A ”Veteran” Healthcare HR Leader Explains Her Passion for People: Dalph Watson

Few executives have the breadth of experience that Dalph Watson has. A Navy hospital corpsman early in her career, Watson has held HR-related leadership roles in government (City of Detroit), the private-sector (Walmart), the insurance field (Blue Cross Blue Shield), and in the non-profit healthcare realm, including with her current employer, Cleveland-based MetroHealth System, as Chief People Officer.

In this conversation with Keshia Harris, Consultant in WittKieffer's Healthcare Market, Watson looks at the formative experiences in her own past that have shaped her leadership philosophy and allowed her to be highly effective at maintaining an engaged, vibrant workforce in what are challenging times for healthcare. She implores healthcare organizations to be creative in their hiring and employee-development practices (especially seeing military veterans as a valued resource), and to view "disruptors as partners" in developing workers and leaders and improving the industry. While Watson has seen and done a little bit of everything, she keeps her focus simple – to help healthcare workers and their families: "Take care of your people, and your people will take care of you."