Week 11: Trends & Issues in Executive Management for Health care Administration

 

 

Self-Assessments

 

When you think of those health care executives who are successful and reflective of true leaders in the field of health, what similarities or differences do you notice compared to your skill set as a health care executive?

 

Do you have similar work experiences or backgrounds? Are you skillful in presenting to a board of directors, or have you implemented large-scale health mandates in your health care organization? What might set you apart from other health care executives in your area or region?

 

Engaging in self-assessment and self-evaluation is a great practice to ensure that you are continuing to expand and develop your unique skill set for health care administration practice. As it pertains to the practice of health care administration, your skill set will need to adapt and change in response to the ever-changing landscape of health. Those pioneers and leaders in the field of health are good examples of models of true health care executive leadership.

 

This week, you evaluate health care executive leadership competencies by completing a self-assessment. You reflect on your strengths and weaknesses in relation to health care administration practice and consider opportunities to engage in future professional development.

 

Learning Objectives

Students will:

 

· Evaluate health care executive leadership competencies

· Analyze strengths and weaknesses of professional skills related to health care administration practice

 

 

Learning Resources

This page contains the Learning Resources for this week. Be sure to scroll down the page to see all of this week’s assigned Learning Resources. To access select media resources, please use the media player below.

 

Note: To access this week’s required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus.

 

Required Readings

Dye, C. F., & Garman, A. N. (2015). Exceptional leadership: 16 critical competencies for healthcare executives. (2nd ed.). Chicago, IL: Health Administration Press.

 

Chapter 6, “Competency 6: Listening Like You Mean It” (pp. 67–79)

Chapter 7, “Competency 7: Giving Great Feedback” (pp. 81–90)

Chapter 8, “Competency 8: Mentoring” (pp. 91–100)

Chapter 9, “Competency 9: Developing High-Performing Teams” (pp. 101–111)

Chapter 10, “Competency 10: Energizing Staff” (pp. 113–121)

Appendix A, “Self-Reflection Questions” (pp. 197–202)

Appendix B, “Sample Self-Development Plan” (pp. 203–206)

 

 

 

Assignment

 

 

 

Executive Leadership Self-Assessment Plan and Self -Development Plan

 

 

What are the 16 critical competencies for health care executives?

 

 

The 16 competencies for health care executives explain those areas that health care executives should excel in for competent health care administration practice. General guidelines such as clear communication, trust, ethical leadership, and mentorship, help health care executives acknowledge that they are the leader at the helm of mobilizing change and leading their health care organization toward success. Poor management, ineffective leadership, and unclear directions can have dire consequences for health care executives and their health care organizations.

 

1. For this Assignment, you will complete a self-assessment and self-development plan in relation to the 16 critical competencies for health care executives. You will identify your strengths and weaknesses among these 16 competencies and identify opportunities to engage in future professional development.

 

The Assignment

 

Complete Appendix A and Appendix B in Dye & Garman (2015).

Complete Appendix A.

 

Self-Reflection Questions:

The Following Self-Reflection questions can help you determine what areas you need to work on to enhance a particular leadership competency. Read each question and reflect on a truthful answer, making notes as needed. After you have worked through the questions, review all question sets to determine which area you felt most strongly about. You may also want to share your answers with trusted confidant.

Chapter 1: Leading with Conviction

· To what extent are you driven by a clear set of values, principles, and goals?

· To what extent are your convictions based on ethical guidelines?

· How well do you understand how your values, principles, and goals developed?

· How broadly have your values been influenced? Were they developed by gaining perspective on a wide-ranging understanding of living and the issues of the world ( as opposed to developing them from narrower experience)?

· How effective are you in recognizing when your fundamental belief systems are challenged? How methodical are you in reconciling these challenges?

· How reluctant are you to state you’re your point of view?

· Are your convictions aimed at matters that count and are important to your organization (versus simply being selfish ones that serve to benefit only you)?

