Fueling Leadership in Yourself

Prior studies suggest that nearly half of healthcare workers experience at least one symptom of burnout such as depersonalization and decreased motivation. This often leads to higher cost of care, lower safety, and lower satisfaction for the patient.

With these obstacles in mind, a team of researchers led by Nathan Houchens, MD, Associate Chief of Medicine for Inpatient Care at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, examined the role of leadership in healthcare in a recent study “Fueling Leadership In Yourself (FLY): A Novel Faculty and Staff Development Program,” published in Leadership in Health Services. 

One study describes leadership as “the most influential factor in shaping organizational culture.” However, instead of finding new ways to educate the “traditional” leaders of a healthcare organization, Dr. Houchens’ new approach attempts to spread the wealth of leadership education to all healthcare workers, using a new series known as Fueling Leadership in Yourself, or FLY.

 “Because there’s been an enhanced focus on patient safety and quality in the last few decades, as well as the patient experience, we turned to leadership as a potential way to improve burnout, improve patient safety, and the patient experience,” Dr. Houchens explained.

The FLY series promotes collectivistic leadership, which involves sharing the roles and responsibilities across more than a single individual in a group over time, through informal or formal methods. Simply put, the series opened leadership training to all workers in a health system, regardless of whether they were occupying a traditional leadership role, or if they were providing direct clinical care to Veterans.

“All types of healthcare workers, including and especially those providing direct care to Veterans, may benefit from team-based leadership development,” said Dr. Houchens. “The novelty of our program stems from the fact that we invited all types of healthcare workers. Historically, leadership development was targeted toward those individuals who were groomed to be leaders”.

The novelty of FLY went beyond extending leadership courses to all healthcare workers. Rather than droning through slide after slide, Houchens and his team developed more interactive exercises and discussion centered around 4 main topics:

1. “The Art and Science of Leadership”
2. “Mindfulness: Supporting Your Own and Others’ Potential at Work”
3. “Discovering, Co-Envisioning, and Experimenting with Tests of Change”
4. “Effective Communication in Healthcare Environments”

“Everyone in the entire institution can benefit from these types of leadership concepts. Our goal was really to translate that leadership development program into enhanced employee satisfaction and engagement and hopefully, down the line, reduce burnout, and deliver a higher quality of care.”

Between April 2017 and June 2018, two series of leadership development sessions were facilitated by VA Ann Arbor leaders including series creators and content expert guest speakers. Thirty-eight healthcare workers from eight distinct services, sections, or work units participated in the series, with only three of those participants having a formal leadership or managerial role.

Prior to their participation in the series, these healthcare workers were asked about prior leadership courses in which they had participated. Participants generally agreed that they were satisfied with their prior leadership training and understood leadership traits.

After their participation in the FLY series, these individuals were surveyed yet again about these same questions, and results showed a statistically significant increase in scores relating to leadership training and understanding leadership traits. There was general agreement that participants were highly satisfied with the FLY series training.

The knowledge gained from the series also showed signs of having positive effects further down the road. Workers were again contacted two years after the study, with participants continuing to reflect on the importance of relationship-based techniques, including respect, kindness, and active listening.

“We think that embarking on collectivistic leadership development is a worthy endeavor to equip all types of healthcare workers with the skills that they need to form meaningful connections, build their problem-solving, quality improvement, and safety skills, and have a fulfilling time at work.”