Patty White, former President and CEO of St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, urges fellow seasoned leaders to invest in a new generation of leaders in order to maximize outcomes and facilitate change effectively
Among many other things, Patty White could certainly be called a seasoned leader. The former President and CEO of St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center led a team of 5,000 medical professionals, support staff, and volunteers; and looks back on more than 30 years of experience in leadership. OpusVi is lucky enough to have Patty as a subject matter expert for our Certificate in Healthcare Leadership, we recently got her thoughts on leadership development. Among other things, Patty shared why healthcare executives should make leadership training a priority for their emerging leaders and middle managers.
Remembering her own transition from peer to leader vividly, Patty has always been an advocate for ongoing leadership development in healthcare.
Tools and skills that new leaders should look to develop are strategic planning, change management, understanding how their own budget fits into the larger picture, and conflict management.
Throughout the development of the Certificate in Healthcare Leadership, a lot of time was spent defining what level of leadership the program would focus on. Middle managers were identified as an important target audience, both because they are in the beginning stages of their leadership journey and because they play such a critical role in every health system.
Seeing as leadership development is so important, how can managers inspire their employees to participate in trainings and further their skills? Patty says that this is usually a non-issue.