Identifying employees with potential — and helping them to build their skills — puts healthcare facilities in a better position when current leaders retire, according to an article on the Health Facilities Management website.
Some keys to succession planning are:
• Looking at future health care trends
• Developing a formal succession planning program
• Attract, recruit and mentor the next generation
• Developing upward mobility for the best of the best
While some hospitals are making succession planning a priority, others face challenges.
A 2012 survey by Health Facilities Management and the American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE) found that 40 percent of facility managers were older than 55 — an increase from 35 percent in the 2009 survey.
While at an architectural firm, there may be several potential executives who can slide into open positions, the article said. A hospital's facilities management department may not have a path for executives to advance, and there may only be one facility manager.
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