Being a healthcare administrator involves directing a healthcare facility or organization's operations. From meeting with physicians and investors to training staff and monitoring budgets, healthcare administrators carry out a wide range of duties on the job. These responsibilities are all part of improving a facility or organization's efficiency, which can lead to higher-quality care for patients. A healthcare administrator must be a good leader, but how do you accomplish that? Developing the right skills is essential to build a healthcare administration career.
Leadership Skills in Healthcare
From physicians and nurses to healthcare executives and administrators, leadership skills are essential. Some healthcare roles, including healthcare administration, require a greater emphasis on leadership skills than others. As a healthcare leader, you'll be expected to manage staff, implement programs, and make decisions that affect the quality of care patients receive. You might also have other responsibilities, depending on the size of the organization or facility. Building leadership skills is a vital part of handling all these responsibilities.
Why Are Leadership Skills Important to Further Your Career?
As you advance in your healthcare administration career, you’ll take on greater responsibilities, from managing staff and overseeing budgets to making large-scale decisions that impact patient care. Strong leadership skills are essential for handling these demands effectively, demonstrating your ability to guide teams, implement initiatives, and navigate complex healthcare environments. Whether you're aiming for a leadership role or looking to refine your existing skills, continuous development is key to professional growth.
Healthcare administrators often face high-pressure situations, such as staffing shortages, regulatory changes, or unexpected crises. Maintaining efficiency while ensuring quality care requires the ability to think critically, solve problems proactively, and adapt to evolving challenges. Effective leaders also know how to delegate tasks, foster teamwork, and create a supportive workplace culture where employees feel engaged and motivated. By strengthening these leadership qualities, healthcare administrators can confidently manage challenges and drive positive outcomes for both their teams and the patients they serve.
Examples of Leadership Skills for Healthcare Administrators
What are good leadership skills? Although your duties and responsibilities as a healthcare administrator may vary depending on where you work, certain leadership skills always come in handy. The following are some of the skills you should work on developing or improving if you plan to pursue a career in healthcare administration.
1. Integrity
Having integrity as a leader means you're trustworthy and honest. When you have integrity, you're also reliable. Having integrity in leadership means you're willing to admit to mistakes, follow through on commitments, practice what you preach, and improve as a leader.
Real-World Example: A healthcare administrator might discover a billing error that resulted in patients being overcharged for a procedure. Rather than ignoring the issue, they could take a proactive approach by ensuring affected patients receive reimbursements and implementing new billing oversight procedures to prevent future mistakes. By prioritizing transparency and accountability, they help maintain trust among patients and staff.
2. Delegation
You'll have many tasks and responsibilities as a healthcare administrator. Knowing how to delegate tasks helps ensure the company is successful by utilizing the strengths of team members. This involves identifying each team member's strengths and weaknesses, so you can delegate tasks accordingly.
Real-World Example: When overseeing the launch of a new electronic health records (EHR) system, an administrator might recognize that managing every detail alone could be overwhelming. To streamline the process, they could assign project oversight to a tech-savvy team lead while having a clinical representative address medical staff concerns. By leveraging team strengths, the administrator helps ensure a smooth transition while maintaining focus on other essential responsibilities.
3. Communication
Communicating with staff, healthcare providers, executives and other individuals is crucial to being a healthcare leader. Your communication skills should include listening actively when others are speaking and communicating information clearly verbally or in writing.
Real-World Example: During a major policy change regarding patient admissions, an administrator might notice confusion among staff, leading to inconsistent enforcement. To address this, they could schedule a staff-wide meeting to explain the changes, provide written guidelines, and create an open forum for questions. As a result of their efforts to reinforce clarity and keep communication channels open, they help staff feel informed and confident in applying the new policy.
4. Agility
Having agility or flexibility in leadership is important since you'll most likely need to adjust to changing situations. For example, you might need to shift your focus to an urgent matter rather than work on other projects as planned. Being agile means you can do this effectively while ensuring that all the work you're responsible for is completed.
Real-World Example: If an unexpected flu outbreak among staff leads to severe understaffing in critical care units, an administrator might need to quickly adjust resources. This could involve reallocating personnel, calling in temporary staff, and delaying non-urgent procedures to free up resources. By adapting swiftly, they help ensure patient care remains a top priority despite the challenge.
