HJAR Mar/Apr 2021

LEADING THROUGH COVID 12 MAR / APR 2021 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS   that maxim and believe that only about a third of a person’s leadership qualities are natural, while the remainder of leadership skills are developed over time. There are some uniquely innate qualities that many natural-born leaders possess, including confidence, empathy for others and the vision and ability to see things others don’t see. However, there are learned skills that many effective leaders acquire through the three “P’s” of practice, patience and perseverance. Among those skills are how to listen generously, use of methodical problem-solving and decision-making metrics and mastering effective delegation and accountability tools. However, I believe leading through crisis requires five main attributes. To make it simple to remember, I have given these attributes the acronym of HEART. They are Hope, Empathy, Attitude, Resiliency and Transparency, and I believe that each of these can be learned and/or innate qualities and if present already in an individual, may be honed. HOPE The first of these is hope, and great leaders will inspire those around them to see the silver lining in dark clouds, to feel safe when they are threatened and understand that the hardships they face are temporary and that better times are just around the corner. Perhaps one of the greatest leaders of the 20th century was Franklin Delano Roosevelt. During his 1933 inaugural address, he said, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” This was a powerful statement to the American people, long before televisions and social media were the bastions of mass communication. These words crossed all generations, all walks of life, all sections of the country. These words were spoken during one of the darkest economic times in our country’s existence, and while it took several more years for the United States to begin recovery, these words are timeless and coalesced a country around a singular idea that we could overcome our fears and become successful again. During our COVID-19 crisis here in Arkansas, as part of my weekly and eventually biweekly calls to our management team and physician leaders, I conveyed that pandemics don’t last forever — that either through vaccinations or herd immunity, we would overcome this overwhelming burden to delivering care to our patients. Providing a sense of hope was instrumental in keeping our team positive and focused on our mission of providing the best care to our patients. EMPATHY There is a deep connection to a person when you feel empathy. In our organization, we seek out people to join our team who feel a strong bond to patients. Those men who hear for the first time they have prostate cancer or women who suffer the excruciating pain of a kidney stone want to have someone greet them on the phone or in our clinic with a deep sense of attachment to their needs. During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, I took the time to meet with select teams and managers of our departments to explain how I wanted additional attention to detail on not just what we communicate to our patients, but how we communicate. The tone, patience and soothing manner in which we deal with stressed-out patients is crucial to many of our chronically ill patients. As a leader, this does not just apply to our patients. Our employees also need to feel that their leader shares their fears, their struggles in dealing with children staying at home or their inability to see their parents or other loved LEADING THROUGH CRISIS REQUIRES FIVE MAIN ATTRIBUTES: H OPE E MPATHY A TTITUDE R ESILIENCY T RANSPARENCY