What makes a competent and competitive hire when it comes to healthcare leadership? With the accelerated pace of change across the healthcare system, an increased focus on soft skills mastery for healthcare leaders and administrators is a fundamental requirement. While robust clinical competency can still an essential component of effective medical team leadership, organizations are making the required shift as they focus on a path forward that prioritizes patient care, staff satisfaction, and retention.
Top-down leadership structures are no longer the go-to approach for healthcare directors and executives. To address industry hurdles, leaders must adapt their skills to function effectively in a rapidly evolving industry.
With expansive growth projections and an increasing variety of essential demands being placed on medical professionals across the industry, healthcare leaders must be capable of adapting their skill sets to strengthen their efficacy in today’s environment. Below we’ve listed the top healthcare leadership skills needed in the industry to ensure that organizations can thrive.
Possess the right blend of soft and hard skills.
Competent leaders and administrators possess strong executive decision-making, specialized competencies, and high emotional intelligence, thereby increasing the ability to navigate complex workplace relationships and situations.
Values and skills like empathy and self-awareness can work in tandem with subject matter authority, technical skills, and excellent ability to address operations, communication, and negotiation across their teams. Leaders who are flexible and embrace adaptation on the job become more growth-focused and resilient, and set a standard to lead their teams to success.
Align with and support the organization’s culture, vision, mission, and shared values.
To function and adapt as a team and maintain the integrity of any healthcare establishment, leaders must be committed to their workplace culture norms and expectations, and be able to operate, delegate, and support their personnel while prioritizing the alignment of the mission and vision.
A healthy employee culture can increase satisfaction and help leaders reinforce and embrace flexibility and achievement across the various channels for which executive and clinical leaders are responsible. It allows facilities to adapt to complex technical and personnel evolutions necessary in today’s healthcare environment. A strong leader candidate is committed to ensuring that employee culture is maintained across various sectors they’re responsible for while finding ways to recognize and show appreciation in meaningful ways for those who work to raise industry and workplace standards.
Commitment to the organization’s core beliefs helps ensure they’re represented and upheld. Leaders who consistently approach procedures and methods through the lens of their systemic culture and values become agents of workplace culture and are instrumental in maintaining the integrity of their healthcare organization.
Champion an open environment that invites collaboration, communication, and mentorship.
Leadership is undeniably responsible for setting the tone for the rest of the team. By building an environment of trust, growth, and mutual respect through modeling and offering mentorship opportunities, clinical and executive leaders can increase retention, long-term satisfaction, and personal and professional growth across teams.
A top skill that contributes to increases in success rates across measures criteria is the ability to find creative ways to recognize and utilize their healthcare personnel’s soft skills and bring opportunities for them to contribute and collaborate to the growth of the organization in tangible, measurable ways. By collecting and measuring the data surrounding mutually approved success criteria (e.g., efficiency, patient experience, outcomes, training opportunities, data transparency, etc…), healthcare leaders construct an environment of team buy-in and satisfaction that reinforces shared goals across their medical institution.
Support for matching the right-fit leaders and organizations
Polaris Placement provides support to effectively recruit and cultivate connections between well-matched personnel and the organizations they serve. We know that successful placements result from combining proven techniques with the distinctive reality of your situation and organization.
We’re here to ensure the best fit for everyone involved. If you are looking to hire physicians, nurses, or healthcare leadership, or you are a healthcare leader or executive hunting for a new rewarding career placement, Polaris can help.
Working with a healthcare recruitment firm is a strategic approach to delegating and increasing career placement efficiency and satisfaction. Reach out to our recruitment team today to match with top talent or prospective employers.