Case Studies
Helping a new hire adapt to organizational culture change
PROBLEM
- An experienced physician executive moved cross-country to take a role as the first Chief Medical Officer of a major regional healthcare system.
- His experience in his prior organization and his long term-relationships with its executive team had contributed to his success, but the leadership style that had worked there did not translate well to the new organization.
- He quickly encountered organizational brick walls, alienated key stakeholders and stepped on personnel landmines. He needed to repair and build relationships by adapting his leadership approach to a different culture.
Solution & Results
SOLUTION
- Jane conducted a comprehensive assessment including an in-depth Interview 360 to help the new CMO understand how his behavior and approach were perceived within his new organization.
- The effort also demonstrated to stakeholders that the new CMO was serious about becoming a more effective leader.
- Jane coached the CMO to manage his body language, sharpen his listening skills, and become a more effective communicator and leader in the new culture.
RESULT
-
“The success I enjoyed in my prior role was elusive in the new company. I expected my skills and approach to transfer smoothly from one coast to the other, but I found the culture was different and I needed to adjust my approach.”
-
“Jane helped me re-establish my self-confidence during a time when I was floundering. She communicates clearly and evenly, and while she’s not emotional about it, her caring comes across. She gave me just the right tools I needed to be effective.”
-
“Thanks to Jane’s help, now, my ratings from my direct reports are near the top of the scale.”
Coaching a leader for a stretch executive promotion
PROBLEM
- A high-potential physician was preparing to become SVP of Clinical Services for a large healthcare system.
- He was previously a high performing regional service line leader, had an MBA, but had never had experience as the leader of a large organization in a highly matrixed system.
- He had strong support from the system CEO and President, but they recognized that he was taking a big step and needed support for the transition.
Solution & Results
SOLUTION
- Rich started by conducted a comprehensive assessment process, which included an in-depth interview 360 report based on interviews with the clients existing circle and his new stakeholders. This helped the client understand his behavioral preferences and how his key peers perceived him and his new role.
- Rich then coached him to develop a strategy for his new function and helped him refine his ability to communicate this to his team and the system executive team.
- Rich subsequently helped him develop a new organizational structure for the entire healthcare system that aligned the system’s organizational structure around the clinical service lines.
RESULT
-
Under our client’s leadership, the clinical services team was able to rapidly transition from an advisory function to a business unit which, in turn, enabled a strategic shift for the entire healthcare system.
-
The system CEO, President and CFO are aligned around the strategy and organizational structure developed by our client.
“Rich and Jane help me formulate my leadership style. That’s what accounts for our tactical success.”
Re-engaging an executive who had lost the confidence of his organization
PROBLEM
- A physician executive, who served on the Clinical Advisory Team (CAT) comprised of 5 Department Chairs reporting directly to the CEO of an internationally acclaimed academic medical center had lost the confidence of the CEO and fellow CAT members.
- The medical center was growing rapidly and clinical demands on his time as a highly trained specialist, began to impact his administrative responsibilities.
- Buried in daily crisis management, he found it difficult to maintain perspective of the broader picture; his contributions to the CAT and to his own department suffered. Hasty decisions added to his department’s personnel challenges.
Solution & Results
SOLUTION
- Jane was engaged by the CEO to coach this highly valued faculty member and member of the CAT. After completing an in-depth Interview 360 and other assessments, she identified specific derailers for him to address.
- Jane helped the leader realistically assess his workload and rebalance his commitments. This freed up time for reflection, planning, and engaging more effectively with his direct reports and with his fellow members of the CAT.
- She specifically worked with him on mindfulness and leadership presence which supported him to embody his role as a key leader of the medical center in a way that was visible to all. He became an advocate for the entire organization, not just for his own department. He learned to engage other leaders more effectively and recognize when he needed to include others in thoughtful decision making.
RESULT
-
This leader noted an almost immediate decrease in his personal stress level as he created white space in his calendar for reflection and planning.
-
He developed a new approach to problem solving which included key stakeholders and allowed his direct reports to take on greater leadership responsibility.
-
Within a few months, he had reestablished himself as a highly effective leader of his own department and a valued team member of the CAT.
Helping a newly appointed Chief Transformation Officer accelerate Transformation
PROBLEM
- After an executive reorganization, the Chief Transformation Officer of a major healthcare provider concluded that his leadership team still faced internal barriers to higher performance.
- He needed to clarify their strategic priorities and adjust their organizational structure to execute on those priorities.
Solution & Results
SOLUTION
- Rich was engaged to coach the Chief Transformation Officer. Rich and the CTO decided that his new role required an in-depth assessment of his stakeholders, his leadership approach, his organization and the critical processes for his new group. Through an in-depth interview process, Rich developed both an individual and organizational assessment for the executive.
- Rich also worked with the CTO to develop methods of communication that facilitated mutual understanding and consensus within the leadership team.
- Through our proprietary methodology, Rich and Jane helped the team pinpoint their most pressing strategic challenges and commit to a set of proximate objectives.
