Lindauer: Top Healthcare Executive Search Firm
Article featured in the May 2022 Edition of Healthcare Business Review.
The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted the operations of every industry, and healthcare is no exception. One of the major areas that has been deeply disrupted in the healthcare arena is recruitment. Talent acquisition teams in this space are now tasked with hiring highly skilled frontline healthcare executives in an unprecedented, time-constrained environment. The emerging hybrid and remote work cultures are adding to challenges, making healthcare institutions rethink their hiring approaches and workforce models. In such a competitive market, candidates are receiving multiple offers and expect greater assurances related to work-life balance. Given the extraordinary demand for top talent and talent shortages that existed even prior to the pandemic, healthcare organizations need more support than ever as they adapt their strategies.
Helping nonprofit organizations around the globe find top leaders through its proven executive search experience is Lindauer, an executive search and talent management firm. Founded by Lois L. Lindauer in 1997, the company focuses on identifying CEOs, executive directors, foundation presidents, C-suite leaders, unit managers, and mid-level leaders across all segments of the nonprofit sector. The firm has renowned expertise in building teams, including in the highly specialized fundraising arena.
With deep expertise in healthcare, academic medicine, and other science-related fields, Lindauer has become a go-to partner for organizations. Lindauer’s highly skilled search team understands complex healthcare and academic medical systems, university-hospital relationships, community health centers, public health, and basic and clinical research. They know to navigate the nuances of clinical specialties and research, physician-researcher relationships, patient and family programs, and the rigors of a range of functional areas including strategy, finance, fundraising, community affairs, operations, marketing, and communications. Having served as leaders in nonprofits and healthcare, Lindauer’s search consultants uniquely understand the role requirements firsthand.
“As a core part of our recruitment process, consultants assess leadership and management capabilities, vet the ability to create and drive strategy, measure experience to mount large-scale transformation and targeted initiatives, and discern builders from maintainers,” explains Lindauer CEO Deb Taft.
Lindauer has partnered with a wide range of renowned healthcare institutions to find leaders who will drive strategy and execute effectively on mission delivery. In one recent client engagement, the new CEO of a top community health center in the United States retained Lindauer to rebuild their executive team. It was a pivotal moment in the health center’s history, creating a high-functioning leadership cohort to pivot services, communications, people, culture, and revenue forward. The executive team needed to add five senior members with extensive experience and an ability to effectively serve a diverse community of patients and physicians. In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and a complex hiring environment, the client had limited time and required a strong search partner to guide the process for a successful team build. Lindauer was tasked with aligning the CEO, senior team, and stakeholders in a way that respected the rich past of the organization, embraced an intensely diverse community, addressed community concerns about the board and organization in recent years, and “painted a picture forward” of a future yet to be created, while enrolling potential leaders in that new vision. Gaining a deep understanding of the client’s needs and the role requirements, Lindauer’s consultants used their expertise to build an extraordinary pool of talented candidates who had the potential to take the health center to new heights. Today, the organization is thriving under new leadership and has continued to partner with Lindauer for additional searches.
Commenting on the partnership with this health organization, Taft says, “It took every aspect of our expertise: our experience with nonprofit leaders and healthcare and our ability to shape compelling yet authentic stories in the market, help internal client leaders align, navigate community politics, support virtual and hybrid hiring, and represent the highest level of diversity and inclusion from end-to-end. It was a real privilege.”
As organizations are putting a long-overdue priority on equity and inclusion in their hiring practices, Lindauer is recognized among the trusted, authentic partners helping clients realize their commitments. For over 25 years, the firm has been a relentless champion for diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in the nonprofit industry and health and science arena. Lindauer’s team recognizes the critical role of access and inclusion across the healthcare sector and the enormous disparities in research and care. Today, the team continues its leadership in the advocacy for equity and anti-racism work with boards, leaders, hiring managers, search peers, a trusted network of industry advisors and consultants, and an extraordinary roster of talented professionals.
“You can’t just ‘go out and get diverse talent’ — and Black, Brown, AAPI, and Indigenous leaders don’t want simply to be hired because of their race or ethnicity,” explains Taft. “We are helping leaders look at their own organizations and understand the real work needed to create belonging and be inclusive, taking action on the large and small factors that ensure a new hire will be successful and able to create impact.”
Moving forward, Lindauer will continue to focus on innovation and growth, always seeking ways to improve practices and better serve its clients, longtime and new. With a historical past in fundraising and advancement, today the firm specializes in a wide range of leadership roles, along with innovative talent management and search services. Combining global reach and regional understanding, Lindauer search team members span the United States and bring a broad set of unique perspectives that only enhance their understanding of client needs and challenges.