Michelle Adamolekun, EVP and Chief People & Culture Officer at Cone Health

This episode features Michelle Adamolekun, EVP and Chief People & Culture Officer at Cone Health, who shares insights on Cone’s workforce development strategy, the launch of Cone Health University, and how intentional culture work and empathetic leadership are shaping the future of the organization.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hello, and welcome back to the Becker's Healthcare
podcast. I am Ella Gamble with Becker's. And
today, I am joined by Michelle Adelekun.
Michelle is the EVP,
chief people and culture officer at Cone Health.
Michelle, welcome. Thank you so much for being
my guest today.
I I wanna start, Michelle, by having you
reacquaint our listeners with Cone Health.

(00:21):
This system
has has had an interesting few years. Can
you give us an overview of the system
and then maybe catch us up on some
recent headlines
in addition to your role and what you're
focused on right now.
Yes. Well, again, thanks for this amazing opportunity
for me to join the podcast.
As you've shared, my name is Michelle Adomelakin.

(00:42):
That is always a conversation starter on how
to pronounce that last name, but it's pretty
phonetic. It's.
And so, yes, I'm currently serving as the
chief people and culture officer here at Koneld.
A little bit about Cone. You know, again,
we're a not for profit health care network
serving individuals in the Alamance,

(01:04):
Forsyth, Guilford, Randolph, Rockingham,
and surrounding counties in North Carolina,
As one of the region's largest and most
comprehensive
health care network, our footprint includes five hospitals,
six ambulatory care centers, and 11 urgent care
centers,
and more than about a 120
physician practices.

(01:25):
We currently have more than 13,000
team members,
1,600
plus physicians,
on our medical staff, and about a thousand
plus volunteers.
Some of the recent things that you would
have heard,
that's going on here at Cone Health, most
importantly,
is our partnership
with Ryzant Health,

(01:45):
through, Kaiser Permanente.
That has been an amazing
partnership to date. We officially solidified
that relationship December
1.
And so, we have been
really
hard at work, just really partnering,
with Verizon,
in this member substitution model

(02:07):
to really bring to life, some of the
the things that we've always had on our
strategic road map. But, again, we're much able
much better able to realize those,
as we're moving forward in a faster pace
and ability to be more agile.
Michelle, thank you so much. I think that's
a really helpful overview and to understand and

(02:27):
remember the relationship between Verizon and Cone Health
now with Kaiser Permanente in the picture.
As chief people and culture officer, you mentioned
you've got 13,000
team members and employees at Cone Health.
I imagine that, this year has been
challenging on many fronts. I also think that
there's the challenges that have been staying with

(02:47):
health systems for the past couple of years
and then some, and then there's newer challenges
popping up.
Is there an area, a focus area, a
distinct need and effort that you have really
found yourself spending an outsized amount of attention
on or energy on over these last six
months that you can tell us about? Yeah.
So, Molly, again,
the health care landscape has been a very

(03:08):
interesting one. You know,
most recently,
the COVID pandemic, right, definitely created some challenges
for us. But as as I I think
about the last six months,
some of those challenges have have gotten exacerbated,
and really has has allowed us and myself
in my role as chief people and culture
officer

(03:29):
the opportunity
to really hone in and focus in on
some areas that is that are gonna be
critical to our our future and our success.
You know, as we're painfully all aware,
we're currently in a hyper competitive environment for
health care talent, and that's due to lots
of reasons. But most importantly, again, we've had
a shortage of skilled health care workers prior

(03:51):
to COVID, and we continue to have that.
So, you know, for us here at Cone
Health, we recognize that to succeed in this
race for talent, we can't just rely on
just recruiting efforts only.
We've got to grow our own talent in
house.
So I've been extremely focused here at Cone

(04:11):
on our strategic workforce development efforts,
which is critical,
from a from a strategy standpoint,
and it really aligns with our new vision
2030 strategy.
And it's also gonna be critical for Conell
as it relates to ensuring,
and securing and
achieve our ability to achieve

(04:32):
our mission to become a national leader in
value based care.
So, you know, Molly, these workforce development efforts
are are really all about, you know, focusing
on developing and upscaling our workforce.
No different than other,
you know, competitors in the marketplace.
Right? We've gotta ensure that we are able

(04:53):
to fully leverage and integrate technology
like AI, which is we know it's here
to stay,
and telemedicine,
which is also crucial for us being able
to deliver value based care.
So, you know, at Cone,
you know, from my perspective, we need to
ensure that our workforce is skilled

(05:13):
and have the capabilities
to evolve
alongside the technological
advancements,
that are needed to meet our patients and
organizational needs.
Michelle, is there is there one model of
the development program
or an offering
or a class or effort that, like, has
you most excited or most proud and then

