Teams need clarity in order to function. Without clear leadership or a shared goal, people can feel unheard and undervalued. This is all the more critical in a hospital setting where patients also need to be heard and valued.

Dr Tim Arnold is a family medicine physician in Northern Minnesota, with 22 years of experience delivering babies, providing care in the ICU, emergency room, clinic, and hospital.

Liz Dean worked for 20 years with Tim at the same organisation, focusing on business development and innovation. Now, she helps leaders in healthcare schools and businesses improve their skills and optimise for greater success.

Takeaways from Pia and Dan

• Titles are intriguing but can create issues when they are used to create deferential ranks. Calling Tim by his first name removes a critical barrier without undermining the important work he does involving people's lives and sickness.
• Removing rank can simplify things and lead to more authentic human relationships.
• Organisations are flattening their structures and finding new approaches to work. Consequently, the fixation on titles is decreasing.
• A title can be a form of acknowledgment for our work, but it doesn't necessarily indicate our leadership skills. Genuine leadership is more about relating to people and inspiring them to follow.
• We don’t always have control over our environment. But we can control the way we relate to people and collectively think through problems.
• When we don't know enough to understand the result of our actions, we end up with complexity and chaos. We must get multiple perspectives, and forget about finding a perfect answer.

Links

• Connect with Tim on LinkedIn
• Connect with Liz on LinkedIn
• Cynefin framework
• Leave us a voice message