See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/316753219

Developing Your 360-Degree Leadership Potential

Article  in  Journal of the American College of Radiology: JACR · October 2017

DOI: 10.1016/j.jacr.2017.03.011

CITATIONS READS

0 1,801

3 authors, including:

Nupur Verma Puneet Bhargava

University of Florida University of Washington Seattle
36 PUBLICATIONS   34 CITATIONS    255 PUBLICATIONS   1,024 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Productivity: Getting Things Done View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Puneet Bhargava on 28 September 2017.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 ORIGINAL ARTICLE LEADERSHIP

Developing Your 360-Degree Leadership

Potential
Nupur Verma, MD a , Tan-Lucien Mohammed, MD a, Puneet Bhargava, MD, FSAR b

Abstract
Radiologists serve in leadership roles throughout their career, making leadership education an integral part of their development. A
maxim of leadership style is summarized by 360-Degree Leadership, which highlights the ability of a leader to lead from any position
within the organization while relying on core characteristics to build confidence from within their team. The qualities of leadership
discussed can be learned and applied by radiologists at any level. These traits can form a foundation for the leader when faced with
unfavorable events, which themselves allow the leader an opportunity to build trust.
Key Words: Leadership, team, recognition, management
J Am Coll Radiol 2017;14:1225-1228. Copyright
2017 American College of Radiology

THE 360-DEGREE APPROACH
Radiologists may serve as leaders on many levels—within
their practice, among each other, and as consultants to
providers outside of radiology, as well as to fellows,
residents, or medical students. Leadership may come
with either formal or informal recognition, for example
with a title such as section chief, vice chair, or chair-
person, or when taking charge of a problem. 360-Degree
Leadership involves identifying yourself as a leader
who simultaneously influences people at every level of
the organization, namely those at the same level, those
whom we formally supervise, and also those whom we
report to (“leading up” within an organization). The
concept of leading from the middle of an organization
is often poorly understood in radiology and there is a
tendency to overestimate the influence of a formal lead-
ership title [1]. Leadership training and the study of the
360-Degree Leader has been commonplace in business
a training experience, she leads the committee. John
Department of Radiology, College of Medicine, University of Florida,
Gainesville, Florida.
b
Department of Radiology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.
Corresponding author and reprints: Nupur Verma, MD, Assistant
Professor, Department of Radiology. College of Medicine, University of
Florida, Post Office Box 100374, Gainesville, FL 32610-0374; e-mail:
vermnu@radiology.ufl.edu.
Puneet Bhargava is editor-in-chief, Current Problems in Diagnostic Radiology,
published by Elsevier Inc. The other authors have no conflicts of interest
related to the material discussed in this article.
management, with the acceptance that some traits of
leadership are learned behaviors [2]. Although the
opportunities or ability to achieve full leadership
potential are not possible for each radiologist, the core
leadership qualities of the 360-Degree Leader may be
applied by anyone, at any career level, to better manage
their team, stay focused on vision, and navigate difficult
situations.
SELFLESSNESS
Scenario: John, a professor and section chief, has
recently hired Jane to replace a retiring colleague. John
has been asked to develop new magnetic resonance
protocols for a recently acquired site. John identifies
that the vision of this section is to provide the most
knowledgeable care and service to patients and
referring providers. He requests that joint decisions be
made with clinical providers most likely to request the
imaging examinations, and given Jane’s recent
lauds Jane’s experience and foresight, over his, to both
the clinical providers and chairman, and he sincerely
supports his junior faculty’s decisions.
Progressing toward being a 360-Degree Leader
requires learned selflessness. Great leaders lift the orga-
nization and are willing to expense their own personal
interest and acknowledgement—driven foremost by their

