© Roger M Tagg 2015
Welcome to FROLIO – a new attempt to merge philosophy and the "semantic web" . This website is under continuing development.
Tom Atchison is a consultant in Health Service Management.
| Chapter | Page | Highlight |
|---|---|---|
| Pref- ace | vii | Bujak asked "why an inverse relationship seems to exist between the number of books on 'leadership' and the lack of effective leadership in healthcare". |
| Not split | 3 | "Without committed followers, you have nothing but a title" - you are what Atchison repeatedly refers to as a 'Titled Executive'. That's the 'bad guy' throughout this book. |
| by chaps | 6 | "Healthcare is an industry that no longer has a clear context." There is a fuzzy border between 'healing the sick' and 'running a business'. |
| The slogan " 'no margin, no mission' has changed the focus of decision making from people to profit". | ||
| "To these [effective] leaders, money is only one metric of performance." | ||
| "All humans want meaning in their life." | ||
| "The shift from people to profits has seriously contaminated the characteristics of the workplace that control followership ... it's [because of] confusion among priorities." | ||
| 7 | "Most men and women choose healthcare as a profession because they feel confident and secure that, no matter what their function, they will work in a context of caring and compassion." | |
| "The message that the followers hear is 'Of course you can care and heal, just do it within budget' ." | ||
| 19 | "Leaders are also aware that it is the strength of the intangibles [e.g. meaning in the job, success, recognition, mateship] that drives the success in the tangibles [e.g. profit, economy, low waiting lists and other statistics]." Attention to the tangibles and intangibles has to be balanced. [RT: Probably true in most organizations.] | |
| 31 | "Healthcare leaders have one purpose: to increase followers by building commitment." | |
| 35 | "The reality of change cannot be communicated through memos, slide presentations, videos or brochures. Change will occur only when people experience the process and sense the excitement that comes from reshaping an organization." [RT: Atchison might get more excited than the average healthcare worker!] | |
| 47 | Colin Powell: "Endeavors succeed or fail because of the people involved". | |
| 53-4 | Maehr and Braskamp proposed 4 motivations for followers: Recognition, Accomplishment (i.e. getting things to happen), Power and Affiliation (feeling team spirit). | |
| 64 | Many healthcare organizations [presumably, that Atchison knows or has heard about] seem to have a 'toxic environment'. | |
| 79 | Job satisfaction isn't enough - followers need to have organizational commitment too. | |
| 91-3 | Some ideas about measuring intangibles. | |
| 120-5 | Some ideas about assessing intangibles. | |
| 132-40 | Some ideas about analyzing intangibles. | |
| 141-9 | Case studies illustrating these ideas. | |
| 164- 176 |
A series of questionnaires, concerned with the critical success factors for achieving change. | |
| 191-4 | Discussion of 'traumatic change' - some things that can mess up the whole game. | |
| 198 | Tom Peters: "The power of teams is so great that it is often wise to violate common sense and force a team structure on almost everything." | |
| 198- 201 |
A section on 'team building'. [RT: possibly more important than a lot of the stuff above.] | |
| 205+ | Atchison proposes his 'Followership Quotient' - an overall figure reached by assessing 7 domains, each with 3 subsections. | |
| 217 | Donald Buckley (Chesapeake , Va up to 2005): "Warmth is a word that comes to mind in answer to (the question) "What inspired followers?' " | |
| 224-7 | Full listing of the questions for working out the Followership Quotient. |
Inevitably, a lot of the text seems more aimed at managers and leadership, rather than the followers themselves.
For instance, there isn't anything about what a follower should do if his boss(es) are 'Titled Executives' rather than leaders.
There is a lot of emphasis on a leader having 'vision', 'mission', 'values' etc, but can everyone be sure that these are sustainable - or even achievable - under existing external constraints?
Index to more highlights of interesting books
Some of these links may be under construction – or re-construction.
This version updated on 8th May 2015
If you have constructive suggestions or comments, please contact the author rogertag@tpg.com.au .