HealthCare Voice

Professional Networking: An Enriching, Improbable Journey of Discovery

Third in a Series

 

_{The best way to prepare for a career of networking and professional network development is to think of recording your efforts much like an epidemiologist would plot the spread of a…for the lack of a better description…disease.  Begin with a root circle and as you are referred on to others, create new circles and plot the relationships.} 

_{You will make a startling discovery during your pursuit of building a vibrant professional network -- how people are connected. You may have 10 or 15 root circles but as you add to the tree, it is amazing how many times the branches will cross over and connect with networks from other root contacts.}

_{Here is an example of how this investment can pay off. Just when I think I have seen it all, I see some new improbable link. You can be looking at a position with a top tier system in Seattle and discover that a member of your network was the best man in the CEO's wedding, or that their kids were college roommates.  I see developing a professional   
netwo rk much like I see candidate sourcing, a wonderful adventure, a journey that will  frequently yield amazing gems.  It is the process of what Wayne O'Neill of Wayne O'Neill   Associates calls "connecting the dots."  Wayne, formerly a highly successful business development executive, now consults with corporations to develop meaningful strategies to identify, win and retain profitable new business. He understands in a way that few do that building a great business requires discipline and the time to identify and build relationships that can step in to support your value proposition.}

_{This is the same principle used in professional network development.  It is an investment in time and effort that builds enormous value over time, and which will yield important results in career advancement, personal professional development and, at the very least, new friendships that will enrich your life and your career.} 

_{If you have questions, please email me at [email protected].   Meanwhile, stand by, this is one of my favorite subjects and I will write more on Thursday.}

© 2011 John Gregory Self

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Building a Professional Network, Not On-Line Recruiting Sites, Key to Finding a New Job

For unemployed or underemployed executives, sitting in front of a computer screen, submitting resumes and applications on line will not, in all likelihood, produce a job offer.  And yet that is exactly what thousands of out of work executives will do today.  They will push paper to potential employers and hope something sticks.

It is not a complete waste of time, but it is close.   The computer is a networking tool, not the primary pathway to a return to employment.  At the end of the day, it is the scope and quality of networking relationships that will produce the best results in the most efficient manner.

Let me explain why I think building and sustaining a robust network of professional contacts is so critical for executives today.  The economy is showing signs of recovery, but staggering annual deficits and a crushing national debt signals that this decade is more about retrenchment, not business or life as usual as we have come to know it over the past 20 years.  As we move through a period of sustained high unemployment, executives and managers cannot treat the development of a personal/professional network as a luxury for which there is little time in their busy schedule of work, family and leisure activities. This period of sustained higher than normal unemployment will be accompanied by continued volatility in the executive and management job market.  In other words, no one is completely protected; everyone is at risk of losing their job.

For executives who have not invested time and effort in developing a large network who now find themselves on the job loss bubble, or those who have already been sacked, you have waited too long.  Without this robust network of relationships that can help you connect the dots of potential new opportunities, you face prolonged unemployment unless, of course, you are an industry star or incredibly lucky.  Not to be trite, but luck is not a very successful career management strategy.

Aside from building a professional network that can help in the event of a job loss, it also is important to have a network that will be the source of new ideas for strategies, program development and problem solving.  In other words, your network also is a tool to add value to your organization.

As I speak to professional associations across the country, I am frequently asked about the role that networking sites such as PLAXO, LINKEDIN and Facebook should play in the   development and management of a professional network. They, like thecomputer and other personal connectivity devices, are tools.  But just having connections on these sites will not be any more helpful or successful than sending resumes to on-line    employment sites.  Having   hundreds or even thousands of contacts is useless unless you do something with the information by engaging these people, finding out where they work, what they do and who they know. Moreover, waiting  until the last minute to engage your contacts, or after the last minute when you are signing up for unemployment, is not much different than starting to build a network from scratch after you lose your job.

Building and nurturing a professional network requires discipline – to work on this every week, to allocate time to talk to or email people.   Successful network development has become a core competency for leadership and career management success.  To new graduates  and up and coming executives,  I encourage you to begin building and nurturing a relationship network on day one of your career.  This will be as important to your success as producing stellar results.  For those senior leaders who have enjoyed success in the past, it is never too late.

