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Senior leadership team dysfunction in one or more of five specific areas can undermine the success and speed of leading organization-wide improvement and growth initiatives.

In this episode, Sue Tetzlaff and Courtney Kloehn discuss the critical importance of strengthening senior leadership teams within healthcare organizations. They explore the common dysfunctions that can hinder effective leadership and provide actionable tactics for improvement. The conversation emphasizes the need for cohesive teamwork, strategic focus, and continuous development to foster a positive organizational culture. Key categories for leadership improvement are identified, along with practical steps for ongoing enhancement of team dynamics.

• How senior leadership teams function collaboratively is crucial for stewarding successful organization-wide change initiatives.
• Diverse perspectives in leadership discussions strengthen decision-making.
• Empathy and understanding among team members enhance collaboration.
• Regularly scheduled meetings should focus on strategic rather than operational issues.
• Leadership practices must be role-modeled by executives to be effective.
• Building trust is essential for effective team dynamics.
• Facilitated conversations can help identify areas for improvement.
• Continuous monitoring of leadership effectiveness is necessary for growth.
• Creating a fun and engaging environment can enhance team collaboration.

Reach us at CapstoneLeadership.net or info@capstoneleadership.net

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In this episode of Culture Change RX, Sue Tetzlaff discusses the critical issue of misalignment within healthcare organizations. She shares insights from her experience founding Capstone Leadership Solutions and outlines a framework for achieving great strategies. The conversation emphasizes the importance of creating alignment through team structures, effective leadership, and achievement systems, while also addressing the barriers to change. Sue encourages healthcare leaders to adopt this framework to enhance organizational culture and performance and ultimately long term viability and success.

• Misalignment is a significant issue in healthcare organizations.
• Capstone’s framework for achieving great strategies includes an execution emphasis for creating alignment, ownership, and agility.
• Creating alignment involves engaging frontline employees in strategic priorities.
• Leadership systems must be unified to avoid misalignment.
• Achievement systems help in setting and achieving organizational goals.
• Change systems face common barriers that can hinder progress.
• A unified framework can eliminate guesswork in improvement efforts.
• Alignment enhances organizational effectiveness.

Access the past episode, The Formula Behind Your Hospital’s Future: Fading or Rocket Fuel? https://www.buzzsprout.com/2315930/episodes/17479922 referenced in this episode.

Need help improving the culture, performance, and results of your healthcare organization? If so, let’s talk.

Join Capstone Coaches and healthcare leaders from all around the country in our private Facebook group, Fans of the Framework.

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Leverage the leadership practice of rounding to strengthen psychological safety, just culture, and high reliability.

In this episode, Sue Tetzlaff discusses the importance of high reliability, just culture, and psychological safety in healthcare leadership. She emphasizes the significance of strengthening relationships through rounding, effective questioning, and the need for follow-up to build trust within teams. The conversation highlights practical options for leaders to engage with their employees in conversations about the culture of safety and high reliability.

Access the resource document (3 Options for Psychological-Safety related Rounding Questions) referenced in this episode.

• Rounding is a proactive approach to leadership.
• Effective rounding can elevate psychological safety.
• Local leadership significantly impacts organizational culture.
• One option for rounding questions: Use employee surveys to inform rounding discussions.
• Another option for rounding questions: Amy Edmondson’s psychological safety assessment questions are adapted into a set of seven possible rounding questions.
• A third option for rounding questions: When the environment and/or relationship warrants it, specific “low-trust” rounding questions will be more appropriate for leaders to ask.
• Follow-up is key to building trust in relationships.

Need help improving the culture, performance, and results of your healthcare organization? If so, let’s talk.

Join Capstone Coaches and healthcare leaders from all around the country in our private Facebook group, Fans of the Framework.

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In this episode, Sue Tetzlaff discusses the challenges and strategies for leadership in healthcare organizations, emphasizing the importance of moving beyond the status quo to foster growth and community impact. She introduces two contrasting formulas for organizational success: the fading formula, which leads to deterioration, and the rocket fuel formula, which focuses on investing in people, service, and quality to drive growth. Tetzlaff shares her experiences and insights on strategic planning and execution, urging leaders to prioritize foundational pillars for sustainable improvement.

The strategic formula you follow matters: the “Fading Formula” leads to burnout and stagnation, while the “Rocket Fuel Formula” powers lasting improvement and faster growth.

The 2-minute video clip referenced in this episode: https://vimeo.com/1096998506?share=copy

• A flawed strategy formula can quietly erode even the best organizations—deteriorating culture, overstretching people, and stressing systems.
• The fading formula stresses people and deteriorates quality, leading to organizational decline versus the intended positive growth.
• The rocket fuel formula emphasizes a priority investment in core pillars which represents the core mission of the organization - high quality services.
• Successful healthcare organizations prioritize people, service, and quality.
• Strategic plans must be built on effective formulas for success.
• Expert guidance can enhance strategic planning and execution.
• Strengthening healthcare organizations positively impacts communities.

