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Healthcare Consultants Forum Online Newsletter – American College of Healthcare Executives Q4 2015 – Q1 2016

Professional Pointers

Consulting and Teaching: Synergistic Professions—Part I

Authors:

Mark G. Tozzio, FACHE

President

HPPD Consulting, Inc.

Adjunct Instructor – Healthcare Administration

Northeastern State University

College of Extended Learning

Broken Arrow, Okla.

David L. Woodrum, FACHE

President

Woodrum, Inc. (Chicago)

Part-Time Lecturer

Milken Institute School of Public Health

The George Washington University (Washington, D.C.)

There is a synergy between consulting and teaching. The skill set required of a teacher can

reinforce and enhance the skills necessary for being an effective consultant. It also provides

consultants with an opportunity to give back to the healthcare field by sharing one's experience

and knowledge with interested participants around the globe. This article is divided into two

parts: Part I will explore the reasons why a consultant should consider teaching alongside the

consulting practice. Part II will be featured in next quarter's newsletter and outline guidelines to

consider when exploring teaching opportunities.

While the U.S. healthcare consulting field is comprised of a few large firms with more than 500

consultants and many more middle-sized firms with at least 10 consultants, the majority of

healthcare consulting firms in the United States are very small in size. Small firms typically face

the following challenges:

Variable workload

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Small capital base undergirding the consulting firm

Fluctuating cash flow within the organization

Lack of in-house educational resources to assist the consultant to remain abreast of their

specific field of expertise within the ever-changing healthcare arena

Currently, there is an emerging dynamic taking place in higher education that has the potential to

aid consultants in all sizes of organizations: online education, which universities are developing

and implementing to serve students worldwide. Postsecondary online degrees are available for

associate, baccalaureate, masters and doctoral students, specialty certificates in all disciplines,

and extended learning and continuing education credits. There also are online positions teaching

K-12 students. The programs are developing so quickly there is a shortage of qualified, full-time

university faculty to fill the need. Thus, the universities are utilizing part-time faculty to fill the

void. A quick, nonscientific survey of jobs posted for online university teachers recently revealed

there were hundreds of jobs available in public, private and for-profit educational institutions.

Some of the common skills successful consultants and teachers must possess are:

The ability to perform research on problems clients pose

The ability to write clearly and cogently

The ability to organize presentations and communicate effectively in front of an audience

(face-to-face and online)

Proficiency with audio-visual presentations

The ability to stay up-to-date on laws, regulations and policies, and best practices in the

individual's area of expertise

A tactic for consultants of all-size organizations to consider is combining the two professions. A

few of the salient reasons for this approach are the following:

Teaching smooths out the variable workload of the consultant

The fluctuating highs and lows of the cash flow to the consultants are reduced (feast-or-

famine syndrome)

The educational resources of the university are made available to the teacher/consultant

for use in teaching and in preparing audio-visual presentations. Most universities today

have writing centers to assist the student or teacher in developing writing skills. There

also are on-campus facilities available to help conduct research.

Students have the potential to become future clients

There is a certain degree of churning as consultants enter and exit the consulting field. Teaching

can serve as a safety net for consultants forced to leave the industry. The position of adjunct

professor allows the individual "to get a foot in the door" and ascertain if teaching is the next

professional position to pursue without taking on all of the responsibilities of a full-time

education career.

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In the next newsletter, guidelines will be provided for pursuing part-time, adjunct teaching

positions.

Consulting and Teaching: Synergistic Professions—Part II

Authors:

Mark G. Tozzio, FACHE

President

HPPD Consulting, Inc.

Adjunct Instructor – Healthcare Administration

Northeastern State University

College of Extended Learning

Broken Arrow, Okla.

David L. Woodrum, FACHE

President

Woodrum, Inc. (Chicago)

Part-Time Lecturer

Milken Institute School of Public Health

The George Washington University (Washington, D.C.)

In last quarter’s newsletter, we presented the argument that some consultants should consider

teaching as part of their consulting practice. After all, consultants tend to be at the forefront of

their area(s) of specialty. There is a need for all healthcare professionals, including consultants,

to stay abreast of the ever-changing healthcare field. Therefore, part of the consultants’ practices

is to share their advanced knowledge. After all, the best way to learn is to teach.

