Advancing Leadership Diversity: What Gets in the Way?

By: Administrator Posted: April 20, 2012

Guest blog by Jim Gauss and Howard Jessamy

Second in a series of findings from Witt/Kieffer’s 2011 national survey report Building the Business case. Healthcare Diversity Leadership.

If advancing leadership diversity is so crucial to organizational success in the face of change this year, what’s stopping us?

Respondents to Witt/Kieffer’s 2011 national survey say that healthcare organizations still struggle to close the ethnic/racial leadership gap.  In fact, 80 percent of African American respondents feel that organizations have been ineffective at closing the gap. “Our biggest challenge is recruiting physicians and executive talent at the minority level,” explains a Caucasian CEO from the Midwest.

But why?

  1. There’s a lack of diversity talent. While over half of respondents agree the pool of diverse candidates for healthcare leadership candidates has grown over the last five years, only 38 percent feel the pool has improved in their own organizations. One Hispanic COO from the West Coast complains, “There is no awareness or commitment to developing minority candidates. I think my company tries to find a ‘prototype’ that just doesn’t exist in the minority world.”
  2. Equal consideration is not so equal. Less than one in ten of African American respondents and one in five Hispanic respondents agree organizations give equal consideration to minority candidates for leadership positions. And yet, 70 percent of Caucasians feel they do. Younger respondents are optimistic though. “You should be overt about what your ethnicity brings to the table,” says one candidate. “I’m Asian and your patient population is Asian. I can help you relate to them.”
  3. Diversity recruiting isn’t always productive. In some cases, the organization’s formalized diversity structures just aren’t effective. They aren’t well funded or don’t deliver in recruiting or retaining diverse candidates. “We just use the ‘hope’ method,” notes one executive. “I’d like to see HR recruiters target search firms that deal with minorities, use social media, and participate in minority job fairs.”

The top barriers to success depend upon whom you ask.  Caucasian executives say the biggest problem is lack of access to diverse candidates, while minority respondents say it’s a lack of commitment by the board and top management. Likewise, Caucasians point to a lack of diverse candidates, while minorities say it’s a lack of serious consideration of diverse candidates.

The good news: Everyone agrees on the #1 best practice for closing the gap. Watch next week for Advancing Leadership Diversity: The #1 Best Practice.

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Advancing Leadership Diversity: Why It’s Critical in 2012

By: Administrator Posted: April 5, 2012

Guest post by Jim Gauss and Howard Jessamy

…first in a series of findings from Witt/Kieffer’s 2011 national survey report Building the Business case. Healthcare Diversity Leadership.

There’s no question about it. Whatever happens in Washington, health reform this year will require successful organizations to provide more value-based care to patients and deliver higher quality clinical outcomes. The stakes are high for serving patients well.

But consider this: a 2011 report from the Brookings Institute shows that minorities account for 98 percent of the population growth in large metro areas during the last decade. Never has it been more important for your organization to embrace cultural competency as you roll out new services and consider effective ways to connect with your patients.

How is healthcare doing in recruiting, training, and retaining diverse leadership?  Witt/Kieffer examined the benefits, barriers, solutions, and best practices as reported by 470 respondents in a  2011 national survey report Building the Business case. Healthcare Diversity Leadership.

Nearly two-thirds (62 percent) of respondents firmly believe that diverse leadership leads to measurable business benefits. As an east coast Hispanic CEO pointed out, “We are in an incredibly diverse area. As a Hispanic who grew up in a working class family, I have a connection to the community I serve, and many of my staff are from that background as well. This gives me ‘street cred’ with my staff and patient base.”

A few key findings:

  • Cultural differences support successful decision-making (65 percent of CEOs agree).  “Diversity thinking opens up a world of possibilities, richer discussions, and more creative results,” explains one African American COO.
  • Diversity recruiting enables the organization to reach its strategic goals. “Cultural competence and diversity drive quality. It’s good business,” notes the CEO of a West Coast children’s hospital.
  • Diverse leadership supports positive clinical outcomes. “It ensures you know the cultural differences to provide culture and competent care to patients,” adds a Caucasian HR executive.

