Meet Bethany Chapman, chief nursing officer at Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital in Toledo, one of Encompass Health’s newest locations. Bethany had the unique and exciting opportunity to experience firsthand what goes into opening a new hospital. From leadership training, to hiring a full nursing staff to work under her, it is an experience Bethany will never forget. Now Bethany and the rest of the leadership team at Encompass Health Toledo are able to build and establish a hospital culture from the ground up, something that has been important to Bethany since the beginning of her career.
I had the opportunity to sit down with Bethany to chat about her past experiences, what it was like going through the recruitment process, advice for future leaders, what she looks for in a potential candidate and more. Read on to get a glimpse into what it’s like being a CNO with Encompass Health.
What experiences have you had in the past and how did that lead you to Encompass Health?
Taking care of people is my passion and I felt it only fitting to pursue a career where my job allowed me to do this every day. After several years into nursing I realized very quickly that we took care of our patients, but our management team did not take care of us. I saw many of my colleagues crashing and burning quickly and knew there was only one solution to try and help, I needed to try and start my leadership journey and turn the environment around. After beginning my leadership career as a unit supervisor my main focus was the employees and making sure they knew how valued they were and attempting to the best of my abilities to make the work environment fun, transparent and non-confrontational all while providing superior patient care.
I am fortunate enough to have been granted the opportunity to pursue a career at Encompass Health Toledo as the chief nursing officer. I am so excited to be a part of this build and more excited I get to create my team from the foundation up. The culture that will exist at that hospital will be the culture we build. I am hopeful that my many years of leadership experience will allow me to shape a strong foundation for Encompass Health Toledo and produce superior results.
What was your experience like going through the recruitment process with Encompass Health?
After applying for the position with Encompass Health I received a phone call the following day from my recruiter informing me more about the position and asking if I would be interested in an interview. Everyone was extremely helpful and the process was smooth with very clear directions of what to expect. I have been so impressed with how helpful, nice, and precise everyone has been. I honestly have never had a better onboarding experience than I had with Encompass Health.
Do you have any advice for future leaders in healthcare or nursing specifically?
In order to be successful and relevant in this environment, leaders must learn new ways of leading, throwing off the old command and control styles of management and adopting models that are principled and service-driven. Leaders should never lose who they are and never forget where they came from. Leaders should lead by moral authority instead of relying on positional authority. Inspiring followership from people should be the main goal of leaders. Never stop pushing people to work to their fullest potential and always inspire them to further their professional growth and development.
When you are interviewing nursing candidates what do you look for?
I am looking for nurses that are eager to learn and are continuously working on professional growth and development, have a strong sense of teamwork, non-confrontational and transparent, empathetic, good stewards of their workplace and community, committed to providing superior service and really looking for people with foresight that are able to learn from past experiences both negative and positive.
Explore Encompass Health’s leadership roles
Encompass Health is currently recruiting for leadership roles within our inpatient rehabilitation hospitals just like Bethany’s. If you are interested in exploring these opportunities from CNO to CEO and everything in between, you may browse our leadership openings here.
If you are interested in learning more, click here to contact a recruiter.
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