The American Society for Healthcare Human Resources Administration (ASHHRA) an American Hospital Association (AHA) affiliated society, developed the following list of competencies for middle managers. It appears in AHA’s seminal 2002 publication, In Our Hands: How Hospital Leaders Can Build a Thriving Workforce. Click here to download the entire publication or the chapter in which the list appears, called "Improve the Workforce Partnership."

Results Orientation—A leader who is a business driver able to manage for results in key areas such as clinical quality, service excellence, people management, and financial management.

• Accepts personal responsibility for results.
• Consistently delivers on commitments.
• Makes sound, timely decisions.
• Takes a strategic approach to identifying problems and opportunities and setting priorities.
• Aligns strategic operational and tactical objectives.
• Meets and surpasses expectations, goals, and objectives.

Skilled Communicator—A leader who creates an environment of mutual trust and respect and two-way communication.

• Clearly defines expectations.
• Communicates effectively using multiple methodologies.
• Actively listens to others’ ideas and concerns and responds in an appropriate manner.
• Facilitates both disagreement and consensus.

Team Builder—A leader who hires, retains, develops and promotes talented people, and builds team spirit.

• Gives frequent constructive feedback and coaching.
• Rewards and recognizes employees’ performance.
• Values diversity in all of its forms.
• Effectively manages conflict.
• Manages and motivates individuals and teams.

Agent for Change—A leader who challenges traditional practices and actively pursues positive change.

• Optimistic and displays a “can do” attitude.
• Aligns people with the organization’s mission, vision, values and culture.
• Aligns people with the organization’s strategic, operational and tactical objectives.
• Takes calculated risks and encourages others to do so.
• Personally responsible for their own development.
• Adopts new approaches when circumstances demand it.

Commitment to Service—A leader who demonstrates a willingness to serve key constituents, including patients, coworkers, physicians, the community and the organization.

• Clarifies service requirements and expectations.
• Assumes personal responsibility for meeting service requirements.
• Understands the underlying sources and issues behind customer needs and attempts to address them.
• Identifies emerging needs and proactively acts to address them.

Collaborative Relationships—A leader who is able to work in interdisciplinary teams for the benefit of the organization as a whole.

• Actively works to develop positive group interaction.
• Aware of what others are thinking and feeling.
• Ability to persuade others.
• Ability to be persuaded by others.
• Expresses positive expectations of others’ abilities and expected contributions.
• Solicits ideas and opinions from other individuals and units.
• Frequently exchanges information and resources with others throughout the organization.
• Promotes organizational cooperation by sharing resources with other individuals and units.
• Resolves cross-organization conflicts by seeking win-win solutions.

Resource Management—A leader who is able to manage effectively the organization’s human, financial, technological and other key resources.

• Budget planning.
• Analysis of financial statements.
• Productivity and workload management.
• Forecasts labor supply and demand.
• Develops business plans, action plans and other detailed planning documents.

Analytical Thinking—A leader who is able to organize the parts of a problem or situation by breaking it apart into smaller pieces, making systematic comparisons of different features or aspects, and taking a step-by-step approach.

• Breaks problems down into tasks or activities.
• Links together pieces and sorts out tasks in order of importance.
• Breaks down a complex problem into smaller parts.
• Analyzes relationships among several parts of a problem or situation.
• Anticipates obstacles and thinks ahead about next steps.
• Systematically breaks multi-dimensional problems or processes into component parts.

Personal Integrity—A leader whose actions are consistent with what she/he says, who communicates ideas and feelings openly and directly, and who welcomes openness and honesty from others.

• Ability to make difficult decisions in the face of conflicting demands and interests.
• Is open, honest and trustworthy.
• Publicly admits having made a mistake.
• Takes action based on values even when significant cost or risk is associated with doing so.
• Challenges others in powerful positions to act on espoused values.

Talent Development—A leader who has a genuine commitment to foster the growth and development of others.

• Provides a balanced and realistic assessment of an individual’s strengths and developmental needs.
• Matches an employee’s strengths with the needs of a job or task and makes assignments accordingly.
• Provides timely and specific feedback with the intent of improving performance.
• Provides expectations for future performance or specific suggestions for improvement.
• Arranges appropriate and helpful stretch assignments, formal training, or other experiences for the purpose of fostering a person’s growth and development.
• Provides needed support to buffer the individual from possible failure.
• Works with employees to build long-term career plans.
• Participates in and fosters discussions aimed at developing talent to meet the long-term needs of the organization.
• Actively develops talent, including subordinating the talent requirements of one’s area when doing so is in the larger interest of the organization.

Leadership Effectiveness

• Ability to create a shared mission and vision.
• Ability to establish goals and objectives to achieve the mission and vision.
• Ability to engender support from subordinates, peers, and superiors.
• Ability to facilitate involvement and participation on the part of key stakeholders.

This material also available for print or download at http://www.hospitalconnect.com/healthcareworkforce/content/keymiddlemanagementcompetence.pdf.