Strategic leadership involves more than just taking responsibility for the day-to-day running of an organization. It requires a long-term vision, a sense of an overall mission or plan and, crucially, a roadmap of how to get there. Strategic management includes both long- and short-term goals and is value-driven. Never losing sight of the big picture while also paying attention to practical details is the essence of strategic leadership.
In a Healthcare context, a strategic manager will look at how care is delivered and how the system is designed. They will continually evaluate the effectiveness of both and strive for improvement. Quality needs to be balanced with efficiency, maximizing the benefits that can be obtained within the budget available. The most effective use of resources, including staff, technology, facilities and equipment, is the overall strategic aim.
Effective decision making
While it’s the job of a healthcare manager or executive to lead, important decisions shouldn’t be made in isolation. Collective discussion with staff and other stakeholders will lead to better, more informed decision making and will ensure a collaborative work culture where everyone is working towards the same goals. Handing down instructions without soliciting full agreement can result in some employees not fully understanding why certain practices are expected, and this friction can make the process less effective.
At the same time, getting bogged down in endless meetings, discussions and policy reviews isn’t helpful in a fast-paced sector like healthcare. All available information and viewpoints should be considered before coming to a decision, but a definite decision still needs to be arrived at sooner rather than later and then translated rapidly into action.
Communicating values
A good healthcare leader should inspire as well as instruct. Communicating an organization’s values and vision is as important as hands-on management. Clarifying and if necessary, questioning these values is part of the role of leadership and having a clear higher vision can make practical decision making easier to do.
There is sometimes a balance to be struck between staying true to fixed values and ensuring that those values adapt to a changing culture. The vision of a healthcare organization should remain relevant and appropriate to the community it serves. At the same time, healthcare management is an opportunity to provide an example and to promote values that can be universally aspired to.
Healthcare, more than any other sector, is rightly held to the highest ethical standards. Upholding and maintaining these standards is part of the duty of a strategic healthcare manager.
Continual assessment
The strengths and weaknesses of an organization need to be continually assessed and interrogated. This ongoing audit will consider both internal and external pressures and how they affect the efficient provision of healthcare services. A strategic manager should identify untapped opportunities as well as possible threats.
Is the organization over-reliant on one particular supply line? Are there other areas in which it could be vulnerable to sudden changes in circumstances? Strategies to reduce risk while maximizing strengths will ultimately lead to more robust and resilient healthcare provision.
Emergency planning
The healthcare sector is one where emergency planning is vital. Strategies to make sure that the service can cope in the wake of a major incident should always be in place and should be tested and updated regularly. Examples of such an incident include a natural or man-made disaster with numerous injuries, a pandemic or other infectious disease outbreak, or a terrorist attack or mass shooting. A situation that compromises the organization’s ability to provide care, such as a power outage, should also be anticipated and prepared for.
Becoming a healthcare manager
The path to becoming a healthcare manager requires both experience and education. A good manager will have worked in several different areas of healthcare for many years, but they will also need to have the highest level of qualification, such as a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) or Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Nursing degree.
Nurses can now enroll in a fully online DNP in Strategic Leadership designed for candidates who already possess a Master of Science degree in Nursing (MSN) through reputable institutions such as Spring Arbor University. This flexible course combines academic rigor and critical thinking with a faith-based worldview. The university’s website also provides useful insight into the question of DNP vs PhD so that you can decide which one is best for you.
Narrowing focus
Every healthcare organization should play to its strengths and avoid spreading its resources too thinly. A strategic management vision should identify a few key areas where the organization can excel and focus on those. At times, this may mean passing up other opportunities in order to narrow in on the organization’s unique strengths. Strategic management involves recognizing when this is necessary or advantageous and allows specific goals to be achieved.
Healthcare organizations must serve the needs of their immediate communities and cultural, economic and demographic factors will inform the vision as defined by management. This does not mean however that healthcare managers should simply react to demand as it occurs. Their vision should encompass a projection of what the community will require in five or ten years time and then build towards having the means to meet these requirements before demand arises.
Different approaches
Strategy in leadership involves finding different ways of doing things in order to get better results. By implementing a unique strategy, healthcare managers can distinguish their organization from the competition. Strategic leadership should work towards establishing and maintaining a competitive advantage in the healthcare market while staying true to a clearly articulated care-based vision and mission statement.
Achieving these ends requires the ability to anticipate future challenges, such as the arrival of AI in doctors’ offices, so that the organization is in a position to respond to them when the time comes. Strategic leadership should be proactive rather than reactive. Consistency must be maintained alongside flexibility so that the organization can bend with the wind but not change direction along with it.
The complexity of the healthcare system on a national level means that imaginative analysis, problem solving skills and strategic competence are arguably more valuable qualities for leaders in this sector than for those elsewhere. Challenges such as the nursing crisis, an aging population and the ongoing risk of further crises like the Coronavirus pandemic give healthcare leaders a valuable role to play in terms of anticipating future needs and developing strategies to fulfill them.
The importance of strategic leadership
Strategic leadership allows an organization to keep moving forward, addressing weaknesses and adapting to changing circumstances. If a healthcare organization falls behind the times, then it’s no longer providing an effective service for its users. Poor healthcare provision has an effect on other aspects of the economy, as well as on education and quality of life. For this reason, strategic healthcare management is at the heart of any community.
The argument against strategic leadership in healthcare is that the sector is changing so fast and is so susceptible to unpredictable outside forces that pre-existing strategies will inevitably become redundant before they can be achieved. In fact, the fast-changing and unpredictable nature of healthcare is exactly why strategic leadership is so important. Strategies to cope with the unexpected and to keep moving forward are the best methods for keeping an organization resilient and viable in the face of shifting goalposts and rising expectations.
A strategic leader will focus on innovation, generating and encouraging new ideas and approaches. Standing still means getting left behind. Healthcare is a continually changing field in which leaders and managers need to keep themselves at the forefront of transformation.
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