People Skills Are Key To Success For New Healthcare Financial Managers

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September 10, 2003

Healthcare financial management is a demanding profession, especially for those new to the field. In a high-pressure, around-the-clock environment, they must interact effectively with a diverse and sometimes demanding workforce.

How does someone new to the field succeed? We posed that question to an executive recruiter, a management scholar, and an early careerist. The response was clear and consistent: strong people skills are key to being an effective healthcare financial manager.

"If you had only one competency to develop, it would be communication skills -- period," says J. Larry Tyler, FHFMA, president of the healthcare executive search firm Tyler and Company and author of a book on healthcare careers. "Without good communication, you never can rise above technician." These skills include writing (especially important in the era of e-mail), listening (especially important in dealing with physicians), and presenting to groups (the more you advance, the more public speaking skills you'll need.)

Good communication skills lead to successful relationships with coworkers, according to Tony Kovner, PhD, professor of public and health management at New York University's Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and author of several books on healthcare management. "The most important competency for early careerists is managing yourself in your relations with others," Kovner says. "All the technical expertise in the world isn't going to help you if your superior, peer, or subordinate doesn't like what you say or how you say it."

Another aspect of the importance of relations with coworkers is pointed out by early careerist Miccole Bowen, patient accounts supervisor at St. Luke's Hospital of Kansas City. Bowen has been in healthcare financial management for three years. "A challenge I see new careerists face is gaining from and adjusting to the generational and background differences among those we work with every day. As a new healthcare manager, I am learning invaluable skills from my coworkers (both fellow managers and the employees who report to us), as well as from my mentors in HFMA. I'm constantly trying to take what I learn from those who are different from me and incorporate it into my own personal management style to benefit my employer and my employees."

Improving Your Skills

How can an early careerist succeed today and in the future? Although everyone's circumstances differ, the following tips are useful for most beginning professionals:

Act on information about your performance. According to Tyler, 360-degree assessments (also called multisource assessments) are the best source of information about your strengths and weaknesses as a manager. In the absence of 360-degree assessments, you can get valuable insights from your performance evaluation or simply by amegflan colleagues to help you identify opportunities for improvement. Then, seek out training to address those points.
Put yourself in your colleagues' shoes. Try to understand your coworkers' expectations -- including those of your boss, staff, and peers. If you were in their shoes, what kind of support would you need? When would you appreciate a pat on the back? What constraints are they working under that you need to understand? Once you have determined the expectations, try to exceed them.
Establish a relationship with a mentor. A formal relationship with a professional advisor can help an early careerist build core skills and identify ways to meet specific challenges. A relationship with a mentor should be structured to include regular, substantive interaction.
Assess how you spend your time. Your time is your most valuable commodity. "Analyze how you spend your time for a typical two-week period," suggests Kovner, "then decide which kinds of activities you want or need to spend more or less time on. Don't forget to schedule some uninterrupted blocks of time during the week or month for important planning and other creative work."
Get timely, practical information. Identify one or two dependable sources of concise, timely information specific to your discipline -- preferably ones that allow you to scan key topics and selectively drill down for more detailed information. Also, identify a few dependable sources of more in-depth, practical information to help you build knowledge of key business processes.

Ultimately, success in healthcare finance means being devoted to the mission of health care -- helping people. HFMA chairman David Canfield, FHFMA, summarizes this point well: "Healthcare finance is a hard job. You have to love being able to help a facility solve problems. The people working in hospitals are caring people. That's what health care is all about."

SOURCE:

Written by Robert Fromberg, HFMA editor-in-chief.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

"Achieving Strategic Goals Requires Performance-Focused Training," HFMA Wants You to Know July 16, 2003.
"Writing Tips for Healthcare Finance Professionals," HFMA Wants You to Know, August 28, 2002
"HFMA Identifies Critical Competencies for Professional Success," HFMA Wants You to Know, August 29, 2001.
A Handbook for Professional Advisors, an HFMA Career Development Service.
A Handbook for Those Who Wish to be Advised, an HFMA Career Development Service.
HFMA Self-Assessment Program
HFMA Publications

If you have questions or comments about HFMA Wants You to Know, contact editor Laura Noble.

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