HR Pulse - Fall 2008 - (Page 26)

Increasing CEO Engagement The HR Executive’s Roles and Risks By Kenneth R. Cohen, Ph.D. LEADERSHIP RELATIONSHIPS COMMUNICATION 26 HR Pulse Fall 2008 SELECTION MEASUREMENT FLEXIBILITY I n 2005, the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) released the results of a research study on CEO turnover. It found that the median tenure of presidents/CEOs of non-specialty hospitals across the country was only 3.6 years. This study also found that when the CEO leaves, four more senior team members are likely to follow that person out the door within one year! In decreasing order of frequency, these are the senior team members at risk: Vice President 97% Assistant Administrator 91% Chief Medical Staff Ofﬁcer 77% Chief Operating Ofﬁcer 52% [Khaliq, Walston, & Thompson, 2005] Upon ﬁrst reviewing these ﬁndings, I was surprised to ﬁnd that senior HR executives were not included in this list. As an executive search con- sultant and organizational psychologist, I know of many situations in which new CEOs brought in new HR leaders and transitioned the previous ones out. These statistics warrant serious consideration and threaten everyone associated with the hospital, from the board and C-suite to the physicians and health care providers to the surrounding community and beyond. The direct and indirect costs of losing one, let alone ﬁve or six, senior team members within one year are staggering, and easily can amount to millions of dollars in lost revenues, loss of momentum, organizational memory, severed physician relationships, and so on. Another statistic veriﬁed by the ACHE’s research is that about 67 percent of acute care CEO turnover was reported to be voluntary. This highlights the need for HR leaders to actively pursue all available strategies to help facilitate their CEOs’ success and to encourage them to stay on with their hospitals. Otherwise, their own careers and job security are exposed to needless and avoidable risks. Research Design Only those presidents/CEOs who had led the best health care organizations for at least seven years were qualiﬁed to participate in the research. To maintain objectivity, speciﬁc criteria for being a “most successful” hospital required that their hospital had to have achieved excellent measurable results in at least the categories of ﬁnance and quality, and either have been recognized as one of Solucient’s (now ThompsonReuters’) Top 100 Hospitals or been a recipient of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Program Award. The participating hospitals ranged from very small rural access hospitals to major 600+ bed academic medical centers. I personally interviewed 39 CEOs and 30 of their board chairs. Each of the 39 CEOs was asked for permission to contact their board chairs. Seventy seven percent of the board chairs agreed to

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of HR Pulse - Fall 2008

HR Pulse - Fall 2008 Contents Pulse Points Executive Director’s Letter President’s Message HR Leader Profile: Irma Pye Sammy’s House: Making a Difference in Austin Working Mother Magazine’s 100 Best Companies Increasing CEO Engagement Pastoral Care Retaining Scarce, Critical Talent The Engagement Dilemma Diversity Considerations…More than AAP & EEO Quashing the Workplace Bullying Bug How to Become a Strong Human Resources Partner Citizen Lobbyists Descend Upon Capitol Hill Conference Highlights Schedule at a Glance Sponsors Exhibitors Advertisers’ Index

HR Pulse - Fall 2008

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