Please allow me to provide you with a little background on who we are. Frederick Health Employer Solutions has three Occupational Health Practices that are led by our Medical Director, Stephan C.B. Mann MD MPH, and by me as the Operations Manager. Dr. Mann’s expertise is clinical and in providing quality patient care, staying current with medical guidelines, and government regulations such as OSHA, DOT, etc., as well as extensive experience managing other medical caregivers. My expertise is in leadership, management, business development, and business operations. For us, working together to combine our areas of expertise has proven invaluable.
Here’s why
Dyad leadership has been an interesting concept and one that deserves a conversation. First, let’s start by asking the question, what is the dyad leadership model? An oversimplified definition of the dyad leadership model is taking two individuals with significantly different backgrounds and partnering with them to work together to achieve the shared operational goals for the overall success of the medical practice. The physician is responsible for all processes related to patient care, including clinical protocols, appropriate billing codes, referrals, etc. The administrator is responsible for practice leadership, budget, and day-to-day operations. The dyad leadership typically consists of a physician and a non-physician leader.
Dr. Mann and I have worked together for the past 7 years. We started our dyad relationship much like any new relationship, which was by first getting to know one another.
After all, that is the first step in any successful relationship, right? Sounds way too simple…that’s because it is! All you need to do is sit down with your dyad partner routinely, have many conversations, and have many disagreements, which over time you will have many victories that will result in the development of a relationship of mutual trust and respect. Trust and respect are critical if you have any chance of a partnering relationship working. The major benefit from this relationship is that we can successfully serve the business community and their employees in the most cost-effective and appropriate manner.
Want to hear something funny? Dr. Mann and I often disagree with one another. Yes, I said that we often disagree. In fact, it can sometimes get downright ugly. However, that is what makes this relationship work so perfectly. I often refer to Abe Lincoln and the team of rivals. In a nutshell, President Lincoln purposefully put people who opposed him in his cabinet. By doing this they were able to accomplish much more by viewing each situation from very different perspectives. This allowed them to come up with viable solutions and offered more depth and understanding for everyone. This is not unlike the dyad leadership model. Dr. Mann and I can be completely transparent in our communications as we collaborate to understand how best to provide solutions for the betterment of our practices.
For us, the benefits of working in the dyad model are that we decrease potential administrative silos from forming. There are no major decisions made without first communicating and receiving input from the other party. Gathering information from both the physician and non-physician side when critical decisions need to be made allows us to quickly deliver important information to all individuals or companies that need that information. Effective communication has been a huge factor in our successful relationship.
I want to provide an example of how the dyad relationship has worked for us. Recall the early days of the COVID-19 Pandemic. We will never forget the uncertainty, the fear, and the confusing information reported daily that we had to interpret and decipher. There were medical and non-medical issues, that were confusing and scary. We all had to spring into action to start providing solutions, especially in the occupational health world.
The business community counted on us to provide them with the answers that would keep their employees healthy and safe. As the news of the COVID-19 pandemic grew, so did the conversations with our team. We met several times per day to provide COVID-19 updates and had multiple conversations that allowed us to quickly develop a plan of action to keep our staff and the businesses we serve informed, educated, and calm, and to provide them with the services they needed. We didn’t have time to think, we just had to act quickly. The dyad relationship worked during these challenging times by adding a sense of security knowing that you are not alone in your decision making and reinforcing the trust and respect that I’ve mentioned several times. The relationship that we have developed has proven invaluable.
The number one benefit of this relationship is that together, we continue to bring value to those we serve.
So, how do you know if this dyad relationship is right for you? Excellent question. There are varying forms of leadership models between administrators and physicians. Some practices prefer to keep the business/administrative side of healthcare operations separate from the clinical side, while others prefer to combine the two. There is no right or wrong style; it’s just figuring out what works for you. My suggestion is to sit down with your team and have a conversation. If you and your potential dyad partner can focus on the bigger picture collaboratively as opposed to focusing only on their specific areas of expertise, then I recommend you take a deeper dive into the dyad leadership model. It just might work for you!
