Perspectives

Closing the Health Care Talent Gap

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This is the second in a series of posts focused on the priorities of healthcare of chief human resources executives (CHROs). 

Volatility, uncertainly and complexity are healthcare’s new normal as the industry shifts its focus from volume, fee-for-service and inpatient care, to value-based, accountable care, engagement and population health management. 

Healthcare organizations (HCOs) have launched more change, transformation and innovation initiatives than ever before. Even the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) advises its members how to manage healthcare careers “in an era of uncertainty.”     

The high pace of change extends beyond healthcare to other industries. Half of employees expect major change within six months, according to Arlington, VA-based CEB, Inc. (http://www.cebglobal.com). And three-quarters of CEOs surveyed by IBM say that uncertainly and complexity will escalate, although less than half feel prepared to handle it (http://chiefexecutive.net/ibm-global-ceo-study-fewer-than-half-can-handle-increased-complexity).

How can healthcare CHROs prepare employees, clinicians, managers and executives to navigate a system dominated by uncertainty, complexity and change? Leaders at every level of the HCO need the skill, knowledge and experience to exercise the following: 

• Agility: Move with speed and grace across varied contexts—both with the HCO and throughout the community, service area and healthcare system  
• Judgment: Exercise accurate, timely, evidence-based judgment before moving to communicate or act.
• Insight: Display emotional and professional intelligence.

Sadly, the healthcare talent shortage is real. Economic growth will outstrip home grown talent, predicts Bain & Company’s The Great Eight: Trillion-Dollar Growth Trends to 2020, leading organizations to boost investment in learning, training and development.    

Healthcare CHROs can close talent gaps if they choose to grow their own talent through early identification of potential leaders and investment in training, development and retention. 

Untapped, underground leaders sometimes surface in the form of “front-line managers” who compose 60 percent of an organization’s management ranks and supervise as much as 80 percent of the workforce, according to the Harvard Business Review.   

Small wonder that organizations have increased their investment in front-line manager training, development and retention. Healthcare CHROs can do the same although they need to choose where and how to invest. 

People skills—specifically the ability to engage, motivate and lead people—sit at the top of any list of vital leadership traits. As a human resources consultant and former healthcare executive once told me, “It’s not what people do; it’s how they do it that gets them into trouble.” 

It’s why budding healthcare leaders need CHROs’ support to develop the following skills: 

• Leadership: Think, speak and act like a leader.
• Team-building: Coach, mentor and motivate team members.
• Performance: Secure clinical and business results through the work and commitment of others.
• Engagement: Engage employees, clinicians, managers and executives in the HCOs mission, vision, values and strategic plan.

Nothing is more vital than workforce engagement. Less than one-third of American workers report being engaged in their work in 2014, according to Gallup research. Within HCOs, nurse engagement reduces mortality and prevents complications.      

The healthcare workforce—employees, clinicians, managers and executives—must report back more than happiness or satisfaction. They must experience engagement, a total commitment to the HCO’s leaders, co-workers, patients and consumers.  

Moving to 2020, engagement will expand as healthcare leaders view leadership less as a solitary pursuit than as a shared process. Leaders at all levels of the HCO will seek fresh ways to connect and collaborate with partners, suppliers, consumers and entities across communities and society.

Healthcare CHROs can support emerging leaders as they increasingly face situations where it might be impossible for a single person to know a solution or even define a problem, according to the Center for Creative Leadership.

CHROs can develop emerging leaders throughout the HCO through the following practices:

• Consistency: Ensure that emerging leaders from every level of the HCO experience development programs featuring congruent themes, strategies, tactics and tools.
• Teachers Training: Invite those who’ve already completed leadership development at one level to teach, mentor and support those at lower levels.  
• Gatherings: Build development experiences for leaders from varied regions, hospitals, units, departments, divisions, and entities along the continuum of care.
• Stay positive. Emerging leaders may lack the time and energy to participate in intense learning and development experiences. That’s why healthcare CHROs may want to forsake retreats and heavy-duty boot camps for experiences that respond to leaders’ most frequently asked questions: 
• Relevance: How is this program relevant to what I do now or could do in the future? 
• Usefulness: Will I pick up information, knowledge and skills that I’ll be able to use in my job?
• Challenge: Will this experience help me grow? Will I hear about ideas and approaches that could make me a better person and professional?  
• Fun: Am I going to have a good time?      

A leadership development experience need not be grim. CHROs should use techniques that keep participants motivated and engaged—from ice breakers, team exercises, humor and awards, to free-wheeling discussion, adventures and times for reflection.         

Curt Lucas is a Managing Partner and founding member of InveniasPartners and is based in Chicago. With more than 25 years of executive search experience, Curt has conducted over 400 senior leadership assignments in healthcare, including engagements for integrated delivery systems, academic medical centers and health sciences centers, investor-owned healthcare companies, physician practice management companies, and managed care organizations. Curt has lead numerous highly visible C-Suite engagements for clients such as Massachusetts General Hospital, BJC Health System, Boston Children’s Hospital, GE Healthcare, Johns Hopkins, Inova Health System, Joint Commission, University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, and St. Joseph Health System. His functional search and assessment experience encompasses all senior executive levels to include operations, finance, clinical leadership, human resources, IT, physician leadership, and board level assignments.

InveniasPartners, a leading C-Suite healthcare executive and board search, assessment and talent management consulting firm, serves health systems, hospitals, academic medical centers, medical groups and payers through offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, St. Louis and Princeton.

Learn more about InveniasPartners at http://www.inveniaspartners.com