Digital and AI health transformation: The role of leadership in driving organisational change
Odgers Berndtson’s Chris Hamilton and Mike Drew explain how healthcare leaders are driving digital and AI transformation success, despite significant challenges
Healthcare is on the brink of a digital and AI transformation revolution, with an unprecedented potential to harness data for enhancing patient care and operational efficiency.
So much so that nearly 90 per cent of healthcare executives surveyed by McKinsey in 2024 ranked digital and AI transformation as a high or top priority.
Their key transformation targets included virtual health, patient access to electronic records, enhancing the patient digital experience, and remote patient monitoring.
Yet, significant obstacles stand in the way of progress. Legacy systems are often too cumbersome to upgrade, the workforce is frequently unprepared for new technologies, data quality issues persist, and the recruitment of tech talent remains a challenge.
Despite these headwinds, we know leaders in health tech and healthcare globally are finding innovative ways to drive digital and AI transformation.
This is how they are navigating these hurdles and leading the way toward a more digitally integrated healthcare future.
Creating a culture of innovation
Creating a culture of innovation begins with a strong leadership commitment.
Healthcare leaders must prioritise creativity and continuous improvement by setting a clear vision and allocating resources to innovative projects.
Open communication is essential, fostering an environment where employees feel empowered to share ideas, challenge norms, and collaborate across departments.
Empowering teams to explore new ideas and take calculated risks is crucial for driving innovation.
Continuous learning opportunities ensure that employees stay up-to-date with the latest technologies and methodologies, equipping them to lead change.
By embedding innovation into the organisation’s core values and practices, healthcare leaders ensure it becomes a fundamental part of the culture, driving sustained digital transformation.
Building partnerships and joint ventures
Forming partnerships and joint ventures is increasingly essential for health organisations to achieve digital and AI transformation.
This involves collaborating with external entities such as tech companies, startups, or academic institutions that bring complementary strengths.
Healthcare leaders tell us the key to these partnership succeeding comes down to creating win-win scenarios where both sides benefit, fostering a long-term relationship.
Leaders need to actively manage these collaborations, regularly assessing progress and making adjustments as needed to ensure the partnership continues to drive innovation and deliver value.
Tellingly, McKinsey notes that such partnerships in healthcare are vital in accessing new digital capabilities, increasing speed to market, and achieving capital at scale.
Aligning digital strategy with patient outcomes
By aligning digital strategy with patient outcomes, healthcare leaders can focus digital and AI transformation efforts, improving their chances of success.
This requires a patient-centred approach, where technology is deployed to enhance the patient experience, improve access to care, and deliver better health results.
To maintain alignment, leaders must establish clear metrics and continually evaluate the effectiveness of digital strategies against patient care goals.
This involves gathering and analysing data on patient outcomes, seeking feedback from both patients and healthcare providers, and making necessary adjustments to strategies.
By keeping patient outcomes at the core of their digital efforts, leaders can ensure that transformation stays on track while serving its ultimate purpose – improving health and well-being.
Succession planning for tech leadership roles
Healthcare leaders can ensure sustained digital transformation by prioritising succession planning for tech leadership roles.
This involves developing a specialised technology and digital leadership track within the broader succession plan.
By doing so, health organisations can identify and develop future leaders who have the vision and skills to drive digital initiatives forward.
This enables healthcare leaders to build a pipeline of technology talent that can step into key roles when needed and sustain momentum in their digital transformation efforts.
Despite this, nearly 60 per cent of medical groups and health organisations in the US don’t have a leadership succession plan, let alone a separate technology leadership track.
Given digital and AI transformation is a top priority for most healthcare executives, specialised succession planning will become essential.
Cultivating leadership for a digital first-future
Cultivating leadership for a digital-first future is crucial for healthcare organisations aiming to thrive in an increasingly technology-driven environment.
Doing so requires healthcare leaders to prioritise developing digital competencies within their own leadership teams and throughout the organisation.
This is now so critical for digital transformation success, that Deloitte identified it as the number one focus across all medical technology organisations, from early adopters to laggards.
This involves not only upskilling current leaders but also identifying and nurturing emerging leaders who demonstrate both technical acumen and a strategic mindset.
Health organisations with successful digital transformation programmes prioritise hiring talent with digital expertise, offer development for learning digital tools, and programmes to improve the workforce’s knowledge of innovative technology.
Integrating these initiatives into broader talent management ensures they are prepared for the future, with leaders who can effectively navigate the complexities of healthcare’s digital landscape.
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