Josie Walsh, Providence Healthcare

Josie Walsh is the CEO of the Providence Healthcare. In 2001, she was the vice president (VP) and an executive nurse 13 years ago prior to her appointment as a CEO (Reddin, 2015). The case study portrays her as a stable leader doing her job in accordance with the requirements of the Providence Healthcare’s needs. Walsh exercises accountability, courage, teamwork, integrity and listens to employees and other stakeholders’ opinions, such as directors, donors, media, government, community, and the senior management team. The Providence Healthcare offers annual awards and promotes the values of the patients.

There are, however, difficulties faced by this company. These obstacles include the financial crisis that was experienced in 2008, trust and budget issues, staff screening and pensions schemes, and the closure of the patients’ care units (Reddin, 2015). The mission of the Providence Health Care is looking after the needs of the poor and the homeless and providing compassionate care, hope and healing for the poor (Reddin, 2015). Josie as the CEO of the Providence Healthcare is exercising value-based leadership. This type of leadership agrees with the requirements of the healthcare practice and the needs of the patients. Given the new approaches that the healthcare sector has been experiencing during Josie Walsh’s leadership, the value-based approach would ensure that the company managed to provide services of acceptable quality. This paper addresses the leadership styles of Josie Walsh and their effectiveness.

In the attempt of implementing the Transformation by Design, Josie Walsh employed several strategies to ensure success. This project began a year after the financial crisis of 2008. Through the dialogue amongst the stakeholders, the need to develop Transformation by Design was recommended by the panel. It was aimed at increasing the patient flow and the cost-effectiveness of the services. It also aimed to portray democracy and enhance catering for the needs of every stakeholder involved. The Transformation by Design project was initiated in 2009, designed and piloted in 2010 and implement in 2012-2014 (Reddin, 2015).

There two leadership concepts and practices that are evident in this case study are transformational and servant leadership. Transformational leadership style involves personality traits that are aimed at motivating employees to elevate their productivity in an exceedingly greater measure and going beyond personal issues to realize a positive change in the organization. In this case study, one of the requirements that would enable the implementation of the Transformation by Design project was enhancing the patient flow in the health care sector. Walsh as a leader mobilized her team psychologically to adjust to the needs of the Providence Healthcare at that time. Patients were to be moved from acute care and taken to rehab centers to lower the amount of the costly alternative level of care. This procedure necessitated the creation of a patient flow model. Walsh asked her team members to figure out the impacts and benefits of the ideal care. This suggestion was a way of mobilizing her employees and other stakeholders to perform extraordinarily for the betterment of the organization’s image.

Secondly, Walsh is portrayed as a servant leader who serves the needs of her employees. In this context, she is an emotionally intelligent leader who determines the standards that need to be met in the organization. In her attempt to promote ethical principles in the working environment, Walsh stimulates her employees to perform beyond their abilities to ensure the success of the organization. As evident from the case study, she proposed a care model that would serve the requirements of the patients, employees and other stakeholders of the Providence Healthcare. Her model proved effective and was thus was adopted by other healthcare organizations across the country. This project was initiated by Josie Walsh to serve her professional followers. As a servant leader, she was in a position to set standards for the organization throughout the project.  

In order to effectively apply transformational and servant leadership concepts and practices, relevant knowledge and skills are needed. This knowledge must be developed before the execution of the abovementioned leadership styles. For this reason, the understating and the adoption of the leadership competencies are essential. For transformational and servant leadership, however, cognitive and emotional intelligence is vital. Cognitive competencies involve problem-solving knowledge, technical skills, and creativity. These capabilities are important, especially for a leader managing employees and at the same time developing the strategic project. In emotional competency, however, a servant leader needs to be equipped with emotional intelligence, such as tact and intelligence. For example, one should read literature to ensure the possession of the relevant knowledge when working with diverse people. Similarly, these cultural capabilities are essential for a servant leader. One should employ leadership behavior to obtain these competencies, for instance, by investigating and employing task-oriented and people-oriented conduct. Task-oriented behavior involves organizing employees and other stakeholders by creating awareness about the importance of decent performance in the organization. A people-oriented approach, however, encompasses understanding employees and mobilizing them to realize high productivity. These two practices will ensure growth and  productivity. However, it is critical to note that these two process can be attained when the stakeholders acknowledge the importance of teamwork. In essence, in the working process, it is vital to involve the staff and give them an opportunity to exercise their skills. Moreover, as a leader, one should introduce team-building activities into the organization. It can be done by taking the staff for a retreat where they will get involved in various games that will make them appreciate one another.

All in all, leadership skills and styles are important for the success of the organization. The correct choice of leadership type can guarantee the implementation of the right strategies necessary for teamwork and the motivation of the workers. These effects are closely related to the job performance of the followers. Josie Walsh has applied transformational and servant leadership practices in the management of the Providence Healthcare. The results are reflected in the adoption of her Transformation by Design project by other healthcare organizations. Therefore, at the personal level, one should utilize cognitive and emotional competencies to achieve the leadership efficacy of Josie Walsh. Above all, it is important to orient the employees through successive strategies and to clarify the goals of the organization in order to achieve success.

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