Three Cs can drive organizationwide success
Communication, cooperation, and collaboration are essential. Why are these three seemingly straightforward concepts—especially communication—so very difficult in many health systems?
First, many contemporary health systems are very complex, even those that are single, stand-alone hospitals. Compound that complexity with the national move toward mergers and acquisitions, and you might end up a multi-state health system with a dozen hospitals and 100 different practice sites. The complexities and levels and bureaucracies and politics may differ from one organization to the next, but they exist in all organizations to some degree. Even many longstanding medical staff members are surprised to discover all of these “things” that they never knew about their organization until they assumed a role in medical staff leadership.
Second, very few people truly know or understand what others in the organization do. Think for a moment about your corner of the universe in the medical staff services department (MSSD) or as an elected/ appointed medical staff leader. In your organization, who truly knows what you do on a daily basis? And does anyone really understand that a rigorous credentialing and privileging process, even in the best of hands, can take 60–120 days on average to accomplish, and often longer if there are problems with the applicant? Chances are that the MSPs, a few seasoned medical staff leaders, and the vice president medical affairs/chief medical officer do know, but that’s about it. On the other hand, do you have any idea of how physician recruiting actually sources and identifies candidates? Or who handles offer letters and agreements with employed practitioners? Or how the employed practitioner is vetted through human resources or some other organizational department?
This lack of bilateral organizational knowledge is not unique to your organization. But if you are going to communicate, cooperate, and collaborate, you need to know with whom. In any case, though, the guiding principle remains the same: Without the three Cs, you will just end up spinning wheels, getting frustrated, and probably experiencing anger. The good news is that most of this angst is unnecessary. However, to achieve the three Cs, leadership, especially at senior executive levels, will often need to intervene in order to break down silos.