In short, advancing leadership diversity in your organization this year will lead to better outcomes, greater efficiency, and higher satisfaction among your patients and physicians. It will enhance your organization’s public image and reputation.

The problem: While respondents believe in the business benefits of diversity leadership, they—64 percent of Caucasian and 80 percent of African American respondents—don’t feel that healthcare organizations have been effective in closing the gap.

Why not? Watch soon for “Advancing Leadership Diversity: What Gets in the Way?,” second in Witt/Kieffer’s 2012 blog series on findings from the survey.

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Adventure abroad: Is it for you?

By: Administrator Posted: March 5, 2012

Guest post by Jean Dowdall and Kathleen M. Pike

Thomas Friedman argued in a recent New York Times article that career paths aren’t stable ladders anymore—they are entrepreneurial ventures calling for creative steps. In academe, one of those creative steps may be to work overseas. As American colleges and universities globalize, faculty members and administrators have the opportunity to globalize their professional careers as well.

The idea can be exciting, but overseas assignments come in many forms. You should carefully weigh the both the professional and personal benefits and drawbacks of the role you’d like pursue before you take the leap.

Academic communities are transcending national borders.

Academic opportunities are multiplying around the world, with many models of global higher education developing. Entire new institutions are being created, e.g., King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, in Saudi Arabia. U.S. universities like Cornell, Northwestern, Texas A&M, and others are establishing overseas campuses, and still others are creating special programs, like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Alliance for Research and Technology, in Singapore. Which will thrive, and which will not? There are no easy answers, and only you can decide how much risk you’re willing to take.

What kind of commitment will you make?

Faculty whose institution has a campus in another country might seek a short-term assignment there. A slightly deeper commitment might be an overseas teaching assignment during a sabbatical or a summer. For a more substantial commitment, you may want to consider taking a full-time position at a new university. Depending on the country, this kind of immersion experience can have a deep personal and professional impact.

Short-term opportunities for administrators are more limited and will likely be built on networking rather than advertised vacancies. Being in touch with the right people at the right time may yield an opportunity to spend a few months or a year setting up a new program overseas or tackling a challenge in which you have expertise.

However, most traditional administrative roles call for a longer commitment, and those are best pursued by applying for vacancies advertised in U.S. publications.

Anticipate complexity and delay.

Once you accept an assignment, depending on its terms, your home and/or host institution might assist you with both practical issues (credit cards, bank accounts, housing) and professional issues (long-distance computing access, grant-submission assistance, office space).

However, there are many things only you can do for yourself. For example, even if the institution is grounded in the English language, the more you can learn of the local language as well as the culture, the better.

Fully explore family matters.

Your decision is likely to be guided in large part by family. Your spouse or partner, children, and aging parents will have much more at stake in your plans to teach abroad for a year than if you are away for a short time. A full-time overseas job puts the greatest demands on the key people in your life, but don’t make assumptions about their views and the quality of life they will find.

You may think that your teenager would never leave her familiar high school and BFFs for an indefinite period in Europe, but she could surprise you with her adventurous spirit. You may think the schools overseas will not be adequate to your son’s special needs, but they may be the equal of any school in the United States.

Also anticipate that many issues of daily life will take a lot longer and can be much more complicated for you as a foreigner. Employment for a trailing spouse or partner may be easy to obtain or difficult, depending on local laws and norms and on your partner’s area of expertise.

Check everything out before you assume that a situation will be either excellent or unworkable.

Go—but stay connected.

Don’t be afraid to take a post overseas, but also don’t risk becoming “out of sight, out of mind” back home. Stay in touch. Being forgotten by colleagues will make it much harder to build on your international experience in the next stage of your career.

The benefits can be outstanding.

An overseas work experience can profoundly enrich your teaching, research, and/or administrative capabilities. There may be material benefits, too, as some overseas posts (but definitely not all) offer generous compensation packages.

