Becker's Hospital Review caught up with Sue Martin, senior vice president at B.E. Smith, to discuss the company's latest survey on healthcare executive employment trends.
Editor's note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
Question: Was there anything that surprised you about the survey results from B.E. Smith's 2018 Healthcare Trends Survey?
Sue Martin: There are several interesting findings in B.E. Smith's 2018 Healthcare Trends Survey. For example, while overall job satisfaction was very high at 85 percent, 87 percent of healthcare leaders said they would consider leaving their organization for the right opportunity and 35 percent of respondents said they are planning a career change in 2018.
The most recent American College of Healthcare Executive's survey reported CEO turnover at elevated levels (18 percent). How a CEO departure impacts an organization is something B.E. Smith wanted to explore. According to B.E.'s survey, 86 percent of healthcare leaders said when a CEO leaves the organization the following four areas are influenced the most: strategic planning and service development, employee/physician engagement, financial performance, and community relationships.
Also of particular note: When a CEO leaves, it has a cascade effect within the organization. Healthcare executives surveyed said COOs, CFOs and CNOs were among the top executives most likely to leave an organization following the departure of the CEO. Many organizations are utilizing C-Suite interim leadership to immediately fill these executive vacancies while recruiting permanent replacements.
When asked about the top concerns as a healthcare leader, 23 percent of executives noted changing leadership competencies as well as complex operating models. Following these were uncertainty of risk (21 percent) and speed of change (20 percent).
According to the survey, vision/strategy is the No. 1 desired leadership competency. It is followed by integrity, communication and agility.
Q: How does this year's survey compare to previous years?
SM: There were a couple areas of note regarding differences between the 2017 and 2018 Healthcare Trends survey.
In the 2018 survey, 24 percent of healthcare executives said access to high-quality talent was their leading recruitment challenge. However, for the first time, access to talent was not the primary concern among executives. Instead, organization location/community topped the list at 33 percent. Cultural fit came in third at 16 percent.
Compared to 2017, leaders expressed significantly increased preference for internal development as well as a solid uptick in recruiting proven leaders from outside healthcare. In fact, 75 percent of surveyed healthcare leaders said their organization planned to develop leaders internally this year.
Q: In your opinion, what was the most interesting or significant insight gained from the survey?
SM: There are three findings that are particularly interesting or significant.
First, an increasing number of organizations are looking to develop leaders internally. Additionally, in this year's survey, 12 percent of healthcare leaders said their organization is expanding recruitment horizons beyond the healthcare industry. Finance (34 percent) and hospitality (27 percent) were deemed the best industries to provide the most qualified future healthcare leaders. Two other notable industries that emerged in this year's survey were IT (18 percent) and life sciences/pharmaceutical (13 percent).
Second, this year's survey provided deeper insights into leadership development. As mentioned, 75 percent of healthcare leaders said their organization was planning on developing leaders internally. However, 44 percent of leaders said their organization doesn't currently have a development program in place, compared to 34 percent that say there is a program and 22 percent who are not sure.
Of the organizations that have a program, only 22 percent open that program to all levels of the organization, with 12 percent offering it only to vice president and C-suite executives. The majority of the programs (58 percent) are also informal and incorporate only organizational planning (64 percent) and mentoring (64 percent).
Third, 32 percent of healthcare executives said they must leave their organization to advance their career. Leadership development programs can provide these executives a path forward while enabling the organization to retain top talent. When asked what they would like to see their organization add to its development program, 28 percent of leaders said executive coaching. It was followed closely by formal skills assessments (27 percent) and interim executives (22 percent). All three strategies can greatly enhance the outcomes of succession plans.
When skill assessments are incorporated into a development program, they are typically only offered to C-suite and nurse executives. According to surveyed executives, only 38 percent of organizations offer it to managers, 27 percent to physician leaders, and 24 percent to non-managers.
Q: From a business perspective, how does this survey help B.E. Smith prepare to meet the needs of healthcare organizations in the next year?
SM: B.E. Smith's annual trends survey is important because to effectively partner with healthcare leaders, we need to understand the challenges they face and the opportunities they can leverage. The survey is critical as it provides insights into the forces influencing the healthcare industry and the executives who lead it. It empowers healthcare executives to tell us directly what their primary concerns are for their organizations as well as their careers, and it enables B.E. Smith to position our resources and experience where healthcare executives need it the most.
B.E. Smith has conducted the trends survey for more than eight years. During that time, we've seen a dramatic shift in focus toward developing leaders as well as increasing concerns regarding the ability to recruit experienced executives. These insights resulted in B.E. Smith offering services to support assessment and development of current and future leaders. Additionally, the survey confirms the necessity of a large national network to recruit leaders and the importance of matching those professionals to an organization's specific culture. Finally, the survey highlights the significance of utilizing interim leadership to bridge the gap during a leadership vacancy and keeping an organization moving forward on the right path to success.