This summer, Talent Plus ® consultants have been busy attending healthcare conferences from sunny San Diego to Washington D.C. and everywhere in between. Because we know not everyone can be everywhere at once, we summed up the top trends we heard from leaders in the healthcare industry.

These are our takeaways from conferences including the AHA Leadership Summit, LEAP Healthcare, HR in Healthcare, The Beryl Institute, Healthcare HR Management Institute.

1. Workforce Jenga
Understand who your next leader is at all levels of your organization. Identifying your future leadership is important, but don’t risk unbalancing your organization. Groom a leader who is ready, not necessarily the “next in line.”

2. Leader Development
Focus on identifying and developing leaders who have the soft skills, desire and talent to be a leader — not just those who have the most experience. With retirements at an all-time high, organizations must lean on future leaders — and that means development. Leader development academies, high potential programs and cohorts are good places to start.

3. Team Development
Spend time with employees, recognize their talents, and find ways to leverage their unique strengths within their role and team. Leadership development is commonplace, but development at the front line is often overlooked. Something as simple as a one-on-one with an employee and their supervisor can shift their perspective of their worth within the company.

4. HR Structure
A common theme among organizations speaking at these conferences was revisiting the way HR is structured. Employee engagement programs, employee wellbeing, culture and even hosting innovation programs to promote change within the organization can all be successful HR initiatives.

5. Work-Life Integration
The days of work-life balance are over. Team members don’t leave work at the door — work is sitting in their pocket at every moment. With more people working from home or remotely, keep all your options open as you consider building an engaging environment. Even in healthcare, there are opportunities to allow employees more free time, more vacation time, more schedule flexibility or the physical location where they work.

6. Employee Engagement/Employee Well-being
AHA Leadership Summit sponsored great presentations on how we can incentivize becoming a healthy place to work. Programs range from free therapy sessions, incentivized physical check-ups, migrating pill regimens to the in-house pharmacy and providing a health coach to each employee. When well-being increases, key performance indicators follow.

7. Track Your Metrics
Bob Pendleton, Chief Medical Quality Officer at UHealth, and Amy Albo, Publisher at UHealth, had an incredible presentation on creating a culture of value. They surveyed different stakeholders — patients, physicians and employers — to share what they value in healthcare. It was clear everyone was not on the same page. Are your physicians’ values aligned with your patients’ needs? How do you ensure you’re providing exceptional care?

8. Finding Your Fit
Cynthia Williams, Chief Administration Officer and President of Mercy Foundation, discussed the impact of selecting leaders by going beyond traditional methods. Consider how leaders fit using three categories: culture, criteria and talent. Ensuring a strong fit will positively impact employees and team members.

9. Culture and Talent Acquisition
Leveraging outside tools to help HR streamline the hiring process was a consistent trend across conferences. Recruiters have an ever evolving and ever more difficult task of hiring the future members of an organization. It’s important to have some sort of predictive analytics to ensure your next hire is the right one. Make sure you spend time understanding the science behind your assessment tools and confirm they truly are the right fit for you.

10. Next Generation
With over 10,000 baby boomers retiring every day, organizations are constantly looking for ways to appeal to Millennials and Generation Z. Becoming a more mobile-friendly workforce, engaging employees through different technology platforms and building career plans are some of the top strategies currently being leveraged. Interested in hearing what you can do to cater to these new generations? Check out our podcast episode on Generation Z at whatsalltheplusabout.com.

Talent Plus works with over 3,000 organizations helping them to achieve their HR goals. We want to hear from you! Let us know what works for you and contact us to receive our monthly Talent Tips!