Baptist Memorial Healthcare Corporation CEO: The Dream Job
Ashley Dean
BUS520 Organization & Leadership
February 17, 2013
Jama Rand

Everyone has a dream job. Growing up as a child I can remember be asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” My answer, “A doctor!” Like many other young boys and girls I wanted to be what I had seen on television or what was popular, to this very day I still here children choosing nurses, singers dancers, and even the President as their preference of profession for their adult life. As little children you have no clue of the direction that life will pull you in or situations that may happen in your life that may cause you to change your goals in life. A little boy may have had the dream of being a basketball player, say a few years later he lost a loved one because of a fire in his home. When that little boy got a little older, he then wanted to be a firefighter. That little boy had a life changing event, that caused him to want to help others, and maybe he can help save someone life, so another little boy want have to experience losing a loved one in a fire. I always knew that I wanted a job in the healthcare industry. Every job that I maintained was always in healthcare, starting out as house-keeper in a hospital, and now working as a financial counselor for individuals that suffer from mental health issues, chemical dependency and/or substance abuse. My goal and dream job would be to become CEO of a major health care corporation or hospital; starting off at one of the lowest levels of the totem pole, and working my way up, allowed me to realize early that no job is better than the other. When it comes to working in the healthcare industry, everyone’s job will at some point come together to help achieve one goal, which is making sure that patient is getting top notch quality care. In the following paragraphs I will create and discuss a realistic job description for a major healthcare company that I have researched. With every dream job or career goal one must be prepared to be a motivator, handle stress, and communication, and the best way to be prepared is to imagine yourself in the situation and create scenarios to help you through any of the potential aspects that may occur.
Job Description: The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is accountable for operational oversight of hospital systems and services in a way that effects the provision of care and outcomes for long-term acute and chronic care patients who are adults and children ranging in age from newborns to geriatric adults experiencing medical conditions, physical rehabilitation and wound care needs. The CEO sets the business strategies and promotes the company’s mission, vision and values of the organization. The CEO will create a senior management team that fulfills the mission of Baptist Memorial Healthcare Corporation Group and successfully meets strategic, prepared, and programmatic goals approved by the Governing Board. The CEO creates and promotes a desired culture for the organization, supporting employees and patient education to improve knowledge, skills and necessary behaviors to facilitate healthcare. The CEO is held responsible for adopting a method to help hospital wide performance improve and to ensure that all important activities and processes are measured, assessed and enhanced thoroughly. The CEO will encourage quality outcomes through effective planning and efficient utilization of healthcare resources. The CEO will be responsible for the financial and budgetary performance of the hospital, as well as participate in system-wide policy decisions that can affect the hospital. The CEO will collaborate with physicians and facility team members to design the most cost efficient services.
Summary: A fast paced acute care hospital needs an experienced CEO to run an exceptional facility in Memphis, TN. The potential CEO must have the ability to direct the activities of senior executives, create policies, and procedures, and train executives to put into practice with staff members. The CEO will systematize and organizational methods that will help hospital executives assign training and policies to other staff levels.
Key Accountabilities: * Increase hospital census by a minimum of 20% * Demonstrate positive leadership skills, measured by favorable staff feedback * Recruit, retain and develop employees while maintaining an average annual employee turnover rate of less than 10% * Administer the operations budget to no more than 100% of allowed funds
Qualifications:
* Master's Degree in Hospital Administration (MHA), Business Administration (MBA), Management or related field is required. * 3-5 years experience in 200+ size hospital as CEO or a larger facility as COO * Positive and professional relationship with physicians.
Knowledge, Skills, Abilities * Ability to project a professional Image. * Knowledge of HIPPA laws * Knowledge of basic computer and software applications, and proficient in Microsoft office
Once I have been selected for the position, the next thing that I would do is set goals for the hospital to achieve. Setting goals for a business or organization can be quite different from setting personal goals. When setting goals for an organization or company it is important that the vision, mission, and strategy of the organization are included. Studies have shown that people that set goals achieve more. Setting goals for the hospital as a CEO will not only show organization, but is will also bring about a change for the employees working inside of the organization. It is important as the CEO not to jeopardize the reputation of the hospital, or make any decisions that can have a long terms effect on the hospitals employees, physician, patients, and community leaders for the hospital.
