Healthcare Leadership Lessons to Mitigate COVID-19
By Rudrani Ghosh
As COVID-19 has accelerated numerous challenges to the healthcare executives around the globe, effective leadership is the need of the hour to mitigate the crisis.
“If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same
… Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it.”
– Rudyard Kipling
Following a very different trajectory, the Coronavirus arrived in cities all at once like a mystery ravaging the immune system and eating away the patients' lungs. In such a crisis, while the entire business world is put under a microscope, the business leaders wrestle to convene the business community and plan strategies to mobilize support for the global response to the pandemic. Indeed, this is an unnerving test for leadership and thus the speculation and buzz around “leadership” has become all the more prominent and critical here.
War-like situation demands War-like Leadership
By invoking the 18 days battle of Mahabharata, Prime Minister Modi has often employed several war-time metaphors to combat the “war” in the 21st century. Wartime leadership is essentially brewed differently as they demand certain temperament, aura, and mannerism.
Galvanizing the morale and spirit of the people is what leaders must muster during the war-time crisis like this. Creating a bond with the employees and motivating the team members is crucial and fundamental in an increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world. Mr. Neeraj Lal, the Cluster Head and Vice President of Rainbow Children’s Hospital agrees that “it is extremely important for leaders to motivate team members and harness their potential to make a difference.”
As a wartime leader, one needs to lock in the priorities and focus on elements with razor precision. In light of the heightened uncertainty, the social and business imperatives for inclusion became all the more distinct. "In our organization, we have formed a Task Force for Covid-19 preparedness comprised of both medical and management professionals, as well as the Infection Control team. The combined expertise of this Taskforce has prepared us adequately for the pandemic and ensured that safety protocols for doctors, staff, and patients are implemented ahead of time." Mr. Lal adds.
Keeping the DNA of Business Intact
Miami Herbert Business School Dean John Quelch lays out how business leaders need to respond to the ongoing crisis identifying the 7C’s that both inspire and direct. According to Dr. Dhananjay Mankar, Associate Professor of Health System Studies in Tata Institute of Social Sciences (Mumbai), “the crisis needs a leader to lead from the front, someone who is willing to play a part of the team and bolster emotional and organizational resilience.
The COVID-19 crisis has led the hospital administrators to create a safe environment not only for the patients but also for the employees. As a leader, one must articulate and operationalize the vision and mission of the organization ensuring its smooth running.”
Making Tough Calls
For business leaders, the outbreak of Coronavirus has accelerated unprecedented change with an opportunity to transform their business model. Tough decisions need to be taken during such challenging transitions that may oppose the company's prevailing culture. Moving from a world that was fairly simple to an ambiguous and volatile environment, the business leaders have to constantly balance the polarities such as care with production. Therefore, in such a light, it is vital to find the right balance and navigate through the crisis while rebuilding the future.
“We are fortunate to be in the Maternity and Child health space which is relatively unaffected, although several of our elective services have taken a hit during our pandemic. However, owing to strategic change management, we have rapidly adapted to the changes. Speed and execution are the keys to adapt to black swan events such as the pandemic.” says Mr. Lal.
He further mentions a few of the strategic initiatives undertaken by them during the crisis, which includes:
Launch of video consult services for all pediatric subspecialties and Obstetrics within a week of lockdown
Shifting to webinars for marketing communications (for instance, Antenatal classes for pregnant women).
Building patient connects through Whatsapp communities, SMS campaigns, FB live sessions, and webinars."
Greater Agility and Engagement is the new Mantra
As the pandemic wears on, organizations now think more broadly about the value of agility and engagement. Leaders need to be agile in their approach not only in changing work-plans but also in changing leadership patterns. As Doctor Mankar explains, “The employees need to understand that their leader cares for them and what they are going through. In other words, right now an affiliative leadership is what people desire for.”
He also mentions that “to be able to accept and function with lower patient volumes, lower margins of profit, lesser manpower but still be able to provide quality healthcare is a big challenge. At this point taking economic decisions like layoffs, salary cuts, reducing patient volumes to control personnel movement and exposure, making essentials available in time, safe procurement from reliable vendors, all these come under the ambit of administrative decisions that a leader will be required to make. Thus, the hospital administrators should be participatory in his approach both within the organization and to the public.”
Convert Challenges to Opportunities
It is often said that crisis brings out great leaders as they band together and convert challenges to opportunities for a shared purpose. As organizations are rebuilding themselves for the new normal, it is the leader who experiences, as the Chinese proverb says, “crossing the river by feeling our way over the stones.” Mr. Neeraj Lal views that healthcare organizations can move forward in these trying times by being agile and prepared. Rather than a fixed mindset approach, leadership should have a growth mindset approach.
He further elaborates on how he along with his team members have converted challenges into opportunities is “providing unique services during the Covid-19 pandemic. Some of them are as follows:
Home Quarantine packages for positive patients: This includes a comprehensive kit for Covid-19 positive patients to monitor their health at home while being in quarantine (Pulse oximeters, Sanitizers, Thermometers, etc.). This service is complemented by video consultations with doctors and nurses.
Home vaccination services: This service includes vaccination to pediatric and adult patients in their communities, following all social distancing precautions. This is a safe alternative to vaccinations at hospitals, which many families and parents are currently avoiding.”
What is increasingly appearing as a grueling marathon now, may transcend to pent-up demands later once the society opens up. The pandemic has shown the world the need for robust, effective administrators and mangers to lead forward in a crisis.