Tag Archives: career

Celebrating Women’s History Month: Championing Diversity in Health IT

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What better time than Women’s History Month to highlight the many initiatives lifting up women in our health IT industry.

It has been 10 years since I started speaking out more publicly as a health IT professional about women’s issues though I am a long-time feminist having come of age during the women’s movement of the 1970s. In 2014, I was asked to do a keynote talk on a topic of my choice at a 200-person health IT conference. It was one of those vendor sponsored, invitation only events. I was the speaker during the first night’s dinner. I titled my talk: “Our Future Workforce – Unlocking the Potential”. I talked about the fact that not enough women were going into STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields and the need to encourage and support women at all levels. Prior to the talk I wrote this post – Technology, where are all the women? – and afterwards I wrote this one describing the positive response to my talk – Women and technology, part 2 – from an audience that was probably 80% men!

When I launched this blog several months before that talk in 2014, I made sure to create a category called “On Women and Work” knowing I’d be periodically writing about women’s issues, and not just in March each year.

Fast forward to 2024. I am certainly not a lone voice in our industry. Many women focused initiatives have emerged. Here are just a few to highlight: Continue reading →

The art of mentoring: insights for leaders

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Being a mentor is a fundamental role of leaders. A mentoring relationship may be a formal or informal arrangement. I’m currently participating in two formal mentor programs through the NEHIMSS chapter and the Emerging Leaders Program of RIBBA (Rhode Island Black Business Association). Informally I serve as a mentor for many people.

I’ve written many blogs referencing the importance of being a mentor and having a mentor. Bill Russell and I share a commitment to developing next generation leaders. He outlined his concise framework for mentoring on a recent This Week Health Newsroom podcast – “A Framework for Mentoring”. As Bill explains, it’s all about helping your mentee to expand – their network, experience, knowledge and thinking.

As a leader, you have a broad network, and you can help expose your mentee to it. I truly believe that one of the most important introductions I ever received was as the new CIO at Brigham and Women’s Hospital when I attended my first CHIME conference in early 2000. My boss, John Glaser, CIO at Partners HealthCare, (now called Mass General Brigham) introduced me to his CIO colleagues at other large health systems and academic medical centers.  Those connections helped greatly in my early CIO years and laid the foundation for getting more involved in CHIME. When I mentor people, making introductions to others who can be helpful to them is high on the list early in our conversations.

Expanding a mentee’s experience can happen most effectively when you work together in the same organization. Being able to have your mentee participate in certain meetings or initiatives on your behalf or with you is a powerful show of support and encouragement to them.

And of course, expanding their knowledge and thinking comes from your ongoing discussions and the resources you recommend to them. This Week Health is one of the resources I regularly recommend to mentees and others I talk with who are looking to stay current and relevant. Between the various podcasts, interviews with health IT leaders, and daily news headlines, it is worth checking out and sharing with others. As Bill describes it, “This Week Health is a set of channels and events dedicated to transform healthcare one connection at a time”.

Think back over your career to the people who have mentored you in some way. Guessing you would agree that what mentors do is truly priceless.

Related Posts:

Developing tomorrow’s leaders through mentorship and coaching

Mentoring, role models and sometimes a little nudge

Leaders as mentors

7 Ways to develop the next of generation leaders

Navigating career crossroads

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I’m fresh off another stimulating in person CHIME Fall Forum. Many colleagues have already posted on LinkedIn their recaps of the forum speakers and key takeaways. One of my takeaways is the importance of networking on many different levels. A common conversation for me was colleagues who are looking for their next career move or currently in between positions. As I organized my post CHIME to do list on the plane home, I found that I had several people to follow up with from that perspective.

Ironically, when I got home and back into my daily podcast listening routine, the first one I heard was the ThisWeekHealth Newsroom show from November 10 – “The Signs it’s Time to Move on as a Leader”. On Fridays, Bill Russell usually does a stream of conscience commentary on a topic. This one tied very well into some of my CHIME conversations. I encourage you to check it out – only 10 minutes long.

If the end of year approaching has you rethinking your own career plans, check out my previous blogs on career advice. Earlier ones are listed in this blog – “Career advice revisited”. Newer ones are referenced in this blog – “Considering a career move?”. You will find some useful insights and advice for your journey.

