A New Year, a New Leadership Resolution
I am not big on New year’s Resolutions, but I am big on leadership. As I reflect on my practice in 2021 and look ahead to 2022, here are my leadership resolutions
- Focus on health care leaders. I work with leaders in all industries and will continue to do so. However, health care leaders are near and dear to my heart. It’s a helping profession, rooted in the basics of science and human behavior. And, it’s a complicated business full of complex constituencies (administrators, doctors, allied health professionals, nurses, executives) who must work together to achieve their goals—yet sometimes struggle to do peacefully. I love this challenge.
- I am an expert in human understanding and behavior. Leading other humans, with all their strengths and flaws, with all their ideals and contradictions is the hardest part of any leaders’ job. I have spent my career witnessing and dealing with all sorts of normal day-to-day behaviors, as well as the idiosyncratic ones. Other’s behavior makes sense to them and often to me, even if it doesn’t to you. I can help you cope and respond effectively.
- I will be there for you. Just as leaders are there for their staff, I will be there for you. To listen as you figure out your next steps, to believe in you and what you do best. I will encourage you to take care of yourself—in fact, I’ll insist on it. You deserve this.
- I will be “all in” as long as you are. I’m a bit of a romantic about the health care profession. Ever since I watched Dr. Kildare as a small child, I have been a fan of this noble profession. Yeah, it isn’t always noble, but my heart still longs for the tv world of fighting the good fight and healing wounds and illness. I will always believe this is possible, even when it looks pretty bleak. I won’t work harder than you but I’ll stand beside you as long as you are still in the game.
Happy New Year everyone!
Barb