Leaders need to listen, be empathetic, stay in touch with what is going on, provide good communication and have good personal problem solving skills. In our text authors Swayne, Duncan &Ginter (2013) have provided you with 11 important management skills to review below.
Review these management skills and pick two you would like to elaborate on. Say you are the CEO of a hospital, how would you apply the two management skills you have chosen to review?
Swayne, L. E., Duncan, W. J., &Ginter, P. M. (2013). Strategic management of health care organizations (7th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
1. Less management is generally better than more management
• Develop self-managed teams - ask folks to think.
• Develop fewer rules, policies, procedures, rather than more and don't try to fix everything with a new rule or policy.
• Don't try to control the small stuff - tracking costs more than it saves.
• Routines and rules drive out innovation and flexible thinking.
• Avoid micro-management.
2. Strive for broad strokes rather than narrow strokes
• Dream and think big - leadership is more about the "big picture."
• Vision and a future orientation are essential.
• Seek effectiveness before efficiency.
• It's called leadership - management without leadership is called bureaucracy.
3. Simple systems are preferable to complex systems
• Always strive to simplify.
• Make no system more complex than it has to be.
• Complex systems deteriorate faster than simple systems and need constant (much more) maintenance.
• In complex systems small disruptions can create big disruptions, even systems failure (the butterfly effect).
4. All solutions are temporary
• Don't work so hard for closure to a problem - there is too much change for a solution to last very long.
• One of the lessons of strategic management is that to be successful, you must change.
• Don't always seek perfection - perfection may be the enemy of change.
5. Processes are not ends in themselves but tend to be viewed that way over time
• People often focus on process elements rather than the objectives of the process (particularly after they've done it for a while).
• Too much focus on the process prevents change/adaptability.
• Process orientation inhibits innovation and, ultimately, survival.
• Be open to changing the process (challenge the current thinking/process).
• Manage the objective(s) not the process(es).
6. Practice "one-level" leadership
• Everyone in an organization should be treated as a peer (equality). Peers can and will share and discuss ideas, opinions, and solutions.
• Folks deserve respect and simple courtesies are important (be polite and always say "hello").
• Casual is better than formal - casual reduces barriers; formal raises barriers.
7. Organizational culture is the key
• Organizations are mostly about people and not about things.
• Shape the organization's habits, customs, values, and mores.
• Inspire and motivate.
• Be the keeper and communicator of the vision.
• Make it interesting and fun.
• Make sure everyone learns something.
8. Organize for flexibility
• Most workers expect a formal organization; use these building blocks to create ad hoc structures as needs dictate.
• Job designs should be as broad as possible.
• Small is better than large - organize into small units.
9. Measure only those things that are important
• Identify the few important acceptance criteria of customers (internal as well as external).
• Establish precise, accurate, easy-to- accomplish measurements of these criteria.
• Enable those whose judgment, skill, and craft determine the outcomes to act on the measurements.
• Reward behaviors that improve process characteristics to achieve the criteria.
• Manage the measures.
10. Personal touches are better than impersonal touches
• Personal notes are better than formal memos/letters.
• Hand-written notes are better than typed letters.
• Personal contact (face-to-face) is better than email.
• Talk to people and visit them in their space.
• Thank people.
11. Allow folks to "fail forward"
• Change, creativity, and innovation require some risk taking.
• Press for innovation until failure.
• Promote and deliver on life-long learning for everyone.