One of the courses the UNH HMP Juniors are all taking is Healthcare Financial Management with Professor Bonica. After a recent exam, he told the class that there was the typical spread of good and not so great grades. It was what he said after that really stuck with me. He told the class that as a cohort, it was the responsibility of those who did well to help our classmates do better on the next exam. Emphasizing how healthcare is a team effort, that mindset should start now for us in the classroom. Today I had the pleasure of attending the Northern New England Association of Healthcare Executives conference, Shaping the Future: Leadership and Public Policy in Health Care. The theme of teamwork and building relationships that Professor Bonica mentioned was echoed by other executives throughout both panels. This was particularly eye-opening for me to see how important building relationships is in the healthcare field. Panelists from both the discussion on succession planning and the policy talk highlighted different ways that building relationships is critical. One of the big highlights was building mentor/mentee relationships which are beneficial to both parties. Another thing I found particularly interesting was how the executives all agreed that you should always be training your replacement, even if that means training them out of the organization. On the policy side, many of the panelists explained how building relationships is one of the most critical ways to solving problems. One panelist highlighted how important it is to build community relationships before times of crisis because it is imperative to handling emergencies well. Overall, this conference was a great opportunity to bring the classroom to life! Many of the points professors have made in the classroom, were reiterated with real-life examples from panelists. I am thankful for everyone who helped to organize the event and it was a great success!
Glad you found it useful!
ReplyDeleteRelationships and networking are very powerful tools, well worth the investments of time and energy to create and sustain them. Even though some departments in hospitals have very little interaction or overlap on a day-to-day basis (for example, Pharmacy and Physical Therapy; Lab and Xray, etc), you never know when you and another department head might need to collaborate on a team project, on a budget problem, on a facility renovation/expansion, etc. Already having an informal relationship with other department heads can really smooth the waters when suddenly you need a favor, or will be working together for a while. Try not to exist just within the silo of your department; get out and meet people at your workplace. You never know ... a few years down the road one of those folks might be the hiring manager at a different facility where you've submitted an application.
ReplyDeleteThis a great point! I did not even think about how important it is to develop relationships among the facility community and not just with the town community. Thank you for the advice!
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