September Leadership Academy
New Level II a great success
The recently completed 4th SHM Leadership Academy was a true success in every sense of the word. The event was nearly a sellout, with 160 hospital medicine leaders arriving in Nashville, Tenn., in September to learn—from nationally respected leaders—tangible skills that they could take back to institute in their own practices.
The Leadership Academy Level I was designed to provide leaders in hospital medicine with the skills and resources required to lead and manage programs successfully both now and in the future. Small group sessions gave attendees a chance to interact with faculty and to share personal experiences from their own institutions. Nationally recognized speaker Jack Silversin, DMD, DrPH, presented his infamous broken squares activity, which kept the group energized and working together creatively to learn about effective communication. This course allowed attendees to evaluate personal leadership strengths and weaknesses and then apply them to everyday leadership and management challenges.
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Another highlight was the self-evaluation session presented by David Javitch, PhD. His exercise gave everyone an opportunity to learn about their own personality traits and to practice working with extreme opposites, both in the workplace and in everyday life. Attendees continue to rave about the content of this meeting and are looking forward to enhancing their leadership skills by attending Level II courses, scheduled for fall 2007.
“No matter how many times I plan this course, I am amazed at the enthusiasm of the attendees and the new questions that they pose,” says Russell Holman, MD, SHM Leadership Academy course director.
Level II resulted from more than 300 Level I course evaluations that requested additional and ongoing leadership development activities. The Level II course focused on discussions about culture change, negotiation skills, and finance. Keynote speaker Leonard Marcus, PhD, defined the term “meta-leadership” in hospital medicine as a type of leadership that links individuals through their leader’s vision, creating enthusiastic followers.
The Level II course is a must have for those who want to expand upon leadership skills learned in Level I or for those who already have an MBA and want to improve upon leadership in clinical care. The skills discussed in this session are essential to effectively developing and implementing quality improvement programs, patient-safety initiatives, and other programs whose goal is to make system changes that improve patient care.
“The level of attendees participating in Level II was challenging,” says Dr. Holman. “It had us all—faculty and attendees alike—collaborating to answer questions from real-life experiences.”