Making the transition from an associate to a leader can be intimidating for anyone. However, with the right mindset and a willingness to become a lifelong learner, you can quickly become an effective leader for your new team. Continue reading for more helpful tips in your new role as a perfusion leader. 

Prioritize Purpose for Your Team


Extraordinary leaders are authentic, have deep founded values, and maintain a strong sense of purpose. The most compelling source for strong leaders is nearly spiritual. It is energy derived from connecting to deeply held values and a purpose beyond one’s self interest.



Purpose creates a destination! With vulnerability comes trust and healthy conflict. With conflict comes passionate discussion and absolute clarity. With clarity comes accountability. With accountability comes results. Extraordinary results come from extraordinary leaders who clearly understand that change is always powered from the top down.

5 Temptations to Avoid as a Leader

  1. Choosing Position Over Results – The desire for title and position and choosing personal gain over results is the most dangerous temptation. The focus on career and status causes complacency and causes results to slip. Also, rewards tend to go to those who protect your ego rather than those who generate results. Publicly commit to success that is based upon measurable results
  1. Choosing Popularity Over Accountability – The need to be liked by staff comes at the expense of holding them accountable. It is not effective for affection and friendship to be more important than decisiveness and managing performance. Clarify expectations up front and be direct in dealing with behavior and performance.
  1. Choosing Certainty Over Clarity – There is often discomfort about making decisions without having perfect information. This can sometimes be a challenge for highly analytical people. Issues are left to hang ambiguously without making clear and timely decisions. So, timely decisions will wait rather than being wrong. The inevitable outcome is underwhelming results. Be decisive and set deadlines for making decisions.
  1. Choosing Harmony Over Conflict – There can sometimes be failure in achieving buy-in of new ideas for fear they might be challenged. The challenge in maintaining harmony is that there is little room for full self expression. Without active participation, there is no benefit of other people’s ideas and interactions. Draw out differing opinions and engage in passionate discussion about key issues.
  1. Choosing Invulnerability Over Trust – When leaders do not want to seem to be making a mistake or are afraid of being wrong, they risk losing the trust of their team. This can lead to the team spending more energy trying not to make mistakes than they do in getting results. Acknowledge your weaknesses and mistakes, and let everyone see your human side.

Building Effective Communication Skills

Given that we are consistently communicating with our associates, our peers, our leaders, and the hospital staff, how well we communicate will often determine how successful and effective we are in the role of the leader.

Studies reveal that what managers believe is being said and heard, is different from what associates believe are being said and heard. Studies also show the associates that receive feedback on their strengths first and not just on their areas for improvement are significantly more engaged and productive.  

Many of us think that communication is talking. We interrupt, advise, reassure, judge, analyze, criticize, argue, moralize, threaten, divert, diagnose, etc. But, good communication requires good listening as well as talking. However, we receive almost no training in good listening and usually do not realize that truly hearing someone is not a passive activity.

Given all this listening we do, you would think we’d be good at it! In fact, most of us are not, and research suggests that we remember between 25-50% of what we hear. That means that when you talk to your boss, colleagues, customers or spouse for 10 minutes, they probably hear less than half of the conversation, and so do we. 

Also, knowing when to be silent can be a powerful communication tool. Silence allows the speaker to become aware of his or her own feelings, to explore more deeply, and to proceed at his or her own pace. Because many listeners become self-conscious with silence, they feel the need to break it by talking or asking questions. Unfortunately, this usually disrupts and derails the speaker. Pay attention to the body posture of the speaker and listen to what it says to you. 

There is no single right way to communicate, but there are best options depending on the situation. Be aware of what is appropriate and when it is appropriate. Keep in mind the communication preferences of others and always use your best judgement. Weigh the urgency of the situation, and make sure all messages are relayed in a timely manner.