And if you’re looking for a career coach, this blog might be helpful – “When to use a career coach”. I’m happy to explore with you what a short 3-month engagement would look like and how best to customize it to meet your unique needs.

Health IT leadership searches and Interim management industry trends

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I have written in the past about interim management in terms of when it makes sense for an organization as well as my own experience. Over the past several years, I’ve been fortunate to serve four different healthcare providers as an interim leader – three as CIO, one as CTO. I’ve learned firsthand how interim leaders provide an important bridge during leadership transitions and can make a significant impact on an organization in a short time.

I encourage you to check out my recent StarBridge Advisors blog post – Bridge Builders: Interim Management Solutions for Health Systems. In this new post I cover industry trends I am seeing in health IT leadership searches and interim management decisions including internal interims, relocation and onsite requirements, financial and budget constraints, and more.

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Talent shortage? Great resignation? Interim leaders can help

Interim Management – Providing a Bridge During Transition

When an interim CIO makes sense

Stepping into an interim leadership role

From listener to host: conversations with health IT leaders

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I’ve been a fan of podcasts for several years and a regular consumer of many different ones. I’ve shared some of my favorites in past blog posts. My health IT favorites are the multiple shows that ThisWeekHealth offers.

While still an avid listener and consumer, I am also a regular contributor. Since 2022 I’ve been one of the Townhall show hosts for ThisWeekHealth. That means I’m committed to doing one interview a month with a health IT leader along with the 7 other hosts. New Townhall shows are aired every Tuesday and Thursday on the Conference Channel. I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing many current and former health IT leaders in the past year including:

We have had so much to cover in my two most recent interviews that my guests each agreed to schedule a part 2. Continue reading →

Developing tomorrow’s leaders through mentorship and coaching

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My commitment to developing next generation leaders is something I’ve often talked and written about. That commitment is as strong as ever.

This week I started a 10-month formal mentor program through the NEHIMSS chapter for two different mentees. We’ll talk every other week for 30 minutes focusing on their goals for the mentorship. A few weeks ago, I started my newest coaching engagement with a seasoned IT leader. We are in the early stages of this process, including gathering input from peers. We’ll talk twice a month for an hour with assignments in between. And I’m finalizing a presentation focused on lessons in leadership to deliver virtually in early November to the management team for a CIO colleague at a large academic health system. He brings in an industry expert 6 times a year to share their views and help educate his team.

I’m impressed with the formality and structure of the NEHIMSS mentor program – it appears to be a great model for other chapters and organizations and has evolved since the program was first started in 2014. Mentor and mentee applications are submitted, the mentorship committee then reviews them, makes the matches, and communicates to the pairs with supporting materials including a FAQ and a list of Do’s and Don’ts. Both parties sign a mentorship partnership agreement that includes the mentee’s goals and the roles of the mentor and mentee for each goal.

I have provided professional coaching services for many health IT leaders over the past 7 years. And I have served as both an informal and formal mentor to many during my decades long health IT career. While both have value, coaching and mentoring are different. Continue reading →

Lessons from Succession: What not to do as a leader

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I recently wrote a blog post called “Ted Lasso leadership lessons”. If you were a fan of the Ted Lasso series, you can readily see there were many lessons to be learned. Another popular series, Succession, wrapped up around the same time. I wasn’t sure how I could comment on leadership lessons from that series as there didn’t seem to be any characters that you would want to model. But there were plenty of lessons on what not to do as a leader.

Others have figured out what to say about Succession leadership lessons, so I’ll share the insights from one of them. A Forbes article on June 26th by Robert Pearl, MD, titled “5 Fatal Flaws Of Healthcare Leaders: Inspired By HBO’s ‘Succession’” describes five dysfunctional leadership styles to avoid based on some of the lead characters. In his words:

  1. Delusional leaders overestimate their abilities. Their ideas are unrealistic and their vision for the future: pure fiction.
  2. Narcissistic leaders bask in praise and blind loyalty. They reject and punish those who provide honest feedback and fair criticism. Their obsession with status and self-importance blinds them to long-term threats and opportunities, alike.
  3. Immature leaders get promoted before they’re primed and polished. They often lack boundaries and excel at the sport of making others uncomfortable.
  4. Political leaders are better at advancing within an organization than advancing the organization itself. Like chameleons, these leaders change with the scenery, shifting alliances and values as organizational power waxes and wanes.
  5. Compromised leaders are skilled at making promises. They seek support by vowing to fulfill wants and palliate pains.

