SOMC White Papers

SOMCPress White Papers are concise articles meant to help you live and work with more joy. They are free to download in pdf format.

Addressing Behavior
- Not Attitude
Addressing Staff Shortages and Primary Care Access Problems through Innovative Scheduling
- A Case for a Unique Team Model in Family Practice
Becoming a Blame-Free Workplace
- Some Questions and Answers to Understand Why We Blame and How We Can Eliminate Blame at SOMC
Bigwigs Behaving Badly
- Understanding and Coping with Notable Misbehavior
Changing the Culture
- Some Reflections on Randy Arnett’s Leadership Style
Choose Your Battles
- Trying to Win or Trying to Make a Difference?
Code of Conduct
Collaborative Agreement
- For Providers and Managers
Dealing With Conflict
- Transforming Aggravation into an Organizational Asset
Dealing with Confrontation
- Some Guidelines for Effectiveness
Dealing With Criticism
- Managing the Turbulence in the Leader’s Wake
Expectations for Directors
- Overview of the Executive Team’s Expectations for SOMC Directors
Executive Team Expectations
- Overview of the Executive Team’s Expectations of Each Other
Expectations for Physicians, Pharmacists and Advanced Practice Providers
Expectations For SOMC Leaders
- A Practical Overview for Physician Leaders Determined to Succeed in the SOMC Leadership Culture
Feedback
- Why Your Success May Depend on It
Feelings
- Some Practical Guidelines for Understanding and Dealing with Emotional Arousal
Great Expectations
- One Trustee’s Open Letter to Executives
Laugh
- It is OK to Laugh at Work
Leadership
- Some Guidelines for Transforming the Organizational Structure
Leadership Behaviors Booklet
Leadership Retreats
- How Leaders Can Create Active and Engaging Learning Opportunities
Managing My Anger
- A Psychiatrist's Perspective
Medical Staff Leadership
- How Physicians and Advanced Practice Providers Can Succeed in the SOMC Leadership Culture
Meeting Leadership Expectations
- A Next Generation Leadership Project
On Being Successful at SOMC
- Some Practical Guidelines for New Physicians
Personal Priorities
- Some Practical Guidelines for Managing Your Work and Your Life
Persuasion
- When You Talk, Say Something
Physician Leadership
- Some Frequently-Asked Questions and Answers for New Physician Leaders
Physician Traps
- Some Practical Ways to Avoid Becoming a Miserable Doctor
Quality Leadership
- Some Practical Ways Leaders Can Build and Sustain High-Performance Teams (HPTs) Across the Enterprise
Rules of Engagement
- Some Expectations for SOMC Leaders
Safety Leadership
Setting the Tone
- Some Guidelines for Creating a Positive Work Environment
Should I pursue a career in leadership
Slaying the Slacker
- Improving Underachievers' Productivity
SOMC Ethics Committee
- An Overview of Its Functions and Some Suggestions for Improvement
SOMC Leadership Culture
- An Informed Consent and Commitment Document For Aspiring SOMC Leaders
Stress Management
- Dealing Effectively with Stress at Work and in Life
Successful Front Line Supervision
- Some Practical Guidelines
Successful Physician Leadership Behavior
- Some Contrasts with Typical Physician Behavior
Team Leadership
- Some Guidelines for Making It Work
Teamwork
- Some Practical Guidelines for Building and Sustaining Effective Teams
The Dark Side
- Some Practical Guidelines for New Physician Executives
The Cognitive Behavioral Leadership Model
- An Overview of the SOMC Approach for Improving Leadership Skills
The Importance of Tact and Diplomacy
- (Or Open Your Ears Fat-Head and Quit Making Such an Ass of Yourself)
The SOMC Leadership Learning System
- An Overview and Practical Guide
The SOMC Way
- (Expectations for the way we behave toward our customers and contribute to our team.)
Ties That Bind
- Overcoming Departmental Barriers

A Portable Mentor by Kendall Stewart, MD

Kendall Stewart, MD

Dr. Stewart is the Vice President for Medical Affairs and the Chief Medical Officer of Southern Ohio Medical Center, and the Chairman and CEO of the SOMC Medical Care Foundation, Inc., a multi-specialty physician practice group, in Portsmouth, Ohio. Dr. Stewart is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine, and he also still practices adult psychiatry part-time.

Dr. Stewart was born and raised in Rome, Georgia.  He graduated from Berry College in Mount Berry, Georgia and received his MD from the Medical College of Georgia.  He completed his psychiatric residency at the Medical College of Georgia and then served as Chief of the Mental Health Clinic at the US Air Force Hospital near Rapid City, South Dakota. He opened his private practice in Portsmouth in 1981. He returned to graduate school and earned an MBA from Ohio University in 1999.

Dr. Stewart is a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and a Distinguished Lifetime Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.  He is a past president of the Ohio Psychiatric Association.

Dr. Stewart is a former Chairman of The Ohio Partnership for Excellence. He also served as a member of the Board of Examiners for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.  Dr. Stewart is the senior author of, “A Portable Mentor for Organizational Leaders,” a book published by SOMCPress in 2003. He and his wife, Fay, have two grown sons.


A Portable Mentor for Organizational Leaders

A Portable Mentor for Organizational Leaders provides lessons for potential leaders through succinct management advice addressing a wide range of organizational behavior topics. Through leadership advice and management tips, psychiatrist Kendall L. Stewart, MD, and a dozen directors and leaders from Southern Ohio Medical Center (SOMC) describe in easily readable points how leadership behavior drives teamwork, credibility in management, leadership consistency and management techniques.

Dr. Stewart and the SOMC writing teams present work from frontline management on a wide range of leadership challenges including teamwork and conflict, communication in relationships, setting leadership tone and team relationships, among others. The book is presented in sections on personal development, dealing with others and barriers to excellence. Within each section are straightforward perspectives on successful management, dealing with confrontation, preparing for criticism, accepting feedback, avoiding distractions, communicating goals and the importance of listening, among many other issues within the corporate culture.

The Portable Mentor for Organizational Leaders

Call (740) 356-8153 to order your copy.

SOMC underwent a distinctive change in its focus and culture in the mid-1990s, moving from patient satisfaction scores in single digits to some of the best in the nation and earning the highest level of the Ohio Partnership For Excellence. A consensus review finalist for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, SOMC has drawn national attention for its approach to fostering an environment of world class service in health care and organizational excellence. SOMC leaders are often sought by professional groups to share their experience, and the Portable Mentor for Organizational Leaders helps provide some of their most important lessons for the manager on-the-go.

Today’s corporate challenges and increasing demands for performance improvement require effective coping strategies for leadership stress, and management style effectively setting the tone in work environments for successful organizational leadership. SOMC leaders have proven successful management can lead to customer satisfaction, not only in rural health care but in any environment of corporate change.