© 2011 John Gregory Self

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One Life To Live

How many people can say they love what they do for a living?  Day in and day out they are passionate about the work?

Not for the money. 

Not for the mega bonus.

Not for the stock options leading to a big payday.

Not for the fame or prestige.

They do the work that they do because they love it.  They care deeply and achieve satisfaction beyond the paycheck.

About three years ago a lawyer who I admire and respect – a superb legal mind and a talented practitioner with a major Dallas firm – confided that he hated his job.  He was extraordinarily well trained at one of the best law schools in the country.  He sacrificed personally and financially to get his degree.  He edited the law review and earned academic honors.  He was one of the youngest partners at his firm.  Yet, he hated what he did.  He was miserable.  It was not the firm or the clients.  It was the profession.

Several weeks later I met him for drinks and dinner at a fashionable downtown restaurant.  There were 11 other lawyers present – partners all – representing some of the best known firms in Texas, New York and Washington.  Frankly, I was immediately struck by the New Testament significance of 12 lawyers meeting for supper, but that is another story.

The men at the table were all successful.  They enjoyed the respect of their colleagues and they each made an enormous amount of money. When I asked how many loved what they did – the practice of law, there were several moments of silence.  Eyes rolled.  Smiles were exchanged.  Then snickers turned to laughter. 

I felt like an outsider who had just been the victim of an inside joke.  Skeptical that people could work as hard as lawyers work and still not enjoy it, I asked for a show of hands.  “How many of you like what you do?  Forget passion and love for a minute.  How many of you just like what you do?”

Silence.  Then slowly, as if they were embarrassed, only four of the 12 raised their hands. 

“I hate what I do, but if I quit my wife would kill me.  She probably would divorce me.  I make a lot of money and she wants and expects the lifestyle.  I am not sure how I could earn this much money doing something else.  I feel trapped, so I tough   it out,” lamented one.

Another confided: “This is a miserable job, but I only have to do it for 25 more years and then I can retire.”

Heads nodded and more knowing smiles were exchanged.  There was a sense of resignation.  Or was it sadness?  They worked long hours, including weekends.  Their home lives suffered. They were all well paid, but they were sacrificing so much for a career they clearly did not enjoy.

If there is hell on earth, I thought, I just found it.

Fame and fortune aside, this is a cautionary alert for college graduates as well as their parents who drive their high achieving children to pursue the prestige “money” jobs.  Do not find yourself in a trendy restaurant 20 years from now admitting to a stranger that your life is a horribly painful experience.  Do what you want to do.  Do what makes you happy.  Pursue a career that, when you tell me what you do for a living, you can smile.

As the recession has taken its toll on not only the hourly wage earners but on executives, lawyers, bankers, and others not normally associated with unemployment, stories have emerged about once highly paid people putting aside their old professions to begin new ones in areas they always thought they might enjoy such as cooking, or teaching, or starting up a new company doing something they really believe in, and how happy and fulfilled they have become.

As Steven A. Cohen, the head of SAC Capital Advisors, and a man with an individual net worth of more than $6.4 billion, said recently in a Vanity Fair article, he has achieved all that he has at great personal sacrifice through two marriages and killer hours in the office.  “I have been to the top of the mountain,” he said, “and there’s not much there.”

You only have one life. 

© 2010 John Gregory Self

A NEW FOCUS: Executive Recruiting, Talent Acquisition & Career Management

When I began this blog some 149 posts ago, I wrote about recruiting, leadership, healthcare reform, career management, politics of healthcare, quality and patient safety, etc.  Virtually everything that touched healthcare and captured my attention made it into this blog. As a former newspaper writer, I have thoroughly enjoyed getting back into the routine of writing, and in learning about how to blog.  It has certainly helped me sharpen my focus on a range of issues.

While I enjoy the writing, and the critical process it takes to produce a blog, I am not doing this to perfect my writing skills.  I am looking for engagement.  Over time I noticed that the posts drawing the most attention and comment were not on the politics of healthcare reform, or even the substance of the legislation. Nor did readers seem too interested in thinking about what the healthcare delivery system of the future would look like.   Rather, people responded to things that mattered to them personally -- career management, how to develop and sustain networking relationships to enhance their job search, and how to be more effective in telephone and face-to-face interviews.  Hospital Chief Executives and their human relations executives were more interested in how they could reduce the costs of acquiring the talent and be more effective. 

