelling and consequential nature of their work together transforms their own interests into a desire to serve the common good.’’
  • “Take action quickly to build momentum—and to learn.People are motivated by seeing results quickly. In quality improvement, this concept is captured in the Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle. ”

To read her essay, please hit this link.


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