Coaching for Healthcare Leadership | E. 97

Healthcare is in a time of radical and rapid change. Alan Weiss explains to Lisa Miller why coaching is a sign of strength and how all healthcare leaders can benefit from it in an ''age of great transition.''

 

Episode Introduction 

Alan explains why the best time to start something is always now, and how the most successful people in every field of life engage a coach to help them achieve their goals. He also explains why there are only ''new realities'', rather than a ''new normal'', why innovation has to come from the frontline, and shares his predictions for the healthcare sector in 2024. 

 

Show Topics

 

• ''If you want to start something, do it''

• There are only ''new realities,'' not a ''new normal''

• Coaching is a sign of strength

• Private sector versus healthcare: one key difference

• Innovation has to come from the front line

• The top three skills for successful leadership 

• Healthcare predictions for 2024 

 

 

02:58 ''If you want to start something, do it''

Alan said the key to success is resilience and agility, not waiting for all the information you need. 

''Well, if you want to start something, do it. Because nobody has all the information they need before they begin. I've been consulting for 35 years with Fortune 500 companies, and then, as you said, with consultants and entrepreneurs around the world. And I've never started with all the information I'd like to have. And even the information you start with that seemed perfectly helpful, turns out to be either untrue or it shifts or some new development occurs. So the first thing is if you want to start, just start, and have the confidence in yourself that you can be light on your feet and adjust to the times. The second thing is that even if you think you have a long-term project, you still have to start today. And so I've written 60 some odd books and they're in 15 languages. But I've never said to myself, "Well, I'm going to create a book next year. I have a publishing contract and I have a deadline." If I get a publishing contract and the deadline, I start writing the book now. And so there's no time like now. And there's no time like the present, is the old hackney phrase, but the fact is it's true. And the fact is the key isn't having everything you need to start, the key is resilience and agility as you move forward.''

 

05:46 There are only ''new realities,'' not a ''new normal''

Alan said today's leaders need coaching to make clear discriminations in an age of great transition. 

''….. There's no return to normal. There's no new normal. What you have are new realities. And the new realities are going to change every day. We're in an age now of great transition. We invent things more rapidly than we can intelligently use them. Nobody really knows about ChatGPT. There are some people lined up out there behind Chicken Little waiting for the sky to fall. We're all going to be eliminated by AI. And of course that's ludicrous. But we do have to understand what's effective for us or what isn't, so what leaders have to do is decide. And this requires discrimination. It requires a clarity of purpose. What is appropriate for their organizations and what is not? For example, I'm on a computer right now with you. And I probably use 20% of this max capability, 20%, but to 100% effectiveness. The other 80%, I don't care. My iPhone here can edit movies, for God's sake. I'm not ever going to edit a movie. But I am going to take pictures. So we have to decide as leaders, what is best for our organization? What's best for us? And that's no easy job. And that's why people need coaching. And they don't need technical coaching. They're not going to delve into the innards of a computer or code. What they need is coaching about their profession and about their own capacities so that they can make these clear discriminations about what is best for them personally and what's not.''

 

08:42 Coaching is a sign of strength 

Alan said people who reject coaching are generally fearful of appearing vulnerable or in need of help. 

''The best people in the world, the best athletes, the best entertainers, the best bu