Several years ago, Dan Johnson, Pastor of Good Samaritan United
Methodist Church in Edina shared with me an enigma that Pastors’ face. They go
to school and get their degree in theology and then get assigned to a church.
Their education has been very thorough on religious subjects but nothing on
business and now they are faced with managing a fairly large business. Dan
started a Leadership Academy for Ministers in which he arranged for leaders
from industry come in and present subjects in their area of expertise. These
classes were filled to capacity with Ministers from around the state eager to
learn.
Dan recognized and filled one of societies unmet needs. A similar
need undoubtedly exists for doctors, lawyers, accountants, veterinarians, and
other professionals. They enthusiastically pursue an education in their field
of interest, which does not include classes on leadership and management of a
business.
Doctors, for example, are drawn to health care because they want to
dedicate their life’s work on doing something good, helping patients. Altruism
is key to their makeup and they cannot succeed as physicians without it. They
value their independence but medicine is seeing an explosion of knowledge, is
increasingly complex, and requires increasing numbers of specialists in narrow
fields, therefore creating the need to work in teams in clinics and hospitals.
Choices for top management or administers of clinics and hospitals can be of
two types-professional managers without a degree in medicine who face the
constant lack of respect by doctors because of the lack of understanding of
medicine, or doctors who lack education in how to manage a business.
Heading the management team in healthcare is difficult because of
the idealistic nature of the people that it attracts who value their autonomy.
Healthcare leaders need to work carefully to develop a shared vision of the
future state of the organization and then get all involved in identifying the
necessary steps to achieve that vision. How to do that takes education and
training.
A classmate of mine at Pepperdine University of Los Angeles was a
sharecropper’s daughter who made her way up through a medical degree and a
promising career as a family doctor. She decided she was going to open a clinic
in Watts, a poorer section of Los Angeles, but recognized her shortcomings in
running a business. She enrolled in an executive program for a Masters Degree in Business Administration in
order to enhance her chances of success. This entailed 25-30 hours per week for
two years of study and classes in addition to her medical practice, but she did
it. That takes extraordinary
dedication.
Similar scenarios exist for lawyers, accountants, and other
professionals. Forward thinking educational institutions will imbed basic
business courses in their curricula but there will be an additional need for
training by consultants and specialized schools at the time needed. If the need
is exposed, it will be filled but the real dilemma may be for the new leaders
of professional groups to realize they are missing something in their
education.
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