Monthly Archives: March 2019

9 articles on women and work worth your time

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In the past month, I’ve seen more articles on women in leadership, women on boards, and gender equity than I have seen in a long time. It’s probably reasonable to assume the increased focus has to do with it canstockphoto44053815 (1) time for changebeing Women’s History Month. As I said in my post on International Women’s Day, let’s not just focus on these issues for one day or one month but all year long.

Here’s a sampling to check out if you are committed to ensuring women have a seat at every table:

A seat at the head of the table by Emily Bazelon in The New York Times Magazine. It’s an insightful interview with two experts on leadership – Katherine W. Phillips, a professor of organizational management at Columbia University, and Shelley Correll, a sociologist at Stanford.

Wanted: 3,732 Women to Govern Corporate America by Jeff Green, Hannah Recht and Mathieu Benhamou in Bloomberg Businessweek. That headline should get the attention of any woman interested in serving on boards.

Women in venture: The case for increasing representation in digital health investing by Laura Lovett in MobiHealthNews

From the practical experience of women leaders comes insight, advice and inspiration for others:

A rising tide lifts all gender-balanced boats bound for HIT board rooms by Jenn Dennard at HealthITChicks

Achieving a better gender balance across all levels of an organisation by Wendy Clark in HealthITNews

Four McKinsey leaders share their advice for early-career women – McKinsey Blog from McKinsey & Company. I particularly liked these spot-on words of advice: Continue reading →

Negotiation is an everyday skill

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When we think of needing good negotiation skills, we often think in terms of salary and promotions. For sales people and buyers, it’s negotiating terms and price. But if you really think about it, you are probably canstockphoto16049179 (1) negotiatenegotiating with someone about something every day.

Let’s look at some different situations.

Negotiating as an employee – This is certainly not an everyday event. You may be negotiating salary as part of a new job offer or a promotion with your current boss. Keep in mind that you can negotiate more than just the salary and any potential bonus. Most companies have a standard set of non-negotiable benefits that the HR representative explains. But there are other components you can negotiate before accepting an offer. One example may be a remote work option or relocation benefits. Consider the “value” of other benefits beyond the base salary as you negotiate. The key to success is to do your research on what might be possible, be ready with your ask, and be clear on what you’re willing to compromise on.

Negotiating as a buyer – This is not an everyday event either. You may be negotiating with a vendor for a product or service. Or you may be buying a new house or car. There may be some situations where there is no room for negotiation but it’s more likely that you be able to. Again, it’s not just the core price but other terms as well. The key to success will sound familiar – do your research, be ready with the ask, and be willing to compromise.

Negotiating as a team member – This could involve a new assignment you have been asked to take on or a due date you have been asked to meet. Neither are set in stone. Continue reading →

Spring can’t come soon enough

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As my daughter says, “You didn’t really think that through, did you?” She wasn’t referring to getting a new puppy which we’d talked about for months. She was referring to getting a “winter puppy” in the North.IMG_0295 (002) puppy

We trained new puppies in the summers of 2006 (Pepe) and 2008 (Coco). We had to let go of Pepe in 2017 due to a tumor on her liver; since then, we focused all our love on Coco. Then, we decided Coco needed an “intern”. Coco would have a friend that she could help train. What a concept!

We got our new puppy, Rosie, in late January. She was about 10 weeks old then.  We bought her a little dog sweater and puffy dog coat. We got her a collar and a leash. We hadn’t really thought that through.

Because, when we picked her up, the breeder said she was like an infant. She couldn’t go outside until probably end of March or she might catch a cold or pneumonia. Plus, she needed her three puppy shots – second was due mid-February and the last one mid-March – before she could be outside around where other dogs have been. Coco is up to date on shots, so they can share space in the backyard. That is, after the snow and cold is gone.

I haven’t even gotten to the two dogs getting to know each other part yet.

We set up Rosie in the shower stall of our guest bathroom. We made a little bed for her, put her food and water dishes nearby and put down papers for her to do her business on at the other end of the shower stall. We leaned a baby gate across the entrance to the shower. We let her out and played with her on the bathroom floor several times a day. We brought her down to the living room at night to sit on our laps while we watched TV. Mostly this worked and she was content. Continue reading →

International Women’s Day all year long

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#Balanceforbetter – what a great hashtag! That’s the theme for International Women’s Day 2019. While it’s celebrated on March 8 each year, the global campaign continues all year long as it should.canstockphoto48269311 (1) IWD

I remember celebrating International Women’s Day back in the 70’s during the height of the women’s movement. With the increased focus on gender equity it has become much more mainstream.

International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. According to the website, International Women’s Day (IWD) has occurred for over a century, with the first​ ​IWD gathering in 1911 supported by over a million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. Prior to this the​ Socialist Party of America, United Kingdom’s Suffragists and Suffragettes, and further groups campaigned for women’s equality.

And March is Women’s History Month. According to the Women’s History Month website this month had its origins as a national celebration in 1981 when Congress passed a bill authorizing and requesting the President to proclaim the week beginning March 7, 1982 as “Women’s History Week.” In 1987 after being petitioned by the National Women’s History Project, Congress passed a bill which designated the month of March 1987 as “Women’s History Month.”

I’ve been seeing a lot of women’s events and webinars promoted on social media channels. Webinars and live webcasts I’ve registered for this week include:

  • The State of Women at Work
  • Women in Technology Role Models: A Global Perspective
  • Tech She Can: Together we can change the ratio

It took me a minute to realize that live webcasts at 5 AM weren’t a mistake. With international events online, that’s the middle of the day somewhere in the world. The good news is that they are all available on-demand afterwards at BrightTALK. Continue reading →

Outsourcing in health IT – is it time to reconsider?

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We probably all know at least one negative story on IT outsourcing in healthcare from years past. But the outsourcing pendulum is swinging back. As core IT services become more of a commodity and CIOs need canstockphoto20590634 outsourcingto focus on strategic initiatives, selective outsourcing is worth consideration.

The recent announcement that Trinity Health is outsourcing application management and rebadging approximately 450 staff is getting attention from other provider organizations. There are other examples – many in infrastructure.

More and more I hear from CIOs who are considering selective outsourcing for various reasons – reduce costs, modernize the infrastructure, provide scalability and flexibility as health systems grow, deal with recruiting and retention challenges, or focus on strategic initiatives instead of commodity services. Many CIOs are finding themselves part of overall cost reduction efforts at their health systems. While some CIOs start from a defensive posture and say they can’t possibly reduce costs any further, one of the most progressive IT leaders I know said she is looking at it as an opportunity to transform IT.

I was part of an organization wide cost reduction initiative when I served at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Michigan Medicine and University Hospitals. As the CIO, I was asked to identify opportunities to reduce costs while other departments’ opportunities needed additional IT help to achieve their reductions. But saying no to cost reduction is usually not an option. CIOs must partner with their peers and engage their staff to identify opportunities. Continue reading →