KU Faculty Leadership Academy: the whys and wherefores Lee A. Norman, MD, MHS, MBA Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer The University Of Kansas Hospital August 20, 2010

Goals for today are to discuss: Can leadership skills and effectiveness be taught and learned? What skills are missing in physicians and scientist- leaders? The KU experience: goals, assumptions, approach, and outcomes to date. The context - what is being asked of us as current and prospective leaders?

The difference between leadership and management - my opinion: Leadership is especially about vision and motivating. Management is especially about delivering predictable results.

Underlying premises: Leadership is an activity, not position or authority. The risks of exercising leadership are both personal and professional. Leadership competencies are well understood. Some of those competencies are technical, some are adaptive. Yes, you can “bootstrap” into leadership skills, but it is not the most efficient way to get to where you want to be.

Broadly speaking, what are leadership competencies? The ability to diagnose the situation The ability to manage oneself The ability to facilitate interventions The ability to mobilize and energize others

Diagnosing the situation: Test multiple stories / interpretations Investigate! Avoid premature closure Distinguish technical versus adaptive solutions –Example: “the brakes are out on my car”

Managing Oneself / Managing Others: Situational awareness: what is needed? Self-awareness: what is being asked of me? Empathy (does candor about feelings = “wimpiness”?) Motivation: is it passion for the work, or is it a paycheck? Social skills and relationships management

Facilitate interventions: technical versus adaptive skill requirements: Technical –Clear problem definition –Authority is known –The chore is to optimize execution Adaptive – Understanding the problem requires learning – Authority distributed among stakeholders – The chore involves experimentation and modeling

Mobilize and energize others : Find common ground Organize around purposes and principles Don’t dive in Define accountability Provide “bookends”: what are the parameters and constraints Be the coxswain, if that is what is asked of you Distinguish yourself from the role

What leadership skills are missing in faculty- leaders? Financial management skills – 92.9% Negotiation skills – 91.7% Managing groups – 90% Business analysis-based decision-making skills – 84.6% Improving outcomes – 81.8% Building trust and camaraderie – 80%

The KU Faculty Leadership Academy: Background Chair interviews Planning committee formation and further needs assessment Candidate selection process and target audience “Going it alone” before partnering with the University “In-sourcing” versus “out-sourcing” core curriculum and faculty Format Expanding from PLA to FLA Key role of “local talent” facilitation CME

Core Curriculum: Year I –Financial management –Negotiation skills and principles –Quality improvement –Problem-solving using analytic skills Year II – Clinical capital investing – Managing disruptive conduct – Patient safety – Managing conflict

Conflict: “…an engine of innovation rather than solely a source of dangerous inefficiency” Ron A. Heifetz, The Journal of the Kansas Leadership Center, Spring 2010 I call it the “joyful noise” that animates us and motivates us.

Outcomes to date: 50 have completed two-year course 30 will enter Year II this year; 30 will enter Year I in October Ratings by attendees Some have continued into advanced management degree programs “Inadvertent” formation of affinity groups and networks Need to have ongoing activity for graduates

My subjective opinion? Graduates not only doing, but thinking about what they are doing.

The context: how does this help one “compose” her career? Medicine is changing: –From patient-doctor model to public health and population models –Increasing focus on teams –Performance measures and outcomes Careers in sciences: – Competition for talent and resources – Migration from department focus to integrative “institute” focus – Plurality of promotion and tenure models

Through it all it is critically important that you remember : are the instrument of change. YOU are the instrument of change.

“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm” Ralph Waldo Emerson