The Learning Edge for Healthcare Strategists BRIDGING WORLDS THE FUTURE ROLE OF THE HEALTHCARE STRATEGIST SECOND EDITION Dear Colleague: I am pleased to share with you the second edition of Bridging Worlds, just released by The Society for Healthcare Strategy & Market Development (SHSMD), a professional membership group of the American Hospital Association. This report includes fresh input from recent leadership interviews, updates to the evolving healthcare landscape, new strategic opportunities, case examples, and refinements to the strategic implications, skills, and attributes for strategy professionals. SHSMD first released Bridging Worlds: The Future Role of the Healthcare Strategist in 2014 to help strategy professionals and other healthcare leaders navigate their organizations through radical transformation. Bridging Worlds identified the attributes and skills needed for future success, and was distributed to thousands of healthcare strategy leaders across the country, including CEOs, strategic planners, business developers, marketers, communicators, and physician strategists. It received wide acclaim and served as the genesis for SHSMD ADVANCE™, a comprehensive roadmap for skill development. Since its inception in 2016, SHSMD ADVANCE has resulted in hundreds of self- assessments and targeted educational activities to grow individual and team skill sets, helping to shape our future workforce. This latest edition is a valuable tool for any healthcare strategy leader serving as a change agent or leading innovative organizational transformation. Please share this resource with your colleagues. The electronic version is available at no cost at shsmd.org/BridgingWorlds. To purchase print copies, or for information on SHSMD ADVANCE or other related resources, please contact SHSMD at [email protected]. SHSMD invites your questions, comments, and ideas as you begin to read and use this document to drive change in your organization. Please share them at: shsmd.org/BridgingWorldsSurvey. Sincerely, Rick Pollack President and CEO American Hospital Association Executive SUMMARY iii Healthcare continues to undergo radical The emerging role of the transformation, and the rate of change is accelerating across every type of healthcare strategist is organization in the field. Politics and multifaceted; strategists legislation, technical and scientific developments, and shifts in consumer serve as agents of change, thinking and expectations are creating recognizing what needs to greater uncertainty, clouding one’s ability to clearly see the future for hospitals, be done to transform their health systems, and other organizations. organizations and prepare for Strategic thinking is not the domain of the future. any one particular individual or discipline. Rather, it is a critical skill for all healthcare leaders. Healthcare strategists—including Healthcare strategists must add planners, marketers, communicators, increasingly greater value to their physician strategists, and business organizations, to broaden the impact of developers—play a central role in their roles, and to shape the future of helping their organizations manage our field. the constant and complex forces of Bridging Worlds: The Future Role of the Healthcare change to both shape and successfully Strategist was first published in 2014 to help execute the strategic vision. Regardless strategy professionals successfully navigate their of title or role, the future belongs to organizations through turbulent times with the those who are able to discover, plan for, specific toolkit of skills and attributes necessary communicate, and adapt to the evolving for future success. The report resonated not only healthcare landscape. with SHSMD members, but was met with a positive SHSMD | BRIDGING WORLDS iv response from healthcare leaders across the • Updated synthesis of critical emerging trends nation. Thousands of copies were requested and impacting the healthcare landscape downloaded from the SHSMD website. This report • Reconstructed implications for the strategist hit a chord for SHSMD members and interested with relatable applications parties throughout healthcare seeking the best way to position themselves and their organizations for • Refreshed skills and behavioral attributes key to success in the years ahead. the strategist’s role In the three years since Bridging Worlds was • Examples of how individuals and organizations released, SHSMD has heard from numerous are using Bridging Worlds to help close skill organizations that have embraced these uncertain gaps and strengthen strategic performance times and internalized the report’s key insights • Expanded resources and case studies available and implications to translate the concepts into at shsmd.org. significant transformations. In the new edition of the report, you will find a sampling of stories from these teams, highlighting how they have increased their resiliency and adaptation, redefined “What do I say to my CEO competencies, created new roles, and adopted lessons from other industries. They have applied colleagues? This report is Bridging Words concepts—such as agile strategy, worth a read. There is a lot rapid prototyping, and co-opetition—to their work and have achieved significant results. in there that will be helpful to us all as we strive to lead This update to Bridging Worlds incorporates fresh input from new leadership interviews, review of our organizations.” current trends, new case studies and examples, and – James Skogsbergh refinements and validation from sounding boards. It President and Chief Executive Officer, has brought more clarity and definition to many of Advocate Health Care, the concepts to support action and usability. In the Past Chairman, American Hospital second edition of Bridging Worlds, you will find: Association Board of Trustees SHSMD | BRIDGING WORLDS v A notable addition since the initial release of This body of work is intended to inspire discussion Bridging Worlds is SHSMD ADVANCE™, a and debate among healthcare leaders. It should comprehensive roadmap for career and team serve as a discussion guide, rather than a development. This companion to Bridging Worlds prescriptive recipe for healthcare strategy. has three components, which are designed to help you, your team, and your organization enhance Bridging Worlds paints a vision of how the role of strategic performance. the strategist is evolving. Recognizing the scale of organizational types and sizes, SHSMD intentionally • SHSMD ADVANCE™ | Assess is a 15-minute, makes no recommendations on a preferred online self-assessment of over 60 skills approach. Rather, the society suggests paying and attributes to identify strengths and more attention to the implications, skills, and tools gaps, and generate a personalized online that healthcare strategists will need. development plan. • SHSMD ADVANCE™ | Skill Builder contains a library of over 500 articles, books, courses, and tools tailored to the self-assessment results. “Now, we’re driving how • SHSMD ADVANCE | Credentials is a selection we design our services and of intensive certificate courses available to you systems around the patient, and your team. around the family, and around A Look Inside the Second Edition While written primarily for senior leaders and the community. That’s new to strategists, this report is relevant to anyone who healthcare, frankly.” contributes to the development or deployment – David Brooks of healthcare strategy in any form. Whether President and Chief Executive Officer, discovering ways to differentiate and focus, or St. Joseph Mercy Health shaping the future of an organization more globally, Ann Arbor and Livingston Hospitals the practice of strategy is universal, though the application of strategy may vary by discipline. SHSMD | BRIDGING WORLDS vi The updated report begins with an overview of Finally, Bridging Worlds offers roadmaps of the the emerging healthcare landscape and articulates skills, attributes, and tools that will help prepare significant forces that characterize the changing healthcare strategists to face the future head-on. environment today. It discusses five implications These lists are intentionally provocative. Many and 18 key takeaways for the healthcare strategist. technical skills and areas of knowledge that are Collectively, the implications and takeaways form considered a baseline expectation—including a point of view on the future role of healthcare business, financial, and technology acumen; strategy. Here is a summary of Bridging Worlds communication skills; and project management— implications, which are explored in depth in the are not included. Instead, the report sets an complete report. aspiration for the additional behavioral qualities and advanced skills healthcare leaders need Be Nimble to Exceed the Rate of Change: for success, both now and in the future. They Healthcare strategists need to evolve as fast as are intended to challenge and inspire strategy their environment. They must frame problems, ask professionals to take the next step in their provocative questions, and move the organization development and knowledge. to action. Create Consumer Experiences. Tell Powerful Stories: Understanding needs and motivations “Healthcare is highly is key to influencing consumer behavior through stories and experiences. consolidated and competitive. We are looking for a Integrate and Co-create: Healthcare strategists must facilitate conversations within multilayered competitive advantage every and complex organizations,