Recently, we introduced the ODLC V.A.L.U.E.™ Framework — a strategic lens to help leaders navigate today’s complex health equity landscape with purpose and clarity.
This week’s V.A.L.U.E.™ Insight is about “U”: Understanding the Moment. In this season of complexity, change, and recalibration, this might be the most important step of all.
U: Understand the Moment
What Healthcare’s Current Signals Are Really Telling Us
Let’s discuss a leadership behavior that is particularly vital in this current era of tension, transition, and transformation.
Too often, leadership is defined by action. But real strategy begins with awareness.
To “understand the moment” is to resist the pull of urgency and instead attune yourself to the deeper currents shaping your organization, your workforce, and your community. It’s not about reacting to headlines — it’s about reading between them.
This means staying well-read from trusted, evidence-based sources, and constantly asking questions such as:
- What legislative changes are poised to shift access, reimbursement, or workforce protections?
- How are cultural and generational expectations reshaping the way we attract, retain, and engage talent?
- What are the ethical implications and operational shifts triggered by AI, machine learning, and data automation?
- Where is there growing misalignment between what we say we value and what our systems actually reinforce?
🛠️ Practice Prompt: Expand Your Awarness Muscle
Here’s a 3-part exercise for you to complete this week:
A. Read with Intention: Pick one piece of reading – a policy update, industry forecast, or workforce trend. Choose something outside your normal feed. Consider:How does this connect to my mission and leadership lane?
B. Scan for Signals: What’s happening beneath the surface in your organization?Look at attrition trends, hiring shifts, quality dips, or access delays. These are often symptoms of a larger moment you may be missing.
C. Ask New Questions: Start a conversation with someone in a completely different department and ask, “What are you noticing that others aren’t talking about yet?”
The goal isn’t to gather noise. It’s to see the story behind the signals and lead accordingly.
TRUE STORY: Making It Make Sense
Earlier this year, an ODLC partner organization requested a full strategic audit of its equity and inclusion initiatives. On paper, they had dozens of well-intended programs — recruitment efforts, community outreach, and an internal diversity council.
But together, we took a step back.
We analyzed which of these efforts aligned with emerging organizational pressures, including shifting federal policies, changing reimbursement trends, increased clinical workflow demands, and evolving community health needs. What emerged was a sobering yet empowering truth: some initiatives were symbolic at best, while others were hidden gems that were already producing value.
By understanding the moment, this organization was able to restructure its priorities, streamline its resources, and shift from a posture of defensiveness to one of design.
🔗 Make the Moment Matter
Understanding the moment is only the beginning. What you do with that insight is what sets leaders apart.
This certificate program course elective,Leading Change in Healthcare, is designed to help you translate awareness into strategy by preparing your organization for change at every level: individual, departmental, and system-wide.
You’ll learn how to assess readiness, build communication plans, and develop a full change management strategy rooted in what the moment demands – not what’s popular, reactive, or expected.
If you’ve ever paused and thought, “I see what’s shifting… now what do I do with it?” then this course is for you.
Learn More & Enroll“The leaders who rise in complex environments are the ones who know how to read the room, study the signals, and adjust with precision.”
– E. Taylor
This work isn’t about reacting faster. Instead, it’s about seeing clearer.
The leaders who rise in complex environments are the ones who know how to read the room, study the signals, and adjust with precision. They don’t chase the moment. They interpret it. And because of that, they move differently. Sound like anyone you know?
So before your next big decision, pause long enough to ask:
Do I truly understand the moment I’m in, and am I positioning my work accordingly?
Because when awareness sharpens, so does your influence. And right now, leadership that can see what’s coming is the kind that earns trust, drives value, and sustains the momentum.
Rooted and Ready,
Dr. Erica Taylor
Preview for Next week: E = Embed and Engage. If your efforts were to disappear tomorrow, would anyone notice?
You don’t want to miss this last installment of our ODLC V.A.L.U.E.™ Framework.