- Rich helped the executive and his leadership team design an organizational structure to support the new strategy.
RESULT
-
The team wrote a final strategy document outlining five clear, achievable goals for the year.
-
The process generated consensus and buy-in from the transformation team.
“It’s easy to get distracted thinking about 1,000 things. Rich forces us to think about the most important drivers of our success and how to overcome the most critical challenges so that we can be profitable.”
Helping a reorganized executive team
PROBLEM
- The CEO of a healthcare system wanted to streamline decision making and intensify his organization’s focus on financial performance. He decided to reduce his direct reports from 10 to 3 executives. Two executives left and the remaining executives now reported to three Executive Vice Presidents.
- The challenges were to establish the new reporting relationships and rapidly capture the intended performance improvement.
Solution & Results
SOLUTION
- Based on the coaching relationship Leaders Go First had with two of the three Executive Vice Presidents, the CEO asked Rich to help the EVPs get off to a fast start with their new organizations.
- Using our proprietary Executive Rapid Alignment process, Rich helped the Executive triad align their new organizational structures and roles with the system strategy.
- Rich conducted four half-day sessions that enabled the new Executive Team to: establish common ET “rules of the road”, identify guiding policies, define executive team processes and specify proximate goals for the system.
- He also helped the new ET set up a value-creation-based Monthly Operating Review structure with clear proximate goals and explicit value drivers
RESULT
-
“Rich’s guidance was incredibly helpful. He listened to us and challenged us to think about our new teams in ways that would have taken us months to figure out on our own. We’re a stronger team because of his support and we’re getting immediate results from what could have been a disruptive organizational change.”
-
“Rich helped us see how we could coordinate and control a bigger organization with less wasted effort and better financial results.”
“In the time Rich spent with our new executive team he acted as a masterful facilitator who very gently, but firmly, kept bringing us back to where we still had gaps and what we needed to decide. It helped us move the ball. His approach helped me grow as a leader.”
Helping a Team in conflict
PROBLEM
- The Executive Team of a large, rapidly growing primary care group was having difficulty with interpersonal conflict and lack of trust. The team struggled with defining and committing to strategy and the proximate objects required to execute successfully on the strategy.
- Members felt strong ownership for their individual areas of responsibility and resented “meddling” from fellow team members.
- Some perceived a gender bias and felt powerless to have their perspectives heard. The team argued easily and often left meetings feeling stressed and frustrated with their lack of accomplishment.
Solution & Results
SOLUTION
- Based on previous experience with Leaders Go First, the CEO of the Group engaged Jane to help these high performing physicians come together as a cohesive executive team.
- Over a six-month period, Jane led the team through a series of working sessions designed to help them build trust and engage in healthy, rather than destructive conflict. The team came to understand and value the diversity of their styles and learned to work more effectively.
- During these sessions, the team committed to a strategy and together, developed proximate objects they could all get behind.
RESULT
-
Follow up sessions helped them smooth out a few bumps and deepen their trust. As the Group faced significant challenges such as PSA negotiations, compensation disagreements, and group expansion, the team grew ever more effective at resolving their differences and committing to their strategy.
-
When the Covid-19 Virus hit and their state implemented stringent Shelter in Place orders, the Team rallied and within a week had reorganized nine Urgent Care facilities, implemented new Covid-related policies for all ambulatory sites and their hospitalists, and converted thousands of face to face visits to telemedicine.
-
The CEO of the healthcare system of which the Group is a critical part, complimented the Executive Team on how quickly and efficiently hundreds of Primary Care, Urgent Care, and Hospitalist physicians under their leadership, had stepped up to support the system during this unprecedented challenge.
“Our team has done an awesome job with preparations and leading our organization through our Covid-19 response. That in part has been due to the cohesiveness and good work Jane did to get our C-suite bonded and working as a team. So, thanks for all you did to help us out. It’s paying off in this time of crisis.”
Solving Intractable Problems for Executives and Teams
PROBLEM
- The Chief Nursing Officer of a large healthcare system had been frustrated by stagnant conflicts among physician and nursing staffs within a significant service area. The interpersonal dynamics were so toxic that staff turnover was impacting morale and performance.
- The team had struggled with these tensions for years, trying different strategies, to no avail.
Solution & Results
SOLUTION
- Based on her coaching experience with Leaders Go First, the CNO asked us if we could assess the situation and offer some solutions.
- We worked with the department heads to identify key stakeholders who were motivated to change the dysfunction in the department.
- We then interviewed a broad selection of members of the nursing and physician staffs, listening intently to identify areas of commonality and conflict.
- Finally, we designed a series of experiential workshops to develop mutual understanding and appreciation for each other, as well as effective communication strategies. It was important to get buy-in from everyone, to reach an effective solution.
- The workshops enabled the participants to agree on actionable steps that held every individual accountable for new patterns of behavior.
RESULT
-
The CNO was able to incorporate more collaborative practices in the contract renewals with the relevant physician groups. Within a few months mutual respect had been restored. Nurses and physicians reported higher job satisfaction and a greater willingness to work together to resolve differences.