How Onboarding Can Set Healthcare Executives Up for Success

From nurses to administrative employees, marketing team members to technicians, every new hire who joins your healthcare organization is important to the success of the whole. Yet it's often not easy to get across the new-hire finish line, as we have seen average timelines of three months to fill positions — with the potential for much longer.

For healthcare systems looking for niche executives, this process is generally even more daunting. As a standard, the more education and experience required for the role, the longer it takes to fill. Further, finding the right candidate for the job is critical. When it comes to CEOs, as much as 45% of a company's performance can be attributed to the influence of the individual in the top spot.

While finding the right candidate is difficult, that's only part of the issue. Even if you find qualified leaders, the reality that they will be with your organization long term is a toss-up, with some estimates finding up to one-half of new executives transition out of a new organization within 18 months — creating even more headaches and company setbacks.

One of the keys to retaining your healthcare executives post-hire is through a comprehensive onboarding process.

Onboarding for Executives

As part of their role, executives are responsible for guiding tactics like company vision and direction. The onboarding experience is an opportunity for them to become familiar with the organization's values and culture, build rapport with key stakeholders, like board members and directors, and get familiar with the ins and outs of daily operations.

Executives, with years of professional experience and eager to jump in and make improvements, can be caught off-guard or inadvertently trample over unspoken dynamics without a proper introduction. During onboarding, healthcare executives can obtain a solid understanding of a company's inner workings before they really get underway.

Establish Clear KPIs

Clearly outlined metrics and objectives are top priorities when evaluating the focuses of a new executive. Loose, untrackable goals leave the new executive — lacking the relationships and trust of established leaders within the organization — without a foundation for success.

In a healthcare setting, appropriate metrics for healthcare management might include:

• Patient satisfaction: A net promoter score (NPS), wait times, number of procedure delays, and anecdotal data from patient feedback forms can be a helpful tool to evaluate progress.

• Care quality: Readmission rates, staff-to-patient ratios and bed occupancy rates can help executives understand the impact and quality of the care being provided.

• Employee engagement: Length of employment, volume of no-shows, employee reviews and insights from employee surveys can help you gauge how your employees feel about working within your organization.

Have Ample Communication

Bringing a new executive on board is a significant change for any organization. Naturally, fellow leaders will critique the newbie's presentation and ideas. Lower-level employees will feel uncertain.

Developing a consistent communication strategy around a new hire can help alleviate anxieties associated with adding a new player into the mix. Organizations should utilize internal communication methods to keep employees abreast of the addition. As part of onboarding, the executive should have dedicated time to meet with colleagues, board members and team members to establish relationships and build trust.

Benefits of a Quality Onboarding Process

For any employee, onboarding is a primer to what working at the company is truly like. Through onboarding, it is important to lay the groundwork that can aid in long-term performance and professional fulfillment.

Executives often face the added pressure of finding their bearings quickly so they can get into the work they were hired to do. Yet a recent survey found U.S. executives were 35% less likely to receive formal onboarding compared to the global average. Of those who underwent onboarding, the experience was ranked as "mediocre."

The benefits of a well-outlined onboarding process for executives — and the individuals they will interface with — are plentiful. Improved team morale, clear understanding of the role and expectations, and comprehension of the company's culture, value and politics are all impactful takeaways.

As a whole, healthcare organizations should prioritize their onboarding programs and look at them as a tactic to achieve operational goals and set their employees up for success.