Leader of the pack

“It is not the mountain that we conquer, but ourselves,” said Sir Edmund Hillary, the famous explorer who, with his climbing partner, was the first to scale the summit of Mount Everest. In these challenging times for healthcare communicators, all the practical know-how in the world won’t go far unless it’s accompanied by the personal characteristics that make the most of that knowledge.  Fortunately, leaders are made and not born, and leadership skills can be developed like any others. Toward that end, Communiqué asked a pool of experts what they believe makes a successful leader in healthcare communications.  Here’s what they told us:

• Changes in the industry – Big pharma companies are merging again. Blockbuster drugs are going off-patent, and generics are encroaching. The financial relationship between pharma companies and physicians is under a microscope. The FDA appears to be issuing more warning letters and is formulating new policies.
• Changes in the media – Traditional print is on the way out, and online/social media (blogging, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube et al) is well on the way in as the healthcare communications vehicle of the near future.
• Changes in the world – How are the healthcare reform bill in the US, the economic woes in Greece, and the emergence of China as the most prized new global market affecting the industry?  

These three categories of change frequently intersect to alter the landscape. For example, given the explosive emergence of social media as a healthcare communications tool, the FDA is now scrutinizing this phenomenon and taking initial, exploratory steps to develop guidelines for its use.

Only when a healthcare communications leader has, with Zeus-like command and confidence, adopted a 10,000-foot view of these ever-evolving dynamics and how they fit together is that individual in a position to direct his or her staff and provide sound strategic counsel to their customers.  
Jeff Hoyak
President, MCS Healthcare Public Relations

Embracing the art of forgetting
Leaders embrace the art of forgetting. All too often, communications professionals/agencies can fall into a pattern of doing things because “they’ve always been done that way”.  With the advent of social media, the rules are changing, and it’s critically important to examine how people find, gather, synthesize, act on and share information before designing programs to meet business objectives. The most effective communication leaders will recognize that change represents opportunity and the value they can provide the broader organization and look at success metrics that align with business key performance indicators (KPIs).  The industry is ripe for strategic, thoughtful and innovative leadership.

The 3 Cs of leadership
Competence – You gotta have the goods, which is why I recommend Strengths Finders by Tom Rath to stay on top of your game.  When you take their test, you get a printout of your unique combination of five top strengths.  The idea here is no matter how hard you work at your weaknesses, they will never improve enough to warrant all that energy. A strength-based focus helps you channel your energy productively and expand your leadership capabilities.

Courage – It’s not easy to take a stand on issues that may put you in an unpopular position.  But when it’s the right thing to do – like in today’s regulated environment where it’s compulsory to speak up if you believe something isn’t in the best interests of the company, colleagues, or the patients our industry serves – you must demonstrate the personal strength to stand up for what is right. You also have to be brave enough to listen more (the best leaders talk less), admit if you are wrong, and get up and try again if something didn’t work out as you had hoped initially.

Compassion – To quote a dear friend and executive coach Lelia O’Connor: “It’s not enough to have passion for your job. You also need compassion.”  So next time, if someone is less than professional or fails to acknowledge your efforts, put yourself in their shoes. Consider that increased workloads, high stress, family challenges, or even self doubt may be the cause. That insight and understanding could transform your professional relationships.

Determination and flexibility – Determination to lead an individual or a group toward a goal in the face of challenge, criticism or any number of unforeseen events should be balanced with the flexibility necessary to “pivot and turn” when a plan or goal needs to be adapted. For example, today’s crossroads of media and technology have revolutionized the pace of communication, requiring industry leaders to think quickly, navigate skillfully and communicate effectively with stakeholders.

Expertise and a willingness to continue learning – The previously mentioned advances in social media and information technology have spurred rapid and dramatic change, inspiring breakthroughs in health and medicine and transforming the way information is delivered and exchanged. Leaders in healthcare communications must understand these new resources and processes in order to assess their effects. Experience is invaluable, but it can generate bias. A successful leader needs to be open to new ideas and approaches.

Practicality and idealism – “There must be a better way to  do this,” is a popular sentiment among leaders. That thought stems from the practical experience of having created or done whatever “this” is and the idealism that inspires and drives a vision. The most successful leaders – in our industry and outside of it – seem to derive this balance from an understanding of their stakeholders’ needs and expectations.

Elisabeth Ritz
Ritz Communications

A complex role
A recent study by an employment psychological testing firm compared mid- and senior-level professionals at top PR agencies to a general population of business professionals and found that high-performing PR professionals typically share three common traits: urgency; flexibility and analytical problem-solving.  

In today’s marketplace, however, successful healthcare communications leaders must go well beyond those traits. Their role is now much more comprehensive and complex than it was only a few years ago, and far more visible. Their arena has broadened considerably to support the marketing of products and services, as well as continually reinforce the image and reputation of the organization as both socially responsible and financially stable.

In my view, the three most important qualities a successful healthcare communications leader must possess would include:

1.    Demonstrating the insights, judgment and interpersonal skills to become a trusted consultant to senior management, ensuring that communications is seen as a function that helps shape corporate strategy, and is not just a tool to announce it.   

2.    Gaining intimate knowledge of the industry and the organization to be able to shape and deliver focused, credible, informative messages that open a conversation with stakeholders, providing education and advocacy that can enable patients to live longer, healthier more productive lives and medical professionals to offer sage, sympathetic and relevant advice.

3.    Having the ability to interpret philosophies, politics, programs, policies of management to the public, converting the science to language that is clear and practical and at the same time interpret community attitudes to management asking the right questions and picking the right battles in achieving set goals.

Saralie Slonsky
Independent consultant

Communications-related strengths
A recent McKinsey survey looked at Leadership Through the Crisis  (McKinsey Quarterly, October 2009) and I found very interesting that among those leadership traits cited as most critical to managing performance through and after the crisis were several I would single out as  strengths in communications – inspiring, recognizing and using emotions, and building connectivity. I would go a step further and say that during these turbulent times the absolute number one requirement of a leader is the ability to communicate effectively  with integrity and candor.

I believe there are six top qualities in a leader in healthcare, all of which, interestingly, link back to those cited in the McKinsey Survey. Leaders in healthcare communications have a number of common characteristics.

1. They are superb at reading their audiences and tailor their communication to the specific needs of this audience. Perhaps not surprisingly, most healthcare communications leaders rank their ability to listen and read their audiences as one of their top leadership skills.  You need to be able to hone in on what audiences are feeling and create an emotional connection. As Maya Angelou has said: “...people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel.”

2. They pride themselves on their ability to listen carefully and ask questions appropriately. Being an effective leader requires a dialogue, not a monologue. An elemental aspect of connecting with your audience is to show that you are listening carefully to what the other side is saying and considering their views.

3. They rely on intuition, balanced by facts and experience.

4. Consensus building is important to them. The health communications leader is inclusive in actions and language.  Consensus building, rather than “my way or the highway”, is an essential skill they have developed over their careers.

5. They are diplomatic, but see candor and directness as essential. The Golden Rule for communicating in a crisis?  Meet an issue head-on, and communicate early, clearly and often. A true leader will not leave room for vagueness and misinterpretation

6. Whether communicating with an industry CEO, a government official, the news media, or other external stakeholders, a leader will strive to break down the walls between “them and us,” getting to know their audiences (one-on-one or in a group setting) as people and communicating accordingly.

The Author
Kate Fodor, Editor, Communiqué