Think about your professional development in creative and adventurous ways, and you might find a world of global opportunities that are deeply engaging in the short term and transformative in the long term.

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You can go home again

By: Administrator Posted: February 21, 2012

Guest post by Jean Dowdall and Kathleen M. Pike

One or more overseas postings—long-term or not—are critical for those whose goals include a successful global career. But what do you do when you want to come home? Re-entering the U.S. job market can be almost as daunting as going overseas, especially in these times of tight budgets. So unless you’ve considered your move overseas to be permanent, the time to think about when, where, and what you’ll do when you return is soon after you’ve settled into your overseas role.

Is your “home” institution an option? For many academics, the best re-entry opportunities will be at their “home” institution. Many employers have policies governing leaves of absence and obligations to accommodate returning faculty members. One significant and obvious benefit of returning to your home institution: Many professional and personal adjustment issues are immediately eliminated for you and your family.

Maybe you want a new U.S. experience. Going back to your home institution may not be your goal. Once you decide to pursue a position at a new campus, begin planning and networking right away.

If you want to return quickly, you’ll need a flexible transition plan. Consider pursuing positions that may not be suitable for the long term but that can re-establish you in the U.S. while you do a full search: adjunct faculty appointments or interim administrative appointments or project-based work like designing curricula or building strategies for internationalizing the honors program.

Translate your experience for search firms and on your CV. If your overseas experience is not immediately self-explanatory, make sure you convey the leadership and decision-making responsibilities that you’ve had, especially if you’ve progressed significantly in your career overseas and would like to return in a more senior role than you held when you left.

Avoid jargon, acronyms, and insider language; link emerging issues in U.S. higher education with the issues you’ve encountered abroad. Be knowledgeable about current hot topics.

Network, network, network.  Expanding your professional network is always critical and even more so in these competitive times. However, your overseas experience gives you special strengths—many U.S. institutions need help expanding their global reach and finding strategic leadership for international programs.

How to be a long-distance candidate. Remove as many barriers as possible for the search committee or the consultant. For example, don’t assume that a search committee will understand the size, type, and status of your overseas employer, or the meaning and organizational placement of your position. Make contact information for you and for your references clear and complete.

Think ahead about interviews; if you’ll be in U.S., mention that. Consider contributing to your travel costs, and if you’re willing to have a video or phone interview, say so. If you give your salary in a foreign currency, provide a dollar equivalent, along with equivalents for any unusual benefits.

Be patient. Be prepared for a protracted process in which communication seems inadequate. Do what you can to enhance that communication: Make sure you provide e-mail addresses through which you can be contacted quickly, as well as phone numbers with all the necessary dialing codes. Make it as easy as possible to call you.

Understand that returning home and finding the right position requires time and energy, but the process can pay off, not only in the right U.S. role for you, but in the opportunity to re-examine your personal and professional aspirations.

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CDO role is maturing

By: Administrator Posted: February 6, 2012

Guest post by Lucy Apthrop Leske and Oliver B. Tomlin, III

Today’s college or university Chief Diversity Officer (CDO) is more likely than not to have been at the forefront of establishing the diversity leadership role. In less than two decades, these groundbreakers have worked with senior leadership to move the CDO role from tactical to strategic. The successful diversity leader needs negotiating, diplomatic, communication, and analytical skills in addition to educational credentials, and CDOs continue to seek broader engagement and influence on their institutions’ strategic plans.

At Witt/Kieffer, we see increasingly that within our client organizations positions responsible for carrying out the strategic vision for diversity are at or near the C-suite level. The diversity role is changing and being filled by a new breed of leaders.

