Flexibility and adaptation key to leadership in pandemic world

There are plenty of books and TED Talks exploring the qualities and characteristics of excellent leadership, but two-plus years of complete disruption in the healthcare world have thrown many of those models out the window. 

Stephen A. Dickens, FACMPE, JD, vice president, medical practice services, SVMIC, has spent his entire career working to refine and improve the skills of leaders but admits that the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many leaders to drastically reconsider their styles and priorities for their employees. 

“[The pandemic] has confirmed a long-standing belief I have that in times of crisis, we learn who people are, both good and bad,” Dickens said on an episode of the MGMA Leadership Insights podcast. “We have seen the very best come out of people. We need to remember that it’s not just the doctors and nurses; it also is the people who are supporting them – the ward clerks, the custodial staff, the maintenance staff, all those people who’ve continued to show up and do their jobs. I believe that it has forced all of us to be more innovative, to be more strategic.” 

Hear more from Dickens in this episode of the MGMA Leadership Insights podcast: 
 

MGMA · Leadership Insights: It's a Relationship Business

Dickens said certain basic truisms about leadership remain but that the ability to adapt has become increasingly important. 

“Great leaders are individuals who are focused on people,” he said. ”They’re focused on the mission of whatever it is they’re trying to do, whether it is a business or a charity or some other volunteer organization. They understand what the goal is, and they move things along to do it.  

“The greatest leaders are people of character. They’re adept at building relationships. They are good communicators. They’re confident as well, and there is a difference between being confident and being arrogant. Great leaders never cross that line, or when they cross that line, they’re willing to acknowledge it and know that they’ve done it. We are all human. We all do things that we would not want our mother to know that we’ve done, but the best thing to do is to admit it and talk about that self-awareness.” 

Additional resources:

• The journey of leadership learning in healthcare
• Building resilient leadership in healthcare for better well-being
• MGMA Executive and Physician Leadership Coaching

And as pandemic-related developments continue to confront healthcare leadership, Dickens said he’s learned to embrace and to integrate that flexibility into his own approach.   

“I like the challenge of literally reinventing ourselves almost every day at this point,” he said. “That has forced us to be sharper. It’s forced us to get out of our comfort zone. It’s forced us to get out of our little box and ‘this is the way we’ve always done it’ and think, ‘OK, how do I do this, not only differently, but how do I do it better?’ We had to step back and say, ‘How do we translate this into a virtual world and still manage to connect in a valuable way?’”