Physicians are trained to solve problems fast: assess, decide, act, move on. It’s the mindset that makes them excellent clinicians. But as many health systems have found, it’s not the most effective approach for leading a team.
Clinicians routinely find themselves in leadership roles — some by choice, many by default — with no formal leadership training, leaving many organizations without a sustainable healthcare leadership pipeline. The gap between clinical expertise and leadership capability is well-documented and widely felt. It shows up as frustration, inefficiency, and burnout on teams where providers are leading without the tools to do it well. In communities like Delaware, where provider shortages make every departure costly, that gap carries an even higher price tag.
Beebe Healthcare recognized the challenge early and built a structured, long-term answer to it. What they learned over more than a decade — including what didn’t work before they found what did — offers a practical model for any health system serious about developing their leaders.
What Didn’t Work: Why Early Efforts at Physician Leadership Development Failed
In 2012, Beebe started where many organizations start: with a conference. Four times a year, they opened the doors to any medical staff member interested in leadership development. Only 15% attended all four sessions, and most attendees weren’t actually seeking leadership roles.
Dr. Jeffrey Hawtof, long-time sponsor of Beebe’s provider leadership programs and the health system’s director of medical education, describes what was happening: “I realized I was trying to fit a round peg into a square hole, trying to do leadership education the same way we do medical education. That’s not going to work.”
Participants learned concepts but had no opportunity to apply them, no small-group accountability, no continuity. “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink,” Hawtof says. “I was spinning my wheels.” By 2015, it was time to try something new.
Smaller Cohort, Bigger Impact: How Beebe Rebuilt the Model
What followed was built on a different premise entirely: fewer people, higher commitment, and a real structure for applying what was learned. Beebe moved to a yearlong cohort model limiting participation to no more than 10 providers per class, selected for leadership potential, with a genuine commitment required upfront.
The Provider Leadership Academy, comprised of physician and Advanced Practice Provider (APP) leaders, operates on three tiers:
- Monthly group learning/coaching featuring internal subject expert-led sessions on healthcare management fundamentals, plus quarterly deeper-dive sessions led by executive coaches focused on building key leadership competencies in real-world context.
- Individualized assessments to build self-awareness around strengths and target areas for development.
- One-on-one leadership coaching throughout the year.
Hawtof built accountability into the structure from the start. “I give them a complete schedule ahead of time. They sign a paper acknowledging if they miss more than one session they are dropped from the program,” he says. “Their commitment is their investment.”
One of the more deliberate design decisions was bringing in MEDI Leadership as an external coaching partner. The reasoning: Genuine development requires candor, and candor requires psychological safety that internal coaching can’t fully provide. “No one from Beebe’s leadership, no one who writes them a paycheck, will see the results of their testing or hear what they discuss with their coach unless they give permission,” Hawtof explains. That separation allows participants to share real challenges and apply new strategies without the pressure of organizational hierarchy.
The Role of Self-Awareness in Effective Healthcare Leadership
Dr. Ryan Arias, a physician who participated in the Provider Leadership Academy and later advanced into the Graduate Leadership Academy, says one of the most valuable parts of the program was also the most unexpected: the internal work that precedes any external behavior change. As he describes it, he learned to lead from who he actually is rather than a borrowed style, to distinguish between positional authority and earned influence, and to recognize what he’s bringing into a room before others feel it.
Curiosity emerged as his most lasting takeaway. “Learning to approach everything with curiosity has been a tremendous help in every difficult conversation I’ve had since.” Hawtof sees the same shift play out repeatedly. “One young physician told me, ‘the difference in my ability to lead a team has improved 1,000%’ — because he now understands the importance of leading with curiosity and seeking first to understand,” he explains. “Students love it that there’s so much science behind what we’re teaching, and it actually works.”
Measuring the Impact of Beebe’s Provider Leadership Investment
Since 2015, the Provider Leadership Academy has averaged nine graduates each year, totaling 79 providers who’ve completed the program. Of those, 71 remain working in the community — a 90% retention rate that outpaces Delaware’s five-year physician retention benchmark by roughly 10 percentage points. Of retained graduates, 72% have gone on to assume new or advanced formal leadership roles, including C-suite and senior executive positions. Graduates have founded new programs and built new care lines, including Beebe’s Palliative Care Program, a standalone ED and a new residency program.
The impact extends beyond individual development. Program participants describe lasting professional bonds that carry back into their daily work and into patient care, citing stronger cross-functional collaboration and more coordinated care delivery across the health system.
In post-program surveys, participants rate the program a 4.91 out of 5. Most recently, the program was a recipient of Delaware’s 2026 Superstars in Education award.
At the same time, demand from graduates outgrew the original program’s scope, as physicians and APP leaders wanted to keep learning. The Graduate Leadership Academy, a 10-month advanced program for high-potential PLA alumni, was built in direct response. Sixteen providers have completed it across its first two cohorts.
| Beebe Healthcare’s Provider Leadership Academy ✓ 79 graduates ✓ 4.91 out of 5 participant rating ✓ 90% retention rate for graduating physicians ✓ 72% advanced in leadership roles ✓ Graduates founded new programs and new care lines ✓ Recipient of Delaware’s 2026 Superstars in Education award |
The Case for Starting Now
For healthcare leaders weighing whether this kind of investment makes sense, Hawtof’s take is direct: “You’d be crazy not to do it. You’re going to spend more money by not doing it. Give the people you already have the education they need.”
Cultivating a strong leadership pipeline is just as critical. “It’s not just important to train the people you think are already at the top,” he says. “Look at your emerging leaders, the diamonds in the rough. In healthcare, it’s amazing to find and nurture that talent.”
Those diamonds are already in your ranks. Beebe’s decade of experience shows what’s possible when you commit to refining them.
| The success of programs like Beebe’s hinges on leadership development that’s rooted in the science of how healthcare leaders learn, change, and grow. The result is a leadership pipeline that’s both transformational and sustainable. It’s why health systems seek out MEDI Leadership: to cultivate leaders who can create lasting impact in their teams and organizations. Learn more about MEDI Leadership’s approach to healthcare leadership development. |
