STAND APART

Healthcare organizations often approach management much like patient care: swiftly identifying symptoms, diagnosing problems, and developing a treatment plan or solution. While this technique works for day-to-day operations, it falls short when it comes to evaluating organizational well-being and planning for long-term growth. To create successful strategic plans, healthcare leaders must adopt a broader perspective — one that balances service delivery with sound business strategies.

This course introduces several proven frameworks to help you build a strategic plan that aligns with your organizational mission and vision. You will map your organization's position by evaluating internal strengths and weaknesses, analyzing external opportunities and threats, and categorizing products and services. By collecting and interpreting the right data, you'll be empowered to set organizational priorities, identify growth opportunities, and ensure your strategic plan drives both profitability and long-term success.

Strategic planning can set the course for organizational success, but many healthcare groups struggle to implement their plans effectively. Common issues, like unclear accountability, lack of measurable outcomes, or inadequate reporting, can stall even the best ideas. To overcome these barriers, leaders must create strategic plans that translate vision into action.

In this course, you will apply organizational insights to develop a comprehensive and actionable strategic plan. You'll begin the course by preparing for a strategic planning retreat, including identifying key stakeholders, collecting data, and crafting an agenda. From there, you'll establish clear organizational goals and strategies while determining the who, what, when, and how for achieving them. Finally, you'll explore how to monitor progress, report on outcomes, and refine strategies to keep your plan aligned with the organization's mission and values.

What is process thinking? How can it help you improve your healthcare organization?

In this course, you'll explore the concept of process thinking and access several reusable tools to help you develop and improve processes at your organization. You'll examine how to spot what's wrong in a process and determine solutions to those problems.

The ability to make effective and timely decisions is an essential skill for successful executives. Mastery of this skill influences all aspects of day-to-day operations as well as strategic planning. In this course, developed by Professor Robert Bloomfield, Ph.D. of Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management, you will hone your decision-making skills by following a methodology based on tested actions and sound organizational approaches. You will leave this course better equipped to confidently tackle any decision large or small, and you'll do so in a way that creates the optimal conditions for success.

Change is inevitable in healthcare, bringing challenges that test a leader's ability to inspire teams and navigate transitions effectively. With the right strategies, leaders can turn these moments into opportunities for growth and long-term organizational success. By addressing change at the individual, departmental, and organizational levels, they can ensure alignment and momentum through even the most complex transitions.

In this course, you will approach change with a structured and strategic mindset. You'll begin by identifying the internal and external drivers of change and classifying their impact across individual roles, departmental workflows, and organizational systems. You'll also explore how to communicate effectively throughout the phases of change, reducing resistance and building trust at every step. Through the development of a comprehensive change management plan, you'll gain the tools to guide your team through transitions and embed lasting improvements into your organization's culture.

How can you ensure your organization is providing a service that meets the expectations of both patients and guests? Are there ways your organization could improve customer satisfaction while reducing costs?

In this course, you'll explore how to measure quality and diagnose what's causing issues with quality in your organization. You'll also explore methods for improving processes while maintaining quality at your organization.

Symposium sessions feature two days of live, highly interactive virtual Zoom sessions that will explore today's most pressing topics. The Leadership Symposium offers you a unique opportunity to engage in real-time conversations with peers and experts from the Cornell community and beyond. Using the context of your own experiences, you will take part in reflections and small-group discussions to build on the skills and knowledge you have gained from your courses.

Join us for the next Symposium in which we'll discuss the ways that leaders across industries have continued engaging their teams over the past two years while pivoting in strategic ways. You will support your coursework by applying your knowledge and experiences to relevant topics for leaders. Throughout this Symposium, you will examine different areas of leadership, including the psychology of leadership; women in leadership; and leading in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world. By participating in relevant and engaging discussions, you will discover a variety of perspectives and build connections with your fellow participants from various industries.

All sessions are held on Zoom.

Future dates are subject to change. You may participate in as many sessions as you wish. Attending Symposium sessions is not required to successfully complete any certificate program. Once enrolled in your courses, you will receive information about upcoming events. Accessibility accommodations will be available upon request. For future reference, download our Symposium course flyer.