One of the highlights of this past weekend's Medicine X was a course - "Navigating Complexity and Change: Principles of Leadership" - taught by our own leader, Lloyd B. Minor, MD. I sat in on the thoughtful and robust discussion, which focused on five principles that Minor developed throughout his career as a scientist, surgeon and academic leader. Students in the class were a mix of ePatients, researchers, entrepreneurs, and physicians, including a neuroanesthesiologist at Yale School of Medicine.
The first principle that Minor introduced was listening and learning, which, he said "underlie success in everything." He went on to say, "I think a lot of leadership problems and failures come about when leaders are not, first and foremost, good listeners."
Listening to others in the organization articulate their core values and vision provides a cultural context and helps leaders avoid the pitfall of their viewpoint being seen as counter to the organization's. It also allows leaders to better understand those who disagree with them, he said. Drawing on his recent experience transitioning from provost and senior vice president of academic affairs of Johns Hopkins University to dean of Stanford's School of Medicine, Minor explained that holding town hall meetings with Stanford faculty, students and staff were crucial in order to engage the community in charting a vision. "Vision is a derivative from listening and learning," he told the class.
The next principle Minor discussed was building diverse teams. "Successful organizations thrive on diversity, and building diverse teams is one of the most important responsibilities of a leader," said Minor. He emphasized that racial, gender and socioeconomic diversity, and diversity of viewpoint, are equally essential. Master Class students were advised to identify their weaknesses and surround themselves with individuals who have different backgrounds and cultural contexts and who possess strengths that can compensate for those weaknesses. In addition, if leaders listen and learn from a diverse team that provides constant feedback then they'll create more opportunities for collaboration.
Once leaders have built diverse teams, the third principle comes into play: empowering teams. "You need to demonstrate the type of team behavior that you want individuals to exemplify to the rest of the organization," he said. "That will determine how effective those teams are and enable you to be a better leader." Among Minor's tenets for empowering teams are: establishing a system of equitable accountability, allowing people to realize and correct their mistakes, establishing incentives, recognizing individuals or teams' successes, and developing skill sets.
Minor went on to discuss the principle of managing and leading, stressing the point that while management and leadership have different areas of focus, being an effective leader requires one to be capable in management. "There is nothing that will derail leadership faster than poor management," he explained. Leaders must not only articulate an organization's vision and core values and build diverse teams to carry out those actions, but respond in a timely fashion, communicate, organize and coordinate.
Minor closed out his talk by touching on transitions. "This is a principle that is often missed and one that often leads to bad consequences for the individual, as well as the organization," he explained. Leaders need to take time to reflect on both their transition to subsequent roles and the future of the organization. He warned that failing to carve out time to do so could result the erosion of leaders' physical and mental health and damage the organization. A common mistake that he spoke to students about is when leaders refuse to let go of their former role and try to do the same job in a new position. To make sure Minor himself remembered to abide by this principle during his transition to Stanford, his wife gave him a business card holder for his desk with a quote from Lord Chesterfield that reminds us that in order to "discover new oceans, you must have the courage to lose sight of the shore."
More news about Stanford Medicine X is available in the Medicine X category.
Previously: Stanford Medicine X 2014 kicks off today, Countdown to Medicine X: 3D printing takes shape, Countdown to Medicine X: Specially designed apps to enhance attendees’ conference experience and Countdown to Medicine X: How to engage with the “no smartphone” patient
Photo by Stanford Medicine X