Last year, we decided it was time for a national CDO survey. We received responses from people who represented both public and private institutions. These provide a baseline of data regarding the CDO role, including what institutions can expect to see as they seek talented, skilled, experienced professionals to fill these important senior leadership roles. Here is what we learned:

1.      CDO reporting relationships, titles, and compensation vary from institution to institution. More than half of the respondents are members of their institution’s leadership team. Thirty-six percent report to the president and 20 percent report to the provost. Thirty-four percent report to other positions, including dean, chancellor and vice provost. Twenty percent hold an “assistant” title, such as assistant vice president, assistant dean, or assistant provost. Eighteen percent are director and 14 percent are vice chancellor or vice president. Compensation also varies considerably, from 27 percent earning less than $100,000 annually to 14 percent reporting annual income above $200,000.

2.      The word “diversity” is increasingly being replaced with “multicultural” on many campuses, reflecting a broader definition of inclusion and diversity that recognizes a more global society.

3.      CDOs come from a broad range of backgrounds and career tracks, including human resources, equal employment opportunity and academic affairs offices, student affairs, faculty, academic administration and enrollment/admissions. Other backgrounds include diversity positions in health care or the corporate sector, leadership consulting, diversity training, ministry and more.

4.      The work of today’s CDO is much more strategic and policy-oriented than in the past. Early CDOs focused on programming in student affairs, student recruitment or employment and affirmative action policies. Today’s universities increasingly recognize the strategic importance of a broadly inclusive campus community facilitated by a leader who is a member of the senior management team.

5.      The CDO’s reach into the organization is deepening. Responsibilities and functions assigned to today’s CDO include diversity strategic planning, diversity training, institutional research and/or campus climate surveys, multicultural student recruitment and financial aid policy, student programming, faculty recruitment and retention consulting and support, curriculum review, HR and affirmative action policies and diverse alumni relations.

6.      Most CDOs (69 percent) say that their presidents are engaged in their institution’s diversity strategic planning processes and diversity initiatives, and annual budgets for more than half exceed $300,000.

7.      Successful CDOs have specialized skill sets. Almost all of the respondents agreed on the important attributes a chief diversity officer must possess:

• the ability to influence the strategic plan of their institution (100 percent)

• the ability to engage senior administrative staff (99 percent)

• organizational leadership skills (99 percent)

• strategic planning and implementation (99 percent)

• public relations and communication skills (98 percent)

Our survey shows significant opportunity for growth in the field of diversity leadership, but as one foundation president summed it up: “There is still much work to be done in addressing issues related to diversity as a part of one’s career.” A more detailed overview of the CDO survey is available here.

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Diversity in healthcare leadership: Step 2: Board action

By: Administrator Posted: January 23, 2012

Guest post by Howard Jessamy

I recently described the need for health care organization boards to educate themselves on the value of assigning strategic importance to diversity in C-suite leadership. Now I’d like to address the proactive steps a board can take to advance diversity within the hospital’s leadership team.

  1. Define diversity broadly. Organizations need new ideas, new ways of thinking and new experiences to stimulate growth and that means going beyond ethnic diversity. Ask questions that lead to defining and documenting just what you mean by diversity.
  2. Make diverse leadership a strategic priority. Discuss diversity regularly in meetings. Insist that cultural sensitivity to patients and employees be an organization standard. Set diversity objectives and guidelines for the CEO to implement within specific timeframes. Encourage the dissemination of information about diversity programs to employees at all levels of the organization. Ask for regular reports on the organization’s acceptance of diversity by measuring retention of minority staff, surveying employee attitudes, and monitoring representation of people with diverse backgrounds in key functions and on key committees.
  3. Learn about the possibilities and pitfalls in diversity recruiting and retention. Take the opportunity to learn from the best practices of other organizations—both other health care providers and those in other industries. Review the demographics of your community and how they may have changed over time. Ask about the experience of your own diverse executives.
  4. Make diversity a part of formal succession planning and mentoring processes. In its simplest form, succession planning gives people opportunities to grow. Formal mentoring programs represent one of the most powerful tools an organization has for grooming future members of the C-suite. The board must understand that as the talent war heats up in health care, more and more organizations will need to look inside for promising leaders.
  5. Mandate diverse slates for leadership positions. Demonstrate that the board and senior leadership are serious about diversity recruiting. Network with diversity leadership organizations, e.g., Diversity in Health Management and the National Association of Health Services Executives, and attend minority-based conferences and events.
  6. Provide opportunities for minority leaders to gain exposure to the workings of the board. Future leaders need to know how to work with the board, be comfortable with trustees and understand governance responsibilities. Consider inviting up-and-comers to attend board meetings, make presentations to the board, and become staff participants in board committees.