Chapter 2: Using Emotional Intelligence

· To what extent are you aware of your emotions? To what extent do you understand rationally why you react the way you do?

· Do you see the link between your emotions and feelings and your behavior?

· To what extent can you manage your emotions? Can you control anger? Can you focus frustration? How effective are you engaging others even when you are upset

Or irate?

· To what extent would you describe yourself as open, approachable, and sincere?

· Are you successful at developing rapport with others? With others who are different than you?

· Would others describe you as a respectful person?

 

Chapter 3: Developing Vision

· Are you intellectually curious? Would you describe yourself as having broad interests?

· What do you read? Do you spend sufficient time reading professional journals and/or articles about trends and developments in business, science, and society? To what extent can you translate or apply those trends into your daily health care leadership roles?

· Are you able to analyze data and statistics and understand their broad implications?

· How often do you visit with people from other industries and walks of life to hear about their work and learn from their perspectives?

· How successful have you been at dealing with novel problems and challenges?

 

Chapter 4: Communicating Vision

· How effectively do you balance working on day-to-day challenges with developing longer-term strategies?

· To what extent can you develop compelling arguments for change? How persuasive are you ?

· How well can you distill and condense a strategic vision into something that can easily be communicated?

· Do you have proven techniques that get others engaged?

 

Chapter 5: Earning Trust and Loyalty

· What is your do-say-ratio-the number of times you actually do what you say you will do? Would others agree with your analysis of yourself?

· Would others say that you are concerned about their needs and affairs?

· Are you passionate about follow-through, particularly when it comes to getting back to others on their questions and concerns?

· Do you lead by example? Do you help out on routine jobs when you can? Are you a roll-up-the-sleeves person? How easily can others access you when they need you?

· To what extent would others say that you use your power and influence for the good of the organization and for others (versus selfish purposes)?

 

Chapter 6: Listening Like You Mean It

· Are you approachable? (Ask yourself this question again.)

· Do you typically understand where others are coming from? To what extent do you care about their concerns?

· To what extent can you get the heart of someone’s verbal message to you?

· Do you frequently use questions to gain greater clarification?

· How open are your channels of communication? Do you have multiple informal and formal channels of communications and ways to discern what is happening in your organization?

· Do you occasionally (or even frequently) interrupt others or finish their sentences?

· Are you aware of the mechanical aspects of good listening (e.g., making eye contact, avoid distractions such as smart phones, keeping the right physical distance from the speaker) and, more important, do you practice them?

 

Chapter 7: Giving Great Feedback

· How clear and direct is your communication style?

· How well do your direct reports understand their performance appraisals, or do they feel blindsided after an evaluation?

· How disciplined are you in providing feedback regularly?

· How well balanced is your feedback (positive and negative)?

· Would others say that you occasionally give mixed messages?

· To what extent might your feedback be damaged by “tee-up” phrases (such as “Don’t take this the wrong way, but . . . .” “I’m just saying” or “As far as I know” or “To be perfectly honest” or “I’m not saying, but… “).

 

Chapter 8: Mentoring

· How firmly do you believe in career development? Do you have former staff who have gone on to higher-level positions?

· Would others describe you as a boss who regularly provides them with stretch assignments and opportunities to work outside their area of accountability or to gain exposure at higher levels of the organization?

· How supportive are you of others’ needs to attend educational programs? Have you encouraged subordinates to earn advanced degrees?

· How often do you provide teaching moments-belief, informal, and unplanned explanations during the workday about a situation or event at hand?

· Can you point to others who have advanced their careers because of your support and guidance?

Chapter 9: Developing High-Performing Terms

· How well do you support the concept of training (as opposed to dealing with people on a one-on-one basis)?

· Do you encourage cohesiveness by identifying common vision, goals, and threats among team members or by establishing team rules?

· What steps do you take to prevent small, subgroup cliques; team role ambiguity; and emotions from driving debate?