This makes sense.  We have entered a new economy, one that will be characterized not by big growth bubbles that generate heady financial times with low unemployment and accelerating consumption that seem to bring out the worst in us, but a resetting or our economy with new expectations regarding pay, benefits and time/life balance.  We are in the midst of a resizing.  Given our national debt and the war on terror, all things economic may not return to the “old” normal for another 10 years or so.  With Medicare moving to become the big driver of our national debt, hospitals must develop a laser focus on costs.  

Human capital, the biggest portion of a hospital's expense budget and the single most important contributor to an organization's net worth, is now more important than technology. This will profoundly change the way we approach recruitment and how we manage our talent.  For healthcare workers, career management and job searching skills will be more important as health systems resize to reduce costs.

As I thought about those issues over the weekend, I realized that while I had written numerous blogs on executive recruiting, talent acquisition and management as well as career management, there is much more to cover and there is a great interest in these subjects.

I encourage you to submit your suggestions for blogs as well as your questions on everything from recruiting strategies to resume construction, how to prepare for interviews and how to make each new hire a valued and productive asset sooner rather than later.  

If you want to email me, write to: [email protected].  Or you can post a comment or question at this site. 

 © John G. Self, 2010

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Anger, Fear and Hopelessness in the Job Search

As an executive recruiter I receive dozens of calls each week -- executives who have lost their job are scouting for a new opportunity.  They want help.

My practice model is client retained.  This means that I work for clients, not candidates. To put it bluntly, candidates are, in essence, the inventory in a profoundly unfriendly process where most executive recruiters serve as the client's advisor/broker.  The way traditional search is practiced, it is more like a real estate transaction than anything else is.

I try to find the time to talk with these callers.  Frequently, it is late in the day, often on Friday afternoons when my work/telephone call volume is lower, and occasionally at night or weekends.  Over the years, I have noticed that their reactions fall into predictable patterns of conversation:  

Some are angry.

Others are scared.

The vast majority are confused by the "new normal" in the recruitment/employment process.

While I generally cannot help them with a specific search, I do try to provide some moral support, advice on resume development, interviewing hints and direction for career/brand management.  Yes, this takes time away from my business development and search practice activities, but one of the reasons I entered this business was to help people.  Therefore, this commitment is not immediately financially based.  Besides, I find that I get an enormous amount of emotional good out of these telephone conversations..

When you think about an executive's fear, it is typically grounded on two compelling issues: anxiety on how they will continue to meet their monthly financial obligations, and, the fact that there are literally dozens, sometimes hundreds, of job applicants for each job.  Executives are overwhelmed by these seemingly insurmountable odds.  They are fighting against a sense of hopelessness. 

This is where I have to take control and tell them to stop.  They cannot look at each job opportunity from the macro level.  That will be self-defeating.  There are just too many candidates for too few jobs.   Instead, I argue, they must focus on telling their story as effectively as possible.  They must be compelling in outlining their strengths and their successes.  They must be clear how those will generate value for their new employer.

Going forward, executives must become exceptionally perceptive career brand managers.  Being a good executive is simply not enough.

Onboarding expert George Bradt provides some excellent advice.  Read this blog, and review others he has written.  They will provide a measure of insight and comfort that will create a foundation for future success.  

Reboarding with Confidence.

Reboarding with Confidence

Mr. Self is the President and Founder of JohnGSelf Associates, Inc., a healthcare executive search and human capital advisory services firm in Dallas.  He has represented clients recruiting from Asia, Africa, Australia, the Middle East and North America

A highly rated speaker, Mr. Self has more than 30 years of healthcare experience, 16 years in executive search, and his record of talent selection is one of the best in the industry.

He is the 2010 Regent Award winner as the senior healthcare leader of the year in North Texas, an honor bestowed by the American College of Healthcare Executives.

© John G. Self, 2010

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Twitter Is Not A Social Disease...

