a methodical approach to deepening your leadership team's bench strength

8/6/2019 A Methodical Approach to Deepening Your Leadership Team's Bench Strength

1/6

Sponsored Material nwww.healthleadersmedia.com2 HealthLeaders nJuly 2011

S P O N S O R

Most hospitals and health systems think theyhave figured out succession planning. They mighthave an executive whos planning on retiring ina couple of years, and theyve groomed some-one internally to take over. But planning forwhat you know will happen overlooks the mostprobable threat to the continuity of a leadershipteamunplanned departures. HealthLeadersMedia recently convened a panel of experts

to discuss this important issue. Following arehighlights from that conversation.

PANELIST PROFILES

A MethodicalApproach toDeepening YourLeadership Teams

Bench Strength

THOMAS A. DEBORD, FACHEPresident

Summa Barberton HospitalSumma Wadsworth-

Rittman HospitalBarberton, OH

ALAN BRADFORDChief Human Resources Officer

Baptist Health SystemBirmingham, AL

VERONICA ZAMANCorporate VP of

Talent ManagementScripps HealthSan Diego, CA

DOUG SMITHPresident and CEO

B. E. SmithLenexa, KS

PHILIP BETBEZE

(MODERATOR)

Senior Leadership EditorHealthLeaders Media

Nashville, TN

ROUNDTABLE

L i l kk

r li i

k

lli r

k

l

k

L r i

k

k

i

k r il i

k r

k r

l

k

r i L i

k

li

k


2/6

HEALTHLEADERS: How important is

developing senior leadership continuity, and

how do you do that in the face of unplanneddepartures?

VERONICA ZAMAN: Successionplan-

ninghasprobablyneverbeenmore

importantthanitisnowwiththeambi-

guitysurroundinghealthcarereform.

Weveundergonealmosta10-yearpro-

cessofidentifyingourinterimtalent

becauseitsexpensivetoreplacegood

talentwiththevolatilityinthemarket

today.Wehavefoundthatthedis-

cussionandthetransparencyaround

whatweredoingrelatedtosuccession

planninghasjustbeenajumpstart.A

lotofourtalentedfrontlinemanagers,

directors,andthoseyoungVPsthatare

juststartingoffreallyseemenergized

bythefactthattheycouldcometoa

placelikeScrippsHealthandhaveafull

careerthere.Infact,alotofourlitera-

turetalksaboutcareerdestination.We

reallydotakethatseriously.Wewant

youtojoinusandbuildyourcareerat

Scripps.Andwegointernallyfirstwhen

welookatreplacinganyone,especiallyinourmoreseniorlevels.

TOM DEBORD: Allofushaveworked

reallyhardtobuildconfidenceinour

brandwithinourcommunities,and

havingfolksinplacewhocanstepin

isessentialtomaintainingthetrust

thatthecommunityhasinthatbrand.

Wehavealotof

folks who want

tohavethatsense

of belonging inan organization.

I started atBar-

berton a lmost

23 years ago as

the director of

accountingandhereIamasthepresi-

dentnow.ItwasbecauseIwasgiven

opportunities.IworkedhardandIfelt

likeIdeservedtogettheopportunities,

butIhadsomebodyhelpingmealong

theway.

HealthLeaders nJuly 2011 3

LISTENING TO YOUR DATA

www.healthleadersmedia.com nSponsored Material

DOUG SMITH:Withhealthcarereform,

successionplanningis low-hanging

fruit.Ifyourenotgoingtogetgoodatsuccessionplanning,youregoingto

havetrouble competing. Succession

planningdoesinstillabrandinpeople.

Also,itinstillsacertainamountofpride

anditestablishesastrongculturewhich

bleedsintostrongsatisfactionfrom

patients,improvedmetricsforqualityof

care,jobsatisfaction,andengagement.

ZAMAN: Aboutayearago,ChrisVan

Gorder,ourCEO,turnedourorganiza-

tiononitssideorganizationally.Were

fivehospitalsandhadoperatedasvery

independenthospitals.Eventhough

wewereasystem,wedidnthavealotof

standardizationandourfolkscouldnt

movearound.Wehavewhatwecalla

horizontaloperationsteamnow.Im

oneofthosehorizontalfolks,butthe

focuswasreallyonthehospitalopera-

tions.WepulledourVPofOperations

fromthesites,leavingourchiefexecu-

tivesatthesitealongwiththechief

nursingexecutives.Wepulledoutthe

VPsandmadethemhorizontalcorpo-rateVPsandsteppedthemintoaservice

lineconcept.Whatwereseeingwith

ourhorizontalalignmentnowisthat

thesystemispullingtogetherandwe

areachievingstandardization.Wedidit

tostarttoincentivizeandtobuildthat

nextlevelofexecutivesandtostartto

groom,mentor,andcoachthattalent.