(05:35):
maybe you've seen the greatest employee
excitement around. I'd be curious, like, what's really
sticking? Because it this can be you've hits
and misses. You know? Sometimes this can be
a more exciting endeavor for
employees and other times,
for you to get something off the ground,
especially if it's a brand new offering or
a brand new type of upskilling. I'm curious
what you're seeing really stick.
Well, one of the things that we've done,

(05:57):
as a part of some of the tactics
associated with our workforce development initiatives
is we actually
did
a total overhaul of our career architecture.
Like most organizations,
it's really important that we have
clear career pathways
for our team members to navigate

(06:18):
to understand where they are and where they
would like to be and where they have
the opportunity to be and what are those
things that are needed for them to be
successful.
So, you know, we have redone our career
architecture
with clear career pathways for our team members,
and our team members are excited about it
because now they really can see

(06:40):
where they might have opportunities
to grow.
And so that's been some amazing work,
that was a heavy lift for the organization.
But, definitely, again, it really was something that
was
truly foundational
for some of the other work that we've
got going on.
Another one that I am even more excited

(07:01):
about,
is, you know, Cone Health University.
That truly is,
a vision
of mine,
and it's it's not a brick and mortar
type of, Conell University. It's really,
envisioned by a virtual
kind of a platform,
where employees can easily access all of their

(07:24):
development and training resources
in one
place, one stop shop.
And so that truly is
our way in the future,
as we're beginning work around that effort,
to really ensure that from a career development
standpoint,
from,
offerings around pathways and resources,

(07:46):
will be available tailored to the individual's
employees' aspirational needs. So the goal here is
to make it easier for team members to
access training,
to upskill, to develop their careers, and grow
with intention
within our organization without having to, you know,
seek opportunities
externally.
So over the last year, we've formed a

(08:08):
cross functional steering committee
that includes lots of stakeholders and experts and
subject matter,
experts from across our system
who have played a major role historically in
our workforce development,
but we are now really taking the opportunity
to centralize that. At the end of the
day, I'd like to be able

(08:29):
to say to the organization,
our spend
in development is x per employee.
A lot of organizations
would love that opportunity to be able to
have that quantifiable
data element to be able to inform
what's working, what's not, and the impact that
we're making across the board. So,
you know, I'm most proud of the foundation,

(08:52):
that this is gonna bring to the organization,
and ultimately to our patients and the communities
we serve. And so, again, sometime
over the next year and a half, we
will be officially launching Cone Health University,
here at Cone Health.
That's so exciting. And what really strikes me
too, Michelle, is I I remember, you know,
in the really tough times of the pandemic,

(09:12):
2021,
'22,
even early twenty twenty three when, like, the
workforce shortages were really palpable and, like, really
pressing.
I remember so many efforts were kind of
framed through this lens of satisfaction.
Like, let's just make it less painful to
be at work. And it sounds like this
is going so far beyond that. You're thinking
about ROI.

(09:33):
You wanna get to a point where you're
thinking about dollars spent per on development per
employee.
Even the less glamorous
but very demanding work of overhauling career infrastructure?
I mean, this is some these are some
long term bets you're making.
And in combination, it sounds like you could
add something really powerful.

(09:54):
Oh, yes. When it comes to the you
know, you touched on bets. And from my
perspective, you know, we're putting all of our
chips on workforce development. Right? As I said
earlier,
you know, we we're in a race. We're
in a race for talent. And so, again,
we're gonna we're gonna keep plugging away in
that race, but we really have to make
sure that we're growing our own talent as
well. Mhmm. Absolutely. And, again, our ability to

(10:15):
invest at the end of the day, Molly,
in the development
of our workforce is gonna be essential. Right?
It's gonna be essential for us to be
able to maintain high standards in patient care,
improve outcomes while creating, as you said, a
work environment that engages
and supports
team members to where they can really grow
and feel like they belong and can thrive.

(10:37):
Mhmm. Mhmm. And that goes back to culture,
which I know is another big part of
your title.
May maybe either look looking in in the
rear view you know, we're talking just about
midway through,
the year starting off q two here, Michelle.
But looking in the rear view or ahead,
is there something tied to Cone Health's culture
that you're especially excited about? Because culture, as

(10:58):
you know, it's it's not a it's not
a passive thing. It's it's something that you
need to be, treating as as an an
active, like, breathing, living part of your organization.
You know, one of the things that attracted
me to Cone four years ago
was their intentional and deliberate,
you know,
efforts as it relates to culture. They've been

(11:20):
on a true culture journey since 2010.
They they've done so far, they've done a
culture assessment, a full culture assessment
in 2010.
They then did one again in 2016,
so about every five to six years.
When I came on board, I did another
one in 2022.
And so what that's allowed us to do

(11:41):
is to be really intentional
in basically creating a culture
by design
and not by default, which is what a
lot of organizations
are doing. While they might, you know, dibble
and dabble each year in employee engagement surveys,
that is different
from a culture survey.

