Over the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic challenged hospital and health system leaders in extraordinary ways. Patient surges, a limited national supply of PPE, national workforce shortages, and staff and patient safety concerns are just some of the difficulties leaders faced. They also navigated how to address the physical, mental and emotional toll the virus has taken on front-line employees and communicate vital information as state and federal guidelines evolved.
Amid these challenges, healthcare executives demonstrated effective and transparent leadership to support clinicians and staff. They developed creative strategies and employed collaborative problem-solving to address the many complexities related to the pandemic. This year, during Healthcare Executives Appreciation Week, CompleteRx recognizes hospital and health system leaders who guided their organizations through an unprecedented time.
Leadership matters
Researchers from Gallup, who have studied employee needs for decades, have identified four universal core needs, even in crises: trust, stability, compassion and hope. Hospital and health system leaders across the country rose to meet these needs amid challenge and uncertainty:
Trust: Staff are hungry for information during uncertain times. You communicated often and with transparency and visibility. Many of you created new forums to share information, such as weekly town halls, daily email or voicemail updates, information hotlines, and intranet updates. You invited feedback and made sure clinicians and staff felt heard.
Stability: Although you didn’t always know what the future or even next week had in store for your organization, you made thoughtful decisions and showed up for staff in predictable ways. You made sure to be more visible than ever and show appreciation and support for front-line clinicians and staff.
Compassion: A leader’s ability to elicit a compassionate response directly affects the organization’s ability to maintain high performance in difficult situations. It fosters an organization’s capacity to heal, learn, adapt and excel. You supported those in need, provided time and space for people to share emotions, and acknowledged the difficult situations employees faced.
Hope: Employees look to their leaders for cues on responding to crises, according to research on emotional intelligence. During the COVID-19 crisis, you helped staff see the bright spots and long-term view. You reminded employees that they are part of a larger community and that, together, the team would get through the pandemic.
As most of the country enters the pandemic recovery period, CompleteRx expresses gratitude for your thoughtful, compassionate leadership. We wish you and your team health, happiness and continued resilience in the months ahead.