SMITH:Whenwe

lookatthedemo-

graphics now offolkswhoarein

theirfirstfiveto

eightyears,itsa

realitythattheyll

havesevenjobsin

theircareerwithsevendifferentorgani-

zations.Sohowdowebattlethattrend

oflackofcontinuityinthecontextof

successionplanning?Wevefocusedon

thattopthirdofperformerswithinour

groupandthatswhereweareinvesting

ourresources.Wevehadtoputasignifi-

cantamountofdisciplinearounddoing

itcontinuouslyandwehavefoundthatourretentionamongthattopthirdhas

startedtofarexceedtherestofourpeers.

ALAN BRADFORD:We have a pretty

rigorousprocessforidentifyingtalent.

Theperformanceappraisalisthestart.

Butwehavea calibrationprocessin

whichtheseniorleadersparticipate,

andwithinthatcalibrationprocess,welookatcompetenciesandatperfor-

manceandresults.Welookathowthey

havefollowedthroughontheirtalent

managementplan,howtheyinvested

inthemselvesinadditiontowhatwe

arewillingtoinvestinthem.

HEALTHLEADERS: Isnt it easier to pick up

the phone and call a search firm?

ZAMAN:Yes,butthenyoucantpromote

fromwithin,andthatsimportanttous.Westartedtolookmuchmoreindetail

athowweactivelylookedatpromoting

fromwithin.Wehadbeenmuchlike

thetraditionalorganization:Pickupthe

phoneandcallthesearchfirm,especially

forsomeofthemorehard-to-fillposi-

tions.Inthelastfiveyearswevetargeted

internalhiring.Ourtalentlineassessment

tool,whichyearsagoweonlyusedon

seniorpeople,weuseoneveryonetostart

totapintothatunknownpotentialtalent.

Roundtable Highlights

Alan Bradford

Chief Human

Resources Officer

Birmingham, AL

We have a pretty

rigorous process foridentifying talent.The

performance appraisal

is the start.


3/6

ZAMAN:ImnotanHRperson,but

whatwebroughtintoHRwassomeone

whohadthestrategicoperationsand

theclinicalknowledgebase.Whenthe

economytookitsdiveandeveryonewas

lookingatsavingmoney,Chriscameforwardwithtwomandates.Onewas

thatwewouldnothavelayoffs.Thesec-

ondpiecewasthatwewouldcontinue

tosupportlearninganddevelopment

becausewithoutthatdeepdiveinto

learningandensuringthatwewere

continuouslydevelopingourteams,we

wouldnotbesuccessfullypositionedin

thefuture.Thathasalloweduscreatea

continuouslearningenvironment.Its

notjustaboutclassroomteaching;itis

abouthowyoutaketheknowledgeand

thedevelopmentandthelearningthat

wereprovidingtothebedside.

SMITH: Ivebeenpartofcuttingtrain-

ingdollarsandIveseenmyclientscut

trainingdollars.Traditionally,training

hasbeenveryexpensiveandweneeded

tofindawaytolowercostsbutstill

havethesameoutcomes.Essentially

wevemobilizedinternallytododevel-

opment,sothecosthascomedown

butthereturninvaluehasprobably

increased.Theruleofthumbhasbeenthatforeachdollarinvestedindevelop-

ment,yougetninedollarsback.Today,

theinputcostislessexpensiveandthe

outputmayhavedoubled.

BRADFORD:Thereisademonstrable

ROIfromthisinhealthcare.Healthcare

hasbeenremissinrequiringdemon-

stratedROIoftheinputintohuman

capital.Asyoureabletodemonstrate

that,youcandemonstratethecostof

apoorsuccessoror thecostofturn-ingoveragreatperformer.Wecreated

whatwecalllearninggroupfellowships

andwetaketheselearninggroupsand

weputthemtoworkonreallytough

problems.Itscross-functionalandmul-

tilevelthereseverythingfromaman-

agertoanexecutiveVPintheselearning

groups.Throughthem,wegetsomeof

thebestinnovations,someofthebest

ideas,andsomeofthelargestreturnon

smallinvestmentsthatyoucanimagine.

SMITH:WhenIfirstcameintothe

industryIrecallthenumberbeing

60/40yourecruit60%ofyouremploy-

eesfromtheoutsideand40%fromthe

inside.Impredictingitsgoingtolook

morelike25/7575%fromtheinsideand25%fromtheoutside.