TYLER, Texas (March 28, 2009) -- I am back in Tyler at the weekend house. Two weekends in a row. That is a non-holiday record for me. It is cold today but we have a nice fire in the fireplace and some good music from iTunes. Just think, yesterday I was lamenting the end of winter in Texas and kidding my colleagues in Buffalo, NY. They are, no doubt, enjoying some satisfaction.

On Friday I met with a new networking group that my partner, Gary Pfleiger, is helping to put together. Actually it is more than networking. We are focusing on aggregating intelligence that will facilitate client acquisition. Joining us was PerotSystems networking ace, Bethany Williams, Kurt Young of engineering giant Walter P Moore, Wayne O'Neill, a consultant who specializes in this new field of expertise, as well as Marc Leediker and Jan Blackmon of the architectural firm Rees. It was a fascinating session.

On Wednesday night I returned from the ACHE Congress in Chicago where I spoke at three sessions. During my drive this morning from Dallas to Tyler, my experiences in Chicago, together with my networking session on Thursday morning, caused me to revisit some earlier thoughts I have had on the social networking phenomena. Social networking is sweeping the nation, from college campuses to the halls of staid law firms. That there are valuable business applications for these networks is an important heads up for CEOs, marketing executives, recruiters and those executives who find themselves in the job market.

Over the next three to five years, we will see exponential growth in the numbers of professionals who use online networking sites – Linked In, Facebook, Plaxo, – as well as platforms we have not even considered. These sites will dramatically change the way we relate with clients, colleagues and, in our case, the candidates we recruit.

In addition to authoring this blog and serving as Chairman and Founder of JohnMarch Partners, an innovative international search consultancy based in Dallas, Texas I also write tweets for Twitter and update my Facebook and Plaxo networking sites. Yesterday, business leaders thought a tweet was something impolite best avoided in public. Facebook and similar sites were dismissed as a college craze that would never amount to much.

Twitter serves as an instant blog that is limited to 140 characters. You learn to be brief! I encourage you to visit Twitter and become a member. You can get up to the minute information on searches that we are leading – from Hawaii to Abu Dhabi. When I add a “tweet” – the new word for a message -- it automatically updates on this blog. You can also follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Self_JohnMarch.

Just as social networking platforms are becoming significant drivers for how we form, expand, and sustain our contact relationships, my professional world – executive search – is in the early stages of transformation. The current economic downturn is prompting some larger traditional firms who have not changed much over the past 30 years, to relook at their business model. But these social networking platforms will also play an important role in forcing the white shoe firms to relook at how they act and communicate. Right now they smile knowingly but most think this is just a fad that will pass - that participating will only diminish their brand.

Transformation of the existing executive search business model is inevitable. To ignore that fact, and the emergence of social networking sites, would be a mistake.

Currently, this transformation is being led by small boutique consultancies like JohnMarch. From the way candidates are screened and the depth of the background and reference inquiries, to the use of video summaries of our final interviews with recommended candidates to assist clients in determining which candidates to invite for a site interview, we, as executive recruiters, are looking at ways to enhance value and manage costs and delivery. JohnMarch became the leader of this innovation 15 years ago when the firm was launched. Today we are continually searching for ways to improve process and enhance value. Twitter and other sites will play a key role.

This is a great time to be in healthcare and the executive search business. There are enormous threats. There is chaos. There is opportunity.

My goal is to collaborate with my network to take advantage of the opportunity. But, creativity is not an endeavor best performed in a silo. So please share your thoughts with me.

John G. Self is Chairman and Senior Client Advisor of JohnMarch Partners. He is a
Co-Founder of the Firm. A former investigative reporter and crime writer with more than 30-years of leadership experience in public relations, national marketing and business development and as Chief Executive Officer of hospitals, and consulting firms, Mr. Self is highly regarded for his keen insight into business culture and the types of leaders who will succeed. You can contact Mr. Self at 214.220.1234 or [email protected].

Military Hospitals: A Deep Pool of Leadership Talent

CHICAGO (March 23, 2009) – As the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) convenes its annual education Congress today, the military is out in force. These healthcare executives from the military’s highly regarded Medical Service Corp (MSC) run our Army, Navy and Air Force hospitals and ambulatory clinics at bases throughout the U.S. and around the world.