· Are your team members clear on their mutual accountability to one another?

· Would your members indicate that they are closely connected in purpose and in esprit de corps?

· When your team meets, does it exhibit a passion about its purpose?

· To what extent can (does) your team function when you are gone?

 

Chapter 10: Energizing Staff

· How often do you show personal energy and enthusiasm about your work and your achievements?

· Would others describe you as goal driven and passionate about achievements and accomplishments?

· Do you regularly use humor, wit, and levity in the workplace?

· To what extent do you inject spontaneity into the workplace?

· How often do you make a point of recognizing the accomplishments of others and celebrating their achievements?

· Do you avoid bureaucratic rules and regulations that can create a disengaged workforce?

· Do you use daily handles to instill purpose and focus into the workday?

· Do you have a practice of finding innovative ways to engage and enthuse staff?

 

Chapter 11: Generating Informal Power

· Are you frequently sought out by people (besides direct reports) for your opinions?

· How strong are your informal networks? How well informed do you feel through these networks?

· How openly do you share information?

· If others do favors for you, how conscientious are you in reciprocating?

· To what extent do you understand power and sources of power in the organization?

· A wise CEO once said, “Informal power is directly related to the amount of care and concern you show for others multiplied by your visibility within the organization.” To what extent do you practice this?

· Do you take the lead in informal settings?

· If you are the leader of a team that has just had a success, do you share the recognition with your team members?

· Do you make the time to congratulate others on their achievements, both inside and outside workplace?

 

Chapter 12: Building True Consensus

· How knowledgeable are you about group decision-making techniques (e.g. NGT, parking lot, brainstorming, affinity mapping, straw polls)/ How comfortable are you with using them?

· How effectively do you make use of agendas, outlines, handouts, and the like when managing a meeting?

· How regularly do provide opportunities for all group members to voice their thoughts and opinions during meetings? How effectively do you reach out to members who are visibly silent?

· To what extent are you able to keep a group focused on a solution to an issue or problem?

· Once a group decision is made, do you clearly summarize the conclusion so that everyone knows what was decided?

· During conflict situations, have you ever used silence or a brief break in the action to help the group decompress and get back to refocusing on the issue at hand?

· Do you have strong rules for engagement that define appropriate behavior during debate within the group?

· Have you mastered the ability to bring underlying causes of a conflict or problem to the surface so the conversations can have better focus?

· Do you have a record of honoring commitments once a group decision is reached?

 

Chapter 13: Mindful Decision Making

· How well do you know what drives your decision making? Have you ever mapped your decision-making process in writing?

· To what extent are ethics, values, goals, facts, alternatives, and judgment incorporated into your decision-making processes?

· To what extent are you able to analyze and evaluate choices and choose the best one? Do you have a method for weighing for various alternatives?

· How knowledgeable are you about decision-making tools (e.g., force field analysis, cost-benefit analysis, decision trees)? How comfortable are you with using them?

· When making decisions, do you hear out opposing viewpoints, or do you tend to focus on developing arguments in favor of your own viewpoint?

· When making important decisions, do you hear out opposing viewpoints, or do you tend to focus on developing arguments in favor of your own viewpoint?

· When making important decisions, are you equipped to use mindfulness to focus with clarity on the issue at hand?

· To what extent are you able to focus on the real issue involved in a decision versus making a series of other decisions that do not relate to it?

 

Chapter 14: Driving Results

· How effectively do you keep people focused and on task?

· If team members are derailing movement toward an objective, how comfortable are you with stepping in to take action?

· How regularly can you set a higher bar for your team’s performance and help others to see it as an achievable goal?

· Do you fully understand the need to recognize that each team member likely has different motivations, and thus your leadership toward results must be customized for each one?

· Do you regularly use scorecards, scoreboards, or dashboards to show progress on major goals?

· Are the number of key goals and objectives reasonable (no more than nine or ten)?

