Course Content & Faculty

"It was an incredibly enriching course. It would benefit any physician who is concerned about improving and changing their practice and instituting change at their hospitals. Actually a course such as this should be taught in the final year of medical school." — Jose Guijarro, MD

To learn more about each session, please select from the list below.

Session I: Welcome, Program Orientation & Understanding the Changing Role of Physician Leadership in the 21st Century

Session II: Self-Awareness & Communication Skills

Session III: Leading Change & Influencing People

Session IV: Systems Thinking & Tools for Problem-Solving

Session V: Negotiations and Consensus Building

Session VI: Conflict Management

Session VII: Quality & Financial Management

Session VIII: Strategic Leadership for Creating a Vision-Focused Future

Participants can earn nearly all of their CME credit for the year by attending all six sessions.

Session I

Topic

Welcome, Program Orientation & Understanding the Changing Role of Physician Leadership in the 21st Century

Dates

TBD

Location

Rizzo Center, Chapel Hill

Summary

This session will expand participants’ knowledge and understanding of how the demands of a dynamic and changing health care environment have created increased pressure on organizations to develop a larger cadre of physician leaders and managers among their staffs. The model of providing high-quality and cost-effective health care depends on the partnership of a patient-centered and physician-led environment. This session will bring together the foundations for the clinical and managerial imperative for nurturing and developing physician leaders along with an examination of current thinking regarding which leadership qualities are most effective in today’s complex environment.

Objectives

To discuss how the demands and the forces of change in the health care environment have created opportunities for physician leaders.
To examine the principles and skills of leadership are integrally linked to assessing and improving quality at both the physician level and the organizational level.
To review recent literature and research on leadership and how successful clinical leadership is a unique blend of technical and human skills focused on the balance between high-quality patient care and the demands of a complex organizational setting.
To examine a series of tools to enhance skills associated with critical thinking, creativity and innovation necessary for solid management and leadership in health care settings today.
To discuss the implications from a leadership self-assessment and how they can begin to set priorities for their own self-directed leadership skill development.

Faculty

Stephen Prather, M.D. [read more]

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Session II

Topic

Self-Awareness & Communication Skills

Dates

TBD

Location

Rizzo Center, Chapel Hill

Summary

Strong leadership is key to organizational success in any setting. The purpose of this session is to expand participants' self-awareness of their leadership styles and profiles and how they compare with others in health care management/leadership roles. Knowing one's strengths and areas for improvement is critical for personal communications skills, presenting in group settings, and developing leadership. This session will provide participants with the opportunity to learn more about their individual skill levels and how to become more effective communicators. This session will bring together a variety of components to help participants develop their leadership skills and assist in developing an action plan to take back to their clinical settings.

Objectives

To examine participant's own leadership styles and profiles.
To examine behaviors that promote team interaction and enhance performance.
To appreciate diversity and recognize the contributions of everyone in a team.
To examine effective interaction with others depends on setting a climate for effective dialogue and healthy differences of opinion.
To learn to get your message across in a variety of settings, including formal meetings and political environments.
To learn to assess and speak to the needs of the audiences.

Faculty

Steven K. May, PhD
Associate Professor and Ethics Fellow, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill [read more]

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Session III

Topic

Leading Change & Influencing People

Dates

TBD

Location

Rizzo Center, Chapel Hill

Summary

The most important role of a patient-centered and physician-led health care system is the role of the physician leader in building teams and optimizing team performance. This session will provide participants with a better understanding of how physician leaders can partner with others and skillfully lead teams toward common goals. The range of topics in this session will begin with an examination of the question "why a team?" to set the foundation for learning a series of strategies and skills designed to help participants better understand and manage teams and systems.

Objectives

To discuss the nature, complexity and importance of health care as a team environment and how to:
- Assess the team environment.
- Understand team member roles.
- Harness the power of teams to work toward common goals and objectives.
- Draw a link between team performance and the continuous improvement of quality health care services.
To discuss the various models of motivation and how differing approaches influence team performance.
To create strategies for enhancing team performance through structure, team processes, and understanding how members of the team have opportunities to lead.
To examine the change process and provide participants with the tools to lead, implement, and overcome barriers to change.

Faculty

David A. Hoffman, PhD [read more]

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Session IV

Topic

Systems Thinking & Tools for Problem-Solving

Dates

TBD

Location

Rizzo Center, Chapel Hill

Summary

This session will focus on the dynamics of change and how physician leaders can contribute to creating a positive force for strategic change within a clinical setting. The foundation for this session will be based on the principles and tools of "systems thinking." Systems thinking consists of a body of knowledge, principles, methods, and tools oriented toward looking at the interrelationships of forces, and seeing them as part of a common process. Systems thinking offers an opportunity to explore organizational change and problem-solving from a holistic perspective rather than in individual parts. This session will provide the participants with a new way of looking at managing in a clinical environment, and will present a series of tools and practice sessions to explore how to have an effective dialogue to lead and create change.

