Monthly Archives: March 2018

8 tips for start-ups

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Are you used to working in a large organization with a lot of support departments, established policies and procedures, and administrative systems? If so, you may complain about some of it as being bureaucratic,Landscape of wooden pathway with the changing environment too slow and burdensome. You may take a lot of it for granted. But it also helps you get your work done most days.

Before you think the grass is greener on the other side as the saying goes, remember that start-ups don’t have any of this day one. By the end of the first year they probably have the basics in place. As they grow and scale, they create the new systems and processes they need.

I am one of those people who worked my entire career in very large organizations. I’ve been on the start-up side with StarBridge Advisors now for a year and a half. We were fortunate to have basic back office functions available day one through a shared service agreement. But there has still been a lot of new to create.

Based on this new world for me, it’s probably no surprise that I have some lessons and tips to pass along. Here goes:

Create standard templates – Whether it’s administrative tools to reuse such as your master services agreement (MSA) and statement of work (SOW) or tools for client work such as interview forms and assessment outlines, you need to create and continually evolve them. It will make you more efficient and provide consistency for your team and your clients. Our Toolkit for Interim IT Leaders is one example of those tools.

Establish repeatable processes – That old saying “no need to re-invent the wheel” is applicable here. But first you need to create your “wheels” for different processes then regularly revisit them to ensure they are as streamlined as possible.

Share documents – Creating a document repository with good version control should be a first order of business for even the smallest of firms. After all, you need a place for all those templates and documented processes.

Don’t duplicate efforts – Be clear who is responsible for what and who owns what. Collaborate and get feedback from one another but don’t trip over each other. You have a small team and limited hours so every minute counts. Continue reading →

Facebook: cute pics, political organizing or privacy threat?

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Chances are you are on Facebook. More than 2 billion people around the world are active monthly users. I joined in 2006 because my brother said he wouldn’t send pictures of his first grandchild by email canstockphoto7547507 facebookanymore – I could see them on Facebook instead. I joined. And then I soon figured out it was a great way to keep in touch with family and friends around the country.

I have always been suspicious of apps that I could sign into through Facebook. I didn’t want uncontrolled data sharing. I did not answer the many Facebook quizzes; I had heard someone say that the answers were probably building a profile on you for who knows what purpose.

I sometimes check out a sponsored ad if the product really grabs my attention, but I rarely purchase it. It’s an online shopping/browsing thing like looking at catalogs that still come in the mail.

I am vocal about my politics in my original posts, my likes, comments and shares of other posts. And I have joined certain private groups that share my politics. So yes, somewhere there is a profile on me and my politics.

On Twitter, I try to maintain a professional presence as much as possible and leave politics for my Facebook circle instead. I have read so much about online harassment of women on Twitter, and we do have a President who appears to be the cyberbully-in-chief.

With the latest exposure that Cambridge Analytica used Facebook data on 50 million Americans to influence the 2016 election, I am questioning how we can protect our personal information yet continue to utilize social media platforms and all the good they bring: keeping families and friends in touch or accelerating social movements around important issues. Continue reading →

Technology making a difference at scale

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Post HIMSS18, there have been many recaps from people who attended. I won’t try to do that but have listed several of them at the end of this post under “resources”.  Instead, I want to share with you a keynote on the final day of the conference. It represents what is possible when a team of dedicated engineers set out to solve a real problem in healthcare at scale. In fact, as I listened, it seemed like the ultimate in “health IT connect” – the name I gave this weekly blog back in 2014.

Keller Rinaudo, co-founder and CEO of Zipline, captivated those still around on Friday morning with his keynote full of stories and video clips describing the first autonomous logistics system delivering blood and medical supplies to people in Rwanda and Tanzania. Or as one of my colleagues called it this week when we were talking about it – the “blood bomber”.

As their website says, “Zipline operates the world’s only drone delivery system at national scale to send urgent medicines, such as blood and animal vaccines, to those in need – no matter where they live.” The problem they are addressing is that “more than two billion people lack adequate access to essential medical products, such as blood and vaccines, due to challenging terrain and gaps in infrastructure.”  In his opening at the keynote, Keller showed a truck stuck in the mud on an impassable road and asked, “Why depend on roads?”

Zipline developed a solution to improve access to supplies “by flying over impassable mountains and washed-out roads, delivering directly to remote clinics”. Continue reading →

Never underestimate the power of a woman

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I had the opportunity at HIMSS18 to meet several women entrepreneurs who have started their own companies and many women seeking career advice. They are impressive and inspiring. I loved hearing canstockphoto20402689 power business womanthe entrepreneurs’ stories, what lead them to start their own business and the challenges they have overcome. Women looking for career advice didn’t hesitate to approach me and introduce themselves. They asked very focused questions as they reflect on their current situation and consider future options.

The annual #HealthITChicks meetup organized by Jenn Dennard included a panel titled “Making Ladders Lateral”. It was great fun to be part of the panel and hear others’ stories. The recap can be found here and is an easy, quick read.

At the Career Fair, I did a presentation on “Advice for the Aspiring Female Executive” covering current trends and tips for next generation leaders.

Hot off the press, I shared information from the 2018 HIMSS Compensation Survey that showed both good and bad news regarding the gender pay gap. The survey results show that gender pay disparity is persistent. The pay gap is back at the level it was in 2006 after getting worse for a few years. On average women are paid 18% less than men, or said another way, females are paid $0.82 for every $1.00 their male peer is paid. Getting back to the same level as 12 years ago can’t be considered real progress.

The good news is that for women under age 35 and non-management staff, there is very little difference in pay between men and women. The bad news is that the gap for women over 55 and those at the executive level continues. I conclude that this is due to the cumulative effect that years of disparity has had and creates a gap that is very hard to resolve.

I talked about an excellent article from a few years ago, “The Confidence Gap”, by Katty Kay and Claire Shipman published in The Atlantic. I highly recommend reading it to understand that “success correlates just as closely with confidence as it does with competence” and “that with work, confidence can be acquired”.

And I focused on leadership and tips for next generation leaders which I shared in a previous post. Here they are again if you missed them the first time: Continue reading →

Guide to HIMSS18 – onsite or remote

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If you work in health IT, you know that the annual HIMSS conference is the biggest annual industry event whether you are headed to Las Vegas next week or not. The number of emails, blog posts, social media HIMSS Blog Imageposts, and articles providing guidance and recommendations on HIMSS18 continues to grow with just a few more days before it all begins.

With so much info out there, I decided to pull together a few more resources that might help in your final preparation:

Here’s the good news! You don’t have to attend to benefit from all that’s happening there. HIMSS TV will be launched for the first time ever. There will be live coverage from the conference. You can also follow on Twitter using #HIMSS18 or specific hashtags for your area of interest.

Whether you are attending in person or following the happenings from a distance, the “Official HIMSS18 hashtag guide” will help you focus in on your areas of interest. And of course you’ll want to follow all the social media ambassadors.

Check out “HIMSS – are you ready?” from StarBridge Advisors to see our principals’ top picks for this year – mine are #WomenInHIT, #HITventure and #Connect2Health.

If you are still trying to pick your education sessions, the topical guides provided by HealthITNews as “Don’t Miss Education Sessions” may be helpful to review.

HealthSystemCIO.com has a special HIMSS18 Preview aimed at CIOs and health IT leaders you’ll want to check out.

Are you an introvert? Continue reading →