Dr. Pearl closes the article highlighting three attributes that excellent healthcare leaders must have:

  1. Clear mission and purpose
  2. Experience and expertise
  3. Personal integrity

The third, personal integrity, is particularly critical. As Dr. Pearl says, “Everything changes when an emerging leader becomes the head of an organization and faces a crisis. As risks and pressures intensify, people tend to fall back on approaches and habits they learned in the past, particularly problematic ones.” Without being a spoiler, anyone who watched Succession can see how easily the emerging leaders fell back to their own demise.

I encourage you to read the full article but must warn you with a spoiler alert – if you haven’t seen the show but plan to watch it given all the buzz, bookmark the article to read later.  What buzz you ask? The fourth and final season just received 27 Emmy nominations with a total of 75 nominations over all the seasons.

Related Post:

Ted Lasso leadership lessons

Inspiring the next generation of healthcare heroes

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It’s Health Technology Management Week, a time to celebrate and thank all the biomed technicians and clinical engineers who make up the critically important HTM teams in our hospitals. Not being involved in AAMI as I was over the past decade, I thought I didn’t have anything new to say this year. And then I saw a social media post that inspired this week’s topic. What better way to celebrate and acknowledge the work of our HTM teams than to highlight the need for more HTM professionals in the future.

Like many healthcare professions, HTM faces staffing shortages now and into the future. Educating young people about health careers and building a pipeline is one aspect of addressing those shortages.

“Ollie the Biomed” by Chace Torres is a new children’s book that describes what a biomed technician does. Like other children’s books about different jobs and careers, it makes the life of a biomed technician exciting and attractive. And it is written from the firsthand experience of a proud biomed tech and dad who is well aware of the staffing shortage in this field. Torres is the lead technician for Texas-based medical equipment manufacturer SPBS Inc.

AAMI featured the book in this May 2, 2023 article: “Meet Ollie, the Biomed ‘Device Doctor’ Who’s Teaching Children About Fixing Problematic Medical Products”. An excerpt from the article:

Torres, who also shines a light on the HTM profession via an ongoing podcast, says it’s more important than ever that young people are exposed to a “profession struggling to build awareness, [because] the majority of the workforce is set to retire within the next decade,” he wrote in an overview of his book.

The book is “about inspiring those who are younger and letting them know that there are other jobs out there besides those found in a typical children’s book—the standard professions that all kids see, whether it’s a police officer, firefighter, or doctor,” Torres said. “Many people have reached out to me who have purchased the book or have bought it for somebody else, and they will say, ‘My son, or my daughter, or my grandchild had no idea what I did as a biomed, but after reading the book, they understand and loved it.’”

The book description on Amazon provides more background:

This children’s book is a depiction of the profession known as Biomedical Equipment Technician, AKA “Medical Device Doctor.” Ollie the Biomed experiences a work day repairing, calibrating, and solving real world problems found within the everyday job of a Biomed. It illustrates the complex but rewarding career filled with so many devices used in healthcare today to treat patients. Biomeds are directly responsible for inspecting, repairing, calibrating, and managing all aspects of any medical device found in hospitals today. I wrote this book for my son to learn exactly what his dad does and why I love what I do each and every day. I hope to inspire kids across the world to seek out more information and become Biomeds because it is truly rewarding and fun.

Torres is an advocate for his profession in other ways. Since 2021 he has hosted “Bearded Biomed”, a podcast that drops twice a month. Some of his recent topics: Women in HTM, the 2022 HTM Salary Survey, and Dealing with Biomed Burnout. Continue reading →

HIMSS as a networking event

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For those of you attending HIMSS23 in Chicago next week, it will be a mix of education, vendors, and networking. Let’s face it, while education and the exhibit hall are what our organizations are willing to invest in, networking is what we all look forward to each year. Seeing colleagues we’ve known for years, finally meeting in person people we’ve only known on zoom, and making new connections. Especially after a few years of virtual only conferences.