HEALTHLEADERS: Whats the balance

between HRs role in developing educational

opportunities versus senior leaderships role?

BRADFORD:Seniorleadership,start-

ingattheboard,hastosupportit

andbetheadvocateforit.Manyorga-nizations,ifyoutalktosomeofour

peers,in2008theycuteverytraining

anddevelopmentdollartheycould

find.Thatsahugerisk.Withoutthat

advocacy,yourenotgoingtohavethe

fundingtodoitortheinterest.Fortu-

natelywehaveaboardandaCEOwho

listensandunderstandsthatthecost

ofnotdoingitfaroutweighsthecost

ofdoingit.

DEBORD: ItscollaborationbetweenHRandseniorleadership.HRcer-

tainlyhasaninfrastructuretohelp

makesurethatithappens,butittakes

theseniorleadershipandtheboard

tohavethatvisiontomakesurethat

weredrivingitthroughtheorganiza-

tion.AtSumma,TomStrauss,our

CEO,actuallyteachesafour-hour

classcalledServantLeadership.Most

ofoureducationisinternal.Youneed

seniorleadersteachingtheclasses.

Sponsored Materialnwww.healthleadersmedia.com4 HealthLeaders nJuly 2011

HEALTHLEADERS: Its a different kind

of investment, isnt it? Youre investing in

people and it takes them a while to internal-

ize some of the things that youre teaching.

BRADFORD:Ourseniorleadershipteamnowclamorstogettheirideasandproj-

ectsputbeforetheselearninggroups

becausetheyveseentheresultsthat

havebeenyieldedthroughtheirwork.

Theyspendsixtoninemonthsonthis.

Theydolargepresentationsbacktothe

seniorgroupandtoeachother.Wehad

oneworkingonmedicationsafety,for

example.Weallknowwhatabigissue

thatisinourindustry.Notonlywas

thereahugeROI,butwethinkwesaved

lives.Wevebeendoingthisforalmost

fouryearsandweveonlylostoneper-

sonoutofabout120peoplethathave

participatedintheprogram.

SMITH: Webelieveexperientiallearn-

ingisimportantandaworthyinvest-

ment.Anotherkey toretentionand

engagementisknowingthatleader-

shipcaresaboutmeasanindividual

andwantstodevelopme.Thatcan

haveimmediateandlong-termben-

efits.Soachangeinpolicytofocus

moreonsuccessionplanningandlead-ershipdevelopmentwithintheinstitu-

tion,especiallywhenitsperformed

internally,willgenerateanimmediate

spikeinengagement.

DEBORD:Wecreatedprobablyabout

50performanceimprovementteams,

maybemore,wherewetookthedirec-

torofafunction,saythelab,tolookat

labwithinourregion.Whatcontracts

dowehave?Whatprocessescanwe

change?Wefoundalotofsuccessinthat.Andoneofthethingswefound

asweweredoingitisthatsomepeople

neededsomemoretraining.Health-

carereformiscominganditsgoingto

beevenmorecriticalforallofustobe

asefficientaswecan,sowellhavealot

moreofthoseteamsovertime.

ZAMAN:Wevedonesimilartypesof

things.WecallthemRPIinitiatives

wherewevetakensomeofourstrong

Doug Smith

President and CEO

B. E. Smith

ROUNDTABLE: DEEPENING YOUR LEADERSHIP TEAMS BENCH STRENGTH


4/6

DEBORD:Wedonthaveanythingspe-

cificinouractualperformanceevalua-

tions;however,wealwaysrecommend

andteachthataspartoftheevalua-

tionprocess,ourleadersdiscussthe

careergoalsandplansoftheindividu-alsthatweredeveloping.Succession

planningandleadershipdevelopment

werekeycomponentsofourlastthree-

yearstrategicplanwherebyeachentity

hadtocreateanentity-specificbusi-

nessplantohelpmeettheobjectives

ofthesystemplan.Andalotofthose

thingsfromthosebusinessplanswere

thenincorporatedinto theleaders

evaluationtoolsasfarasactionitems

thattheyhadtobeworkingontohelp

achievegoals.

HEALTHLEADERS: Many of you have

mentioned mentoring. Have you ever had

indications from senior leaders that they areinsecure about mentoring younger groups for

fear of training their replacements?

ZAMAN:Peoplewereverysuspicious

whenwemovedtoeverybodyhaving

anassessment.Atthatpointwewere

goingthroughaffirmativeactioninitia-

tives.OneofthefirstjobsIhadwasto

re-createouraffirmativeactionplan.