5. Empathy
Having empathy is an essential part of being a good leader. When you have empathy, you can relate to what others are feeling. As a healthcare administrator, you might need to display empathy when handling a conflict between staff members or when coming up with ways to ensure that patients in your organization or facility receive better care.
Real-World Example: A longtime nurse experiencing burnout might approach an administrator about their struggles with long shifts and emotionally demanding cases. Recognizing the impact on both the nurse and overall team morale, the administrator could arrange a private discussion, offer flexible scheduling options, and connect the nurse with mental health resources. Their display of genuine concern helps foster a supportive work environment.
6. Team Building
Leadership means motivating others to cooperate or collaborate to accomplish goals. As a leader, this involves knowing the strengths and weaknesses of all team members, determining the best roles for them, and encouraging them to work together as a team. Doing so is an important part of keeping teams under your care working effectively so that projects and other tasks can be completed.
Real-World Example: If ongoing scheduling conflicts between the radiology and emergency department teams are causing delays in patient imaging, an administrator might step in to improve collaboration. They could facilitate a meeting where both teams voice concerns, implement a shared scheduling system, and recognize joint successes to strengthen teamwork.
7. Critical Thinking
In healthcare administration, you can expect to make decisions that affect the entire organization or facility. You might also need to make judgment calls and handle other complex issues. Critical thinking skills are essential for dealing with large-scale, urgent, or complicated decisions and problems in your workplace.
Real-World Example: When faced with budget cuts, an administrator might need to determine how to reduce costs while minimizing the impact on patient care. To make an informed decision, they could analyze patient data, assess department efficiency, and explore alternative funding sources. Rather than cutting essential services, they might identify administrative cost-saving measures that preserve high-quality care.
8. Decision-Making
Healthcare administrators are responsible for making many decisions as part of the job. This ranges from minor decisions, such as delegating the day's tasks, to major decisions that influence patient care or other aspects of your facility or organization. As a healthcare administrator, you'll need to be skilled at making informed decisions.
Real-World Example: A healthcare administrator considering a new insurance provider partnership might weigh financial benefits against potential limitations on patient treatment options. Before making a final decision, they could consult department heads and legal advisors to assess the impact. Carefully evaluating the risks and benefits helps them work toward a solution that maintains financial stability and patient-centered care.
9. Problem-Solving
Finding solutions to problems or issues is part of healthcare administration. Whether you're handling simple or complex issues, you should have the skills to do so confidently and efficiently.
Real-World Example: If a hospital's patient satisfaction scores decline due to long emergency room wait times, an administrator might investigate the root causes. This could involve reviewing triage inefficiencies, assessing staffing levels, and gathering feedback from frontline staff. To improve the situation, they might implement a new triage system and adjust staffing during peak hours, ultimately enhancing the patient experience.
How to Develop or Improve Your Leadership Skills
Knowing how to improve leadership skills can help ensure you're prepared for a career as a healthcare administrator. How can you work on developing or improving these skills? Use opportunities to put leadership skills into practice, such as working on active listening as part of your communication skill set or focusing on critical thinking when you need to solve a problem or make decisions. Earning a degree in healthcare administration is a highly effective way to ensure you have the skills required for this career. These degree programs provide many opportunities to learn and develop leadership skills.
Earn Your Healthcare Administration Degree at CHCP
You have two options to become a healthcare administrator through The College of Health Care Professions. CHCP offers an online and in-person Health and Medical Administrative Services (HMAS) Associate Degree to help you learn the competencies and skills needed for a healthcare administrator career. This online or in-person associate degree program takes as few as 32 weeks to complete. During the HMAS program, you'll have the opportunity to take classes in human resources management, business communications, report writing, principles of management and leadership, communication skills, and more. Studying the foundations of business, psychology, and management principles will help you develop the knowledge and leadership skills you'll need to be a healthcare administrator.
If you would like more information on our Associate of Applied Science in Health and Medical Administrative Services Degree Program, please contact CHCP. We offer this accelerated program for those who have already completed a healthcare certificate from CHCP or an accredited university or college.