ª 2017 American College of Radiology

1546-1440/17/$36.00 n http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jacr.2017.03.011 1225
desire to best fulfill the organization’s vision [1,2]. In own skills and strengths in a positive and helpful light
radiology, for example, a good leader values building rather than with a competitive perspective.
teams to achieve the departmental goals of service,
A 360-Degree Leader should recognize, without
patient safety, research, and education above personal
prejudice, that individuals they lead may be more
career achievement, attainment of titles, or direct
talented and experienced than themselves. The 360-
financial compensation. This conscious discernment
Degree Leader embraces this actuality and has learned
requires the leader to be free of insecurity and be able
to trust the team members to perform, which empowers
to manage his or her ego.
individuals to provide their best contribution. Demon-
An effective radiology leader must also be selfless in
strating this security is particularly important for the
credit and utilize achievements as an opportunity to pro-
radiology leader, where the team members are highly
vide recognition to energize and uplift team members.
skilled and have had considerable training. This concept
Formal acknowledgment from leaders above yourself or
of trust in the ability of those you lead can be exceedingly
directly from the organization, such as awards from the
challenging to implement, as for the majority of their
hospital or school of medicine, or recognition by patients,
education and training radiologists have endeavored
should be redirected toward the team members, particu-
to succeed as individuals, and have learned to work
larity those who may be new in experience or lower in rank.
diligently toward clearly defined goals, rather than striv-
The ability to redirect this credit from yourself, as a leader,
ing toward visions that are more expansive. Concepts
calls on humility, team spirit, and inclusiveness of the
that demonstrate trust, such as avoiding micromanage-
leader [1].
ment and enabling autonomy, can be initially disen-
An effective tactic to demonstrate selflessness is to
chanting and takes constraint and practice. The highest
personally genuinely acknowledge team contributions
value in return is when team members identify the
from those you lead, often and publicly. Taking a few
leader’s confidence in them and this empowers them to
moments to do this, for example at the start of quarterly
perform at their best [5]. This feeling of worth,
or faculty meetings, conveys the leader’s appreciation and
autonomy, and call to duty can be invigorating and
value for those they are leading to the individuals as well
leads the individual team members to mirror the self-
as their colleagues. Previous studies have shown some
assurance of the leader [6]. The entrusted team
of the best tactics to motivate individual members of a
members also benefit from establishing camaraderie,
team are these nontangible rewards, which need not be
which has lasting effects in motivating members by
grandiose to be impactful [3,4]. A 360-Degree Leader
adding a feeling of belonging and equality and pays
recognizes that by selflessly redirecting opportunities for
dividends in employee retention and overall job
radiology administrative roles to those with interest in
satisfaction [5,6]. For example, an abdominal imaging
radiology business, or interdepartmental academic
chief who trusts his proceduralists to make the final
collaborations for newer imaging techniques, and by
purchasing decision for a new biopsy device helps build
providing recognition, the leader can most effectively
the trust of the team in his or her leadership, allows a
encourage his or her radiology team to achieve the
healthy internal debate regarding advantages and
organization’s needs [4].
disadvantages of each device under consideration, and
helps overall job satisfaction.
Trust also fosters an environment that allows team
TRUST, AND EMPOWERING THE TEAM members to come forward with ideas and suggestions,
Scenario: A bright junior resident who is a physician– including oppositional views to those of the leader, which
scientist with dual doctoral degrees (MD, PhD) is the may benefit the organization. The 360-Degree Leader
lead author on a project with more senior colleagues. embraces that dissent often coexists with consent in even
The lead author feels he knows “the right way to the most effective team, and by demonstrating consistent
conduct this original study from my experience,” but trust the effective 360-Degree Leader can assuage the
consciously redirects his effort toward allowing other impact of dissent by welcoming counter-point discussion
members of his research team to learn and contribute. without repercussion. This encourages buy-in by the
This takes extra time and effort on his part, but he team by demonstrating shared agreement on decisions,
recognizes that as a leader he is building trust, making while conversely being effective in identifying potential
his co-authors feel empowered, and having them see his pitfalls. For example, in the above vignette, a junior