Partofitwashowwelookedatpeople

whoweregettingpromotedandhow

wedevelopedthem.Westillhavethatage-oldproblemwhereamanagerhas

adepartmentwithtwoorthreetop

performers.Theydontwantthemto

goanywhere.Theyreallydependon

themtohelptheirdepartmentrun.

Weregettingbetteraboutit.Theyear-

longleadershipessentialsprogramthat

everyonehastoengageinnowhasbeen

akeyculturechangeforus.Overthe

nextcoupleofyearsaswecontinue

toevolveandfocusonchange,well

becomeverygoodatitbecauseweare

beginningtotakealittleprideinour

internalabilitytodevelopleaders.

HEALTHLEADERS: How do you go about

matching people with mentors?

BRADFORD:Wehaveaprofileonevery-

one,anditsnotonlythatthepotential

mentorisstrongintheareaswherewe

havedeficiencieswiththepotential

persontobementored,italsocanbe

howtheytranslatethatintoactionable

stepsinsuccess,whethertheyvebeen

trained,andwhethertheyactuallywant

tomentor.

DEBORD:Itscriticalthatyouhave

somebody whos really willing to

spendthetimebecauseyoudontwant

themforcedintoasituation.Itsalso

criticalthatyouhavesomebodywhos

alignedwiththevaluesoftheorga-

nizationandwhotrulyispassionate

aboutthat.

ZAMAN:Wetakethemthroughaformalmentoringprogram.Thecriteriaare

theirwillingnesstocommitthetime

andwhethertheyreallyhavethetime.

Recentlywevechangedthingsalittleso

thatapersoncanhaveuptotwomen-

tors.SoinourEmergingLeaderpro-

gram,youcouldhaveamentorcoach

wholooksatitfromanorganizational

perspective,hasthattypeofaback-

ground,andreallyisinvestedinwhere

wearestrategically.Andthenwehave

HealthLeaders nJuly 2011 5www.healthleadersmedia.com nSponsored Material

leadersaswellas frontlinestaffand

putthemthroughafairlystrenuous

educationalprogramtohelpthem

understandthedynamicsofhowtodo

anassessment,createanactionplan

basedonthedata,andthenimplementandseeitcometofruition.Werework-

ingcollaborativelywiththelearning

organizationsinourcommunity.For

example,wevestartedtoretoolsomeof

thebasiccorecompetenciesatthenurs-

ingschools.Practically,thattookthe

formofapartnershipinthatlastyear

theyreinschool.Thereisatremendous

amountoforientationforpeoplethat

wevealreadytappedthatweknow

arecomingintooursystem.Whatits

alsodoneiscreateayearlongresidency

programwhichwerenowexpanding

outsideofnursingintoalliedfields,so

thatshort-termimmediateneedthat

wehadhasnowturnedintoalong-terminvestmentanditspayingustop

dollarsonthetypeoftalentthatwere

gettingin.Ourturnoverrateislessthan

8%,whichishugeintodaysworld.Our

vacancyrateisatlessthan4%right

now.Sowereinagoodpositiontofill

hard-to-fillpositionsthatarethemost

criticaltous.

HEALTHLEADERS: Have any of you

reached a place where succession planning is

part of the performance appraisal?

BRADFORD: Wetrackmetricsonperfor-

mance,buteverydirectorintheorgani-

zationhasagoalforthatandwehavea

performancedashboardthathasmany

metrics.Sobyvirtueofthat,theyhave

toparticipateactivelyinthesuccession

planningprocess,anditsbecomeinter-

estingtowatchthecommitmentand

behavior.Itstheoldsaying:Whatyou

measuregetsmanaged.

Veronica Zaman

Corporate VP

of Talent Management

Scripps Health

Our turnover rate is less than 8%, which is

huge in todays world. Ourvacancy rate is at less

than 4% right now. So were in a good position to fill

hard-to-fill positions that are the most critical to us.


5/6

thepersonwithinthedepartmentwho

reallyisamentorandnotadirectreport.

SMITH: Itishardformetoimagine

someonenotwantingtobeamentor,but

somearesubstantiallybetteratitthanothers.Wedoitone-on-oneandthenwe

rotatethoseeveryeightto10months.We

requireourmentorstomeetwiththeir

menteesonceamonthforanhouranda

halfandwegivethemguidanceasfaras

whatdirectiontotaketheconversation.

ZAMAN: Weputalotofresponsi-

bilityonthementee.Wecanassign

mentorsandwecanpartneryouup,

butunlessboththementorandthe

menteearereallycommittedtothis,

itdoesntwork.Sotheresponsibil-

ityofthementoristomakesurethey

makethetimeandthattheyhitcer-

tainplateausofwhatwewanttotake

placeintheprogram.Thementeemust

takeonresponsibilityforensuringthat

theyarereachingouttoscheduletheir

meetingsandtheyarecompletingthe

tasks.Weinvestalotinthoseearlydays

ofgettingthatmenteeandmentor

bothtoknowtheexpectations.