Board members can exercise considerable influence by making the case for diversity as a competitive advantage; by insisting on an inclusive work environment; and by encouraging, educating, suggesting, inspiring and leading the way.

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Diversity in health care leadership: Step 1: Board member buy-in

By: Administrator Posted: January 3, 2012

Guest post by Howard Jessamy

Evidence suggests that organizations thrive when they embrace ethnic, cultural and racial diversity just as when they seek diversity of opinion, background, experience and knowledge. Other industries are way ahead of health care when it comes to diversity at the executive level. So what is the board’s responsibility for turning this situation around?

While the CEO is typically the only executive the board hires, it can influence other hiring decisions and increase the odds of success by making and keeping diversity a strategic priority. But it’s hard to address diversity in executive leadership ranks unless there are a variety of perspectives represented on the board. A recent survey by the hospital Research and Educational Trust of the American Hospital Association finds that the average hospital board has 13 members, of whom 13 percent are women and 9 percent are non-Caucasian. 

This suggests that the board’s first job is to convince itself that internal diversity is critical to organizational success.

Consider the experience of hospitals and health systems with diversity programs:

  • Organizations with significant and enduring representation of minorities in their top ranks are more likely to attract the most talented minority candidates for all C-suite positions.
  • Organizations whose operations demonstrate cultural competence at all levels are more likely to gain and hold the loyalties of diverse markets within their community.
  • Organizations whose employees see their value reflected in the composition of the leadership team are more likely to maximize effectiveness in all employees.
  • Organizations that engage physicians and other caregivers from a wide variety of backgrounds are more likely to provide the highest quality patient care.

And perhaps the most compelling argument for diverse leadership in health care lies in the competitive advantage that results from addressing and reflecting the cultural mix of the community the hospital serves. Diversity at the top helps hospitals attract, retain and represent a range of people, and improve the ability to understand and meet their needs. In other words, diversity leadership can result in better outcomes, improved efficiency, greater customer satisfaction among patients and physicians, and enhanced public image.

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Shhhh…presidential search in progress

By: Administrator Posted: December 19, 2011

Guest post by Dennis Barden

While it is still common for educational institutions in the final stages of a leadership search to bring candidates to campus for open visits—public institutions are often required by law to do so—some candidates are pushing back. The issue of transparent governance versus the candidate’s right to privacy is an old one but the current climate is shifting toward a more confidential process.

The reason for this is paralleled by a shift in the nature of the daily work of university presidents and chancellors.  With increasing responsibility for external relations—raising private funding, working with lawmakers on appropriations and earmarks, seeking alternative sources of support, creating partnerships and leverage—the value of academic leaders’ personal connections with key funders and other stakeholders has risen.

The candidate who fears being compromised at his or her current institution while considering another job opportunity may insist upon privacy until he or she is selected as “the” candidate. In cases where the recruiting institution cannot or will not accommodate a candidate’s desire for confidentiality, some superior candidates will opt to stay away.

Boards understand this and realize they are competing with a large number of institutions for a limited number of highly qualified candidates, including those candidates’ current employers.

There is no right or wrong answer to the question of an open interview protocol versus a confidential one. For some institutions, a state legislature may have preempted the choice. And even when confidentiality is an option, tradition often creates the expectation that faculty and students will be participants in the process—or at least fully informed of its progress.

Regardless of the approach the board chooses, it must discuss the issue of confidentiality at the outset of the search process. A quiet path to the highest-quality candidate pool could result in a noisy arrival for a new leader if the followers are not agreeable.