· Are you adept at breaking key objectives into small achievable pieces so progress can be felt?

· Do you show the ability to demonstrate calmness and poise during extremely active times?

 

Chapter 15: Stimulating Creativity

· How often do you pause before an important interchange (e.g., meeting, negotiation session) to think reflectively about the situation and people involved?

· Do you occasionally do something radically different? Read some book in an area in which you know very little? Explore new opportunities? Learn a new language?

· Have you gotten to know individuals who are very different from you?

· It is often said that fear of making mistakes is one of the greatest inhibitors of creativity. To what extent do you subscribe to this belief?

· How often do you create opportunities for your staff to mix and mingle with others outside of your team?

· When exploring new ideas to a problem, to what extent are criticism and debate encouraged?

· Do you create an equal paying field for your team when they debate an issue?

 

Chapter 16: Cultivating Adaptability

· Do you have one primary style of leadership? If so, in what situations might this style be less useful?

· T what extent do you have the ability to read and assess the environment and to develop an appropriate leadership style of action?

· Do you understand the various styles of leadership?

· How comfortable are you with leading people to look at problems with fresh eyes?

· When the people you work with seem stuck in a rut, what kinds of approaches do you use to break them out of it?

· How often do you come up with new initiatives or solutions to problems that bring people together in a new way?

· To what extent are you comfortable with unpredictability or changing work settings?

· To what extent are you a person who prefers to live by the book (typically a policy-driven individual)?

· Have you ever asked yourself, “IF I were to leave my job today, what things would my successor change?”

· Do you frequently update your skills and knowledge?

 

 

Appendix B

Sample Self-Development Plan

 

THINK of A self-development plan as a business plan for your career development. Like a business plan, it should express your desired goals (both short-term and long-term), your objectives, and resources you need. (Some development plans even include a calculation of return on investment, as anchored to market rates of salaries associated with promotions, although this is not necessary.) All elements of the plan should be specific enough to allow you to self-monitor your progress. The following is a sample outline for a development plan that you can adapt for your own use. A copy may be accessed on the Health Administration Press website: https://www.ache.org/PUBS/dye_garmenappb.pdf.

Name__________________________________

Date__________________________________________

 

Part 1: Career Goals. In this section, define the direction you would like to see your career going. It is often most helpful to have at least three anchors——-three, five, and ten years are used here, but can select different anchors as you see fit for your circumstances. NOTE: If you are uncertain about your career goals, then identifying them should be your first step.

Answer the following questions for each of the numbered items below: What would you like to be doing, and where would you like to be? What would be your ideal work setting, position, lifestyle, etc.? If you are planning to remain in your current position, how would you improve the way you work or the way your position is structured?

1. Steps I will take to identify my career goals:

What I need to Learn Whom I can learn this from My action plan Due date

—————————- ——————————— ——————– ————–

—————————– ——————————– ——————– —————-

—————————– ——————————- ——————— —————

—————————– ——————————- ——————— —————

—————————— —————————— ——————— —————

 

2. Three-year goals: ————————————————-

3. Five-year goals________________________________

4. Ten-year goals_________________________________

Part 2: Developmental Needs. In this section, prioritize the developmental steps you will need to take in pursuit of your career goals. NOTE: If you do not have a clear sense of developmental needs, then clarifying them should be your first step.

 

1. Steps I will take clarify my developmental needs: _________________________

2. Competencies I need to develop: _______________________________

 

Competency How I will develop My action plan Due date

__________ _______________ ____________ _________

___________ _______________ ____________ _________

___________ _______________ ____________ __________

____________ _______________ ____________ ___________

 

Final Note: If it is not written and developed in full detail, the Self-Development Plan will not have as much value.

 

 

 

 

 

You do not submit any responses for appendix A.

Complete Appendix B.

Submit Appendix B as your Week 11 Assignment.

By Day 7

Submit your Assignment.

 

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