Perspectives
Leading into the Future: C-Suites and Boards Must Build Learning Cultures
What will it take for senior healthcare executives to lead healthcare organizations (HCOs) to 2020 and beyond? The answer rests in executive development grounded in an enterprise-wide approach to the acquisition and application of knowledge, skill, competence and leadership savvy.
While executive search consultants still debate the requirements for healthcare C-Suite and board success, they often rely on a checklist like the following:
Openness: Is the C-Suite executive open to new ideas, philosophies, solutions and people?
Flexibility: Does the C-Suite executive take a flexible approach to decision-making, problem solving, innovation and communication?
Independence: Can the C-Suite executive function autonomously while still incorporating others’ attitudes, beliefs, values and opinions?
Purpose: Does the C-Suite executive have a strong sense of focus and inner purpose? Is the executive equally committed to fulfilling the HCO’s mission, vision and values?
Emotional Strength: How well does the C-Suite executive demonstrate empathy and resilience—the ability to triumph over disappointment, rejection and failure?
Awareness: Is the C-Suite executive perceptive and sensitive to situations, surroundings, issues and people?
Listening: Does the C-Suite executive listen—to colleagues, competitors, employees, clinicians, payers, consumers, patients, vendors and healthcare opinion leaders?
Transparency: Does the C-Suite executive share goals, objectives, strategies and anticipated results with vital HCO constituencies?
Culture: Does the C-Suite executive understand and validate the HCO’s culture, transforming the culture when necessary?
Influence: Does the C-Suite executive inform, engage, influence and inspire people, through diverse communication channels?
How HCOs Can Respond
Healthcare C-Suite and board members can identify, recruit, retain and engage senior executive talent by adhering to the following process:
One: Zero in on senior executive knowledge, skill, competence and preferred leadership style. Think of the optimum C-Suite executive or board member in terms of the following:
- Leadership/management: Engage in evidence-based problem solving, decision-making, conflict resolution, strategy development and innovation.
- Ethics and compliance: Resolve ethical and legal dilemmas and crises; lead with candor, competence, compassion and commitment.
- Communications: Document, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, motivate, influence and inspire.
Some HCOs may prefer C-Suite executives who can collaborate through teams, negotiate, resolve conflicts and cope with ambiguity. However, all can develop C-Suite or executive knowledge, skill and competence through the following tools:
- Evaluation of healthcare industry knowledge
- Self and peer assessment of leadership skill and style
- Synthesis of lessons learned
- Mentoring, coaching and career planning
Two: Offer C-Suite executives opportunities to experiment and practice. Covering healthcare issues, trends and leadership skills is never enough. C=Suite executives need opportunities to apply newly discovered knowledge, skills and competencies.
One approach is to offer executives safe environments or retreat experiences where they can develop strategies that complement or counter diverse healthcare scenarios. For example, executives could offer strategies in response to the Public Health 2030 and Primary Care 2025 scenarios designed by the Institute for Alternatives Futures.
Executives could also experiment with how varied leadership styles and behaviors could help address front-burner healthcare challenges like the following:
- Empathy: How could a C-Suite executive use empathy to address the challenges of public and population health?
- Honesty: How could candor and directness facilitate clinical integration, population health or value-based care?
- Respect: How might enhanced respect drive patient, consumer and employee engagement and experience?
- Ethics: How would a strengthened code of business ethics build trust among clinicians, employees, partners, community leaders and vendors?
Three: Provide executives with candid feedback and forums for reflection on results and lessons learned. Once C-Suite executives apply newly acquired healthcare and leadership insights, they will seek feedback from friends, colleagues and employees. Among the potential feedback mechanisms available to HCOs are the following:
- Formal mentoring and coaching programs
- Annual, quarterly or monthly performance appraisals
- Leadership assessments via entities like Hogan
- Regular reviews of C-Suite executive communications—from e-mails and memos, to small group meetings and formal presentations
Regular feedback allows C-Suite executives to review their strengths and target areas of enhancement—especially when they are able to fully reflect on the leadership development experience. Among the issues:
- Did the leadership development experience meet the executive’s expectations? Why or why not?
- What new leadership insights did the executive derive from leadership development?
- How did the executive maintain or modify a personal leadership style?
- How has leadership development helped the executive to become a better healthcare leader?
HCOs can address these issues via small group discussions, mentoring and coaching or long-term career planning.
A Step Ahead
C-Suite healthcare executives need knowledge, skills, competence and leadership savvy to move HCOs to 2020 and beyond. C-Suite and board members can do much to support new and emerging senior healthcare executives. The best approach is to develop and sustain a learning culture that nurtures leadership knowledge, skill and competence at every level of the healthcare enterprise.
_______________________________________________________
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