Board Leadership Module 5: Succession Planning and Employee Development
The Visionary Board Leadership and the Transition to Value 6-part video series, designed for critical access hospital board members, focuses on developing systems thinking and visionary leadership skills as keys to thriving in the changing health care landscape.
A suggested approach to use the content: Board of Directors should watch one of the six 15-20-minute videos every other month over the course of 12 months. Each module includes three parts: 1) educational content from subject matter experts, including interviews with rural hospital board members and CEOs sharing best practices and words of wisdom; 2) discussion questions for boards to consider how module topics apply to their organization and community; and 3) suggested activities for boards to put best practices into action.
Module 5
Description
In this fifth module, we discuss the importance of identifying the skills and knowledge your workforce, and in particular your senior leadership team, needs to have in order to achieve your organization’s vision. The more proactive you can be as a board to ensure that your current and future employees have the right skills and knowledge, the better positioned your organization will be to succeed in an always-evolving health care environment. Just like in earlier modules, other leaders join us to share their experiences with employee development and succession planning.
Topics
- Succession planning, employee development and the path to value
- The role of a board in succession planning and employee development
- Bringing the vision to life through succession planning
- Strategies for successful succession planning
- Developing leaders from within
Discussion Questions
- What systems and processes are in place in our hospital to develop our next generation of leaders?
- How effective is that system? How do we know?
- Are we tapping nontraditional and diverse backgrounds in our development?
- Are any individuals within the organization ready to be the next CEO?
Activity
Connect with other organizations to learn about how they approach CEO and board member succession planning and employee development.
Resources
Assessing Leadership CompetenciesSummary of resources for measuring measure critical knowledge and skills needed for rural health leaders
Call to Action: Why CEO Recruitment Must ChangeInformation about the cost of CEO recruitment and recommendations for board and hospital leaders to proactively manage succession planning.
The Heart of Leadership: Inspiration and practical guidance for transforming your health care organizationThis book by Barbara Balik and Jack Gilbert looks at the characteristics of ten “transformational leaders”.
How Rural Trustees Can Meet Health Care ChangesThis article shares rural hospital board member competencies and strategies for ensuring the right composition of boards.
Lack of Diversity, Succession Planning Revealed in AHA SurveyThis article shares findings from an American Hospital Association survey on hospital governance.
More Than Half of Health Systems Aren’t Prepared for Their CEO to LeaveThis article shares findings from a survey on hospital CEO succession planning.
Preventing Unnecessary CEO Turnover in Rural and Critical Access HospitalsThis article describes factors that contribute to CEO turnover and shares strategies for minimizing turnover.