With two decades at the helm of CHC, president and CEO Mike Williams has developed an understandable sense of pride in this remarkable organization.
CHC was created with a mission to proactively preserve community-controlled not-for-profit hospitals. Many of these community hospitals have struggled to maintain sustainability in this increasingly challenging healthcare environment, and often turn at the last possible moment to mergers with larger, for-profit institutions. CHC strives to educate the board and leadership of community hospitals about their options, and whenever possible, enable them to remain independent, community-controlled organizations.
Mike Williams believes in the value and impact of community-controlled hospitals, and he is passionate about leading an organization dedicated to the preservation of these hospitals. Williams explained,
“We are really here to make a difference in access to healthcare for people. How do we do that? We have four values: Respect, Integrity, Stewardship and Excellence. These values determine how we handle the challenges that we face on a daily basis.”
‘Respect’ is the most essential of these core values, because “respect for those with whom we interact creates both client and employee satisfaction,” Williams said. While CHC is not a faith-based organization, it is an organization based on the values held by people of many faiths.
“Even though we have differences in opinion, we are on the same playing field, because having a faith beyond what we see here is the foundation for respect, in my opinion. And what’s evolved over these years is a willingness for people to open their hearts because they trust their colleagues. Whether or not they share the same religion, they trust their colleagues to walk with them down a path of challenge or to celebrate with them the victories of life. And that’s just an amazing opportunity.”
Williams has great respect, appreciation and affection for the people with whom he serves: “The greatest strength of CHC is its people; it’s the people who carry out the mission.” When asked to describe the characteristics of the CHC leadership team, Williams responded with three words: “Humble, respectful, competent.”
As the president and CEO of a remarkable organization with great people pursuing a worthy mission, Williams has a lot to be proud of. He says he is most proud of the CHC annual employee satisfaction survey. With the corporate level between the 95th and 98th percentiles for the past several years, it is apparent that a very high percentage of employees are satisfied with their job and will recommend employment at CHC to their friends.
“My personal philosophy is that culture starts at the top. You can have the most wonderful people working in an organization, but if you have an ineffective, ego-focused leader, the culture will suffer. So I’m humbled by the fact that we have a high-percentile performance, because it says that I’m doing something right to be a servant leader.”
Williams places such a high value on nurturing the CHC culture that ever since the beginning of the company, he has practiced the habit of sitting down with each employee, regardless of his or her employment status or level, and just having a conversation with them. He makes sure they are aligned with CHC values and that they “really understand who we are and our mission.”
One example of how CHC nurtures its culture can be seen in their incentive compensation plan. From senior executives to food service workers and housekeepers, every single CHC employee benefits from the incentive plan. Williams said, “That’s an affirmation of no matter what you do, your job is important.” Another example is CHC’s annual health assessment, which encourages employees to lead healthy lifestyles. If employees are within the expectation of normal, they receive up to $145 in credit on their monthly health insurance cost. As a result of this program, many employees are investing more in their health and reaping the benefits—physically, emotionally, and financially!
Williams certainly believes in his organization and the people that make it up, and rightly so—together, the employees and clients of CHC have made a positive impact on thousands of lives! Williams said, “Let me just tell you, this organization is good, not because of me, but because of the team that we have put together. There’s none like it… there’s just none like it.”