Connect

Connect continues to bring to you firsthand accounts of the UVA Health Leadership Institute (HLI) experience through the eyes of our colleague Frannie Barnes, Communications Manager, UVA Community Health, and a member of the second cohort of HLI. Read her first and second installments and see her third below. If you have any questions you’d like to ask Frannie about her HLI experience, send them to uvaconnect@uvahealth.org.

Walking into Pavilion 1 at the Boar's Head Resort in Charlottesville on Sept. 25, I was struck by how quickly the past seven months flew by. I was filled with anticipation when I walked into the first UVA Healthcare Leadership Institute session in March 2024 at the same location. I wasn’t sure what to expect or if I belonged there. That feeling didn’t subside easily as I saw how many healthcare providers were in the room: surgeons, advanced practice providers (APPs), family practitioners, pharmacists, and researchers. 

Over these last seven months, it has become apparent that regardless of profession, many leadership skills are not taught in traditional professional degree or other training programs. Sure, there are natural-born leaders, but those skills only take you so far. I’ve shared my thoughts on the tools we gained during the leading self and leading teams sessions. This last session aptly capped off our HLI experience with a focus on leading healthcare.

And while every session has been informative and many have been fun, the three final presentations from the last session were the perfect culmination of the entire program. 

Decoding Stewardship

Chuck Coder, Chief Financial Officer, UVA Community Health, presented “Finance 101 and Stewardship.” While many in the room were well-versed in Medicare and Medicaid payments and reimbursements, Chuck explained the payor mix and outcomes throughout the system, breaking down key differences between UVA Community Health, University Medical Center, and UVA Physicians Group (UPG). He was thorough in his explanations. 

Chuck highlighted the ASPIRE value of stewardship and how deeply it is rooted in every action we take during our workday to our financial snapshot. Stewardship is an abstract and sometimes difficult concept to understand and goes far beyond dollars and cents. He covered many different forms of stewardship, from antimicrobial stewardship to the many examples of financial stewardship, to championing UVA Health in our communities.

Through my lens, the more we connect our ASPIRE values to the work we do every day, the more we embody them, so I appreciate seeing how our leaders walk the walk and take the time to elaborate and share these valuable insights.

Learning to Bring Peace to the Resistors

Jeffrey Lovelace, PhD, Associate Professor of Commerce and Director, Leadership Minor, McIntire School of Commerce, delved into the world of organizational change management. As a relatively new large healthcare system, understanding change management and the factors driving resistance was fascinating and enlightening.

It is intriguing to explore how individuals and groups respond to change, often rooted in fear of the unknown or attachment to established routines (I’ll venture to guess this resonates with many readers!). Exploring the psychology behind resistance to change sheds light on the complexities of human behavior within organizations and the critical role of effective communication and leadership in facilitating smooth transitions. 

Be Both Safe and Agile

Finally, we heard from Tracey Hoke, Md, MSc, Chief of Quality and Performance Improvement, UVA Health University Medical Center, and Wendy Novicoff, PhD, Professor, Orthopedic Surgery and Public Health Sciences and Director, Clinical Trials for Orthopedic Surgery, UVA School of Medicine. Together, they presented “Be Both Great and Good” on the UVA Health Be Safe platform. Fortunately, both were agile and adept at covering the topic in detail quickly as the presentation evolved into a Q&A on patient safety and the ability to pivot.

Having worked on crisis communications, I understand that situations in healthcare can devolve and change rapidly, and being agile is necessary. But there wasn’t one person in that room who wasn’t captivated by the conversation on knowing what levers to pull in any given situation. (As a side note, most people can agree that at 4 p.m., after a few hours of lessons, there is a tendency to fade a bit, regardless of how interesting the topic is. I found Tracy and Wendy’s presentation and conversation to be a fascinating shot of espresso!) 

Walking out of Pavilion 1 at the Boar's Head Resort in September, I was excited and again filled with anticipation about how to use these tools, implement these lessons, and continue these relationships with colleagues and mentors I might not have met in any other circumstance. 

Later this month, my second cohort colleagues and I will present our capstone projects. While I wish I could fully replicate the presentation skills taught early on by Denise Stewart, Executive Coach and Lecturer, UVA Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, I’m not quite there, yet — after all, leadership is a continual journey.