Bay Area Medical Center Case Study

Case Study

Bay Area Medical Center (BAMC) found themselves in a crisis, the community, staff, funders, and patience had no confidence in the health care organization to deliver quality care.  The lack of confidence and mistrust opened the door for competition to come in and provide health care services which would have left BAMC financially devastated.  In 1999, Debra Sukin was hired as the new President/CEO and was tasked with transforming BAMC and restoring faith in the organization and (Olson, nd).

Leadership Strategies

Debra Sukin stepped up to the challenge of leading BAMC out of the precarious situation by being flexible, and adapting her style of leadership to communicate effectively with the staff, board, and community.  Her strategy was to immediately work to bridge the communication gaps with the medical staff, community and local county boards (Olson, nd).  She used different communication strategies for each group which showed her ability to be flexible and adapt to different situations, for example she used monthly reports to the local county board to demonstrate the progress being made.  Situational leaders combine a range of managerial styles to accommodate different stakeholders (May, nd).  

Transformational leaders provide change and help to alter existing infrastructures and influence people to a new vision and possibility (Tucker & Russell, 2004).  As a transformational leader Sukin developed a connection with different stakeholders and engaged them in her efforts. In leading changes within BAMC she orchestrated a collaborative strategic planning process to help gain buy-in and trust for the change.  By engaging a broad spectrum of stakeholders in the process she helped influence people’s attitude about the change which helped the chances of it succeeding.  Her strategy of transparency and inclusiveness helped propel BAMC into a successful organization realizing their goal of creating a successful and responsive health care organization.

Olson (nd) started this article with the question “are great leaders born or are they made”; he theorizes that they are both and that successful organizational transformation takes a strong leader who demonstrates the qualities of a great leader (pg. 30). To be a great leader you have to be trustworthy; knowledgeable; committed; competent; have high expectations; stay mission focused, take care with all of your stakeholders; and stay ahead of the game (Olson, nd).  With this in mind other organizations can implement the same successful change as successful.  The first step is employing a “great leader” to lead the organization.