Manoj Pawar, MD, MMM is the founder of BanyanTree leadership.
He's a Family Physician.
Manoj still sees patients part-time. All ages. All problems. All levels of complexity. He's delivered babies, he resuscitated critical patients, and he's stayed with people during their last moments. But day-to-day, sick or well, he wants people to be their best so that they can live happy and fulfilling lives. Regardless of their problems, his approach involves listening to people, understanding them, and meeting them "where they're at" as a starting point for motivation towards wellness. Active partnership is the theme.
He does this because it's fulfilling, rewarding, and because he says it keeps him "grounded".
We're glad he does, because whether he realizes it or not, we think some of this approach rubs off on his work with organizations.
He says when you're dealing with life and death problems, problems in organizations take on a new perspective.
He's a Chief Medical Officer.
Dr. Pawar has led a medical group through a financial turnaround that involved a downsizing. $27 million in three years, to be exact. It was during this time that he created shared vision and purpose for physicians and for administrators. He focused on core business processes, while at the same time articulating a strategic vision for the future.
The turnaround was successful. Today, his group is growing and expanding while remaining financially sound. In fact, they're gaining national recognition for business processes, compensation and incentives, and physician satisfaction and engagement. They're also exceeding national quality and service benchmarks in a variety of areas.
When we asked him about the most important thing that led to this success, he told us that all of it hinged on the "disseminated leadership" model that he used to engage front line physician leaders and managers. He believes the model, coupled with training, development, and accountability enables his group to respond more rapidly than the competition. He also takes pride in the fact that the model is designed to be self-sustaining long after he's gone.
He does this work because it allows him to make a difference on a much larger scale...to improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
He's a Consultant and an Executive Coach.
Manoj has both a medical degree and a business degree. In business school, although finance and operations came easily to him, he was drawn towards leadership and organizational development, and continued to study this field. The "learning organization" framework is the foundation for his work.
He does this because it allows him to make a difference on an even larger scale than he can achieve within a single organization.
He has consulted on his own, as well as with other virtual consulting groups. His work has focused on senior level leaders and teams that are motivated, committed, and engaged for difficult work. He has worked with Fortune 500 companies, as well as with small non-profits.
He sees and understands the left-brained analytical world (finance, operations, science) and sees how it connects with the right-brained intuitive and creative world (organizational development, learning, innovation). Most recently, he's passionate about making this more apparent for clients.
He is a member of the Society for Organizational Learning, and has published a number of articles.
He's a teacher.
Dr. Pawar enjoys teaching students. He is on faculty at the Daniels College of Business, where he enjoys teaching MBA students, and he also teaches physicians in training as faculty at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center Department of Family Medicine.
Of course, Manoj also teaches and mentors working teams. Most recently, his work as a faculty / coach for quality improvement teams across Colorado as part of the Improving Performance in Practice (IPIP) learning collaborative initiative.
He has a life outside of work.
More than anything, Manoj loves spending time with his wife (Rhonda) and two children (Sanjay and Sangita) in his free time. Together, they volunteer, travel, and play.
Personally, Dr. Pawar has fun skiing, reading, blogging, and trying to skateboard. He loves all sorts of music, although Punk and Electronica are his favorite genres right now.
