This episode of the MGMA Women in Healthcare podcast features an insightful conversation between host Adrienne Lloyd, MHA, FACHE and guest Carrie Koh, a former healthcare executive turned leadership mentor for physicians and consultant for healthcare organizations.
Lloyd and Koh both reflect on their careers in healthcare and lessons learned around overcoming adversity while discussing burnout, empathy and effective leadership strategies. Koh also shares her experience creating a palliative care room in the wake of a personal tragedy.
Editor’s note: The following Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.
Takeaways:
Koh shares her favorite moment in healthcare career: speaking at TEDx on overcoming adversity.
Koh reveals how a personal tragedy became the catalyst for creating a “serenity suite,” a palliative care room in hospitals. She also discusses how coming up with the name for this room helped to attract more support.
Lloyd gives insights on burnout and leadership, highlighting the importance of addressing the root causes of overwhelm rather than just reacting to it. She also emphasizes the importance of creating a safe space for employees to express concerns and understand their perspectives.
Both highlight the importance of taking space to figure out better options and create opportunities for innovation, along with the value of taking action towards a better solution rather than stagnating in the face of uncertainty.
A 5-step delegation process for effective leadership includes identifying the constraint, defining the desired result, determining importance, identifying core values and determining skill sets needed.
Leaders can build trust with their team by listening to their concerns and working together to find solutions, rather than simply giving orders or trying to fix problems.
Quotes:
Koh: “We get into solutions too fast, and then we make solutions out of fear. When we create solutions out of fear, they're never going to get us where we need to be. So we need to neutralize that fear and get to the root of it. These are the difficult, uncomfortable conversations that most people haven't learned how to have.”
Koh: “When you trust that failure means nothing about you, when you are really tapped into what you know, what you believe, and are choosing that calm confidence and non judgement of yourself, then that's when you can really tap into your own creativity. It's connecting with yourself first."
Resources:
MGMA Podcasts
Carrie Koh TEDx Talk
Women in Healthcare Podcasts
MGMA Resources:
Connect With Us:
If you would like additional tools and resources related to medical practice leadership or you have stories to share with us, email us at Daniel Williams at dwilliams@mgma.com. If you would like to appear on Women in Healthcare, contact Adrienne Lloyd at adrienne@optimizehealthcarellc.com.