They are gathering with thousands of their civilian counterparts for four days of intense education covering topics such as quality, patient safety and satisfaction, physician-hospital alignment challenges, regulatory compliance, finance and even reimbursement. Military officers attend the same classes with their civilian counterparts because there are so many similarities between the two types of healthcare operations. Yes, there are some differences but those are far fewer – and minor in scope – than most civilian healthcare CEOs or their recruiters would imagine.

In addition to attending the myriad of educational sessions, many of the military personnel are here for career networking. Dozens are preparing to transition to, hopefully, a similar role in a civilian healthcare sector.

These officers are some of our best and brightest. They know how to lead. They know how to execute and produce anticipated results. They know how to work with physicians, manage to budget and compete for revenue. They have the same education and professional credentials as their civilian colleagues. Many have had the opportunity to pursue additional degrees and in-depth training programs to sharpen their leadership skills, their analytical ability, or to master the latest thinking concerning health system design and delivery.

The military does NOT cut corners when it comes to investing and developing their leaders.

Why, then, are these proven leaders not viewed as a choice “catch” for the executive teams of healthcare organizations in the U.S.?

The answer is that they face a wall – a formidable barrier -- built of years of accumulated myths, a lack of understanding of how military hospitals operate, or, often, even a preference for “safe” candidates, those candidates whose background and career path is like their own.

Some of these myths include:

1. Most military officers hold, on average, four jobs in their first seven years following retirement.

Yes, a study reported these results. However, those numbers are significantly skewed by including the officers from combat and support divisions where the command structure and leadership style are, in actuality, markedly different from the MSC, according to former officers I have interviewed and who have successfully completed the transition.

2. The military’s leadership structure, the privileges and the forced respect of commanders creates unreasonable expectations that are incompatible in the civilian workplace.

This myth usually draws the biggest smiles – even some hearty laughs – from military healthcare executives. On average, 65-70 percent of all employees at military healthcare installations in the U.S. and overseas are civilians. That fact alone illustrates why there is much less of the formal military culture in their hospitals – less saluting and less commanding personnel to perform.

3. MSC executives have a captive workforce that is compelled to follow orders. This makes running a military hospital much easier than a civilian facility.

This, too, is incorrect (See number 2 above). MSC civilian employees need and want the same type of inspiration, coaching, mentoring, and encouragement as their counterparts in civilian hospitals. Issuing commands, shouting orders, dictating performance, or other types of command behavior that is more evident in combat units does not work in military hospitals, Walter Reed included.

4. Military healthcare executives do not understand civilian labor relations issues.

Not true. Surprisingly, the civilian workforce at military hospitals in the U.S. and at many bases around the world, are unionized. Colleague and friend, Col Tom Driskill (retired), who was Chief of Staff at Walter Reed and Trippler Army Hospital in Honolulu, among others, said that labor negotiations in the military could be every bit as tough as those in a civilian closed shop union environment. Officers who do not maintain effective labor relations will have a tough time meeting their performance targets, and this could materially affect their career outlook.

5.The military does not hold its hospital executives to the same standard of accountability.

This myth is wildly off target. MSC officers know that they might survive one bad performance review, but not two. Two poor performance reviews typically means you will not advance to the next rank. In the military if you do not advance, you retire, you are asked to leave or you are forced out. If you do not qualify for retirement at that point, you will lose everything that you have invested in your career investment.
The military’s culture on accountability is tough. It is unforgiving. And it is very different from the civilian hospital culture where the “up or out” mentality does not exist. While this can potentially create transition problems for some officers, this can be handled through an effective “onboarding” program.

Are there bad leaders in the MSC? Yes, as is certainly the case within civilian healthcare organizations. Nonetheless, civilian leaders need to take a hard and long look at the MSC’s deep pool of talent. They will find great leaders with solid work experience who can and will deliver exceptional value.

They are, after all, among our best and brightest with solid work experience.

John G. Self is Chairman and Senior Client Advisor of JohnMarch Partners. He is a Co-Founder of the Firm. A former investigative reporter and crime writer with more than 30-years of leadership experience in public relations, national marketing and business development and as Chief Executive Officer of hospitals, and consulting firms, Mr. Self is highly regarded for his keen insight into business culture and the types of leaders who will succeed. You can contact Mr. Self at 214.220.1234 or [email protected].