Marine Corps to Add 'Spiritual Fitness' to Professional Education

The Marine Corps is adding "spiritual fitness" to professional development.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/10/18/corps-to-add-spiritual-fitness-to-professional-education.html

Spiritual does not necessarily mean religious, Scott clarified. He breaks spiritual fitness into three parts: personal faith, personal values, and moral living and decision-making.

"A moral compass doesn't just come from a faith foundation; it's not enough to make a decision based on what is legally right or wrong," Scott said. "Chaplains will help Marines discover that compass for themselves -- that center of gravity that comes from their own upbringing, personal experiences, and religious teaching."

I did a really interesting interview with Rev. Frank Macht at Dartmouth Hitchcock Health System, and he talked quite a bit about the non-religious nature of spiritual care. I'm becoming more convinced this is an important thing - for the workplace, and for life.  

lessons from fast food for managing HCOs

In the October issue of the HBR is an article about how Cheryl Bachelder, CEO of Popeye's, a fast food chicken chain, mostly in the South, has been trying to turn around the organization.

https://hbr.org/2016/10/the-ceo-of-popeyes-on-treating-franchisees-as-the-most-important-customers

I've been talking to my students in my management class about the relationship between hospitals and other healthcare organizations (HCOs) and their clinical staff. What is interesting and relevant for our discussion is how, when the company was failing, the CEO refocused corporate efforts not on the end customers (the people buying the chicken), but on the franchisees that own most of the restaurants. The idea was if she could fix the relationship between the company and its franchisees, the franchisees would fix the customer issues. It's a lot like how a hospital CEO really needs to focus on making the docs happy so that the docs will make the patients happy.

From a talent management perspective, if you are a senior leader, you have to treat your employees as if they were your customers. It's an interesting perspective. 

Nobel for contract theory

The Nobel Prize for Economic Science was given for the development of contract theory. Here's a good summary of what contract theory is and how it applies to healthcare:

https://www.ohe.org/news/contract-theory-nobel-offerings-health-economics

Relevant to talent management.

NNEAHE and CHHS host conference

I had the chance to moderate a panel for a joint conference we hosted yesterday at UNH. The College of Health and Human Services and the Northern New England Association of Healthcare Executives produced "Shaping the Future: Leadership and Public Policy in Healthcare". It was a great conference and we had a very nice turnout of NNEAHE members, as well as students, faculty, and staff.

I moderated the panel, Talent Management for Bench Strength Development, and I have to say it was a really great experience. I had three excellent executives to work with: Kevin Callahan, CEO of Exeter Health Resources; Samantha O'Neill, VP of HR for the Elliot Health System; and Warren West, CEO of Littleton Regional Healthcare and North Country Healthcare.

This was my first time moderating a panel like this, and the my panelists were giving me a hard time because they said my questions sounded like they were written by an academic. But they were great, and rolled with my exam-like questions. I wasn't able to get them all to say "Googleyness", but it still went well.

We recorded the event and we'll be publishing it on the Health Leader Forge next week, so you can listen for yourself when it comes out. Looking forward to doing it again next year.