(12:02):
An engagement survey really measures
organizational,
you know, organizational commitment, job satisfaction,
and resilience. But when you think about, you
know, culture surveys, it really is about how
your culture is being experienced
by those team members. Right? Are we walking
the talk?
Right? Are we putting that talk into actions?

(12:23):
And so for me, I'm I'm extremely excited
about the work,
that we've done, our commitment and intentionality
around culture.
We recently again, as I shared, the last
culture survey was in 2022,
and we did a three year road map
that, basically, we were able to execute on.

(12:44):
We're about to wrap up that three year
road map, and we just did
another,
kickoff
with our culture coalition, which is a team
of cross functional
team members and leaders and physicians
that really are the champions for our culture.
And so these are individuals that are well
respected
within the organization, and so we met again.

(13:05):
We looked at how are things going, what's
improved, what's not improved,
And we've
redeveloped and designed another three year road map
that is being, looked at by other key
stakeholders
across the organization.
And so we're gonna be able to finish
out,
you know, 2025,

(13:26):
with the first three years, but then we'll
have a new three year,
road map that we're gonna be working towards
and executing on for 2026,
'27, and '28.
And then we will do another culture survey
to see what how are we doing. Right?
We've gotta look at, you know, what are
those external factors that are are are then

(13:46):
gonna be upon us, and what do we
have to do to adjust and adapt to
ensure that we are creating that culture
that we want to have here at Cone
Health.
Yeah. Very much so. Yeah. You said it
so well. It needs to be by design
rather than default. And it also it can't
be some
aspirational
vision. Right? It needs to be, like you
said, the reality. Are we real really walking

(14:06):
the talk here? So it sounds like, Michelle,
between the cadence of all those surveys and
those intentional,
mappings and designs, that Cone Health is is
gonna be in a a good spot when
it comes to culture and being proactive about
it.
Well, I am excited. I'm absolutely excited, Molly,
more than you can imagine because, again, we're
not just
trying to knock off, you know, symptoms. We're

(14:28):
looking at at at those root cause foundational
elements that are critical,
that's going to make a lasting impact on
the organization for years to come. Yeah.
One reason I mean, there's many, but one
that I've so enjoy connecting with people who
have your title, Michelle, and who are in
your line of work, and especially in health

(14:48):
care, is because
you
need to understand what motivates people, how motivations
can change,
what workforce trends are in vogue, what maybe
once was that is no longer as effective
as it is is today.
And so you have this high level understanding
of people, and then you also need to
be leading people at scale.

(15:09):
And I wanted to ask you about some
advice,
advice that you would give to evolving leaders,
maybe of all stripes. But I think, particularly,
if there's any advice that comes to mind
for those who would like to one day
be a chief people officer, chief HR officer,
chief culture officer,
who might be listening to us?
Yeah. The first one I would give is,

(15:30):
to make sure that anyone interested in becoming
a leader understands that leadership is an action
verb,
right, at the end of the day.
It's not a position. It's not a title.
It requires that you basically are in action,
every in every aspect of that role, and
so that's that's really important.

(15:50):
You know, the other thing I would share
is, you know, we've got to lead with
purpose and empathy. Right? In health care, our
mission is inherently
people centered.
We're anchored,
around empathy, not just for the patients,
but for our employees, our caregivers, and the
communities.
So, you know, from my perspective, purpose driven
leadership

(16:11):
isn't and shouldn't be just a trend.
It's a necessity in creating trust and sustaining
impact. Right? And that's something that we hold
true relative to the culture that we're trying
to create and come.
The second thing I would say is we
have got to be relentlessly
curious.
The most effective leaders, in my opinion,

(16:32):
have, I've seen anyway.
We don't have all the answers. Right?
They just got they have great questions, Molly.
So I think it's important that if if
we're gonna be leaders,
and we're gonna be on the court, we've
gotta stay curious,
stay curious about the systems
right around the people and new ways of
of thinking.

