Doctors’ Lounge
Managers are not Leaders
Larry P. Griffin, MD
I
recently was given the opportunity to
participate in a wonderful educational
program sponsored by Norton Healthcare, my employer, and the American College
of Physician Executives. Over a 14-15 month
period, excellent speakers were brought in,
on-line participation in well-vetted educational programs was engaged, and a final
project was developed and discussed in an
effort to develop a cadre of more fully informed physicians in regard to budgeting,
strategic planning, marketing, and many of
the facets of administration of health care
organizations, in addition to the concepts
of performance measurement, practice variances, etc.
This was a very time consuming, but extremely valuable experience for me, and I
greatly appreciate and applaud Norton for
providing the opportunity to me. I learned
a great deal, even though I spent a number
of years as an administrator, practicing and
developing many of those skills and knowl-
edge sets over that time period.
What I also learned, however, which was
of some concern to me, was that the participants were all to think of themselves as
“physician leaders,” though it could be physician “leaders.” This may seem to be of no
distinction, but when the term is a noun, it
implies one thing, when it is an adjective,
the term means something entirely different.
“Physician leaders” use their knowledge,
professionalism, and experience, as well as
their innate ability to lead, based on the respect they have earned from their peers, the
perception that they are still a physician,
and have not simply traded their MD for an
MBA. These individuals lead from the front.
Physician “leaders,” on the other hand, are
simply managers with an MD degree who
attempt to use that degree as a way to say “I
am one of you” while really trying to manage
or herd physicians as if they are sheep. They
are not leaders…they are managers. They
don’t lead, they herd.
A leader is recognized by those he leads as
such. A manager is also recognized by those
whom he is attempting to manage. Those
whom are led or managed clearly can tell
the difference.
The interesting thing to me is that a true
leader, including a “physician leader,” really
knows he is a leader, and lives up to the challenge in all respects. A leader recognizes the
difference. A physician “leader” rarely sees
the distinction, and mistakenly believes he
or she is a leader when all too clearly, he or
she is not anything but a manager with an
advanced degree.
I simply say to those physicians in administrative positions, which are you?
Physicians respond to leadership, but not
to herding. LM
Note: Dr. Griffin practices Obstetrics and
Gynecology with Women’s Care Physicians
of Louisville.
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