A Tale of Two Telehealth Leaders in Crisis
The current pandemic is turning all of our attention towards telehealth. Many healthcare professionals are figuring out the ropes for the very first time. Or perhaps your organization already uses telehealth to some extent, but it’s not very efficient or effective. You’re wondering constantly how to lead your team safely through more remote options, and scrambling to make changes quickly and decisively.
Here’s a question:
Who initiated telehealth transformation in your organization?
CEO
CMO
COVID-19
CIO
CFO
For many organizations, the answer is 3. And COVID-19 is not the leader your team needs to be successful. In order to cultivate calm during a time of chaos, YOU are called to step forward and be the leader in this crisis. What kind of leader will you choose to be?
A story to illustrate:
Once upon a time, in a world much like ours here today, humanity found itself in the clutches of a global pandemic. Workers were asked to stay home, as well as many physicians and therapists. Luckily, our team of physicians already had a telehealth system in place. This system served more than 50 clinical sites and had been doing so remotely for nearly 20 years. Our team also has a leader, we’ll call them Leader A, who was widely respected and often called upon for guidance.
In addition to Leader A, each of the 50 sites also had a leader in charge of the site. At one such site works Leader B.
Immediately, Leader A jumped into action. Leader A worked decisively, speaking to many sites, physicians and administrators to include a wide range of input. Leader A was open to suggestions and made themselves available to discussion by phone or email, even on the weekends. By the end of the second day, Leader A created a streamlined process outlining what to do, including a five-point checklist to ensure patient safety, and setting up a clear protocol to make sure physicians and other staff were doing their best given the circumstances. Everyone agreed quickly it was an excellent plan.
Leader B responded quite differently. Initially, they did nothing. Leader B froze, refusing to answer individual emails on the topic, including the email from Leader A, asking for their input. TWO WEEKS into the crisis, Leader B suddenly announces that all of their clinics will be shut down and all staff sent home to work remotely. No one is given clear guidelines and no procedures are put in place for remote work. Leader B is not available to answer questions via phone or email, rarely answering calls or replying. In the absence of clear guidelines, the physicians, nurses and technicians on Leader B’s team attempt to figure things out on their own. There is no streamlined process and every team member works as they see best, winging it day-by-day and figuring it out as they go. By day 21, work was chaos.
Luckily, some of the physicians were contracted telehealth physicians working under Leader A. They were given clear instructions and procedures from the telehealth company and disseminated the five-point checklist and other information to the nurses and technicians on their teams. Informally, the team adopted these systems and muddled through on their own.
Needless to say, Leader B was not respected by the rest of the organization, and when Leader B called to make any unusual request, the physicians were not willing to agree. When Leader B tried to pull rank, most contracted physicians could easily say no, even threatening to leave.
Three points to take away:
Leader A was indirectly running Leader B’s system as Leader A’s ideas spread and were adopted.
Leader B’s initial inaction caused much more harm than good. Then, the swift decision to move everyone to remote work without a plan, caused confusion and frustration among the team.
None of this was new for either leader. Both had been working in a similar manner for many years. Yet, in crisis, the problems with continuing on in old patterns are made much more obvious. The current climate brought to the surface what was always present. As Captain Barbossa reveals in Pirates of the Caribbean, “The moonlight shows us for what we really are!”
During a time of reaction and crisis, many organizations will adopt new programs, thinking that using the right software will take care of the challenges. But in the implementation process of adopting new programs hastily and haphazardly, the human side of the equation is often left behind.
I am deeply concerned that during this current crisis, telehealth and remote systems will be hastily put in place, ignoring human factors.
Research shows us that most workplace relationship problems only deepen and multiply when transitioning to “virtual teams”. And issues between remote colleagues are significantly more difficult to solve.
At the same time, studies also show that we can be more productive remotely, but it requires us to adjust our working style and structure, as well as how we stay in touch with our colleagues.
The answer to all of this is simple. Of course we continue to work remotely as much as possible for the safety of everyone, and yet telehealth teams MUST create a working community to deliver real results.
As a seasoned veteran of telehealth leadership -- a leader of clinical and physician teams since January 2006, I’ve assembled the tools you need to succeed as a leader during the tough times ahead. A functioning community requires quality communication. I have many horror stories about poorly set up telehealth teams that I won’t bore you with, but fortunately I’ve seen (and helped to build) many successful teams as well.
You, as the leader, set the tone for communication and ensure the entire team is on board. You must be proactive. You must be consistent. You must be available and accessible to your team.
Without your commitment to learning and implementing the leadership skills required, your team is destined to succumb to lack of engagement and burnout which leads to high turnover rates, cutting back effort, low morale and not following optimal clinical practices in the staff. And that’s without being in the midst of a global pandemic.
You must act TODAY. For your team, yourself, your organization and the wider community that you serve. In order to assist, I’ve created a six-week, transformational training program available virtually for healthcare leaders like you to move beyond crisis into opportunity.
Remote Leadership
Construct Virtual Communities that Deliver RESULTS
Helping you move beyond crisis into opportunity
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