(16:53):
So the moment you stop learning, what I'll
tell you is that's the moment that you
stop leading.
Another thing I would share is, make sure
you develop your cultural agility.
Our workforce today is beautifully diverse
and reflects the makeup of the communities we
serve, Molly.
So evolving leaders,

(17:14):
must be able to stay attuned to different
perspectives, different experiences,
and social realities.
Cultural competency
is not optional. It is
leadership
from an imperative standpoint.
We've gotta stay grounded is another one. We've
gotta stay grounded
in the human experience.

(17:34):
Even in the age of AI and the
rapid,
technological advances, leadership is about connection at the
end of the day.
Right? Never underestimate
as a leader the power of just checking
in,
of a smile, of just listening deeply and
showing up with authenticity.
And lastly, practice self care.

(17:55):
Right? We make leadership look so good from
time to time,
and that's the reason a lot of folks
really wanna go into leadership. But it's a
tough
role, and it's a tough job. So burnout
is real for leaders across our industries
as well as any other industry. So I
would say for those evolving leaders that are
out there,

(18:15):
you need to model
your well-being.
You cannot model,
martyrdom,
right, as I call it at the end
of the day. I do not believe in,
you know
you know, when I hear about work life
balance,
I'm not a firm believer in that. I'm
a firm believer in work life integration.

(18:37):
Right? It is impossible to balance your personal
life
with your professional life. There are gonna be
times where your personal life will take priority,
and there will be times when your,
you know, your professional life takes priority.
So at the end of the day, we
work to to at least integrate that, and
you do that by ensuring that

(18:57):
whatever leadership role you're in, it truly drives
your passion
and your purpose. So, again, we've gotta prioritize
our health and,
and make sure that we can lead in
a sustainable way and inspire others to do
the same. So I say it a lot,
and that's something I'm working on, Molly, where,
you know, I talk into my leaders and

(19:19):
my teams about making sure they work on
their resilience and that they really do, you
know, have that workforce
workplace integration. But, again, it's harder to do
that when you're you're at the top. And
so, again, that's something that I continue to
work on to this day,
is to ensure that I'm practicing that self
care that I I preach
on a regular basis.

(19:40):
What a list. This is some
some sage advice. And I wanna go back
to the point about empathy, Michelle. I I
don't I heard this recently, and it just
really made an impression on me because I'd
even gotten my definition of this word a
little sideways over time. But I was listening
to a conversation, and they were going back
to the term empathy. And they were just
saying, we need to remember it's not necessarily

(20:01):
about agreeing
with someone else's position. It's just you truly
do put yourself in their shoes and strive
to understand it.
And I I thought that is such an
important distinction, and it's,
it's not necessarily about,
like I said, endorsing
or backing. It truly is just this really
intentional work of seeing where someone is coming

(20:22):
from and making great effort to understand it.
Yeah. Her that's about it's about perspective
Yes. At the end of the day, and
that's what differentiates the the the best leaders
there.
You know, I'm I'm really a firm believer
as it relates to to empathy, that ability
to walk a mile in someone's shoe.
And so I'm always asking questions. I'm always

(20:42):
wanting
to understand
others' perspectives. You know, Molly, it always fascinates
me when you think about,
you know, organizations like Cone.
We are made up of a diverse workforce.
Right? Everyone is unique.
Everyone is different by virtue of their backgrounds,
their experiences.
And so at the end of the day,

(21:04):
we are truly diverse. And so why is
it that we assume that we're gonna see
things the same way, that we're always going
to agree,
that we're always going to basically,
you know, be able to find,
some level of alignment? I think that's the
beauty and what I think Kohn's competitive advantage
is,

(21:25):
it is that diversity of thought at the
end of the day. And so the ability
to basically
take that diversity of thought,
take that
empathetic understanding and anchor ourselves around that,
that truly is what's going to sustain our
organization as it relates to trust
and the impact that we're making at the
end of the day.

(21:46):
Okay. So so well said. Michelle, I I
so value this discussion. I mean, we we
covered headlays out of Cone Health, your areas
of focus with with the workforce development and
upskilling, some some really intentional work around culture
that will continue for years and years to
come. I think you highlight out through at
least 2028.
And then your your advice, I have at
least one, two, three, four at least seven

(22:08):
pieces
jotted down here. So I just wanna thank
you. I've been in this I've been in
this industry for quite a bit long.
I'll just stop at twenty plus years, but,
again, lots of great experience and learnings along
the way. And so,
excited to share a few items with with
our followers.
Oh, thank you so much. Michelle
Adam Alikun. Michelle, again, listeners, is the EVP

(22:31):
and chief people and culture officer at Cone
Health. Michelle, thanks for being my guest. I
hope you'll return sometime. Oh, I definitely will,
Molly. I appreciate the opportunity again. Have a
great rest of your day. You too. Thank
you so much.