For Dennis Lennon, potential is not only part of his new title — it is also part of his vision for the employees of MultiCare Health System.
Mr. Lennon joined the Tacoma, Wash.-based organization as chief human potential officer in March from Atlantic City, N.J.-based AtlantiCare, where he served as chief people officer.
He told Becker’s he is focused on helping employees reach their full potential on their terms. He discussed plans to address crucial areas such as employee experience and retention at MultiCare, a 13-hospital system with a workforce of more than 26,000.
Editor’s note: Responses were lightly edited for length and clarity.
Question: Some health systems have been intentional about welcoming back “boomerang employees.” Does MultiCare have any initiatives or strategies in place to reengage former employees, or is that something you’re looking to explore?
Dennis Lennon: We have campaigns to reengage people who have left us, and ultimately, we want to make sure that we get the greatest people back if they left. What we are going to be doing moving forward is look at the experience — the experiences we create for team members through their life cycle, whether it’s from the first time they interact with us on our website to hiring, all the way through retirement or departure. One of the most often overlooked touchpoints is when people leave.
We want to make sure that we create a great experience for people who leave for one reason or another. In my opinion, it’s as important as the experience we create when they come in. Many organizations miss the mark on that because they are focused on when people are coming in. But if we want people to come back here, they’re going to remember that last interaction they had with us — and other employees are watching. They see the experiences we create for people who are departing.
I’m excited, as we move forward, to expand how we do that from an experience perspective. This includes expanding on how we celebrate milestones in their life and recognize them for their service. We want to make sure that when someone has done a great job in serving our community and partnering with us that we recognize them as they depart.
Q: Retention is a major challenge for healthcare organizations. How is MultiCare working to retain long-term employees, and are there any unique mentorship or leadership development pathways you’re especially excited about?
DL: We have programs that start when people are in high school, so they can have a better understanding of the opportunities that are available within MultiCare. Ultimately, our goal, as we evolve our strategy as it relates to our people and our culture, is to help every single person reach their full potential and maximize that talent that they have. We’re going to be expanding and formalizing what support we offer from a talent perspective. Whether that’s through the mentorship program — making that a systemwide program — as well as clearly defining leadership pathways and reimagining what success looks like for certain roles.
From my perspective, you’re a great radiology technician, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to be a great leader. I’d rather take somebody who’s a good radiology technician, does the job, but has the leadership qualities, and we help them grow in their career so they can help lead others and pass on the gift that they have.
We are looking at reimagining and redefining what talent potential looks like here, and I’m excited to do that over the next few months with the team here.
Q: In your new role as chief human potential officer, how are you rethinking talent development to address both short-term staffing needs and long-term workforce sustainability?
DL: From a talent perspective, we are looking at how we make things clear and simple to understand. That way, team members and leaders have an understanding of how they can get to the next career step.
So we’re looking at all of our educational offerings — how can we maximize that? Are they meeting the needs of our team members? There are many different generations and different ways to slice the data in terms of our demographics. Not everyone’s going to want the same thing, so we want to make sure we offer an a la carte service, if you will. Everyone’s a different type of learner, so we’re looking at what and how we partner differently to deliver education for people around their next job.
We have to shift in our industry — that mindset of the experience piece. As we move forward and we develop the framework further for our new people and culture experience, it really comes down to: Do we have the right people within our organization who are creating a great experience for our patients? Because we want to make sure that the team has a great experience, and then they’re going to deliver great care to our patients. And then our patients are going to be satisfied and keep coming back to us.
So we have a lot of great things that are about to come out toward the beginning of the summer, but it’s all wrapped around the idea that we have to help people reach their full potential in the way that they want to reach their full potential — not the way that we all think they should reach their full potential.
Q: As health systems continue to grapple with labor shortages and workforce burnout, how is MultiCare adapting its HR approach to better support employee well-being while still meeting operational demands?
DL: I look at well-being as a holistic approach. People want to make sure that they’re being compensated and that they’re able to save for their retirement. How are we helping them handle educational debt? We know that educational debt is one of the biggest burdens on our caregivers, so reimagining how we offer those types of benefits to team members — looking at our wellness programs and our health plan design — are we meeting people where they are?
MultiCare is planning some future changes to enhance what that looks like. Because at the end of the day, people have options. We want to make sure that people are compensated fairly, that they’re safe, seen, heard, and we’re taking care of them and their family.
And ultimately, from an employee relations standpoint, we must make sure that people feel that we’re doing the right thing for them because it’s the right thing to do — not because we’re told to do it. And I’m excited for what’s to come here at MultiCare, knowing that the endpoint is going to be that much better than it already is here for our culture.
