Rapidly changing healthcare industry dynamics have created greater urgency when it comes to having the right leadership in place.

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By Joyce Tucker
<h2>Strong Demand for Healthcare Leaders Persists </h2>


 Rapidly changing healthcare industry dynamics have created greater urgency
 when it comes to having the right leadership in place. The sheer volume of
 recruiting activity, not to mention competition for highly desirable
 executives, has spurred many health organizations to invest in in-house talent
 acquisition departments. The goal, of course, is to find the most effective
 and cost-efficient way to secure often scarce skills, such as patient outcome,
 population health, health data analytics and revenue cycle management
 leadership.



 Acquiring and developing leadership talent is a hefty charge and like most
 strategic functions, such as Finance, IT, and Compliance, there is a time and
 a place for leveraging a range of internal and external resources. As an
 executive search consultant who has held clinical and administrative
 leadership roles, I have always found the most successful outcomes result from
 collaborative, transparent and trust-based working relationships between
 internal and external resources.


<h2>
 How to Recognize When Hiring a Search Firm is a Wise Investment
 
</h2>


 Not all leadership searches are appropriate to outsource; those that require
 in-depth knowledge of an internal process, or those that are recruited for by
 an internal search team with some regularity &ndash;thereby generating
 valuable intellectual capital within the organization &ndash; may be better
 kept in-house.



 Conversely, however, there are scenarios in which the return-on-investment
 proposition of engaging an independent search firm is highest. Those include:



 1.
 Hard-to-Fill Positions. Certain positions will be
 difficult to fill, often due to the scarcity of the desired skill set. These
 searches require an extraordinary amount of original research to uncover
 potential candidates and can be very time-consuming for internal resources. A
 search consultant who is conducting talent outreach on a daily basis often has
 greater access to more difficult-to-reach, passive leadership candidates. By
 using an outside search firm, a healthcare organization can benefit not only
 from a robust research team, but also from the personal relationships a
 consultant with experience in the specialty area can offer.



 2.
 Leadership Positions that Garner High Volumes of Interest.
 High-demand positions, such as CEO and COO, often generate a high volume of
 responses, requiring abundant resources to adequately manage them. An
 organization may receive hundreds of resumes that then need to be
 promptly and carefully evaluated, to identify only the most highly qualified
 applicants. Managing communications with all candidates &ndash; including
 those who do not make the short list &ndash; is an important consideration as
 well. Healthcare is, ultimately, a small field and the perception among
 healthcare leaders who encounter your organization as a potential employer has
 a significant ripple effect. Responding to all candidates in a professional
 and timely manner regarding their compatibility with the position is a
 powerful way to maintain a strong employer brand.



 3. Newly Created or Significantly Evolved Leadership Positions. When an organization wants to create a new role, it can often benefit from
 a trusted advisor who can draw upon experience with other health care
 organizations to help define the role and establish clear expectations, both
 internally and externally. Similarly, a leadership vacancy following a
 longtime incumbent is another example of when an objective search firm can
 help identify and gain consensus for adding more contemporary competencies to
 the position&rsquo;s requirements.



 4. Management of Internal Candidates. Hiring for
 executive-level positions can become highly politicized, especially when
 internal candidates are interested in the position in addition to external
 talent. In these situations, engaging an objective, third-party search firm to
 manage the process can be invaluable &ndash; not only to minimize
 disruption among existing leadership but also to help increase the probability
 of success for the person who fills the role.


<h2>
 Best Practices for Getting the Most Out of Your External Search
 Partner
</h2>


 To maximize the search experience and its outcomes, an organization must
 create an environment in which its internal leaders and its search partners
 feel part of the same team, working towards a common goal. Some advice on ways
 to achieve this type of alignment:



 1. Act Early &ndash; This is especially true when
 working with a limited pool of qualified candidates. When organizations wait
 until a position has been unsuccessfully advertised for six months before
 outsourcing to a search firm, job openings can become &ldquo;stale,&rdquo;
 causing candidates to question why the position has been open so long, thereby
 creating an additional obstacle. It is also important to assess hiring
 managers&rsquo; expectations of timing, so that you can proactively anticipate
 when to outsource a search and manage expectations.



 2. Create a Search Algorithm &ndash; One that takes into
 consideration which types and how many searches an organization can handle
 internally, thereby flagging which searches should be outsourced and when. A
 standard decision-making system, as opposed to an ad hoc approach, creates
 greater visibility and consistent search management parameters
 organization-wide.



 3. Manage with Transparency &ndash; Internal
 Talent Acquisition partners can play a pivotal role in how effectively a
 search firm performs. Helping external resources to understand the
 organizational culture and navigate political landmines can help create a
 timelier and more successful search process.



 4.
 Communicate Regularly and Frequently -- One of the most
 common disadvantages for an external search partner is not having ready access
 to internal decisions makers in order to gather candidate feedback and
 schedule next steps in a timely fashion. Internal partners can have a
 tremendous impact on reducing the length of position vacancies by helping to
 manage internal availability and resolve bottlenecks. They should also
 consider meeting every couple of weeks to understand the progress and
 challenges of the search, such as scarcity issues, location or compensation
 challenges, and to collaborate on possible solutions.


<h2>Holistic Resource Strategies Maximize Success</h2>


 The best strategy for optimal management of an organization&rsquo;s executive
 search needs is to proactively evaluate its internal expertise and bandwidth,
 along with the unique dynamics of each position. Taking this holistic and
 proactive approach, together with developing collaborative and transparent
 working relationships with qualified search partners, will help an
 organization engage the dynamic leadership talent they seek in today&rsquo;s
 competitive health care market.



 For more advice from Joyce Tucker, a thought leader in the area of healthcare
 executive search, follow her on
 <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/joyce-tucker-21073911/">LinkedIn</a>.


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