1226 Journal of the American College of Radiology

Volume 14 n Number 9 n September 2017
co-author who may have felt he or she has little to
contribute in the company of those with much more
experience would feel included and empowered to point
out errors in submission or suggest a more efficient
method to collect data. The 360-Degree Leader should
welcome ideas toward achieving the vision from all levels
of experience and should take proactive actions to protect
creativity and contribution.
ABSTAINING FROM BIAS
Scenario: John is the chief of service for the Department
of Radiology and in his position he is asked to approve the
annual relative value unit (RVU) targets for each
radiologist. John meets with each radiologist to review
the previous year’s accomplishment and set the future
target. John goes along with a few of his senior colleagues
who, along with him, have been appointed for a longer
time and state that they have “paid their dues.”
Therefore, a disproportionate amount of annual RVU
target increases are passed on to the junior faculty.
Bias and office politics should be recognized on your
path toward developing as a leader. Examples of bias can
include favorable clinical shift assignment for close peers,
promotion of a faculty ahead of more deserving peers, or
promoting one’s own ideas in a group setting over another
member’s suggestions. Akin to learning selflessness and
building trust, a leader should practice mindful effort to
avoid political sides, recognizing that bias has a tendency to
control the leader surreptitiously [1,4]. The leader should
provide sincere acknowledgement of hearing both points
and recognizing that conflict can be valuable in
unearthing problems early, but should base his or her
actions on consideration for what is best for the team.
Biased actions, regardless of how banal they may seem to
leaders, are often painfully transparent to those they are
leading and undermine the team’s confidence in the
leader, reducing the leader’s integrity and authenticity
even in the eyes of those who may be benefiting from
favoritism. Cognizance of bias, and resolve to abstain
from “joining sides,” is an important part of developing
as an effective 360-Degree Leader. This trait is demon-
strated to those you lead by consistently fair decision
making.
RECOGNIZING, PREPARING FOR, AND
MANAGING DEFINING MOMENTS
Scenario: John recently met with management to
review his radiology group’s revenue for the past
Journal of the American College of Radiology
Leadership n Verma, Mohammed, Bhargava n 360-Degree Leadership
quartile. He was dismayed to see the outpatient
volume had dropped and the billing was over 4 weeks
overdue. When he returned and met with his group,
he was still perceptibly emotional from his earlier
meeting and blamed over-hiring by his partners,
making the junior group members uncomfortable. He
then commented on the “laziness” of the billing
department, which made his office manager feel irri-
tated with his billing team. He did not allow others to
interject with ideas or questions regarding the data,
and his team left the meeting feeling distrustful of his
future actions and stability of the practice, and felt
directly blamed by him.
“The choices we make in critical moments help to form
us and to inform others about who we are” [7]. Defining
moments in leadership are instances where there is
turmoil, which can include a need for difficult decision
making. These moments offer you, the leader, an
opportunity to express your trustworthiness, skill, and
integrity by recognizing that how you execute your
actions is just as important as what they are [7]. The
leader’s reaction in times of stress tells those they lead
what type of leader they are and reveals their value
system. Defining moments are often unanticipated.
However, a successful 360-Degree Leader can prepare
for defining moments by having already established
a foundation of trust, selflessness, and immunity from
prejudice. Those they lead will then rely on this preex-
isting behavior to anticipate how their leader will respond
to uncertainty or failure. In the above scenario, by not
taking the time to plan his reaction or performing an
in-depth root-cause analysis of the decline in revenue, the
leader demonstrated impetuous blaming and mistrust of
his team, which devalues the team spirit and is extremely
demotivating. This can delay, or entirely prevent, recov-
ery from setbacks. Team members are unlikely to ask
questions or offer suggestions for improvement to a leader
who mismanages defining moments, and over the long
term such incidents can result in irreparable damage to
the leader–team relationship. Planning how you will lead,
identifying instances when your own skill set is inade-
quate, seeking external mentorship from your leader
peers, and hiring a consultancy service when called upon
to face failure can allow for a valuable opportunity to
build social capital of trust, teamwork, and selflessness as
a 360-Degree Leader.
Managing defining moments starts with accepting
mistakes, group setbacks, suffering, or failure without
succumbing to excuses, blame, anger, or frustration.
1227
 Although human emotions are experienced, the
360-Degree Leader keeps the focus on the process and
the system as a whole, and begins planning for
improvement rather than dwelling on the failure itself.
Forgiveness plays a strong role in defining moments for
the 360-Degree Leader, who recognizes that setbacks
provide an opportunity to show empathy and reinforce
trust while charging someone they lead to perform
better.
TAKE-HOME POINTS
- It is important for radiologists to identify that
they participate in a variety of leadership roles
throughout their careers.
- The qualities of a 360-Degree Leader include self-
lessness, demonstrating trust in those they lead, and
abstaining from bias.
- Defining moments can be prepared for, and allow the
leader to demonstrate consistency and thoughtful
action when faced with a challenging situation.
1228
View publication stats
- Leadership skills can be integrated into your lead-
ership style through introspection and mindfulness,
and can motivate and empower radiology teams to
perform effectively.
REFERENCES
1. Maxwell JC. The 360-degree leader: Developing your influence from
anywhere in the organization. 2nd ed. Nashville (TN): Thomas Nelson
Inc; 2011.
2. Barlow CB, Jordan M, Hendrix WH. Character assessment: an exami-
nation of leadership levels. J Bus Psychol 2003;17:563-84.
3. Furtmuller G, Garaus C, Guttel WH. Even Tiny Rewards Can Motivate
People to Go the Extra Mile. Available at: https://hbr.org/2016/06/
even-tiny-rewards-can-motivate-people-to-go-the-extra-mile. Accessed
January 15, 2017.
4. Weiss M. Developing Reward and Compensation Systems to Motivate
Self-Managed Teams. In: Ayers JB, ed. Making supply chain manage-
ment work: design, implementation, partnerships, technology, and
profits. 1st ed. Boca Raton (FL): CRC Press LLC; 2002:343-53.
5. Rajiah P, Bhargava P. Motivational leadership: tips from the business
world. J Am Coll Radiol 2016;13:585-9.
6. Dirks KT. Trust in leadership and team performance: evidence from
NCAA basketball. J Appl Psychol 2000;85:1004.
7. Maxwell JC. The leadership handbook: 26 critical lessons every leader
needs. 1st ed. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc; 2008.
Journal of the American College of Radiology
Volume 14 n Number 9 n September 2017