Services

Medical Center Consultation:

Physician and Nursing Clinician Leadership:

In the current medical environment there is an increasing need for medical care providers to expand in a role that has been growing over the past ten years: leadership.  This skill set and capacity has not been part of their academic preparation or curriculum. It is critical that they master it now. Clinicians may have the skill to manage their clinical teams, they are being asked to manage more: communications, motivation, negotiations and conflict resolution across departments, with administration and in the community.

If medical leaders fall short in addressing or executing these demands if often results in hospitals and departments that are stretched, conflicts that fester, decisions that are made too slowly and inadequate attempts to work effectively with colleagues who are difficult.

There are problems with retention of staff that are difficult to replace and conflicts that linger that prevent building solid working relationships.  Add to this, conflict amongst departments and peers and change initiatives that fail to work effectively leaving care providers and administrators and medical centers struggling.

Medical Administration Leadership:

The senior leadership team of medical centers and entire programs, the CEO, the CFO, the leaders of IT, COO and the board of both for and not-for profit programs are under siege.

Their colleagues in industry have parallel challenges as they try to run their organizations but they are relieved of the back breaking pressure and intensity of the current medical landscape in the United States.

Dr. Fisher is sought after for his judgment and experience in addressing these broad behavioral and administrative challenges. He was the Keynote Speaker on Leadership at Lucille Packard Childrens Hospital at Stanford in 2006 and makes significant contributions in addressing these challenges effectively. The client case comments below illustrate a number of those contributions. They are indicative of the kind of expertise and capability Dr. Fisher can bring to your group or medical center: 

Client Case Comments: 

• Kaiser Permanente 
• California Pacific Medical Center 
• Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford

Dr. Robert Fisher’s assignment in working with senior leaders at Kaiser Permanente was daunting. The initial challenge was to find common experience and values to appeal to a very diverse group of regional presidents, physician executives, not for profit administrators, and for profit COOs of Kaiser Permanente.

After guiding us in building common vision and values, he then undertook individual leadership and organizational development work to help us enhance our operational and organizational effectiveness. In some cases this required substantial improvements in multiple disciplines. 

It is a measure of Dr. Fisher’s success and skill that not only did the several businesses experience dramatic improvements in sales, revenue, operational effectiveness and medical/administrative cooperation, but even those of us who were most resistant in the beginning, including myself,  became devoted to his highly successful strategies which created stronger leaders and sustained results. Robert is wise, patient, and persuasive and has a keen eye for business strategy and positioning.  

Dr. Fisher’s ability to work with senior leaders in health care is superb. 

Chris DuLaney
Former Regional President, Kaiser Permanente

I have been involved in healthcare and medical administration at a private not-for-profit academic medical center for twenty-five years. Six months ago, I was promoted to the position of Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Medical Affairs.

I am not the typical hospital executive. I am opinionated- sometimes to a fault. I like to laugh and to make others laugh. Some like me, others don’t. I am not shy about entering difficult discussions and I have the usual M.D. bravado of thinking that my knowledge base knows no bounds. When first advised that I would have an executive coach as part of my new employment agreement as a Vice President, I assumed that this was the CEO’s way of trying to fit my personality into his perception of “acceptable executive behavior”.

In my new role, I was provided the services of Dr. Robert Fisher.  I have now worked with Dr. Robert Fisher for approximately six months. Our meetings have become a highlight of my employment. In addition, I have gained insights that certainly have improved my performance. In fact, I am not certain that I would stayed on the job without our interactions.

Dr. Fisher is smart, and he has a great sense of humor. He has a background and experience that allows comparisons to previous difficult situations. History is a great teacher. In addition, he is totally trustworthy. When we meet, I outline those situations that I believe are difficult. After twenty years of surviving hospital administration, I am no novice. However, he has helped me to understand that new challenges may require new approaches. He has helped me gain insight into the characters and needs of my fellow executives.. His insights lead to success. I can state with certainty that I gain immensely by reviewing potential new approaches to problems and people. I find myself effecting approaches that would not have come naturally.

I look forward to my meetings with Dr. Fisher. He is clearly a good person who cares about excellence. I know that he has had a huge positive influence on me in terms of adapting to a difficult new challenge.  He has my very highest recommendation.

Alan Pont MD
Vice President – Medical Affairs
California Pacific Medical Center
San Francisco, CA

In my role as Chief Clinical Safety Officer and Medical Director of Quality Management at Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford I am called upon to assess and introduce change in practice to enhance care across multiple disciplines and often with speed, always with efficiency and with requisite acceptance.  This change must be sustained and measured.

The speed in which you were able to assess with me the issues facing my leadership and position and help institute a plan to ensure its rapid effectiveness was a great contribution.  You proceed with keen insight and seasoned effectiveness to help me accelerate the transformation into the leader that I must be in my role.  This amalgam of complex communication and assessment tools that you have helped me develop in addition to skills at conflict resolution and  negotiation have helped multiple initiatives succeed in a much shorter and easier path than I would have expected.  My insight into the strategy and organizational change has become an invaluable tool.

We are moving at an unprecedented rate of change resulting in improved and measurable change.  My abilities to chair a meeting, introduce complex and often challenging new ideas, institute them and work with peers and senior medical and administrative colleagues has strengthened to the advantage of my work and the quality of care in our institution as well as accelerate my contributions to the quality and safety on a national stage.

The work that I have accomplished with your assistance with outcomes recognized in our institution. It has caused true and critical change and has been measurable and sustained.  It is a credit to what we have done together.  It has contributed great and lasting value both to me as a leader and physician and to Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital as a whole.

Because I have both an internal audience here at Packard and  at Stanford Hospital and a National and International Audience to whom I communicate in writing and speaking, the leverage of what we have done has lasting and critical impact beyond the doors of Lucille Packard.

I love the work that we have done. I look forward to continuing my work with Dr Fisher in the future.

Paul Sharek, MD, MPH
Chief Clinical Safety Officer, LPCH
Medical Director of Quality Management, LPCH
Asst. Prof. of Pediatrics, Stanford Univ. School of Medicine 

Accenture, Health and Public Service West: Onboarding senior leaders and designing program.

Accenture:  Worked over 10 years with leaders in multiple locations to develop skills required to become Partners, and to strengthen their business and organizational leadership skills to achieve significant business outcomes, and with a variety of teams to resolve issues and increase productivity. 

Medical Staff Consultation: Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital, Stanford; California Pacific Medical Center; Kaiser Permanente

Biotech: Vivigen Laboratories (purchased in publicly traded sale by Genzyme Corporation)

Consulting Services: Accenture-Global Communications & High Tech/Supply Chain Practice

Private Consultation: Via Zoom.

Information Technology (IT): Sun Microsystems-Marketing Organization 

Financial Services: Charles Schwab Corporation-Financial Products and Services 

Healthcare: National Institutes of Health-National Study Group