A few weeks ago, I wrote about some strategies for effectively communicating with physicians about compliance issues. If you missed it, you can find that article here.
Piggybacking off of that discussion, the focus of this article is another specific audience that compliance officers have to interact with on a daily basis—the healthcare leader.
For purposes of discussion, I am broadly defining a healthcare leader to be anyone that is making administrative business decisions for the organization, who is also in a leadership role (e.g., C-Suite, department director, manager, or a supervisor). Since these folks possess the ability to make business decisions—and influence the actions of others—it is in your best interest to know how to effectively communicate with them. Possessing this skillset better positions you to gain their buy-in which can help you in navigating the politics of healthcare.
So let’s take a look at this particular audience and dive into some strategies for effectively communicating with them about compliance issues.
Healthcare Leaders as an Audience
When it comes to healthcare leaders, there are a couple of considerations to keep in mind that impact how they communicate with you.
The first is their education. Many leaders possess advanced degrees, such as MBAs, MPHs, JDs, or PhDs. That means they have been trained to be analytical in how they approach their decisions. In their professional lives, most healthcare leaders function through a groupthink model. For example, before a CEO will make a decision, he or she will have asked for input from various members of his or her leadership team. From the CEO’s perspective, each stakeholder is responsible for providing input from their respective POV. The CEO will then take this input under advisement to help shape his or her decision. When you are communicating with healthcare leaders, you’ll be more effective if you are mindful of this approach and apply it to how you approach your own work.
The second consideration is the fact that healthcare leaders are driven to be career oriented, which impacts how they make decisions politically. They view the business decisions they make as the steps along the way in a marathon, not a sprint. They put in long hours, often sacrificing their work-life balance in order to navigate political issues with physicians and other healthcare leaders. This is how they advance up the corporate ladder. As a result, healthcare leaders are savvy at operating with the big picture in mind—which is to say that they have a self-interest not to make political mistakes costing them their careers. For that reason, analyzing any compliance issue should take into account any political self-interests of those healthcare leaders involved.
Now that we’ve put some context around this particular audience, let’s take a look at some strategies that can help you when communicating with healthcare leaders about a compliance issue.
Know How Decisions Are Made in the Organization
One approach for effectively communicating with your healthcare leaders about a compliance issue is to demonstrate to them that you know how decisions are made in the organization. For example, if you are working on an issue that has a financial component to it, be mindful that a CEO will not make a decision unless the issue has been vetted by the CFO. So that means if you are meeting with the CEO to discuss the matter, you need to either invite the CFO to participate or, alternatively, let the CEO know you have already vetted the matter with the CFO. If taking the latter approach, you need to also be prepared to communicate what the CFO’s response was and why.
Taking this approach demonstrates to the CEO that you understand he or she won’t make a deci- sion without the CFO’s input, and that you were prepared to address that concern. Knowing how decisions are made in the organization will help reduce any frustrations your leaders may have with you in operating inefficiently.
Be Mindful of the Knowledge Gap
This one I can’t stress enough…as you are communicating with a healthcare leader about a compliance issue, always—and I mean always—be mindful of the knowledge gap that may exist between you and the healthcare leader about a compliance requirement.
Keep in mind these folks likely will not be as knowledgeable about compliance programs and the rules and regulations as you are. For that reason, you may need to take a step back and explain terminology you might not otherwise have to think about. It’s kind of like trying to explain to a four-year-old what the word “anyway” means. There are some words we get so close to because we use them all the time that we never even think about actually defining them.
The point here is to assume your healthcare leaders know nothing about the rules. It will help ensure that your communication logically flows from one point to the next, and everyone is on the same page with what is expected. It also cuts down on the time you have to spend responding to questions and provides for a smoother discussion to get their buy-in.
When You Bring a Problem, Bring a Solution Too
This approach relates to when you have identified a compliance matter that needs to be addressed. When you’re faced with this scenario, make sure you are communicating the identified issue—and the proposed solution to the leader. For example, let’s assume you have identified that an employee has snooped into the medical record of another employee. When you first alert your appropriate leader, explain what occurred but also the proposed steps to resolve the matter and prevent a future occurrence.
Healthcare leaders do not like surprises, especially ones putting them and the organization at risk. When you take this approach, you will be reducing their anxiety by communicating a clear path for mitigating risk and restoring the organization back to a state of certainty.
Mirror Their Communication Style
Finally, an overall approach to communicate effectively with your healthcare leaders is to mirror their communication styles. Everyone has a preferred communication style. For example, do they prefer phone calls or email? Are there certain times of the day you can reach them in person, by phone, or by email?
The point here is that if you don’t know your leader’s preferred style, then either ask them, or be observant of it and then mirror it. When you mirror their communication style, leaders will see you more like a business partner and less like an obstacle, which can help you gain their buy-in.
Pulling It All Together
Due to the nature of our role in the organization, we are in a position to influence the behavior of others on a daily basis, including the healthcare leaders in our organization. In order to positively influence their behavior, you need to communicate your compliance message in a way that results in gaining their buy-in. By focusing on the above strategies, you will significantly increase your chances of obtaining their buy-in, and be in a far better position for navigating the politics of healthcare.
One final note is that if you missed the article on communicating effectively with physicians about compliance issues, I would encourage you to check it out. There are some concepts in that article that transfer over to times when healthcare leaders are your audience.
