Community Health Management: Five Key Traits for Success
- A “Systems” Thinking Approach
- Financial Competency
- Cultural Competency
- Cognitive Prowess
- Great Communication Skills
Community health management is all about providing care for entire communities and managing the many aspects of the health of the groups and individuals therein. The role of today’s community health manager, subsequently, is a very important one. What does it take to make for a great community health manager right now? The most successful pros in this line of work all hold the following characteristics in common.
Related: 5 Characteristics of a Successful Social and Community Service Manager
1. A “Systems” Thinking Approach
When in charge of a large swathe of people and something as complex as their health, one absolutely must develop some important approaches to the thinking process itself. One key approach to seeing many things clearly in such a large area of responsibility is that of using a “systems” type of thinking. In other words, by seeing the greater picture of how one thing affects another and that all, individual matters of concern can be seen as part of a greater system, one can then begin to address the greater elements at hand that then produce all the smaller, troublesome anomalies throughout the community.
2. Financial Competency
In many cases, working in the role of a community health manager also puts one squarely in control of some important financial matters and decisions. Because of this, it’s important that the worker here be good with finances, general math, and money-based decision-making. While the manager here could be exceptional in all other areas of the job, if they fail miserably in their financial areas of obligation, it could spell disaster for their hopes of maintaining company confidence in the role.
3. Cultural Competency
An often overlooked trait that really goes a long way is that of cultural competency. To be culturally competent, one must be understanding, accepting, and even inviting of all types of diverse cultural backgrounds that may be different from their own. Through this wide-ranging aptitude in matters of culture, the community health manager can better direct their employees and even handle themselves in situations where understanding is the only key to a winning and healthy outcome for all.
4. Cognitive Prowess
Next, it can’t be overstated enough that cognitive prowess reigns king in this job as much as it does in many other professions out there. In community health management specifically, being cognitive means being continually aware, and being continually aware leads to a virtually limitless list of benefits including better patient outcomes, improved relations throughout the entire community, improved efficiency in any number of operations, and plenty more. On the other hand, being more cognitive will bring to attention more problems in the community, however, this should always be seen simply as a lineup of new opportunities for improvement and ultimate excellence in management.
5. Great Communication Skills
Finally, being a great communicator is certainly as important in this profession as it is anywhere else. Being a subpar communicator here can result in deteriorating relationships, inaccurate information transmission and receipt, a decline in patient outcomes and overall operational efficiency, and even the possibility of injuries or worse. Being an excellent communicator here, on the other hand, translates directly to the opposite results as those undesirables just mentioned.
When it comes to the management of the health of an entire community of people, there is plenty to consider. Coming to this job prepared with all the right personal characteristics can thus make a world of difference in how easily one can pave a path of outstanding success in this job. In conclusion, for those interested in learning more about the important world of community health management, the National Association of Community Health Centers and the Association for Community Health Improvement are two, excellent resources representative of the industry today.
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