HEALTHLEADERS: What are mentee expec-

tations about promotion and when that should

happen? You have to manage that, right?

BRADFORD:Youhavetobebluntly

honestwiththem.Weretrainingyou

anddevelopingyoubecauseyoure

showingpotential,butwedonthave

aclear,definedroleopenforyou.But

whenwedohaveaposition,werenot

goingtohireitfromtheoutsideifwe

haveaviablecandidateinside.Well

takeariskonsomeoneinternallythat

wewouldnttakeonanexternalper-son.Butweretransparentthatitmay

betwoyears,fiveyears,sevenyears

beforesomethingdevelops.

DEBORD: Themessageisthattherewill

beopportunitiesbuttheyarenotneces-

sarilygoingtogetthefirstopportunity.

Thatspartofset-

tingthoseexpec-

tations. When I

recently filled a

position on my

executive team,

wehadsomegreat

internalcandidates.Iprobablycould

havehiredanyoneofthemandIthink

eachoneofthemwouldhavedonea

goodjob,butIcouldnthireeachof

them.Itdoesntmeanthatanyofthem

arenotworthyofthisposition.There

willbeotheropportunities.

ZAMAN:WhenyourehiredatScripps,

oneofthefirstthingswedoatournew

employeeorientationisanassessment.Itsaprocessbywhichwetalkabout

whoyouare,whatyourgoalsare,and

whereyouseeyourselfgoinginthe

organization.We encourageeachof

themtoparticipateinourCenterfor

LearningandInnovationinatalent

developmentcounselingsession.It

helpssetrealisticexpectations.

HEALTHLEADERS: Given the additional

parts of the care continuum that hospitals

are taking on these days, are you cross-train-ing these talented people that youre trying

to develop?

BRADFORD:Wereteachingfolkson

theinpatientsidehowtooperatein

anambulatoryfashion.Theneweco-

nomicmodelisacustomerservice

model,andwerestrugglingwithit

withoutadoubt.Butthebiggestrisk

isthatwegetentrenchedinacertain

methodologyofdoingthingsparticu-

6 HealthLeaders nJuly 2011 Sponsored Materialnwww.healthleadersmedia.com

larlyaroundskillswhentheskillsthat

areneededaregoingtochangebased

onreform,theeconomicmodel,and

theeconomy.Werelearning,butwe

haventyetcrackedthatnut.

DEBORD: Weretryingtosetanexpecta-

tionthatweregoingtobedoingcross-

training,butinitiallyitsjustbetween

ourhospitals.Butwehaveambulatory

centersnowaswell.Weareinthepro-

cessofbuildingtwofreestandingemer-

gencydepartmentsandtheresimaging,

infusion,theres

radiationoncol-

ogy,fast health

clinics,andwere

lookingforpeo-

plewhowillfloat

throughdifferent

areas.Wehaventgottenthereyet,but

whenyourestrugglingtogetsome-

thingstaffed,Icanseewhypeoplehave

tomandatethiskindoftraining.

SMITH:Rolechangeisgoingtobea

retentionissueforthisnextgenera-

tion.Webelievetheythriveonchange

andthatsthewayyouregoingto

retainthem.

ZAMAN:Wedoalotoftalkingamongst

ourselvesorourleadersaboutthis.I

seepatientsnowonamedical-surgi-

calunitthat10yearsagoIsawinan

ICU.Whatisgoingtobehappening

asweshiftthewholedynamicofhow

healthcarereformisgoingtoimpactus

residesintheoutpatientarena.

HEALTHLEADERS:This kind of cross-training

seems to offer a real opportunity to break down

the silos in healthcare. Would you agree?

DEBORD: Youwontsurvivehealthcare

reformunlessyoubreakdownthose

silos.Theresalotthatwedontknow,

butweknowitsgoingtobedifferent.We

knowitsgoingtobeharder.Weknow

theresgoingtobelessmoneythere.And

sowehavetobemoreefficient.Wehave

tobemorefluid.Wehavetobemoreflex-

ibleorwerenotgoingtosurvive.

Reprint HLR0711-?

H

Thomas A. DeBord, FACHE

President

Summa Barberton

Hospital

ROUNDTABLE: DEEPENING YOUR LEADERSHIP TEAMS BENCH STRENGTH

Role change is going to

be a retention issue for

this next generation.


6/6

a methodical approach to deepening your leadership team's bench strength

Documents