The challenges confronting the nation's policy around health and health care are enormous. The litany of drivers for this reality are familiar - expenditures that are approaching two trillion dollars, rampant dissatisfaction from those that provide and receive service, the absence of fifteen percent of the population from the health care system, as well as avoidable deaths in the tens of thousands. These drivers, in addition to federal policy machinery that is incapable of action unless it involves a single women's request for a peaceful death in Florida, do not make the prospect for change look bright.
However, the health system must and will change. One challenge becomes how to assist all dimensions of health care, in what will be an inevitable process. For the Center for the Health Professions, a part of that answer has been to develop and promote leadership programs to prepare and train those who will need to steer the schools, clinics, hospitals, practices and agencies to appropriately respond to the challenge.
For this process to move forward, continuous attention must be paid to the small steps that will eventually lead to significant change. We have many visions of where health care might go, but we seem to lack basic leadership competencies. These are not exotic undertakings, but rather practical skills that are needed to pull off the transformation we need in health care. As ordinary as they are, it is often difficult for health care organizations to obtain the critical help they need scaled to fit their reality, accessible to their staff, and priced at an affordable level.
This month the Center for the Health Professions unveils its new Center Services unit. The Center Services was created out of a growing demand for leadership and organizational services which were less extensive than the large multi-year programs. This group has drawn from the vast experiences and contacts of the Center staff in our leadership programs and developed a set of services designed to address critical development needs within health care organizations.
Center Services will address such needs as:
- Leadership and management skills assessment using MBTI, 360 instruments, FIRO-B, SYMLOG, and other tools
- Facilitation of critical strategic meetings
- Short leadership development programs
- Environmental assessment
- Change management programs
- Team development
The Center staff dedicated to this undertaking will assist clients in clarifying needs, matching these with in-house or consultant services, or referring them to other resources. The programs can be as short as half a day or full development programs, depending on each client's needs.