On Leadership

Career advice in a competitive market

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I seem to be getting an increasing number of requests for career advice calls these days. Of course, I make time to talk to people I know and try to be as helpful as I can. No question that there are a lot of good and talented people looking for a new opportunity these days for various reasons.

Here is my current baseline advice when I have these calls:

Criteria: You need to establish your criteria such as type of organization, type of role, title/level, culture, salary, and location. This may sound too basic, but it is critical. Not all criteria are equal so apply a relative weight to each. Once you have this framework, you can evaluate each option against your criteria and stay true to them. You don’t want to compromise and then regret your decision in 6 months.

Market trends: Do your research. What are the new and emerging roles/titles? How does your experience align with them? Do you need to reinvent yourself or develop new skills/knowledge to get a new role?

Search firms: Develop and maintain relationships with a few search firms and recruiters. They need to know who you are, what you are looking for, and what you offer compared to other candidates. They can also be helpful and honest about the market and how you compare to others in search. But remember, you own your career and your next move. Continue reading →

5 job search challenges in 2020

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One thing that hasn’t seemed to change during this pandemic is the number of health IT leaders making moves. Since we provide interim management services at StarBridge Advisors, I track these moves closely. I’m currently helping a number of colleagues find new opportunities and having conversations about what it takes to make their job search successful.

I have written many posts focused on career management over the years. Much of that advice remains the same. But in this new environment there are also new challenges:

Updating your resume and telling your story – It is always wise to consider professional resume writing help or at a minimum ask a trusted colleague to review and give you feedback. Ensure your most recent work experience is updated and focuses on outcomes and results. And regardless of why you are looking, be ready to tell your story succinctly and consistently. It is your story and you need to tell it. This is even more important if you are in between jobs for whatever reason.

Competition – It appears to be a “buyer’s” market with many talented people looking for new opportunities. Whether you have decided it is just time for a change or you were let go due to a merger or layoff, you are in a very competitive market. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. It’s best to pursue several opportunities at a time. But be ready for disappointment. Only one person gets the job in the end. Don’t get discouraged. Learn from each situation and prepare for the next. My post, “So you didn’t get the job”, has some advice you might want to check out. Now is a good time to work your network, let colleagues know what you are looking for and nurture your relationship with search firms. And if you learn about a position that’s not right for you, let others you know in search who might be better suited for it.

Preparing for virtual interviews – It’s very possible that all interview rounds will be virtual, and you will never meet people in person until you start the new position if not well after you start. Continue reading →

Inspiring and developing new leaders – learning from the best

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If you work in health IT, you probably know who John Glaser is. After a very accomplished career, John retired at the end of 2019 but is still very involved in boards, teaching, and writing. He is still making a difference in our industry and for that we all should be grateful. And as many retired grandparents are doing during this pandemic, John is sharing childcare duties with his wife for their 18-month-old grandchild.

I was fortunate to work with John for 10 years when I was CIO at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and he was CIO at Partners Healthcare (now known as Mass General Brigham). I can honestly say that John was the best boss I ever had. Many health IT leaders have been mentored by John over the years, been in a class he taught, heard him speak, or read his writing. I feel fortunate to have worked closely with him for those 10 years of my career.

What prompted a post about John Glaser? With the regular podcast listening I do on my daily walks, the Digital Health Leaders Podcast from CHIME is in my rotation. John was recently interviewed on that series by Russ Branzell, CEO of CHIME. There is so much wisdom packed into the 37-minute conversation, it is worthy of CEU credits in my humble opinion.

The most inspiring part of the conversation was when John talked about his life values and leadership models. As he says, we are all going to die someday. So, what do you want to be able to say about your life in your last 30 seconds? For John, it’s the love he and his wife have for each other, providing a blessed life for his three daughters, that he inspired and taught the people he led, and that he left the organizations and industry he was part of better for what he contributed. I can certainly attest to the last two and knowing his family, the first two as well. Continue reading →

This Week in Health IT – Keeping current

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I have highlighted Bill Russell’s podcast series, This Week in Health IT, in several previous blogs and shared many of the episodes on social media. If you work in health IT and are not yet listening to them and subscribing, what are you waiting for? This podcast represents some of the best content available in our industry.

Bill launched the podcast in early 2018. Starting this past March, he pivoted from twice a week to a daily podcast with a COVID-19 Field Report series made possible by the generous sponsorship of Sirius Healthcare. In the first six months of 2020, there were 100,000 downloads compared to 120,000 in all of 2019. With the Field Report series still available for listening, Bill has gone to a three day a week schedule – Tuesday NewsDay and Influence interviews on Wednesdays and Fridays.

There will only be one episode this week – Tuesday Newsday with guest host Drex DeFord as Bill is taking a week off. Drex is a frequent guest on the show and he offers yet another way to receive relevant content with 3xDrex – what he describes as “3 Must-Reads, 3 Days/Week curated by a real healthcare exec” delivered via text.

