In a recent episode of the MGMA Insights Podcast, Daniel Williams spoke with Dr. Leon Moores, a pediatric neurosurgeon, military veteran and author of “All Physicians Lead: Redefining Physician Leadership for Better Patient Outcomes.”
With a 30-plus-year career that includes leading surgical teams at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center to serving as CEO of the largest medical group in Northern Virginia, Dr. Moores has championed the idea that physicians embrace their leadership responsibilities. He encourages all physicians to actively develop their leadership skills, which are often overlooked as a part of a medical education.
Dr. Moores argues that all physicians are leaders, whether they realize it or not, as they influence behavior and outcomes daily through their interactions with patients, teams, and organizations.
Shifting the Leadership Mindset
While Dr. Moores emphasizes that medicine is a team sport, with direction and input needed from all parties involved, dedicated and focused leadership remains critical to help produce the best outcomes. That may require physicians to consider their own importance in day-to-day leadership roles, rather than deferring to senior staff or the C-Suite for leadership guidance.
“Frontline leaders impact the team performance environment and care error rates, which ultimately impacts patient experience and patient outcomes,” he says. Dr. Moores works on helping doctors have a moment of realization that their personal leadership is critical to overall success, and that leadership is a skill that can be learned and improved upon.
“Doctors need to say, ‘I want to be better, because it’s going to have a better impact. I want to learn this, I want to reflect on this with the intent to improve now.’ So we just need to give them the tools.”
Developing Skills Beyond Medical Education
Unfortunately, despite the rigor and breadth of contemporary medical education, Dr. Moores says leadership training isn’t always a given for every modern physician.
“A lot of things that medical schools teach is what I refer to as ‘leadership adjacent.’ There’s things like communication skills, cultural competency and system-based learning, that could be morphed into a progressive, graduated, cohesive leadership program – which could really give them something to sink their teeth into when the schedule is already packed learning biochemistry, anatomy, physiology and pharmacology.”
The so-called “soft skills” of leadership are a core competency for a physician, something that are on display every waking moment, and Moores says far more emphasis has to be placed on cultivating those skills.
As a result, he advocates that physicians work on learning more about themselves and how they react in certain situations, through a process of reflection and peer feedback, to help develop leadership skills that are appropriate and flexible across the healthcare continuum.
“We think of healthcare or physician leadership as one homogenous thing, but the healthcare environment changes from day to day and moment to moment. One day you’re in the OR and they’re straightforward, predictable cases, but then that night a trauma comes in in the middle of the night, and it’s an emergency. Then the next day you’re in a clinic, or a board meeting. You’re not going to lead or try to influence people the same way in all those settings.”
Lessons from the Military
Dr. Moores cites his varied military background as fundamental to his leadership perspective, though he says physicians working in the civilian world can adopt many of the same lessons.
“I think there are many parallels between my military experience and my experience in healthcare, the most compelling one being the mission focus. When you’re in the military, you have a mission set in your training. And as we know in healthcare, you’ll make all these great plans, but things change, and you have to adapt. People can wrap their arms and their minds around that focus and say, ‘this is why I work hard, this is why I stay late, this is why I get up in the morning.”
The dedication of physicians during COVID-19, he says, also impressed him as most healthcare professionals did not sign up to put their lives on the line, unlike military enlistees.
“There were many folks who would go home and wouldn’t be able to connect with their family for the longest period of time, until we learned more about the disease. That ‘others before self, team before me’ mentality was very similar to the military.”
Credibility and Psychological Safety
Dr. Moores echoes the sentiment of writer Stephen Covey and his “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” that effective leadership is centered on trust and credibility.
“To be an effective leader, people have to trust you. And a big foundational element of that trust is credibility. The credibility factor plays very heavily into how engaged you are, how much you’re willing to speak up. Authenticity is another term that’s important, being true to yourself. If you’re having a bad day, let people know.”
Psychological safety – with an environment where team members still feel safe to speak up or report concerns without fear of reprisal – is also an important factor in being a credible leader.
“I need to be constantly asking for feedback, because it might not come spontaneously. So I ask questions all the time. ‘Do you have everything you need? How does this sound? Everybody think it’s OK?’ Over and over again, making sure people know they can speak up, especially if it’s uncomfortable. And when someone does speak up, really praise them for it, in front of the team, even a brand new member. You want them to grow into the ability to speak up and say, ‘hey, that’s a good idea. Or not so much.’”
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