Proximity Institute is proactively working to address one of the most compelling challenges facing Ontario’s health care system: future ready leadership.

Ontario hospital leadership is in transition. There is a large inbound cadre of new Ontario hospital CEOs tasked with leading a health care system with unprecedented challenges. It is widely acknowledged that investments must be made to identify, develop and ready a robust pool of high potential talent prepared to lead the sector in the future.

According to Proximity data:

• • One-third (33%) of Ontario hospitals experienced CEO turnover in 2020 and 2021.

• • It is anticipated that this rate of CEO turnover will continue in the coming five years based on the age distribution of incumbent Ontario hospital CEOs (23% are 60+ years of age) and the impact of the pandemic on leadership transitions.

• • The profile of Ontario hospital CEOs continues to evolve. In 2021, the number of women Ontario hospital CEOs outnumbered their male counterparts for the first time. CEOs with nursing backgrounds has increased at a significant rate, along with CEOs with backgrounds in other health disciplines. Nurses now account for 30% of Ontario hospital CEOs; physicians account for 8%; allied health disciplines account for 11%; and the remaining 51% have a rich range of non-clinical backgrounds.

• • The importance of identifying and developing high potential leadership talent from within the hospital is vital to address the challenge of future ready leadership for the system. Forty-five percent of current Ontario hospital CEOs were promoted directly from within their hospital, and that percentage has been on the rise.

October 2022, Proximity Institute.

Proximity’s long-term ambition is to work collaboratively with Ontario hospitals to identify, develop and ready a quality pipeline of emerging CEO talent. This will be achieved through four interrelated sequential phases of work: CEO succession management practices; high potential talent identification practices; and accelerated leadership development practices, pathways and investments for high potential talent, leading to a more coherent and integrated leadership development response across Ontario hospitals.

In addition to this focused agenda, Proximity seeks to deploy leadership development opportunistically in response to selected leadership priorities that matter most to Ontario hospital CEOs.