By Nicole Dhanraj
I was recently in a remote meeting where a colleague did something simple, but powerful.
She paused, looked beyond the loudest voices, and asked, “Who else needs to be part of this conversation?” She also called on those that had not spoken up and asked for their input before we left the meeting.
Those questions stayed with me.
Because in hybrid work, people can be present and still be invisible. They can be on the invite. On the screen. On mute. Camera off. Calling from another site. Reading remotely. Working a different shift. Doing excellent work and still be easy to miss.
For radiology leaders, this is one of the quiet risks of hybrid work.
New visibility gap
Radiology teams are no longer connected only by hallways, reading rooms, control rooms and manager offices. We now lead across hospital campuses, outpatient centers, remote reading stations, virtual meetings, centralized scheduling teams and digital platforms.
That flexibility can be valuable. It can support caregivers. It can reduce unnecessary commuting. It can improve focus. It can help talented people stay in the workforce.
But it also changes who gets noticed.
The person in the building may get the informal update. The employee near the manager’s office may hear about an opportunity first. The main campus may get more attention than the satellite site. The person with the camera on may feel more engaged than the quiet person whose camera is off because they are between patients, reading studies, managing interruptions or simply exhausted.
That is how exclusion can happen without anyone intending it.
Proximity bias in practice
Proximity bias is the tendency to favor, trust, recognize or include the people who are physically closest to us. It rarely feels like bias in the moment. It feels like convenience.
Familiarity.
Efficiency.
We remember the person we see every day. We trust the employee who stops by our office. We give quick updates to the team at the main campus because they are right there. We think of the technologist, radiologist, coordinator or lead who is most visible.
And without meaning to, we may overlook the people who are farther away, quieter online, on another shift or working at another site.
That is what should make us pause.
Because proximity bias often looks like normal leadership. A hallway conversation. A quick decision. A familiar face chosen for a project. A committee opportunity offered to the person who happened to be nearby.
But over time, those small choices create a culture. Some people become visible. Others become peripheral.
Inclusion is more than an invitation
One of the biggest mistakes leaders can make is believing that sending the meeting link means inclusion has happened.
Inclusion is not, “Were they invited?”
It is, “Were they heard before the decision was made?” It is, “Did the people closest to the work have a chance to shape the workflow?” It is, “Did we remember the site, shift, modality or role that sees the problem differently?”
A CT protocol change without CT technologist input is not just a communication gap.
A scheduling decision without front desk or authorization input is not just an oversight.
A policy built around the main campus without asking the outpatient site is not just inefficient.
It sends a message: “We made the decision. Now you live with it.”
That message damages trust.
The emotional cost of being missed
Most employees will not say, “I am experiencing proximity bias.”
They will say:
“They do not understand what we do.”
“They only listen to the main campus.”
“They ask for input after they already decide.”
“No one thinks about our shift.”
Over time, people stop speaking up. They stop warning leaders about problems. They stop offering ideas. Not because they do not care, but because they have learned their voice does not change the outcome. That is when a department does not just lose inclusion. It loses intelligence.
A simple leadership test
Before the next decision, radiology leaders can ask:
- Who will feel this change first?
- Who is not in the room but should be?
- Which site, shift or modality might experience this differently?
- Whose silence are we mistaking for agreement?
- Who needs to hear this before it becomes final?
These questions do not slow leadership down. They prevent leaders from moving fast in the wrong direction. Hybrid work can create equity, but only when leaders are intentional.
Otherwise, it creates a quiet two-tier culture – the visible and the forgotten.
The real question is not, “Who was invited?” The real question is, “Who did we forget to see?”
For radiology leaders, that question should stay with us because inclusion is not proven by how well we hear the people closest to us. It is proven by how intentionally we listen for the people we could easily miss. •
Nicole Dhanraj, is a radiology administrator and workforce strategist focused on military-to-healthcare transition pathways. Radiology leaders interested in exploring this approach are encouraged to connect with her directly at nicoledhanraj@gmail.com.
