Leadership Excellence Networks
(LENS)

This committee oversees the work of LENS and the various councils.

• Chair: Patti Adelman, Northwell Health
• Judith Zola, Boston Children’s Hospital
• Tara Wiedeman, Carilion Clinic
• Melissa Riffe-Guyer, Cone Health
• TBD, Henry Ford Health System
• Marguerite Samms, Intermountain Healthcare
• Gladys Brigoni, Johns Hopkins Medicine
• Willette Burnham-Williams, Medical University of South Carolina
• Erin Flanigan, Mass General Brigham
• Alice Leefers, Memorial Health
• Diane Adams, Mount Sinai Health System
• Alice Wheeler, OhioHealth
• Sarah Beales, Rochester Regional
• Manish Shah, Rush University Medical Center
• Marcia Kent, Stanford Children’s Health

Hospitals and health systems have a responsibility to ensure a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment for their employees and patient communities. Nevertheless, health disparities and inequities persist amongst historically marginalized and vulnerable populations. Underrepresentation of minorities within health systems, equitable care, and building a sense of community throughout the neighborhoods that the health system serves are some of the challenges that need to be met to eradicate these disparities. The Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Council works to identify best practices to continue erasing these disparities and racial inequities in healthcare by:

• Working to ensure the health of the community that the organization serves, through health equity programs, community partnerships, and employment opportunities
• Supporting staff and raising consciousness around racial and social injustice movements
• Supporting the development of strategic, data-informed DEI and Health Equity priorities, initiatives, and programs that meet the needs of all patients, community members and employees within the hospital and healthcare system
• Providing members with opportunities to ask specific questions related to their own organizational challenges and solicit strategic advice from leaders who are tackling similar issues within their own hospitals and health systems. Peer-sharing and learning opportunities are an integral component of our program

Leader Participation

Members of this Council include Chief Diversity Officers, Directors of Diversity & Inclusion and Program Managers within the DEI departments.

Today’s healthcare organizations realize they must support the evolving needs of their current leaders and develop the next generation of leaders in increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous environments. Leadership Development Council will focus efforts on:

• Peer-sharing of health system approaches to leadership development and coaching
• Education on leadership development best practices
• Opportunities to engage in research to advance the pragmatic practice of healthcare leadership

Leader Participation

Members of this Council comprise senior level leaders and professionals who oversee learning & development, a health system’s leadership institute, talent management, or organizational development & change.

With people-related expenses often exceeding 60 percent of total health system operating costs, measuring, predicting, and managing all things “people” is essential to the successful pursuit of high-value care delivery. The Talent Metrics, Analytics, & Planning Council focuses on:

• Sharing the experiences of our talent metric and analytics journey, identifying challenges, and continuously improving our processes
• Strengthening capabilities for assessing future workforce needs
• Discussions on the latest literature surrounding people analytics and workforce planning

Leader Participation

Members of this Council include senior-level professionals who oversee workforce planning, people analytics, or similarly related disciplines. Those just starting their journey building these functions or have been doing so for a decade are welcome to engage and learn.

Leaders increasingly recognize how important staff well-being is to organizational success. However, there are few clear practice guidelines to inform organization-level efforts and tremendous variation of practice across organizations. As the industry experiences a historic shift in the workforce, identifying effective and evidence-based strategies to recruit and retain an engaged and healthy workforce is paramount. Launched in 2021, the primary goal of the Well-being council is to help organization leaders make more informed decisions about how to invest their limited resources for maximum well-being impact across their organization. The Council-driven agenda will focus on gaining clarity in areas including:

• Focus/philosophy: how health systems define well-being, and their approaches to it for different groups (e.g., physicians, clinicians, staff)
• Organizational structures/staffing: how health systems are organizing their well-being activity
• Outcomes: developing greater consensus on what/how to measure impact
• Education/implementation: accelerating dissemination of new learnings regarding items (1) (3), and supporting the adoption of emerging best the field

Leader Participation

Members of this Council are typically responsible for well– practice guidelines broadly across being at the enterprise level. This may include, for example, chief wellness / well-being officers; chief learning officers; leaders of employee health and employee assistance leaders