If you are interested in pursuing the idea of online teaching, consider the following:

Larger online universities like University of Phoenix, Kaplan, ITT and the American

Public University typically seem to have open positions for online adjunct faculty

positions, full-time online positions, instructional design course architects, graders and

course mentors on their web sites.

Many of the jobs listed on higher education websites comingle online jobs with all of

the other higher education positions. Using some of the job search engines requires

patience and a certain degree of tech-savviness. One tip is to use the Get Educated

online degree directory to find schools that offer online degrees in the desired subject

areas you wish to teach, then target those universities for your job search.

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There are online job boards in which consultants can advertise themselves. A LinkedIn

profile with an online resume will add more substance to the advertisement.

Most online schools hire part-time adjunct faculty. To qualify, the consultant will

generally need a master’s degree and should be able to demonstrate that a great deal of

advanced coursework has been taken in the desired teaching area.

Considerable experience and expertise in the subject matters to be taught must be

documented.

Pay rates vary based on the school, the course taught and the length of the course.

Traditional universities with distance education programs typically have courses of

eight to 10 weeks and sometimes 16-week, semester-long courses. For-profit schools

may provide accelerated courses that are as brief as four to six weeks. Usually, the

online schools pay a flat fee per course. Some of the for-profit schools may pay on a

per head basis (i.e., the adjunct is paid based on how many students enroll—and stay—

for the duration of the course). Some schools also hold the teacher accountable for the

student completion (i.e., pay less), since federal financial aid to students through the

schools is based partly on student completion rates. Graduate courses often pay more as

do in-demand subjects such as healthcare management.

Typically, there are no fringe benefits provided to part-time faculty. Online, part-time

faculty at some of the private and public universities are unionized.

Consultants considering online teaching need to know how many students will attend

the typical class. Most teachers would say it depends on the subject. If the class entails

grading essays and tests, the teacher cannot handle 50 students. On the other hand, if

the exams are multiple-choice, auto-graded questions, 50 may be doable. Keep in mind

the more students in the class, the more time that is needed to interact with them.

Many schools limit the number of online courses or credit hours any one adjunct

faculty member can teach at a time. Six courses or 18 credit hours in a year would be a

typical limitation for adjunct faculty. It is common for online faculty to simultaneously

teach at more than one school.

Some online schools may teach students in multiple time zones, even international

students. Typically, the schools that teach across many time zones offer asynchronous

courses in which the students can read preselected material, watch prerecorded videos

on their own time, and write papers and take exams online. Faculty then discusses the

material with the students at preselected times or during virtual office hours. The

authors of this article currently are teaching advanced e-learning courses to healthcare

executives in Kenya, Nigeria and the Cayman Islands.

Adjunct faculty may be expected to develop courses for the school using specialized

software. As the course architect, the question of intellectual property arises as to

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whether or not the adjunct owns the rights to the material or the school. Most schools

require the course developers to sign a work-for-hire agreement, which grants the

school the right to own the course.

The online management platform used to teach the courses will affect the adjunct’s

time spent in teaching the class. Most online schools require the adjuncts to attend

several weeks of online training and certification in the software system they use to

deliver online courses. Typically, the schools do not pay for this training.

There is definitely a synergy between consulting and teaching. Teaching, particularly teaching

online while simultaneously juggling an online management platform, is not for everyone.

However, the skill set required to be a teacher can reinforce and enhance the skill set needed to

be a consultant. At the same time, it can provide a modest source of steady, predictable income.

It also can be very rewarding to share one’s experience and knowledge with interested

participants around the globe.

Mark Tozzio, FACHE, can be reached at tozzio@nsuok.edu and David L. Woodrum, FACHE,

may be contacted at dwoodrum@earthlink.net.

On the topic of professional development, please see ACHE’s position in the Policy Statement:

Appropriate Preparation For Healthcare Executive Management Positions for All New Entrants

to the Field.