Building TIMELEss Leadership Skills

Throughout her career in critical medicine, Aanchal Kapoor, MD, MEd, has participated in numerous leadership courses and conferences. While she found the content valuable, retaining and applying it long-term proved challenging.

“You come back with the language and skills for maybe a month, then you lose them,” says Dr. Kapoor, Director of the Medical Intensive Liver Unit at Cleveland Clinic. “I wanted something that would allow you to apply the skills consistently so they become part of your routine practice.”

That motivation inspired Dr. Kapoor to develop the TIMELEss program, a team-based leadership series, as part of a curriculum development course while earning her master’s degree in education. She presented the concept to Raed Dweik, MD, MBA, Chief of the Integrated Hospital Care Institute, who recognized its potential to benefit Cleveland Clinic caregivers and staff.

Year-long, in-person skill building

The fifth TIMELEss cohort will launch in July 2026. This year-long program includes monthly, in-person five-hour skill-building sessions, complemented by a team project completed outside of class to reinforce learning. Participants also take part in two immersive retreats designed to deepen collaboration, networking and leadership development.

The overarching program goals are to:

• Equip participants with tangible leadership values and skills.
• Promote a culture of collaboration, teamwork, shared decision-making, learning and leading with a leader mindset within Cleveland Clinic.
• Build a community of leaders across interprofessional healthcare teams throughout the enterprise who are empowered to lead and mentor future colleagues.

“The curriculum starts with foundational leadership skills and gradually transitions to the interpersonal and collaborative skills essential for effective teamwork,” says Dr. Kapoor, Program Director of TIMELEss.

The topics covered include building high-performance teams, strategic planning, conflict resolution, shaping organizational culture, prioritizing patient and caregiver welfare, mastering negotiation, coaching and mentoring, executive communication skills and more.

Creating healthy teams

The team-based approach is pivotal to TIMELEss, which stands for Team-based Interprofessional Multidisciplinary Education (in) Leadership Essentials. Six teams with approximately five to seven core members participated in the 2024-2025 series. Since its launch in 2021, the program has averaged 30 to 35 participants each year.

“The goal is to develop leadership skills among healthcare teams collectively rather than in silos,” says Dr. Kapoor. “This fosters a better understanding of each other’s roles, enhances collaboration and creates a high-functioning environment where goals are assimilated more quickly and team success is accelerated.”

Initially, teams were selected from the Integrated Hospital Care Institute (IHI). The program later expanded to include participants from across the health system. Each team selects projects aligned with one of four key values of IHI – quality improvement, throughput and workflow optimization, cost efficiency, and caregiver wellness and support.

Examples of recent interdisciplinary projects include developing a multimodal cancer screening clinic, creating a protocol for inspiratory muscle training in patients with neuromuscular diseases and designing a dashboard to monitor waiting times from referral to evaluation for various organ transplants.

To support these initiatives, each team receives coach-led training from Cleveland Clinic’s Office of Interprofessional Learning. “We tailor coaching to the team’s needs, using assessments to improve team behaviors and dynamics,” explains Dr. Kapoor.

Teams share project updates throughout the program, culminating in a final showcase of their work during the closing retreat.

Advancing leadership skills

Dr. Kapoor has attended every session of TIMELEss since its launch and strongly advocates for team-based leadership, especially as patient acuity continues to rise.

“Even when patient outcomes are strong, there is always an opportunity to strengthen communication – among patients, their families and the entire care team,” she emphasizes. “Team-based leadership is essential in healthcare because it ensures that every member of the team speaks the same language and works toward shared goals. When physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses, social workers, physical and occupational therapists and others align through collaborative leadership, patient-centered care becomes more effective, efficient and truly holistic.”

Dr. Kapoor shares three key tips for health professionals looking to promote multidisciplinary leadership:

1. Start small. If creating a year-long curriculum feels daunting, begin with simple steps. “Incorporate short leadership insights during morning rounds or display them on a Scala digital board,” she suggests.
2. Make participation voluntary. “You can’t just assign people to leadership courses,” says Dr. Kapoor. “True growth comes from personal interest and a desire to lead.”
3. Prioritize in-person learning. Whenever possible, bring education directly to caregivers. “Face-to-face sessions help build camaraderie and trust,” she explains. “Online modules can supplement, but start with something personal and interactive.”

As Director of the Medical Intensive Liver Unit, Dr. Kapoor recognizes the essential role of teamwork and interprofessional leadership in delivering evidence-based care to patients with complex liver disease.

“By embracing interprofessional leadership, we create a culture where collaboration drives innovation and every patient benefits from the collective strength of the care team,” she says.