Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1514598
WOMEN'S LEADERSHIP 29 integrated employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities. By working with Best Buddies and other community partners, we're broadening job opportunities for people of varying skill levels, including those with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Another focus area for us are specialized hiring events, targeting groups such as veterans, women or people with disabilities. At Houston Methodist, we strive to treat everyone as a person of sacred worth and value, including the over 30,000 employees at our hospitals and future employees. So, it's important for us to look for new ways to welcome diverse people and perspectives into the organization and be open to the changing hiring landscape. Deborah Grimes. Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer at Ochsner Health and Missy Hopson. Vice President of Talent Management at Ochsner Health (New Orleans): In partnership with our workforce development team, Ochsner Health is focusing intently on our Momentum Mentorship program. e first cohort of this leadership development program was selected in 2021 and included 70 employees belonging to population groups underrepresented in senior leadership. is yearlong initiative includes one-on-one mentoring with a senior leader, skills-building workshops and experiential learning opportunities to increase leadership capabilities. Participant numbers have continued to grow in subsequent cohorts, and we've seen enthusiastic responses from our colleagues and participants. e Ochsner Health diversity and inclusion team has also teamed up with external partners at state-based historically Black colleges and universities for an annual summit. e first summit filled to capacity when we welcomed students from the New Orleans area, and the National Association of Health Services Executives sponsored a conference for it at the end of 2022. We are continuing to expand these critical efforts. For example, through our Career Solutions Center and workforce development programs, we focus on internal talent mobility. Our process is based on transferable skills, experience and credentials, and we have removed degree requirements from approximately 20 roles to be more inclusive in expanding the talent pool eligible to fill these roles. ese pipeline programs are critical ways we embrace inclusivity, pursue high standards and hold ourselves accountable. e Momentum Mentorship program, our HBCU summit and our other initiatives are part of a strategy to codify inclusivity, which has become a formal core value adopted by Ochsner Health. Margaret Larkins-Pettigrew, MD. Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer for Highmark Health and Allegheny Health Network (Pittsburgh): Allegheny Health Network Young Health Scholars is a new, two-part program designed to support professional development into the healthcare field for Pittsburgh area grade, middle and high school students. In part one of this program, students in kindergarten through 7th grade will participate in engagement opportunities throughout the school year learning about various healthcare careers, social emotional learning, and other topics linking health to their courses. e second part of the program is a five-year, continuous summer program for rising 8th graders who are interested in medical careers. AHN and its partner organizations will support aspiring students by building on social, emotional and executive functioning curriculum, social determinants of health and problem solving, writing and standardized test taking skills development. Health Scholars receive support for achieving success in middle and high school, guidance in applying to college, and eventual medical school enrollment assistance, with the ultimate goal of helping them become physicians and practice in the diverse Pittsburgh communities where they grew up. Brion Lieberman. Chief Human Resources Officer at Geisinger (Danville, Pa.): One of our focus areas in 2024 will be expanding career pathways and partnerships with local high school districts. As our communities become more diverse and the health needs of our communities evolve, we recognize we must be more intentional on reaching students earlier in their high school career, especially those who represent underserved communities. e expanded career pathways include roles like RNs that require a college degree (and we offer scholarships to support the students), but we're also offering pathways, like certified medical assistants, that require certification where we offer on- the-job training. n Burnout climbs its way to boards By Molly Gamble B oard members are a professional group less often linked to the chronic exhaustion and emotional fatigue of burnout. But governing bodies are now increasingly feeling the strain, Fortune reports. Board members are noting longer meetings, more rigorous prep work, and more frequent calls between meetings, according to Fortune, which spoke with a Korn Ferry partner who is hearing talk of board-level exhaustion "everywhere." One contributing factor to boards' burnout is C-level turnover. As CEOs and C-suite leaders exit organizations, boards are forced to step up and take on a wider range of issues, Fortune reports. In healthcare, CEO changes have ticked upward. U.S. hospitals saw 126 CEO exits through the first 10 months of the year, a 62 percent increase from the same time period in 2022. Increased rigor that board members now face in their responsibilities could also signal a change is due in how professionals think about board service. The founder and CEO of a membership organization for executive women told Fortune that the traditional model of boards being a "last hurrah" before an executive's retirement is not fit for the current demands and changes, such as the addition of more board members or limiting the number of board seats that someone can hold, may be needed. Experts told Fortune that board leaders ought to check in with individual members to clarify the workload of serving on the body and acknowledge how the job has changed. This may be particularly crucial in healthcare, where fewer than 15% of board members overseeing the nation's top hospitals have a professional background in the industry. Before the growing issue of burnout, boards have long grappled with passive and disengaged members. Here are 10 signs of a board member who is effectively governing and adding value. n