This week I will do a handoff to the new Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at the University of Vermont Health Network (UVMHN), Seth Maynard. I’ve been serving as interim CTO since late May of last year. Seth recently served as CTO at Yale New Haven Health System and is ready to take over from me. We have already had several transition conversations, but we have plenty more to cover in the coming days as part of the handoff.

Anyone who has relocated to join an organization at a senior management level knows there is much to learn. It’s a new market, a new organization, a new set of leaders, a new team, a new culture, a new set of projects, and new issues. Yes, there is much similarity between health care organizations, and you have your experience and knowledge to draw on from the past. But the learning curve in a new organization is still a steep one.

My overarching goal for this week is like my previous interim to permanent handoffs – provide as smooth and comprehensive a handoff as possible. Ultimately, I’m there to ensure the permanent leader gets off to a good start and is successful. That means:

• Sharing background information that is most critical and useful passing along as much needed knowledge and insight as possible
• Conducting the meetings that are a critical part of the handoff including focused time with the management team, an introduction at the monthly all staff meeting, as well as initial discussions with key partner departments
• Ensuring that together we don’t miss a beat on current issues that need leadership direction
• Stepping back and letting the new leader start making decisions and address issues providing support as needed

When I started this interim, I was honest and open about the fact that I lacked deep technical knowledge and expertise. I came up through IT on the applications side, not the technical side. But the UVMHN CIO, Dr. Adam Buckley, needed a leader to step in at a difficult time of transition, provide stability and keep all the interdependent infrastructure projects moving along on schedule. He knew me and trusted me to do what was needed.

There is still a lot I don’t know. As an interim, I didn’t need to learn some of the internal processes and systems. My excellent leadership team and executive assistant will fill in those gaps for Seth.

During this interim engagement, I have learned far more than I thought I would on the infrastructure side of IT. More importantly, I have developed a deep respect and appreciation for all the technical experts on my team. They have been patient with me when I needed something explained and helped make the right decisions for the organization.

I have formed bonds with many of my IT colleagues and am truly grateful for their support, collaboration and patience. But it’s not goodbye.

Adam is committed to developing IT talent across the health network. As part of this commitment in 2020, he has engaged StarBridge Advisors to create and deliver a program focused on developing women leaders in IT. So, in a few weeks I’ll return with my colleague Gale Thompson to begin that work. With the C-change service we launched last year and my commitment to developing next generation leaders, I look forward to working with UVMHN in this new way. If your organization is ready for a program like this, let’s talk!

Related posts:

Interim management – providing a bridge during transition

Ensuring smooth leadership transitions

Interim management is different