How to Create Real “Systemness” through Physician Leadership

When preparing for integration efforts, healthcare executives invest copious amounts of time, energy, and dollars examining potential partners, negotiating contracts, and gaining assistance from M&A advisors. Despite this extensive investment upfront, successful system integration is rarely a “home run.” When metrics aren’t met, blame is often placed on faulty deal negotiation, lack of executive responsibility, and a lack of focus on operational bandwidth. While these factors certainly play a role in system integration failures, what is more often the culprit is the lack of attention paid to the complex human factors that must be attended to once divergent organizations come together as a “system.” Our work with health systems over the past decade has shown that systems which focus on the development of their physician leaders are most successful in meeting the goals of “systemness.”

System integration requires that all leaders broaden their roles. When health systems scale in size, their core business shifts from operating a single entity to running a business made up of multiple entities. Successful execution of this shift requires administration to rely more heavily on physicians as leaders, especially during times of change. Afterall, physicians are the gateway to integrated healthcare delivery systems given the pivotal role they play in the patient experience.

What new skills and competencies do system physician leaders need to execute these newfound system responsibilities? TLD Group’s research-based Physician Leadership Success Model™ identifies four competencies which when mastered create the foundation for physician leaders capable of managing change in collaboration with health system’s executives:

• Leading Self: Understanding, managing, and developing self as leader and in relation to others
• Leading Others: Building, developing, and enhancing team collaboration and effectiveness
• Leading Change: Building the capacity for resilience and strategies for change management
• Leading for Results: Applying business fundamentals, strategic planning, and value-based decision-making for enhanced outcomes

Physician leadership and physician engagement are essential elements of high-performing healthcare systems, contributing to higher scores on many quality indicators.  However, they do not happen on their own – they require deliberate and targeted development and cultivation.  To create a true sense of systemness, organizations must focus continuously on engagement and leadership by employing diverse strategies and initiatives, including (but not limited to) leadership development —especially for collective and distributive leadership—to support physician engagement. Key core competencies for engaging and fostering physician leadership include leading self, leading teams, leading for results, and leading change.

Interesting in learning more about the building blocks for physician leadership success? Check out TLD Group’s Applied Physician Leadership Academy Solutions