At the recent 2024 Leaders Conference in Denver, medical practice executives and other administrative leaders heard from industry-leading experts and shared their challenges and successes in resource groups and other peer-to-peer conversations.
Now, armed with many fresh ideas, the challenge becomes bringing those innovations back to their organizations and successfully implementing them — starting with making the time to effectively plan and execute those changes.
An Oct. 15, 2024, MGMA Stat poll asked medical group leaders what their top personal development goals are:
- One respondent in three (33%) said time management.
- Communication and coaching/mentoring were tied for second, at 23% respectively.
- Another 16% reported team building, followed by 5% that responded “other.”
The poll had 385 applicable responses.
When asked about their specific goals or activities to support their development, respondents shared a wide range of ideas with MGMA, including:
- Setting dedicated time for email inbox management
- Upskilling team members, especially among the management team
- Learning more about AI and data analytics
- Seeking out public speaking training/coaching
- Developing and scheduling retreats to have team building and planning time.
Time management
It’s no surprise that time management was a major focus for practice leaders, especially when three out of four (75%) reported their levels of stress and/or burnout having increased this year. [Read the full story from April for more time management tips.]
Finding time in your day for everything could mean cutting out waste, finding new tools to simplify existing tasks or finding fresh perspective to help put your energy forward in a positive way. Here are a handful of resources we’ve assembled that can help do just that:
- “Time management and efficiency tips to boost medical practices and their leaders” (Insight article)
- “Test of time: Harvard study reveals how CEOs spend their days, on and off work” (Insight article)
- Healthcare Project Management Toolkit — Plan and streamline projects with purpose-built tools, including a project charter template, team roster, Gemba board template and priority decision matrix.
- RVU Calculation Tool and E/M Profile Tool — Two of our most-popular member-benefit tools, updated for 2024.
- Humanizing Lean Leadership in Healthcare — This new book from veteran healthcare leader Owen Dahl, MBA, FALCHE, CHBC, LSSMBB, is an essential guide for integrating Lean principles with compassionate, people-centered leadership.
Communication
Lonn D. McDowell, MHA, FACHE, FACMPE, vice chair and administration, University of Florida Department of Surgery, highlighted key elements of effective communication during his 2024 Leaders Conference session, “Professionalism and Ethics: Leading from the Middle.”
While your education, certifications, fellowships and other credentials signal your professionalism, McDowell noted that daily interactions and activities are equally important, as they help demonstrate competence and the ability to communicate with honesty and integrity.
In terms of leading direct and indirect reports, most of the advice McDowell shared was related back to effective communication, including:
- Listening to what they need
- Communicating what they need to know
- Being genuine and honest in actions
- Defending their actions through showing confidence in their abilities.
Similarly, much of McDowell’s advice on leading coworkers also focused on understanding finer points of communication, such as:
- Being present
- Appearing non-political and avoiding cliques in the workplace
- Being a resource for others and unselfish, ensuring that knowledge is shared and not just taken.
Learn more:
Coaching and mentoring
During her “Developing Leaders Who Develop Leaders” session at the 2024 Leaders Conference, Pamela Maxson, PhD, MCC, founder and leadership coach at Periscope Coaching and Consulting, detailed how she worked alongside Rebekah M. Compton, DNP, FNP, MBA, chief clinical officer, University of Virginia Physicians Group, to become a better leader who could enable others within her team to develop into leaders.
Maxson addressed one of the concerns many leaders have about coaching and mentoring: The fear of developing their team members and then having them leave. “It’s a risk,” Maxson admitted, “but if we’re really leading, and our leadership legacy is about what the people we’re leading accomplish,” it becomes part of the job.
Learn more:
- “Coaching and mentoring: Methods leaders can use to develop talent” (Insight article)
- Apply today to become a mentor or mentee in the MGMA 2024 Mentorship Program
- MGMA Executive and Physician Leadership Coaching
Team building
In their “Enhancing Employee Engagement to Optimize Retention” session at the Leaders Conference, Tracey Schwartz, M.Ed., FACMPE, and Ronald Menaker, EdD, MBA, FACMPE, shared five key areas of engagement — including values alignment, expressing appreciation, giving and receiving feedback — that positively impact medical practice teams.
As Menaker and many of his Mayo Clinic colleagues outlined in their recent MGMA Connection magazine article, staff engagement and better teams can come through dedicated efforts to foster joy at work, as it “leads to a positive, productive workplace where employees find meaning in their work.”
Learn more:
MGMA Stat
Our ability at MGMA to provide great resources, education and advocacy depends on a strong feedback loop with healthcare leaders. To be part of this effort, sign up for MGMA Stat and make your voice heard in our weekly polls. Sign up by texting “STAT” to 33550 or visit mgma.com/stat. Polls will be sent to your phone via text message.
Do you have any best practices or success stories to share on this topic? Please let us know by emailing us at connection@mgma.com.
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