Reinventing yourself: every day: CFOs who want lasting success need to reinvent themselves. Are you up to the challenge?

Healthcare Financial Management, Nov, 2004 by Larry Scanlan

Recently, I was talking with a CEO who had to replace his CFO last year. He fold me he did not reach this decision easily and, in fact, had to spend some time preparing his board's executive committee for it. Although the CFO had served the organization well, the hospital had tripled in size over the past several years. Now the skills needed to master the financial challenges of a larger organization, were beyond the capacity--and possibly the interest--of that CFO. It was time for a change.

I wish I could say this was just an isolated incident, but it's not. My colleagues and I are hearing variations of this story with increasing frequency. What are the reasons for it? As I look back on a decade of growth in the healthcare industry, one thing stands out: Hospitals have struggled to reinvent themselves. Some became hospital systems only, while others added managed care plans, bought physician practices, or started for-profit subsidiaries. But what's happened to our CFOs in the process? Have they, too, managed to reinvent themselves?

We all know that the skill sets of revenue cycle leaders, budget directors, controllers, and group practice managers have changed over the years as issues, regulations, and organizational responses became more complex and took on new meaning in the market.

But making these types of adjustments may not be enough--not if you want to succeed in today's demanding marketplace. Are you prepared to reinvent or at least periodically assess your skills and the skills of your team to see if you're keeping up with the market? Here are some suggestions to help you keep pace with your evolving organization.

Assess Your Own Skills

Whether you are a current or an aspiring leader of a department, division, or even an entire organization, you need to step back periodically and take a hard look at your job and the way you handle it. Has the scope of your job changed significantly over the past year? If so, how have you handled the changing responsibilities? Have you developed new skill sets to successfully meet those challenges?

How often you make this assessment is purely subjective, but I suggest once a year. As you begin your personal review, remember that the skill sets required to be the successful CFO of one hospital differ from those required to run a hospital system, in the same way that running one hospital department or division does not automatically quality you to run 12 such areas.

Assess Your Staff's Skills

Conducting a staff skills assessment is different from conducting an annual performance evaluation. As a leader, you need a management team with the right blend of initiative, talent, and skills necessary to be successful in a dynamic, changing industry. You need a team that can successfully respond, either proactively or reactively, to the inevitable financial, competitive, and market changes that affect the way your organization does business.

In other words, when it comes to filling a position, you don't hire people just to fill organizational "slots." You hire team players with the skills that can help your organization fulfill its mission. You need to know that no matter what strategic and tactical challenges arise, you have a team with the appropriate skill sets you can count on.

So when it comes to assessing your team, it's important to remember your stewardship responsibilities. That's why you should review your staff's performance over a longer period of time--every two to three years. Doing so gives you a chance to fairly evaluate individual performance, skill sets, and potential future capabilities and to give each member of the team the chance to grow, to demonstrate his or her strengths and weaknesses as well as adaptability and flexibility in crisis situations.

A longer evaluation period also gives you more opportunities for coaching and mentoring. And that means more chances for you to see who's willing to learn, who's a team player (and who's not), and who are the up-and-coming stars in your organization.

Develop New Skills

In this age, knowledge is everything: the skill sets you possess today and those you develop tomorrow will define the success of your career and underscore your contribution to your employer and community.

Make the time to keep your traditional skill sets up to date through seminars and workshops, such as HFMA education locally, regionally, and nationally. But also be willing to take the risk of developing new skill sets. Stretching yourself can be unnerving at times, but it can also be invigorating.

Over the past 10 years, typical healthcare finance departments have grown in size and complexity. Having a deeper understanding of areas such as balance-sheet management, physician-side billing, cost accounting systems, and payment issues is critical to your success and the success of your organization. Learn how to make five-year (instead of one- or two-year) capital planning projections. Be familiar with bond financing, and know how to work with Wall Street (i.e., banks and other financial institutions), especially now that financing for equipment, expansion, and renovation has grown exponentially.