I won’t be attending this year. But that doesn’t stop me from giving some advice on the networking front.

Whether you are in transition and looking to make connections for your next opportunity or you are focused on learning from your peers and sharing success (and failure) stories from your own work, effective networking is critical to your work and your career.

Here’s some general networking advice:

Network extensions – Everyone you know knows a few more people who could potentially be helpful. Proactively and respectfully work your network.

Professionalism – Always present yourself as the consummate professional whether at work, online, or in business interactions after hours.

Two-way street – Figure out what you need from a connection and what you can offer to them.

Diligent follow-up – If you commit to provide a reference, make an introduction, or something else, be sure to do it in a timely manner.

Networking is one of the greatest values of the annual HIMSS conference and HIMSS provides many ways to find people with similar interests as yours. Here’s some slightly modified advice specific to HIMSS from previous years posts: Continue reading →

What advice would you give your younger self?

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I love this question. It was one of the questions for a panel I was supposed to be on this week. The NEHIMSS chapter has an annual Women in IT conference, and I was one of four invited panelists for the three-hour event. But 40 miles into my 100-mile drive to the venue, cruising fast on the freeway, my left front tire totally blew out – down to the rim. Scary yes, but I got myself over to the shoulder and called AAA. My second call was to the panel moderator explaining I wouldn’t be able to make it. An hour and a half later I was again on the road with the spare tire that is designed for maximum 50 MPH taking the back roads home to avoid freeway speeds.

I was looking forward to the event and the panel. I love sharing stories with next generation leaders so this was going to be a fun night. I was ready after the usual panel prep call to cover the range of questions we had agreed on.

While I didn’t get to do the panel, I don’t want this question to go to waste – here’s what I was ready to say when asked what advice I would give my younger self:

  • Know your big rocks – I’ve written on this in the past, “Do you know your big rocks?”. It comes from Stephen Covey and it is a spot-on analogy. Our families and closest friends are our big rocks. Don’t let all the little stuff take up your space first leaving no room for your big rocks.
  • Don’t take crap from anyone – In my 30s, two of my peer managers seemed out to get me. One even threatened me. I was the only woman on the management team for a 5-year period. After a lot of stress and wasted energy processing it all at night talking to my incredibly supportive husband, I decided enough was enough. I let our boss know what was going on and told him that I would let him know of any further incidents. He was going to have to deal with it because I couldn’t. In another situation where a male manager from another department got overly friendly with sexual advances, I reported it to compliance. Hard as reporting something may be, it is necessary to stop the behavior if you can’t stop it yourself.
  • Have a strong support system – Whether it is family or friends, everyone needs a support system they can turn to. I could tell plenty of stories about my incredibly supportive husband and how he has been there for me back when I was a young working mother in management and going to school at night for my MBA as well as the decades since (our 47th wedding anniversary is in a few weeks).
  • Accept that you can make choices – One of my staff wanted to consider coming back from maternity leave after she had her first child in a part-time role but worried about how it would stall her career. She was a project leader on a management track. We talked about her options and I encouraged her to keep in mind that she had choices. After a period of part-time work, she eventually came back full-time, picked up again in a leadership role and then had two more children a few years later. She made choices right for her and balanced growing a family with growing her career.
  • Own your own career and be open to the possibilities – Before I left my CIO position at Brigham and Women’s Hospital for a similar role at Michigan Medicine, we were going through major staffing changes in IT. My staff were concerned about their future in supporting legacy systems vs the new EHR coming in. I told them they had to own their own career and be open to the possibilities. When I make that second point now, I emphasize that there are jobs today that no one heard of 5 or 10 years ago and there will be new ones in the future we can’t even imagine now.

There you go – I had plenty more to say on the panel given the other great questions we were going to discuss but wanted to at least share this one.

And after this car experience, my parting advice is keep your AAA membership current and keep your cell phone charged.

Related Posts:

7 Ways to develop the next generation of leaders

10 tips for next generation leaders