Christin Zollicoffer is the new chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer at Lifespan Corp. In this role, she leads Lifespan’s strategy for a “diverse, inclusive and culturally responsive health care system.”
Before taking on this role, Zollicoffer was the vice president for community health and well-being and a regional director for diversity, equity and inclusion at Trinity Health in Michigan. She discusses her new role, the importance of workforce training and DEI’s role in health care.
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PBN: What does your new role as chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer entail?
ZOLLICOFFER: As with all justice work, I will focus on change management around diversity, equity and inclusion work being an essential core capability for leaders and for Lifespan.
Centering justice is a necessary core function, the same way employees have to continually adjust for new economies, new expectations, and new policies or procedures. This means evaluating decisions for their potential impact – particularly on those who have the least amount of agency. This work requires building meaningful relationships and [allies], and the ability to make strategy actionable with built-in checkpoints for accountability – both individual and system – with course correction and retooling as needed.
PBN: What are some of your top priorities for the upcoming year?
ZOLLICOFFER: It has been refreshing to come to an organization willing to say it needs assistance. We are on the front end of transformational change – it is a great time to be a part of its success and to co-develop with work that has already been started. There is a very palpable desire for change among the community, employees and leadership.
My priority is to build relationships by listening and getting the perspectives of Lifespan team members and patients. My experience has taught me to come in with no preconceived agenda and to instead learn first and be people-driven because it’s people who move systems.
PBN: How important is training staff and management when addressing shortcomings in diversity and inclusion?
ZOLLICOFFER: Where there is inclusion, diversity follows. Workforce training and education leads to inclusive teams, care delivery processes and policies. Lifespan is committed to giving employees these skills and know-how so that actionable change results.
PBN: Speaking more broadly, what are some of the areas that need attention in terms of diversity and inclusion in health care?
ZOLLICOFFER: DEI is actionable. DEI does not sit exclusively in talent acquisition or human resources – it touches every part of the organization. DEI is everyone’s responsibility as a standard of excellence because it touches every policy and procedure, and it has bearing on how we lead, manage and deliver on our service promise. Done well, DEI improves the bottom line through innovation, efficiency, responsiveness and risk management.
PBN: How has the conversation around DEI in health care changed in the last few years? What still needs to be addressed?
ZOLLICOFFER: DEI is not new, although the acronym seems to change weekly, and disparities/inequities are not new. Yet research shows that roughly every 30 years, society has a moment in time that really opens the window for change. That happened in 2020.
While DEI in health care has changed in recent years and made progress in advancing sexual orientation and gender identity, race/ethnicity, and language awareness and policies, more inclusion is needed for neurodiverse, disabled and military/veteran member groups.
There is still a lot of work to be done, and I am here to keep the momentum going and help embed lasting change.
Claudia Chiappa is a PBN staff writer. You may contact her at Chiappa@PBN.com.