Need help improving the culture, performance, and results of your healthcare organization? If so, let’s talk: https://www.capstoneleadership.net/contact-us

Are we connected yet on LinkedIn? https://www.linkedin.com/in/suetetzlaff/

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In this episode, Sue Tetzlaff discusses the importance of trust in senior leadership, particularly in the healthcare sector. She outlines two main categories of trust-building activities: everyday actions and responses during challenging times. She provides real life examples and practical takeaways for leaders related to strengthening trust and teamwork, even in the face of uncertainty and fear.

• There are two categories of trust-building activities in leadership: our everyday actions and our responses to episodic crises.
• Our day-to-day trust-building activities should not be neglected during times of crises.
• Trust can be diminished - or strengthened - during challenging times.
• Fear is a major contributor to silo creation, working against our heightened need for teamwork and collaboration.
• Leaders must anchor their teams during uncertainty by remaining calm and connected.
• Acknowledging threats while reinforcing stability is crucial for maintaining trust.
• Visibility and accessibility of leaders are essential during challenging times.
• Reminding teams of their past resilience can strengthen trust and teamwork.

Need help improving the culture, performance, and results of your healthcare organization? If so, let’s talk: https://www.capstoneleadership.net/contact-us

Are we connected yet on LinkedIn? https://www.linkedin.com/in/suetetzlaff/

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In this episode of Culture Change, Sue Tetzlaff emphasizes that efforts to elevate both competency and consistency are crucial for effective culture change and improvement. Competency relates to the quality and standards of practice, while consistency pertains to the frequency and application of those practices. The conversation explores how there are differences in how improvement teams and/or leaders approach increasing competency versus how they approach gaining more consistency. Ultimately, by focusing on both competency and consistency, an organization is aiming for a culture of continuous improvements that can be both measured and felt.

• Culture is how we do things around here which implies both competency and consistency in those “chosen things.”
• Competency relates to the quality of practice.
• Consistency is about the frequency of practice.
• A starting point is defining what it means to be both competent (how) and consistent (how often) in each required practice or standard.
• Understanding the 'why' behind practices enhances efforts to achieve both competency and consistency.
• Training, mentoring, and coaching are key to elevating competency.
• Accountability tactics are key to gaining and maintaining consistency.
• The long game in culture change requires sustained efforts focused on both competency and consistency of “how we do things around here.”

Need help improving the culture, performance, and results of your healthcare organization? If so, let’s talk: https://www.capstoneleadership.net/contact-us

Are we connected yet on LinkedIn? https://www.linkedin.com/in/suetetzlaff/

Reach us at CapstoneLeadership.net or info@capstoneleadership.net

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In this episode of Culture Change RX, Sue Tetzlaff discusses the importance of initiating movements within healthcare organizations to create lasting and impactful change. She emphasizes that true revolutions require more than incremental improvements; they demand a collective effort around a shared purpose. Tetzlaff shares insights on how to mobilize people, the significance of leadership, and the necessity of data in driving change. She also highlights successful examples of movements and the importance of celebrating the “first followers” as the movement builds momentum.

• A movement is more than incremental change; it is impactful and lasting.
• Starting a movement often begins with one person or a small group.
• Hope is not a strategy; movements require intentionality and leadership.
• Celebrating first followers is crucial for building momentum.
• Data is essential for guiding and measuring the impact of a movement.
• Expect resistance and noise; persistence through this is key in the infinite game of change.
• Communication cadence is vital for keeping the movement alive.
• Creating a volunteer army can empower employees to drive change.
• Leaders play a critical role in activating and sustaining movements.

Need help improving the culture, performance, and results of your healthcare organization? If so, let’s talk: https://www.capstoneleadership.net/contact-us

Are we connected yet on LinkedIn? https://www.linkedin.com/in/suetetzlaff/

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In this fourth of a series of planned quarterly episodes on Culture Change RX, host Sue engages with Ben Davis, President and CEO of Glencoe Regional Health, to discuss the ongoing transformational initiatives within his rural healthcare organization. As they mark the completion of the first year of Glencoe’s “Experience Initiative,” they explore the concept of the 'whirlwind' in daily operations, the necessity of grit and perseverance in navigating change, and the significance of investing long term in people to foster a culture of growth and excellence in patient care.

• Investing in people is crucial for organizational success and quality patient care.
• Data tracking is important to measure progress and motivate change.
• Leadership development is one of the key focuses and a recent on-site leadership training achieved a high satisfaction rating by the leaders attending.
• The 'whirlwind' refers to the daily operational challenges that take time and energy and may distract from pro-active improvement and growth activities.
• Grit and perseverance are essential for successful change management.
• Adoption of new practices may take time, and at the one-year mark it is estimated that maybe only 10-15% of staff are currently engaged in these new initiatives which is right on target as to what could be expected at this point in the transformation.
• The journey of transformation is ongoing, requiring continuous effort and commitment.

Missed earlier episodes in this series?
👉 Listen to Part 1

👉 Listen to Part 2

👉 Listen to Part 3

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Reach us at CapstoneLeadership.net or info@capstoneleadership.net