For years, we’ve been told that research proves it takes 3-5 years to change an organization’s culture. Apparently, Curt Cignetti, head coach of the Indiana Hoosiers football team, didn’t get that memo.
In nearly every interview I’ve seen during this record-breaking season, especially ones featuring Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza, the team’s culture comes up more often than any other factor to explain how their unprecedented college sports miracle happened.
My gut tells me that Curt Cignetti started changing the culture of IU football during his first 3-5 minutes – not years – on the Bloomington campus.
Like college athletics, companies are complicated organisms, filled with mountains of rules and regulations, policies and procedures, and tried-and-true traditions that dictate how things get done. So, how much difference can a single leader really make in the short term? In my experience, a ton.
The inspiring difference Coach Cignetti made from Day 1, taking the college football program with the worst lifetime record in the country to the national championship in just two years, reminded me of several remarkable health care leaders I’ve had the privilege of working with during my career. Here are their equally inspiring stories.
Cliff Deveny, MD
Cliff joined Summa Health as interim CEO in 2017, following an extremely disruptive senior executive transition within the Akron, Ohio, health system. Employee engagement was at an all-time low, the medical staff was disillusioned, and patient referrals were beginning to shift to competitors.
Cliff, who grew up in Akron and spent his formative years at Summa Akron City Hospital following residency, immediately established a strong presence across the organization and communicated a clear message: “We have to restore the pride in Summa Health among our staff and in the community.” Cliff later attributed the organization’s $50 million turnaround in his first year largely to the rebound in staff engagement, not just financial strategies. His visibility and reassurance to staff made that possible.
Velinda Block
Velinda was named chief nursing officer for St. Louis Children’s about the same time the hospital joined the then-still-developing BJC Health System in the mid-1990s. While Children’s decision to join BJC was strategically sound, the early days following the merger were uncertain, chaotic, and discouraging for many staff, especially nurses. In many ways, the culture of St. Louis Children’s had to be rebuilt, and Velinda immediately fostered a culture of openness, transparency, and advocacy.
A major change in employee benefits (which arguably were overly generous) triggered two highly divisive union organizing efforts. Both were ultimately voted down, primarily because Velinda listened, appropriately empathized, and reassured nurses through her visible advocacy for continued nursing excellence at the hospital. Velinda’s legacy is still reflected in leadership at BJC today. In one of her initial interviews after being named chief nursing executive at Barnes Jewish Hospital last year, Paula Fessler, RN, credited Velinda with showing her what it meant to be a strong nurse executive when she was a young, frontline nurse at Children’s early in her career.
Pat Davis-Hagens
Pat is the Hampton Roads (Virginia) market president for Bon Secours Mercy Health. She took the role in 2021 at an extremely challenging time, both for health care broadly and for the market specifically. One of the smallest regions within Bon Secours Mercy by market share, the staff in Hampton Roads were among the most discouraged in the system.
Historically, Hampton Roads had played second fiddle to the larger, more successful Richmond market to the north. That sense of inferiority was only reinforced when an attempted sale to a for-profit system fell through at the last minute. Acknowledging that they had “really screwed up in Hampton Roads,” senior leadership recommitted to making the market successful. The most critical part of that strategy was convincing Pat Davis-Hagens to relocate to Virginia and lead the market.
Through Pat’s visibility, decisiveness, and unwavering commitment to Bon Secours’ faith-based mission, momentum began to shift quickly, most notably in staff morale, connection to purpose, and pride in their work. Today, Hampton Road remains relatively small – but mighty – with one of the strongest track records for growth and financial performance in the system.
In each of these examples, leaders made an immediate and significant impact on the culture of their organizations. Yet they would all be the first to humbly emphasize that progress was a team effort, downplaying their own personal influence. Perhaps ironically, it is their humility that underpins much of their success, helping them build trust and confidence among their teams as a foundation for the strong, aligned cultures they created.