The qualities that set the most effective spine leaders apart are the ones that focus on consistency and communication.
Spine surgeons discuss the underrated qualities of a strong leader on “Becker’s Spine and Orthopedics Podcast.”
Question: What leadership habit or mindset has been most critical in keeping your organization and your people moving forward?
Rory Murphy, MD. Barrow Brain and Spine (Phoenix): Everything’s changing every day, and I’m keeping focus on our core goal. Keeping our team focused on the core goal of when a person comes to see us with a challenge, we help them. Everything else is pretty straightforward, and we’ll have to modify things, but if we focus on that goal, everything else falls in line.
Ronjon Paul, MD. Endeavor Health Medical Group (Evanston, Ill.): Learn to listen to people around you that are smarter than you and everyone around you at all levels of an organization. Listen to them maybe similar to a scribe, take notes, organize things and then create context to make a decision … I’ve gone to a much larger organization with a systems mindset, and I’m still spending quite a bit of time sitting back and understanding how my colleagues are thinking and what the what the organization’s goals are. I’ve been hired to build this multidisciplinary spine program and bring in my own experience and skill set. But more so I’ve been hired to help build this a program across a larger system, so I’m trying to understand it and how they work.
Alexander Vaccaro, MD, PhD. Rothman Orthopaedics (Philadelphia): A leader needs to have discipline and consistency with showing up, communicating clearly and making decisions in a predictable rhythm even when the external environment is anything but predictable. People, and the people that work for us, can tolerate an enormous amount of uncertainty about the world around us only if the leaders in front of them feel like they’re being steady, accessible and willing to engage honestly with what is and what is not known. I try to resist the temptation to either overreact to each new headline or to retreat into silence when waiting for clarity that may never come. Instead, I try to keep the cadence of the organization moving, have regular conversations with partners and faculty, and a willingness to make provisional decisions and communicate them clearly and revise when the facts change. I think in a period when much of healthcare feels reactive, that quiet discipline, being reliable, present and intellectually honest, has been the single most important thing that we, as leaders, bring to this work.
At the Becker's 23rd Annual Spine, Orthopedic and Pain Management-Driven ASC + The Future of Spine Conference, taking place June 11-13 in Chicago, spine surgeons, orthopedic leaders and ASC executives will come together to explore minimally invasive techniques, ASC growth strategies and innovations shaping the future of outpatient spine care. Apply for complimentary registration now.