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Cultivate your staff as if they were your donors

By: Administrator Posted: December 13, 2011

Guest post by Jon Derek Croteau

Have you seen any openings for advancement staff lately?

Of course you have. Open advancement positions abound across the United States and as institutions in Europe, Asia, and Australia become more sophisticated seekers of philanthropy, they are recruiting talent in North America, too.

With supply and demand contributing to high turnover, nonprofits aren’t just losing employees.

1.      They’re losing money. According to business consultant William Bliss, the cost to replace an employee runs from 150 to 250 percent of that employee’s annual salary.

2.      They’re losing prospects. When a key advancement professional leaves, they take long-term personal and professional relationships with them.

3.      They’re losing effectiveness. Turnover contributes to falling morale which reduces satisfaction and engagement across an institution.

Imagine the development officer who is working on a million-dollar prospect and then leaves before the ask is made. That donor must be assigned a new prospect manager. Both have to establish rapport. Now, multiply this loss by the number of prospects in each of your advancement officer’s pools.

So how do you lock down this revolving door? You begin by recognizing that your human capital is critical to your institution’s success. Demonstrate employee value by fostering and cultivating your staff the way you do your donors. Put people first by asking for feedback, opinions, and ideas. Organizations that invest in their people are typically organizations with greater staff satisfaction. And lower turnover.

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Get It Right the First Time

By: Administrator Posted: December 5, 2011

Guest post by Carson F. Dye, FACHE

Your healthcare organization will make a significant investment of time and money when hiring executive leadership. Avoid disappointment and the high cost of hiring mistakes by following these six tips to improve your hiring process:

1.      Recognize potential for bias

Despite good intentions, subjective impressions and poor chemistry can silently derail the assessment process. A personal connection between interviewer and candidate based on shared geographic roots, academic background, or other arbitrary commonalities says nothing about how well the candidate fits the job.

2.      Move from the subjective to the objective

Develop a success profile for the position. Include prior experience, leadership style, education, and the competencies required to succeed in the job. Make the profile detailed and thorough and use it to identify candidates who bring translatable experience from an environment of similar size, scope, and complexity.

3.      Create a competency model

Describe the behaviors a candidate needs to successfully execute the responsibilities of the position. A useful model defines each competency, determines the behaviors that indicate proficiency, and describes the outcomes. For example, conflict management could be defined: “Is not afraid of conflict; sees conflict as opportunity; uses strong listening skills to get to the heart of conflicts; smoothly moves disputes toward resolution; finds common ground; is persuasive in gaining the cooperation of others.”

Competency models provide a template for interview questions and a common language with which to compare candidates.

4.      Craft behavioral questions

Generally, interview questions fall into four types: fact-finding, projective, self-reflective, and behavioral.

Fact-finding questions often serve to confirm information provided on a resume or available outside the interview. Projective questions do not provide information relevant to potential performance. Self-reflective questions about leadership style or strengths and weaknesses tend to produce answers with little validity.

On the other hand, situation-based questions (“what would you do if…?”) and evidence-based questions (“what did you do when…?”) reveal behaviors. They help paint a truthful and detailed picture of how a candidate handles challenges.

5.      Develop your interviewers

Expert interviewers are made, not born. They need to study and practice good technique. Organizations can give interviewers a leg up by crafting behavioral questions. Then, depending on candidate responses, interviewers can probe for additional details; inquiring about what caused a specific event, how a conflict manifested itself, or what lessons were learned.

Similarly, when discussing accomplishments, interviewers should explore how a project originated, what role the candidate played, and what strategies were used to achieve success. This information aids the evaluation of leadership style and how well the candidate fits with the culture of the hiring organization.

6.      Reap the rewards of a formalized assessment methodology

Design your process with input from human resources management, executives to whom the new hire would report, subordinates, the board of directors, and physician stakeholders. Some organizations find it valuable to involve an executive search consultant to help evaluate and define needs.

By seeking and relying on data rather than superficial impressions, organizations can improve their odds of selecting the right leader for the job the first time.

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