Heart of Safety Coalition

Human-centered leadership: Reflections from a quality leader – Shannon Connor Phillips, MD, MPH

10.30.2025

Episode 104 | Duration: 34:55

A year before the pandemic Shannon Phillips, MD, MPH, and Liz Boehm collaborated on qualitative research to put a framework around human-centered leadership, which they define as a leadership approach that explicitly supports team members’ cognitive, emotional, physical and spiritual wellbeing so they can achieve their highest human and healing potential. This approach to leadership was timely given the pandemic soon stretched resources, strained trusted relationships, and stressed bedside team members and leaders to unprecedented levels. Today, leaders continue to work tirelessly to create ideal working environments that support psychological and emotional safety, dignity and inclusion, and physical safety for all team members while still facing staffing shortages as well as high levels of burnout and workplace violence.

In this episode of Caring Greatly, Liz and Shannon revisit the mastery model of human-centered leadership in this new context. Shannon shares her views on what’s the same, what has changed, and how leaders can continue to find joy in their work and use that joy to help improve the safety and wellbeing of their teams.

Shannon Connor Phillips, MD, MPH, has a diverse range of healthcare experience. Before retiring in 2024 she served on the Board of Directors at the National Quality Forum and was Chief Health Officer at Joyous, a tech company focused on improving operations and culture through two-way, AI-supported human conversations. Before that Shannon was the President of Intermountain Medical Group. She was also the Chief Patient Experience Officer at Intermountain Health, where she designed and led programs to help improve patient and care team experience, safety and quality. Because of this work, she was named a “CXO to Know” and “Patient Safety Expert to Know” by Becker’s Hospital Review. Shannon also worked at Cleveland Clinic, where she served as Physician Lead for the Office of Clinical Transformation and Associate Chief Quality Officer. She also served as Patient Safety Officer at Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital. Prior to Cleveland Clinic, Shannon worked at Riley Children's Health and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia as a pediatrician.

Dr. Shannon Phillips is a leader who cares greatly.