A Mission Statement With Teeth

Posted on April 1, 2013 by John G. Self

A veteran healthcare strategy consultant recently confided that you could not distinguish between the mission, vision and values statements for the vast majority of not-for-profit health systems in the United States.

I am not sure whether this commonality is a testament to the singularity of purpose and values of most hospitals in the U.S., or rather if planning consultants are just overusing the template.

There is rarely a strategic plan created for a hospital in the U.S. without the obligatory statement of mission, vision and values. It is as if it would be un-American, or so not strategic to have a strategy and business plan without those lofty statements as the basis for their existence.

Some organizations have even taken to printing and framing these statements and posting them throughout the hospital. That’s nice. Maybe someone will actually stop and read them.

As we approach a new era in healthcare delivery – whether we like it or not – there are hospitals which are beginning to think more seriously about their commitments to their community and how they can distinguish themselves from their competitors. Population health management will push hospitals, used to catering to physicians, with the ultimate goal of admissions, to more retail marketing.

At the recent ACHE Congress in Chicago, an annual meeting of healthcare leaders, a respected CEO said he and his team were thinking about repurposing their bland mission statement into a more accountable contract with their service areas. The recent Steven Brill Time Magazine broadside on healthcare opaque pricing/cost shifting system gave him pause. “We know how we got here, but it still makes us look bad. This is not something I want to defend even though it is going to take more than one health system like ours to say that this is wrong; it makes us, and it makes the hospital industry look foolish.” He asked me not to use his name because when they roll out their new strategy and branding campaign, he wants his competitor to be as surprised as he hopes the community will be pleased. We initially met when he was a young, newly minted healthcare management graduate working in the Midwest as an assistant administrator. I was the national marketing manager for the helicopter company that was implementing the majority of hospital-based Life Flight programs.

“In an industry not known for being transparent because of all of the regulations, liability issues, and a healthy dose of our own reluctance to be more open, this new approach is going to take time to evolve, but we are going to start by making commitments to the communities we serve with the end goal of publicly measuring our performance each year.”

“I am not sure yet what we are going to emphasize, but we want to make a contract with our communities to do a better job, to be more patient and community focused, and you can’t really do that if your mission statement sounds like everyone else’s. So, we are thinking about specific annual performance targets and some broader commitments that will be evergreen.”

He admitted that he will have a tough sell – accountability has not always been healthcare’s strong suit. However, at least he is thinking anew and that is encouraging and exciting.

Telling A Story

Posted on March 18, 2013 by John G. Self

Why am I an executive recruiter?

That is a question that I am frequently asked, given my background — from being a newspaper reporter and the first director of Hermann Hospital’s acclaimed Life Flight program and national marketing manager for the aircraft company, to running a wholesale home infusion therapy pharmacy and the largest private EMS system in Texas.

I always begin my explanation by saying, “It makes perfect sense.” It does, really.

I like to inform people. That is why I took up with those very smart, hard drinking, fast living reporters and editors at three daily newspapers in Texas. For me, it has always been very rewarding to provide people with information that they need or want to know. From the grisly details of a double murder or a chemical plant explosion that snarled traffic for hours, to the unconventional workings of a highly successful skid row detoxification center. I enjoy the whole process of learning — gathering facts observations — and telling the story.

That is how I approach the executive search process. Many of my long-time clients believe that is why I have been so successful in matching leaders with healthcare organizations.

It all begins with the site visit. New clients are a little startled that I want to interview so many people, to look at so much data. Why? Organizations are complex, particularly hospitals. In every successful search there is an important story to be told. If an organization is struggling; why, and can the trends be reversed? They all have what I call the great, the good, the bad and, hopefully, very few of the ugly qualities. If the culture is so unique that only a certain type of candidate personality profile will be successful working in this type of environment, then the candidate screening process is probably the least embarrassing time for him or her to understand this dynamic. Part of my job is to tell the client’s story to the qualified candidates. Knowing this story, helps me decide which candidates should hear this story and which ones the client should meet.

Candidates have their own interesting stories to tell, their own complexities to understand. Sometimes they can be a little less forthcoming than even those clients who are skeptical of the in-depth nature of the JGSA search process. While most candidates finally got the memo that you should not lie about your professional or academic credentials, there are still more than a few candidates who feel they can be creative with their professional accomplishments without getting caught — a form low-risk image enhancement. Without going into great detail about the ethics of this questionable career management strategy, let me state the obvious: mediocre operational, clinical or financial leaders cannot make themselves any better — as a candidate or employee — by distorting the truth.

My job is to trust but verify. The vast majority of the time I can get to where I need to be with a candidate’s story without resorting to third-degree interrogation methods; friendly but probing questions wrapped around a 3.5-hour friendly conversation usually does the trick. The majority of candidates tell me what I need to know, most without realizing how candid they have been in the interview.

In addition to the interviews, we use background investigations, DiSC profiling and 360-degree referencing, drawing on the assessments of primary and secondary references.

I am always humbled when my clients — and the vast majority of our candidates — laud our approach and the professionalism of the JGSA team. What we do really is not rocket science but the praise for our work and the compliments regarding the quality of the JGSA team is nice to hear.

In the end all I am doing is something that I love — learning the facts, making observations and informing my client.

When People Think Of You, What Is Their First Thought?

Posted on March 15, 2013 by John G. Self

When people think of you, is it good or bad?

Do they think successful? Smart? Accomplished? Insightful? Abusive jerk?

These first thoughts, like first impressions, are part and parcel of a career brand.

It is amazing how many leaders are what they are without thinking about their personal brand. They can come up with a hundred reasons for their good or bad habits, how they treat people, or for their failures. They become incredibly dismissive when you try to connect these behaviors and their brand.

Bad mistake.

There are three important elements of effective career management:

Awareness
Outreach
Performance

At the outset, you must be aware, or become aware, of how your colleagues, your customers, your friends and even your family perceive who you are and why you are they way you are. Without self-awareness you have no ability to change and grow.

Outreach involves everything from your personal interactions to your social media presence. Unless you are at the apex of your career, and your retirement is funded beyond your wildest expectations, you must focus on advancing your brand — as a cutting edge thought leader, superb operations leader or values-oriented staff support person. When you start assuming everyone sees you through the same lens as you see yourself, you are in trouble. You must take the initiative in defining who you are, how people see you and how they evaluate your value.

In the end, it is all about performance. Whether you work in a staff support function, or on the hard edge of nailing aggressive budget targets, you have to achieve results, deliver value.

That will define your brand as much as how you treat people.