Erickajoy Daniels serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at AdvocateAurora Health.
Erickajoy will serve on the keynote pannel "Diversity in the C-Suite: Healthcare Leaders Accelerating Change Through Executive Development" at Becker's Hospital Review 12th Annual Meeting. As part of an ongoing series, Becker's is talking to healthcare leaders who plan to speak at the conference, which will take place in Chicago from April 25-28, 2022.
To learn more about the conference and Erickajoy's session, click here.
Q: What are your top priorities for 2022?
Erickajoy Daniels: Our top priority is driving our refreshed DE&I strategy. It’s our roadmap. Our game plan. When we say DE&I, we don’t just mean a department. DE&I lives through everything we do at Advocate Aurora Health. In our industry, diversity, equity and inclusion are the pathways to achieving health equity. We take a holistic approach, recognizing we need to coordinate and cooperate across many disciplines in the health system to make real change. To hold ourselves accountable, we’ve built new and advanced metrics to raise the bar for ourselves and make sure leaders across the system know, understand and own this work. Having clear goals and measures for success will help us understand what we’re doing well to reduce inequities – and what we can improve on.
Q: How do you plan to pivot strategies this year to better serve patients?
ED: Data always leads us. It identifies the gaps we need to address. We recognize that you can’t singularly rely on quantitative data, but qualitative data must be part of your formula. The richest qualitative data comes from the voice of the people you serve, both team members and our communities. As their needs evolve, so should we. With the use focus groups, community listening sessions, reactor panels, increased diversity in patient advisory councils, Neighbor to Neighbor feedback loop sessions, Circle of Care patient forums and more, we are better informed with broader perspective to tune into the needs and addressing them accordingly. Though pivoting takes speed and agility, the patience of listening is what sets you up for success.
Q: What will the lasting impact of COVID-19 be on the healthcare system?
ED: COVID caused us to sharpen a few key skills. For an athlete, being agile means moving and changing directly quickly without losing your balance. That is the situation health systems across the globe were in during the pandemic. We didn’t know much at first, as the data changed and we learned more about this new virus quickly. It demanded we provide safe, high-quality care to our communities during a stressful time without losing our footing. It’s been challenging for our team members, just like for the patients they served. But we’re more agile now. We’ve developed that new muscle and need to maintain it.
Q: What advice do you have for emerging healthcare leaders today?
ED: Health care is constant and yet dynamic at the same time. One thing that will never change is that the health of the community depends upon strong systems that provide reliable, consistent, safe and equitable care. But we must be dynamic enough to adjust to patients’ changing needs. Health care is about serving, and so any emerging leader must develop the skill – and the art – of serving. A strong health care leader is empathetic, curious, innovative and connected. You must also have strategic vision, managing through ambiguity and driving change. Stay agile, adamant about excellence and aware of yourself and others.