January 19, 2022

Key Leadership Competencies: Growing Complexity-Fit, Transformational Leaders

Clinician Leadership | Leadership Development

Along with our experiences as coaches, studies increasingly point to a new reality for leaders: The ways we’ve led and made decisions in healthcare are no longer adequate to lead today’s more complex organizations. Today’s new realities require agile leaders masterful in the art and science of co-creating coordinated movement.

With that in mind, we’ve redefined the leadership competencies we’ve found most critical in driving meaningful transformation as conditions change in unpredictable ways.

Below, we’ll cover traits and behaviors that characterized 7 key leadership competencies for 2022 and beyond. We’ll also leave you with a handy PDF if you’d like to print these insights for easy reference.


Emotional Intelligence

  • You’re aware of your preferred behaviors and emotional states, and the impact they may have on others. You choose your responses and actions accordingly.
  • You’re also aware of the preferred behaviors and emotional states of others, and the impact they may have on you and your teams. Here too, you choose your responses and actions to match the context of your environment.
  • You’re composed and restrained, modeling authenticity, integrity and wisdom.
  • People view you as present, confident and humble. Your empathy and authenticity make you a leader they want to follow.

Connection

  • You intentionally nurture and inspire interdependent, strategic relationships that function within a context of co-created, coordinated movement.
  • You cultivate enduring trust and influence among diverse individuals, teams, and your community.
  • Your commitment to shared values and purpose is reflected in all you do. You are seen as an exemplar of this.

Complexity-Fit

  • You’re mindful that habitual approaches can’t necessarily solve new problems as conditions shift and crises emerge.
  • You’re readily adaptable to match the needs of changing conditions.
  • You cultivate a systems mindset and encourage diverse perspectives in search of solutions to new problems.

Teams Thinking

  • You embrace interdependence, intentionally developing trust and respect among teams.
  • You facilitate inclusive, interactive and collaborative learning.
  • You assemble, develop and align diverse teams equipped with the capabilities necessary to lead the organization.
  • You consistently encourage robust exploration of conflicting points of view as a means to ensure solid decision-making and aligned execution.

Growth Orientation

  • You’re curious with a growth mindset and always expanding your leadership capacity and competency.
  • You continuously build a culture of growth and provide opportunities so teams and individuals can also develop themselves.
  • You prioritize your health and wellbeing to maintain your effectiveness and resilience.

Strategic Ability

  • You’re future-oriented, combining your knowledge and intuition with that of others to co-create forward-focused, coordinated movement towards improved healthcare.
  • You model adaptability to fast-changing conditions inherent in complex systems.

Virtual Leadership

  • You align your geographically dispersed organization around a shared vision and skillfully move the organization through the transitions caused by disruptive change.
  • You leverage teams across an organization or enterprise to be present, accelerate progress, and offer guidance in ways no longer limited to your physical presence.

Know of a leader who’d benefit from these insights? We’d be honored if you’d share this post.

>>Download these Key Leadership Competencies as a PDF.

 

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About the author

Gary Hoffman, MD

Gary Hoffman, MD, is a seasoned executive coach with rich, first-hand experience as a physician executive. His expertise is working with fast-changing healthcare organizations, executive and physician leaders, and clinical leaders transitioning from clinical to executive roles.

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