It’s important to “stretch someone out of his or her comfort zone” if one believes an employee demonstrates leadership potential, according to Amanda Taylor, MBA, CHAM. She recommends these techniques:
- Email articles or videos that touch on a specific leadership point, and ask what the employee thinks.
“This encourages the employee to reflect on the topic,” says Taylor, director of patient access and medical records at United Regional Health Care System in Wichita Falls, TX. For good conversation starters, look for short articles on LinkedIn on communication, motivating, and inspiring your team, how to achieve goals, and improving patient experience scores.
- Ask the employee to present at a department meeting.
“Most of us have some level of anxiety with public speaking. The best way to work through that is with practice,” Taylor says. Good topics to assign: Medicare as Secondary Payer, scripting for point-of-service collections, or information on a fundraiser that the department is working on.
- Invest in training.
“If you have a department budget available for external training, consider sending some of your up-and-coming leaders,” Taylor says.
- Pair the employee with someone he or she can go to for feedback, other than a direct supervisor.
This may be a current leader in the department, or a person from another department that patient access works with closely. “Or make your future leader a mentor to a new employee within the department,” Taylor suggests.
- Encourage employees to take any opportunity to lead.
This includes volunteering for fundraising activities for schools or churches. “Anything that gives them an opportunity to put their leadership skills into practice will prepare them for future opportunities,” Taylor says.
SOURCE
- Amanda Taylor, MBA, CHAM, Director, Patient Access and Medical Records, United Regional Healthcare System, Wichita Falls, TX. Phone: (940) 764-6105. Fax: (940) 764-6093. Email: [email protected].
It’s important to “stretch someone out of his or her comfort zone” if one believes an employee demonstrates leadership potential.
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