TGH Chief People and Talent Officer on Fostering an Intentional, Inclusive Organizational Culture

Qualenta Kivett talks about the importance of transparency and showing up for your employees.

Tampa General Hospital (TGH) was recently acknowledged by Forbes as the number one employer for women in the nation, moving up 12 spots from last year. In addition to half of the C-suite being women, 70% of the hospital's senior vice presidents are women, which according to a recent McKinsey report, is almost double the average in other health systems.

As the hospital's chief people and talent officer, Qualenta Kivett, JD, is quick to note, however, that she's not alone in her efforts to cultivate a strong organizational culture—noting that her colleagues and teammates throughout the organization share in these efforts.

Kivett recently spoke to HealthLeaders about the importance of transparency within healthcare organizations, mentorship, and how the hospital ensures the benefits they offer align with their employees' needs.

This transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.

HealthLeaders: As chief people and talent officer, how much influence do you have on the overall organizational culture at TGH?

Qualenta Kivett: I share that responsibility, which I appreciate. Although, it's oftentimes looked at that people in talent, the CHRO, or the HR office owns culture, it is very much an understanding here that we all own culture. Similar to that, we all own quality.

My role is to understand best practices, to understand techniques and ways that we can improve and maintain our culture, but it's all of our responsibilities to influence and uphold the culture that we are working toward.

At this point, we've had a climate change. We know what our climate is, but the true testament of culture is when all of us leave, and the next generation of leaders come in, does that culture remain?

HL: Does TGH have childcare assistance or benefits for employees?

Kivett: Part of our success is that we look at our data, and I want to start there because sometimes it's a misconception that all women are primary caretakers within an environment of children. What we did this year is a benefit survey to understand what the organization needs as a whole. We were able to take that and dissect out by different categories; so, we looked at individuals who identified as women and what they wanted. Childcare was one of the top offerings we had, but it was higher on the list for our male population.

We have a daycare on campus, and we also have sick care. So, if a child is sick, they can bring them to an isolated, safe area away from the rest of the children to be cared for while the parent is at work. We offer that, and we have a wide range of benefits that support our organization as a whole.

HL: Are there mentor/mentee opportunities at TGH?

Kivett: We have a formal program called LeadPGH, and it's a leadership development program that focuses on self-direction. Based on each group, they self-direct under our pillars where they want to concentrate their education and their collaboration. After graduating from that program, they go into an alumni program and then connect with a mentor. They list the top three mentors they would like, and then we meet with them on a monthly or bi-monthly basis to provide that support.

We also have informal programs which makes us unique. If somebody reaches out to a leader, they will respond, including the CEO. He responds to every team member email that he gets. For us, what that creates is an environment where people will stop you and have that conversation or say, 'I'd like to meet with you.' All of us within the executive and formal leadership levels make time to meet with individuals in an informal way as well.

Hl: What career development opportunities are available to TGH employees?

Kivett: We have a people development institute [that's] free to our team members, and it’s a partnership with the University of South Florida. Team members [earn badges as they study], [which they can] substitute for education and/or experience where it's appropriate. If you're able to learn the way, then that provides more access and opportunity.

We also have tuition reimbursement, and we also have programs where you can work at a decreased schedule and go to school while being paid your regular wages so that we can support our team members to continue to develop. That's an important one that helps set us apart, especially during such a challenging time.

HL: How has the hospital handled the industry staffing shortage and how would you say this reflects the culture?

Kivett: We lead with four leadership attributes that have been defined by our CEO. He created, in partnership with an IO psychologist, a leadership program.

We lead with authenticity, vulnerability, kindness, and transparency; and that is an expectation of all leaders within our organization. We're projected to be at 70% of our leaders having taken the course and training by the end of September.

We've had nursing shortages through the last ten years in the industry. I don't think we're immune to that, but I do think the transparency of where we are and what we need to do has been something that has set us apart.

Another piece of this is also listening. We [conduct] a few different surveys, and we take the information and it results in change. If people feel that their voice is heard, then they're going to stay and provide their voice to the organization.

From a benefits survey, we're shaping our new benefits that will be happening for the next calendar year [where] we're rolling out new aspects of our benefits structure and additional resources.

The last is being agile. We realized that just because those of us are in leadership positions, we don't know everything. That's the authentic piece, right? By involving the team that's doing the work, the team members have the opportunity and are welcome to help solve the issues that we're running into; and we do accept that feedback. We've had programs develop as a result of that. Our DENI director was hired because of feedback and listening sessions that our CEO held.