Dr. Lee posed three critical questions for leaders to consider, which help in evaluating the alignment between an organization’s values and its day-to-day operations:
- What are your organizational values?
- What are your behavioral norms that reflect these values?
- What mechanisms enforce these norms?
He emphasized the importance of these questions by saying, “In the challenging times in which we work, these second and third questions are critical.”
The Current Healthcare Landscape
The healthcare sector faces unprecedented challenges, described by Dr. Lee as “tremendous challenges in everything, everywhere, all at once.” He discussed the competitive pressures identified by Michael Porter, including increased consolidation and the emergence of new players which intensify competition. Dr. Lee shared that “wherever you’re making a margin, there is someone coming after it now, and that is intense.”
Strategic Antidote to Competition
Echoing Porter’s views, Dr. Lee advocated for strategic thinking as the essential response to these competitive forces. “Strategy has to be the antidote to competition,” he noted, emphasizing the distinction between operational effectiveness and strategic clarity. The real strategic decisions come down to understanding “What value are you creating for whom and how are you going to be different?”
Empirical Support for Social Capital
Dr. Lee presented data linking the perception of respect within organizations to patient care outcomes. “We find consistently that there is such a thing as a human experience…and it has a return on investment in every type of performance that we value,” he explained. This evidence supports the tangible benefits of fostering strong, respectful relationships across healthcare organizations.
Building and Levering Social Capital
Dr. Lee described the process of building social capital as involving the creation and strengthening of connections across an organization, and then ensuring these connections transmit the right values. “It takes discipline to build connections with everyone, to make them strong and meaningful, and then to transmit the right values across those connections,” he articulated.
Role of Leaders as CFOs of Social Capital
In conclusion, Dr. Lee urged healthcare leaders to adopt the rigorous and disciplined approach of CFOs in managing social capital. He believes that just as CFOs strategically manage financial resources, healthcare leaders should “strengthen the connections among the nodes in the network” and implement measures to foster a robust organizational culture.
Dr. Tom Lee urged healthcare leaders to prioritize and cultivate social capital with the same rigor as financial capital, recognizing it as a critical resource in navigating the future of health. This strategic focus on social capital, he argues, is essential for enhancing both employee satisfaction and patient care outcomes.