Objectives

To define systems thinking.
To examine the principles of systems thinking.
To utilize the tools of systems thinking to explore and examine the driving forces for change and how they may be applied.
To apply the concepts and tools of systems thinking to typical challenges facing leaders balancing quality of care issues with competing demands. Participants will also explore how to replicate such results in other situations for which physician leaders can have a measurable impact.
To utilize a variety of tools designed to identify the underlying critical "clinical business" issue, to explore those issues by leading others through effective dialogue, and facilitate setting priorities and developing plans of action to jointly resolve problems as a team.

Faculty

Charlotte Roberts [read more]

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Session V

Topic

Negotiations and Consensus Building

Dates

TBD

Location

Rizzo Center, Chapel Hill

Summary

Leading teams of clinical professionals, and managerial competencies to carry a hospital also requires physicians political milieu and peer expectations, exercise power and sound decision-hospital environment. Quite often, of successful physician leaders. This where participants can learn, experiment, abilities as decision-makers. Physicians the decision-making process, exercise to consensus through effective negotiation.

Objectives:

To develop skills in building consensus.
To discuss how using consensus-strength in teams.
To examine the nature and dynamics to tap into it.
To demonstrate negotiating skills success while balancing competing.
To discuss new decision-making.
To discuss skills in delegation of achieving more effective physician clinical department.

Faculty

Robert S. Adler, JD
Professor of Legal Studies, Kenan-Flagler Business School [read more]

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Session VI

Topic

Conflict Management

Dates

TBD

Location

Rizzo Center, Chapel Hill

Summary

Conflict is inherent to the hospital environment and driven by the complexity of the organization. Furthermore, conflict is exacerbated by competing professional opinions regarding the type of care patients require, differing perspectives of the type of professionals necessary for high quality health care services and the demands for attention to the escalating costs of services. As a result, physician leaders face a challenging environment
that places them in the vortex of inter-personal and intra-organizational conflict for which there are not obvious feasible solutions. This session will address understanding the nature and origins of conflict in health care, and the driving forces which are frequently at odds. Ultimately, participants will be provided with the tools and skills to work through the difficulties associated with conflict within individual departments and across the organization.

Objectives

To recognize and discuss the sources and reasons for conflict in health care settings.
To examine individual approaches and preferences for managing conflict.

Faculty

Joan Gurvis, MSN
Group Manager, Individual Leader Development [read more]

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Session VII

Topic

Quality & Financial Management

Dates

TBD

Location

Rizzo Center, Chapel Hill

Summary

Quality is an important basis for competition in the health care industry. This session will examine the issue of quality and the impact of quality on financial results in a hospital environment. The discussion will begin with an exploration of the characteristics that define a quality experience (from the customer’s perspective) and the factors that contribute to (and detract from) the ability to deliver on a commitment to quality in the health care environment. This discussion will be expanded with an examination of the financial implications of meeting customer expectations in a health care environment. There will also be an examination of the physician leader’s role in creating an organization that delivers on quality commitments to customers while achieving financial goals and objectives.

Objectives

To define quality from a customer perspective.
To compute the cost of quality.
To establish a quality-focused organization.
To examine tips and techniques for managing a quality-focused organization.
To discuss the financial implications of a quality focus.

Faculty

Joseph H. Bylinski, PhD, CPA
Associate Professor of Accounting, Kenan-Flagler Business School [read more]

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Session VIII

Topic

Strategic Leadership for Creating a Vision-Focused Future

Dates

TBD

Location

Rizzo Center, Chapel Hill

Summary

Effective leadership in any setting begins with a personal commitment to establishing a personal vision of the future. Physicians leading a “group” of professionals along the journey to becoming an “integrated team” with a dedication to continuous clinical excellence require special skills to transform a personal vision into a shared vision. This session will give the physician a powerful set of tools and new skills for bringing their colleagues together around a common goal. This session will be an opportunity to apply and practice all of the knowledge and skills presented in previous modules.

Objectives

To create a platform of “common ground” as the foundation for the collective vision.
To envision success and design a process to transform that vision into reality.
To address critical personal, business, and clinical issues which serve as both enablers and obstacles to overcome.
To engage the leader’s team to create and implement strategies designed for sustained superior performance.
To develop a personal vision for the future and to transform a personal vision into a vision for his/her organization.
To develop and implement strategies to achieve the vision, balancing short- and long-term goals, working through competing objectives, and to engage all members of the clinical staff as key contributors to the success of the effort.
To utilize the “vision” as a tool and focal point for effective dialogue about its impact on the quality of care, and to bring others on the team to a common understanding of the vision and create buy-in.

Faculty

James W. Dean, Jr., PhD
Professor of Management, Kenan-Flagler Business School [read more]

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