Healthcare Executive - November/December 2013 - 25

Aware	that	not	all	healthcare	providers	have	access	to	
WellStar’s	depth	and	breadth	of	leadership	development	
resources,	Jennings	encourages	hospitals	and	health	systems	to	tap	the	resources	of	larger	health	systems	that	
are	not	competitors.	He	also	recommends	that	they	consider	pooling	their	resources	around	the	creation	of	
organizational	learning	centers	in	cooperation	with	their	
local	affiliates	of	the	AcHE,	the	American	Hospital	
Association	and	other	professional	associations.	
“consider	how	you	can	take	this	cost	center	that	you	
already	have	and	create	an	organizational	learning	center	that	you	can	get	to	through	dollars	you	already	pay,”	
he	says.		

Stanly Regional Medical Center

“While	there	are	many	dedicated	people	working	on	this,	
I	think	we’re	behind,”	Paul	J.	Morlock,	FAcHE,	vice	
president	of	human	resources	at	Stanly	Regional	Medical	
center,	Albemarle,	n.c.,	says	of	the	healthcare	sector’s	
efforts	to	ensure	a	diverse	pool	of	qualified	leaders	in	the	
years	ahead.	“Many	of	the	leadership	and	management	
practices	that	have	served	the	industry	well	in	decades	
past	do	not	stand	up	in	an	environment	that	is	changing	
as	rapidly	as	the	one	we	have	today,”	he	says.	
To	develop	practices	that	will	be	resilient	in	the	face	of	
change,	Morlock	suggests	providers	begin	the	routine	
practice	of	“surfacing”—or	re-examining—some	of	
their	traditional	assumptions	about	leadership,	management	and	the	industry	as	a	whole.	“one	of	the	assumptions	I’m	currently	wrestling	with	is	that	having	the	
‘best’	people	in	a	position	will	result	in	a	more	effective,	
well-run	organization.	We’re	learning	that	if	we	hire	
who	we	assume	to	be	the	best	people,	but	they’re	
responsible	for	systems	and	processes	that	are	changing	
more	quickly	than	they	can	handle,	these	people	actually	may	not	have	the	skillsets,	patience	or	knowledge	to	
meet	the	demands	of	the	position.	So	we	may	need	to	
re-think	our	definition	of	‘best.’”	

Another	assumption	is	that	giving	people	tools	and	techniques	and	incentives	to	hold	them	accountable	will	help	
them	function	more	effectively	in	their	jobs,	Morlock	says.	
“certainly,	tools	and	techniques	are	important,	but	they	
will	do	little	good	if	our	people	do	not	acquire	a	more	fundamental	understanding	of	how	to	integrate	services	and	
improve	processes.	These	essential	competencies	are	just	
beginning	to	make	inroads	in	healthcare.	We	still	have	a	
lot	to	learn	from	the	airline,	automobile	and	other	industries	that	have	mastered	the	art	and	science	of	quality	and	
process	improvement,”	he	says.	
In	the	past,	the	responsibilities	of	senior	managers	often	
required	them	to	break	processes	or	service	delivery	systems	
into	their	components	in	order	to	fix	them.	The	emphasis	in	
healthcare	has	shifted	to	how	all	of	the	pieces	fit	together,	
Morlock	says.	“As	smaller	hospitals	get	integrated	into	larger	
systems,	and	as	services	are	integrated	across	larger	systems,	
hospitals	and	clinical	practices,	leaders	will	need	to	know	
how	to	make	all	of	the	components	work	together	and	complement	each	other,”	he	says.	“That’s	almost	a	complete	
reversal	of	the	way	we	have	worked	in	the	past.”
Similarly,	future	leaders	will	need	to	focus	more	on	creating	
improvements	that	endure	rather	than	just	making	changes	
without	rigorously	testing	their	validity.	“Hospitals	and	
health	systems	tend	to	focus	too	narrowly	on	how	they	compare	with	other	organizations	rather	than	looking	more	critically	at	the	data	to	decide	whether	those	differences	are	really	
important,”	Morlock	says.	For	example,	the	ED	waiting	
room	times	in	a	regional	medical	center	such	as	Stanly	are	
likely	to	differ	from	those	at	surrounding	tertiary	care	institutions,	but	the	two	types	of	institutions	also	have	different	
types	of	patients,	utilization	patterns	and	payor	mixes.	“Are	
the	differences	in	waiting	room	times	truly	important?”	he	
says.	“The	real	question	is	how	can	we	learn	from	our	differences	and	commonalities	to	reduce	waiting	times	at	both	
types	of	organizations?	I	think	we’re	still	beginning	to	learn	
what	other	industries	have	been	doing	for	years.”	
Healthcare	Executive	
nov/DEc	2013

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Healthcare Executive - November/December 2013

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