Using Leadership as a Tool for Talent and Using Technology to Advance Business Models — Richelle Webb Dixon
Effective leadership now requires more than traditional management. It’s about creating an environment where innovation thrives, technology is harnessed, and individuals are encouraged to pursue their ambitions.
Richelle Webb Dixon, a visionary leader in healthcare, embodies this approach, championing creative thinking and bold initiatives that push the boundaries of what’s possible. Her leadership style is a testament to the power of trust, creativity, and the willingness to embrace new ideas. In this narrative, she shares how embracing digital transformation and empowering her team have led to meaningful impacts, both within her organization and in the broader community.
The talented, innovative people who organizations want to attract have big dreams and great aspirations, driven by today’s digital transformations — it’s the responsibility of leaders to embrace that technology and create the space for them to try things out and make mistakes.
Not long after I started at Froedtert Hospital, a director of one of the departments I manage came to me with a vision: she wanted to create a mobile clinic, a vision she’s had for a decade. I told her, “Let’s do it.” In the past year and a half, her dream has become a reality — the mobile clinic serves underserved areas of our city, expanding the reach of our organization and making strides in our mission to advance the health of our community. I advise leaders to trust their employees and give them the space to be creative and make mistakes — that’s what fosters innovative approaches for the organization and attracts and retains talent.
All industries have to deal with talent and staff shortages, which are overcome with technological redesigns of everyday processes. The clearest example of this is the transformed checkout process in retail — staffing issues on busy shopping days have been replaced with self-checkout. Digital transformation allows us to use the limited resources we have to change our business models, innovating streamlined solutions. My goal is to take that same mentality to healthcare — creating the capability for many hospital services to take place in your own home would solve the issues of staff shortages and even save lives.
About Richelle Webb Dixon: Committed to diversity and equality in healthcare and the workplace, Richelle Webb Dixon is a healthcare equality champion and compassionate leader. As a proven executive in the healthcare industry, Richelle has worked in a variety of settings- hospital operations, ambulatory care, community advocate, and medical education. All of her professional experiences, coupled with her will to bring about a positive change, allow Richelle to create a lasting impact in organizations she works with. She continues to work towards bringing healthcare diversity and equality for all, on the operational side and via serving on boards.
Connect with Richelle on LinkedIn.
