Students enrolled in the only physician MBA from a top-ranked business school recently experienced the fast-paced world of a professional racing pit crew in Speedway, Indiana.
The event was a new component of the revamped curriculum of the Physician MBA program at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business: Leadership Immersion Week presented by the Randall L. Tobias Center for Leadership Excellence. The Physician MBA program is a one-of-its-kind program that empowers physicians who want to reform the business of health care.
Through dynamic industry speakers, engaging alumni panels and off-campus active learning opportunities, the weeklong residency provided a transformative experience for physicians to build teamwork, communication and storytelling skills while expanding their network of like-minded physicians.
This stock car pit crew exercise was a new and unexpected experience for the physician MBAs that quickly accelerated learning. While speed and precision are essential on the racetrack, they’re just as critical in the fast-paced world of medicine.
This unique opportunity, which organizers said can be seen as a metaphor for helping patients, highlights how teamwork and communication can mean the difference between success and failure in both racing and health care.
Led by Bob Parker, facilitator and owner of The Pit Crew Challenge, and hosted at the Dallara IndyCar Factory, the exercise was selected, with the physicians in mind, to encourage and nurture team development and demonstrate the roles of collaboration and communication in the development of high-performance teams.
“Changing tires on a race car is not something you’d expect for leadership training, but this experience helps develop new understanding and concepts of how to grow as a leader,” said Julie Manning Magid, vice dean and professor at the IU Kelley School of Business Indianapolis and executive and academic director of the Tobias Leadership Center.
By drawing parallels between high-stakes auto racing and business operations, The Pit Crew Challenge helps organizations build high-performing cultures and teaches participants to deliver on organizational values by focusing on what is truly important and by managing complexity when faced with conflicting priorities.
The challenge emphasizes the importance of developing a customer focus, aligning teams toward common goals and making strategic decisions about prioritizing people versus processes. These foundational themes are crucial for fostering a culture that is not only performance-driven but also adaptable and customer-centric.
“The Physician MBA Program chose this active-learning experience because it is relevant to the key components of our Leadership Immersion Week,” Magid said. “It’s about teamwork and collaboration and communicating in ways that advance a mission. It incorporates many vital skills and concepts, and it connects students to a variety of topics for the week, like how to approach change, form a team, cultivate talents, and coach and mentor an effective team.”
The Pit Crew Challenge also delved into the complexities of building a collaborative and agile workforce. Participants explored how to create a coaching culture that encourages learning and knowledge-sharing, which is essential for quickly adapting to market changes.
“This challenge is a powerful reminder that success in medicine and racing comes down to precision, communication and trust in your team,” said Dr. Brian Zafonte, a Kelley Physician MBA student. “Just as in the operating room, every second counts, and every team member plays a critical role in ensuring the best possible outcome.”
The challenge also addressed how to navigate ambiguity and challenge existing contexts, helping teams break down silos and work seamlessly across boundaries. By examining metrics and rewards, the challenge highlighted how these factors influence collaboration and overall organizational culture. Trust versus risk is another critical theme. The physician MBAs learned to balance these often-competing forces to foster a more cohesive and resilient team environment.
“I never thought I would be on a pit crew, but what an awesome way to learn about balancing quality, safety and speed for physician leaders,” said Dr. Hani Rashid, another student in the program.