Keys to Strategic Leadership During COVID Pandemic and Beyond

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it some important leadership lessons, according to Melissa Welch, MD, MPH, chief medical officer of InnovAge. “The current situation has reinforced what I know is important: [You need] to be very clear about why you do what you do as a leader—your purpose, as well as your ability to be calm and agile and to model that under duress,” she says.  “COVID has brought a unique flavor to test leadership. When you are faced with something like this, you can’t be distracted and manage it in a vacuum.” Dr. Welch and several other speakers will address this and much more during the AMDA webinar—Strategic Leadership for Collaborative Engagement of Interdisciplinary Teams in Care, Quality and Resource Management – Lessons Learned from PACE—set for June 10 at 2:00 PM ET.

The webinar will present a framework for a strategic vision of clinical care, as well as approaches for collaborative engagement of interdisciplinary provider teams. The speakers will share learning from PACE programs to help leaders define care strategies based on their organizational structure, and practical applications to meet short-term needs to drive changes in care and quality programs while considering the long-term needs of the organization. Participants will learn ways to successfully engage/communicate with providers across multiple sites; how to use aligned tools/approaches to support resource management; and the use of committees, champions, and dyad leadership to drive short-term change for sustainable long-term growth.

Dr. Welch notes that leadership during a crisis (such as a pandemic) is never easy. “Young leaders can get frightened and stymied, and they can freeze. Even seasoned leaders can be challenged.” However, she stresses, “Your team needs you. As a leader, you have to pocket your fears and engage with peers to help you.” While it is important for leaders to model confidence, Dr. Welch observes that it is also necessary to acknowledge that this is a “scary” situation. Then, she says, “We need to reaffirm that we will help them through this and that we all have work to do.”

Change is constant, Dr. Welch suggests, so leaders need to be able to embrace this, be agile, and be prepared to pivot as necessary. “You need to be able to make major and minor tweaks and adapt quickly,” she notes. “You need the right people in the right roles; and you need to provide them with the tools to help them work through change.” Communicating effectively is an important part of that, she says: “You need a forum to get and keep people on the same page and with a shared vision of the future. When you communicate regularly with the team, they are better prepared to deal with change.”

Now more than ever, Dr. Welch says, “People understand the impact of sustainable leadership and team engagement. We need to be able to lead our people through calm and rough waters alike. These are the basic premises about how leaders can drive success in ways that don’t alienate team members; instead, we need to encourage achievement and make it fun.”

Clinicians and others don’t have to be CEOs or CMOs to be influential leaders. Dr. Welch says, “I tell my team: You can lead from where you are. Do your job and do it well. Be accountable. Be at the top of your game. Do this, and you’ll get results.”

Dr. Welch looks forward to sharing some experiences and best practices on strategic leadership during these challenging times. She says, “I hope participants go away from the program with a plan for how they can become better leaders and influence others to get results. I hope they feel more confident about their ability to engage teams across different locations while keeping everyone moving in the same direction.”

As always, this webinar is free to AMDA members. Click here to register or for more information.