Aim for success with a career action plan - Career Development - in healthcare

Healthcare Financial Management, July, 2002 by Don Whiteside

Successful careers in health care do not come as a surprise. Healthcare financial managers who achieve career success usually have done so not through luck, but by employing a career action plan. Although a systematic, disciplined approach to career growth cannot guarantee success, it can make opportunities far more likely.

A few suggestions can help individuals create a meaningful career action plan:

Excel at the job at hand. A professional reputation for competence and quality performance is built on a personal, daily pursuit of excellence. Neglecting one's current work to pursue another professional goal is taking an unacceptable risk. Healthcare financial managers should develop and polish the skills needed in their current job and concentrate on excelling in that job.

Cultivate self-awareness. Healthcare financial managers should take stock of their professional strengths and weaknesses. By regularly employing a battery of critical assessment tools, financial managers can record their ambitions and skills as well as any gaps in experience or education that they may have. One powerful tool is the 360-degree examination, which encourages staff members in higher-level and lower-level positions, as well as colleagues and peers, to comment on the manager's performance. Financial professionals who routinely allow themselves to be assessed in this manner can gain valuable knowledge about how they are perceived by others. Financial executives who want further feedback about their professional strengths and weaknesses can rely on career counselors and executive recruiters to serve as professional sounding boards.

Set realistic goals. With their strengths and weaknesses in mind, healthcare financial professionals can fashion realistic goals that satisfy their needs and capabilities in the context of changing marketplace demands. These goals should be developed with an eye toward new trends and opportunities in the healthcare industry.

Join professional organizations. To build a professional reputation and expand networking opportunities, financial managers should consider membership in local, state, and national professional organizations. By serving on committees and volunteering for leadership roles, financial managers can grow professionally. They can set personal goals for participation in the organization, such as writing articles, making presentations, or planning educational programs. Meeting these goals and setting new ones demonstrates dedication to the profession and can parallel goal-setting in one's job.

Look beyond finance. After achieving excellence in their careers, it is essential for healthcare financial managers to seek opportunities for professional interaction with people and situations outside of the finance area. For example, healthcare financial managers should look for opportunities to work with physicians or non-finance healthcare executives within their own organization. Outside the organization, unmet leadership and service needs can be found in most communities. Involvement in service organizations such as Rotary International and Kiwanis International can help a financial manager become well rounded by exposing him or her to new business situations and professionals. These organizations also can help financial managers hone leadership skills, such as public speaking, and present valuable opportunities to further the financial manager's standing in the community.

One healthcare finance executive experienced these benefits after taking on the management of a major annual golf tournament for his hospital. The project helped him polish his team-building skills and become better acquainted with the business leaders of his community. The golf tournament's success in facilitating major gifts for the hospital's philanthropic foundation also reflected positively on his commitment to the organization.

Set goals, but be flexible. Anticipating possible career diversions or obstacles is the real essence of any career action plan. Healthcare financial managers should cultivate professional resilience by planning for unknown occurrences in their career.

Be patient. A career plan should isolate one-, three-, and five-year targets, as well as lifetime goals. After determining where they would like their careers to be at each milestone, healthcare financial managers should settle into the hard work that needs to be done to get there. A well-thought-out career action plan can sustain one's confidence, but healthcare financial managers should moderate that confidence with patience.

A Real-Life Career Action Plan

A successful healthcare executive who enthusiastically endorses the career action plan is Kenneth L. Meehan, the newly appointed president and chief administrative officer of the John Muir Medical Center, which is part of the John Muir/Mt. Diablo Health System in Walnut Creek, California. Meehan's exceptional career, including his transition from finance to operations, is the result of deliberate career choices he has made. Meehan began his career as an accountant with New York-based Blue Cross Blue Shield of Greater New York, and later held positions as auditor in an insurance firm and as director of budget and controller in several California hospitals. After six years as vice president of financial services at John Muir Medical Center, Meehan was named vice president and then senior vice president of clinical and administrative services. In early 2002, Meehan was chosen to head the John Muir Medical Center.