Setting goals as a CEO for the hospital alone is the first step of motivation. It’s a way of saying that you do not want to wait on someone to tell you that you are doing a good job, or that you have improved. As I set goals for the hospital, I will be sure to set goals that are realistic, reasonable, measurable, and specific, so they can be performed correctly. To be motivating, goals set must be specific, difficult, accepted by concerned, and allows commitment for its attainment (Schemerhorn, 2010). As the hospital’s CEO I should would able to recognize that there is always room for improvement. The healthcare industry is forever changing and there is always a new and innovative way to improve care, being able to recognize and implement those changes and the effects that it may have on the hospital both physically and financially will require goal setting as well. As those goals are reached and I begin to receive feedback I will then use that information as motivation to set more goals.
A hospital CEO job is not easy. That type of position requires someone with tough skin, strong personality, and drive. The healthcare industry right now is an environment of health care reform, declining reimbursement and increasing competition; that alone will set the tone for high stress levels. Most people need a certain level of stress in order to perform well (positive stress).
However, the benefits can rapidly turn to negative stress as a result of work overload
Situations, conflict situations in the workplace or the feeling of insecurity as a result of organizational changes (Strank, 2005).
As a hospital CEO, you will be faced to make decisions that you feel or the most ethical, and if the wrong decision is made then in can have a trickledown effect that may hurt patients, staff, physicians, as well as people in the community. Some stress at work is normal, but if it becomes excessive it can begin to have an effective on your performance level at work, as well as your physical and emotional health. You can’t control all situations at work that may generate stress, but you can create ways to manage workplace stress and handling difficult workplace scenarios.
As a hospital CEO, you would always be on the go. There will always be a meeting to attend and with the rapid growth of technology, there will always be a way to be reached, rather it be by phone, via email, or text, all done on the smart phones. Being able to be reached at all times can become very stressful. It can leave you with very little, to zero time for yourself, which can later lead to being in stressful situations. As a CEO of the hospital, it is important to be able to recognize those signs, and that minute you get that intuition, should be the very moment that you begin to take steps to reduce stress.
One way to help reduce stress is to make time for myself, it is important to have a quiet moment, as CEO, I would have my assistant schedule my appointments at least an hour or two hours apart. It will give me time to think and regroup. A simple activity such as exercising is another technique that I would use to help reduce stress levels. After a long and stressful day at work, exercise would be the last thing on my mind, but increasing your heart rate, will increase your mood, boost energy, sharpen focus, and relax both the mind and body. Once exercise is a part of the daily routine, prioritizing and delegating duties will be next on my list. A CEO is a leader and most leaders did not become leaders by letting others complete tasks for them, but with a demanding job title, it is important to give others task and duties to tackle. It is important to prioritize those tasks in the order of importance and give to individuals that you know will get the job done just as well as you can. Learning to tell yourself, “I can’t do everything!” will raise a nice amount of stress off of you.
Verbal communication can sometimes be difficult, so imagine how difficult non-verbal communication in the workplace could be with culture barriers. Communication without using language is extremely difficult to do within the same language and culture, but people of other cultures must interact all the time in personal and business situations. People who come from completely different regions, social structures, and religion find many different ways to understand each other. “The most difficult skill in cross-cultural communication involves standing back from yourself, or being aware that you do not know everything, that a situation may not make sense, that your guesses may be wrong and that the ambiguity in the situation may continue” ( Lau & Jelienk,1984, pg.215). Sometimes when both parties learn a common language, misunderstood body language and nonverbal signs can get in the way of clear communications. As CEO of the hospital, if I encounter barriers in communication, I would take a minute to look at the whole situation and try to understand how and why there was miscommunication. I would also develop a house wide policy that would require all employees to attend a training class that will demonstrate how to recognize, prevent, and address non-verbal and cultural barriers in communication.
Being a hospital CEO is my dream job, and one of great stature. It is important to know and understand the job title and expectations, the ability to handle stress, and communicate both verbally and non-verbally amongst a diversity of people. With the proper training, studying and hands on experience, it can be achieved.

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