The working relationship an employee has with their boss, whether they feel supported or not, can impact that lens, he said.
“When we’re communicating with somebody, that’s the first lens through which the communication is traveling,” Gentry said.
The challenge in a constructive workplace, he said, is that people want honesty, but they want honesty in a kind way. Honesty, and constructive criticism, are needed in order to improve.
“We need transparency, we need honesty, and we need to be clear with each other,” Gentry said.
The motivation behind sharing criticism can come from a place of wanting to prove someone wrong, or wanting to help the individual improve but recognizing that because of “the feelings that occur in the moment, they may not embrace what is about to be said,” he said.
“Then flipping it, practicing if somebody’s saying this to me, what’s my willingness to accept it,” Gentry said. “It’s a challenge for all of us to say, ‘Okay, we want to run better organizations. We want to take care of our team members. We want to do good by the community.’ We all want to do that.”
Gentry said he felt, with the group of business leaders at the chamber event, there was a shared feeling of support between the different organizations.
“There’s an actual interest in the welfare and wellbeing of everyone in this room and everyone in the community,” Gentry said.
When an organization goes through difficulty, they can either point blame or “come together and improve,” he said.
The unspoken difficulties Kettering Health has come across over the past year have included allegations of misuse of organization funds, complaints which were sent to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office in August 2021 and February 2023. The Dayton Daily News and other media outlets received copies of these complaints in March of last year.
These complaints led to Kettering Health conducting an internal investigation, which resulted in the health system finding evidence of financial impropriety. Kettering Health has previously said it would be seeking repayment, though the nonprofit would not name any individuals implicated in the investigation.
During the chamber event last week, Gentry compared companies to football teams, saying organizations are running teams with goals.
“They have objectives and we have service standards and we’re trying to be, at least in health care, we’re trying to be a highly reliable organization,” Gentry said.
Alluding to his organization, Kettering Health, Gentry said they want to offer a consistent experience for everyone.
“So that a one-off story about someone having a great experience is not a one-off story, it’s an expected story,” Gentry said.
When asked a question about the future of Kettering Health, he said they will be looking at patient needs and health care costs.
“We have to look at balancing the experience that we need to provide for individuals and the cost curve of delivering health care, and those are competing priorities,” Gentry said.
Gentry came on board at Kettering Health in July, and since his arrival, a number of leadership changes have taken place.
Brenda Kuhn, who held previously roles of chief quality officer and chief nursing officer at Kettering Health, recently became the interim president of Kettering Health Dayton, previously known as Grandview Hospital. The previous president of the hospital was Richard Manchur, the son of the former CEO, Fred Manchur. Richard Manchur was named president of Kettering Health Dayton in 2019.
Additional executives have exited or have plans to leave the health system, including Michael Mewhirter, former interim CEO and current chief administrative officer at Kettering Health, is leaving the network in April.
Kettering Health has 15 area medical centers and more than 120 outpatient locations throughout Western Ohio, as well as Kettering Physician Network, which includes more than 700 board-certified providers.
Kettering Health is ranked as the region’s second largest employer, after Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, according to the Ohio Department of Development’s 2022 major employer list. Kettering Health is reported as having approximately 14,400 employees in Ohio, the same as Honda. For comparison, Premier Health has previously said it employs about 11,685 people.
About the Author
