Quoteworthy
What I love as a leader is the direct interactions I get to have with my staff members. I’ve learned a lot working with people who are compassionate and kind. All of us want to do what’s right, valuing every single individual we encounter, whether they’re patients or co-workers.
Tracy Farley

Most Recent
Five Ways to Practice Trauma-informed Leadership

We are surrounded by trauma—from patients, to coworkers, to our own experiences. University of Utah Health Madsen family practice leaders share how we recognize and normalize employees’ trauma experiences so they can continue to heal and provide quality care.

A Blueprint to Build a Successful Career in Academic Medicine

We all make lots of mistakes early on in our careers. Hospitalist and mentorship expert Valerie Vaughn sets us up for success by sharing her expertise on how to take control of your long-term career path.

Process Problem or Coaching Moment?

As leaders, we want to foster work environments that create safe and reliable care for patients and employees. Sounds easy, but its hard work! Chief Human Resources Officer Sarah Sherer coaches leaders from around the system on thinking through when it’s time to look at a process and when it’s time for coaching an employee.

Cultivating Organizational Culture: A New Approach

Director of Organizational Development Chris Fairbank introduces WE CARE—a model for leaders that focuses on what makes their teams unique so they can enhance and sustain a stronger organizational culture.

Communicating in the Time of Coronavirus

Effective Communicator: Redux. Communication lessons for the here and now, from setting boundaries to running a meeting.

How Clinician Educators Can Give Effective Feedback

Feedback is often an area that breaks down under the rigors and pressure of clinical activity. Clinician educators Pete Hannon and Kathleen Timme introduce a methodology that can provide insight, inspire goal setting, and help improve clinical performance.

The Elephant, The Rider, and the Path to Change in Health Care

Drawing from psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s Elephant and the Rider metaphor, Utah's Chief Medical Quality Officer Bob Pendleton explains why emotions are critical to motivating change in health care. Behavioral economics, it appears, may provide the direction we need.

Invest In Your Team: Listening and Storytelling

University of Utah Health was an early adopter of bundled payments. Accelerate’s Mari Ransco sat down with Ryan VanderWerff, one of the first in our health system to participate in payment innovation, to learn firsthand what it takes to lead a team in turbulent times.

Why Rounding Demonstrates Respect for Patients and Teams

Rounding–the act of connecting with patients and staff–is a leadership best practice. While few find rounding easy to start, those who master it are hooked. It is a daily habit that improves patient care, experience and engages the team. Susan Clark and her medical director, Dr. Dana DeWitt, have taken the practice one step further by rounding together as a leadership dyad, resulting in a more connected and authentic team.

Is It Better To Have An MVP or A MVT (most valuable team)?

Dr. Kyle Bradford Jones is back, this time with baseball analogies. Team success means having a team of contributors instead of one MVP. Jones writes that specific factors—positivity and team identity—are critical to nurturing a successful team.

Teamwork Must-have: Compelling Vision

Accelerate frequently chronicles the hard work of building and nurturing teams because we believe that real teams are the antidote to the chaos of modern medicine (in the words of Dr. Tom Lee). Here, we highlight a necessary ingredient of high-performing teams: compelling vision.

The Wisdom of Crowds: Effective Feedback

Want to be part of a thriving culture? Feedback is key. Director of ENT and dental clinics Kirk Hughs asked over 500 University of Utah Health leaders to share what makes feedback effective. Their top two? Timely and sincere feedback.