Important Skills to Develop as a Health Sector Leader
When the Covid pandemic hit, it brought along with it a sudden realization that to inspire and lead healthcare employees through such uncertain times, effective healthcare leadership is required. Setting a good example for your unit to follow is a sign of outstanding leadership. To be respected at work, a leader must “walk the walk” and set a good example. A leader needs courage, teamwork, dedication to the workforce and the healthcare system, and the drive to win to be a resilient leader in today’s healthcare climate. But the question remained, how do you communicate with your direct reports as a leader?
This is where people like LaMar Hasbrouck come in. Hasbrouck is a renowned physician, a medical epidemiologist with CDC training, and a leader in the field of health. He served as the National Association of County and City Health Officials’ former executive director; therefore, you may recognize him from that position. As a chosen member of the Epidemic Intelligence Service of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), he started his career in 1998. He served as the CDC’s Chief of the Party in Guyana, a country in South America, in 2007.
In a moment of need, Hasbrouck rose to the challenge and provided advice on concerns relating to returning safely to work during pandemic to many Fortune 500 companies. He wrote COVID Bytes: Naked Musings of a Disease Detective (2022), which encoded the health dangers and the public health response to address them, after realizing the need to better inform the public.
Hasbrouck believes that leaders are not born but built through practice, study, and self-critique. With this mindset, he has developed his leadership abilities in various home and foreign settings. He has held executive positions in the Middle East, Africa, and South America linked to health. He recently returned from a two-year consulting assignment in Saudi Arabia, demonstrating how leadership principles may be used in various cultural contexts.
He believes that strong health leaders are required after the pandemic to help communities, schools, and local authorities collaborate on a plan to combat the health epidemic and be ready if any other such situation comes up. Furthermore, a leader’s vocal or nonverbal contacts with the team have the power to alter their mental trajectory. The disciples will adopt the same principles if the leader demonstrates concern and sympathy for a team member. A leader in a crisis must be self-aware to control their emotions as the situation changes. A team needs a leader that can relate to them with empathy, compassion, and understanding.
Hasbrouck holds that a leader in the health system must constantly work to create a culture of respect to draw in and keep top talent and make the most of an impact on all of their efforts, for that is the way forward.