I highly recommend that you listen to three recent This Week in Health IT episodes:

Atmosphere: State of Healthcare – Bill was the guest speaker at the recent Aruba Atmosphere Digital Conference. His talk provides great insight on the major changes in healthcare and IT the past several months as well as projections for the future. It is truly a unique episode with lots to learn from one of the best! Continue reading →

Healthcare leaders continue to learn and share lessons

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Virtual learning opportunities have increased significantly in the past few months as healthcare leaders are eager to learn from the experiences of others or share their own lessons during this pandemic. There are far more webinars, live sessions, and interviews than I have seen in the past. Most of these sessions are recorded so you can listen or watch when you have time. The trick is to register – if you end up not being able to join at the scheduled time at least you will be sent the archive link. And of course there are always podcasts – so many good ones as I have recommended in previous posts.

This week, there is yet another virtual learning opportunity that I am excited about joining – the HealthIMPACT Live’s Summer Forum. I have participated in their previous in-person forums and found them to be very thought-provoking programs with top-notch speakers on relevant topics. With limited attendance, there is always plenty of opportunity for dialogue. The forum organizers have pivoted and are promising a great virtual experience. The topics are very timely and divided into four parts over two afternoons:

Part I: Your People – Healthcare Workforce Reimagined – From Crisis Management to System-Wide Transformation

Part II: Your Processes – Sustaining Gains in Telemedicine and Virtual Care Delivery- Building on Successes and Lessons Learned Connecting Patients and Providers in Response to COVID-19 Continue reading →

7 Tips for effective virtual meetings

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If you have the kind of job where you can work from home, you have probably been on hundreds of virtual meetings in the past four months. And this will most likely continue for the foreseeable future as many companies have no set date for when they will have employees return to their offices. There are plenty of articles with overall tips for working from home. Here are my tips for effective virtual meetings:

Follow meeting norms – If your company had meeting guidelines and standard practices when you were all in person, continue to follow them. During my interim engagement at the University of Vermont Health Network, I became very familiar with the meeting norms in IT and shared them in a previous blog post – “We’re at meeting norms”. I consider them best practice. They included behaviors that contribute to productive, collaborative work. I can honestly say that the meetings there were some of the most productive, focused, and efficient meetings I have seen in all the organizations I’ve worked in. One of the most useful is having 25- or 50-minute meetings. When you are working in whatever home office setup you have, you do not have to move between meeting rooms. But you still need time between calls whether it’s a bio break, time to stand up and stretch, organize your follow-ups, or get ready for the next meeting.

Know how to use the tools – Get to know all the features of your preferred/default video conference tool and be comfortable navigating in it. But be flexible and quick to adapt to other tools as needed if the meeting host has a different default tool. Be patient when technical issues arise and work together to resolve quickly or find a workaround. People are more supportive and tolerant of issues now compared to when there was just one or two people remote with everyone else in a conference room together wondering why the remote people were having issues. Continue reading →

Staying fit and informed

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If you are working from home during this pandemic, getting enough exercise each day can be a challenge. I spoke to a CIO colleague recently who said he used to get 10,000 steps a day just at work given the size of his office complex.

I recently decided that I needed to up my exercise routine to ensure I get 10,000 steps a day. A long dog walk at the end of the workday plus the steps inside my house from my home office to the kitchen and back are just not enough. While I have never been an early morning exerciser, I am now two plus weeks into a new routine. Instead of rolling out of bed and starting on email and work right away, I now go for a brisk walk. I try to do a minimum of 30 minutes but depending on the time of my first scheduled call of the day, I do anywhere from 20-45 minutes. The end of day dog walk rounds it out to ensure I hit my 10,000 steps.

Besides the physical and mental health benefits of more exercise, I also have more time to stay informed via podcasts. A few weeks ago, I wrote about my latest podcast recommendations. With my new exercise routine, I am ready to recommend two more:

The Osterholm Update: COVID-19 – If you had not heard of Dr. Michael Osterholm pre-COVID, you probably recognize his name by now. Continue reading →

Time to reimagine industry conferences

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Large gatherings such as sporting events and concerts seem impossible to return prior to a vaccine and treatment for the coronavirus. Yet alternatives are being considered and reimagined. In the business world, industry conferences and conventions are in that same large gatherings bucket. So, they too should be reimagined.

Scientists and public health officials would say do not plan on these types of events until sometime in 2021. I do not want to minimize the challenges and complexities involved in these decisions and plans. But I do believe that leaders everywhere must trust science to keep people safe.

The American Telehealth Association (ATA) held a virtual conference last week. Of course, if any organization should be able to successfully pull off a virtual conference, it is the people who do telehealth.

But I am fresh off an entirely different virtual conference experience and I could not be more impressed with what they did and what is possible. It was not an organization in the tech industry but rather a faith community. I am a Unitarian Universalist (UU) and our annual church conference (General Assembly or GA) is held each June. The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) board made the decision in March to not cancel but rather to go all virtual.

This meant they had to pull off a five-day conference that included large general sessions, discussion/debate on resolutions, delegate voting, workshops, poster sessions, worship services and special collections – all virtual. The result was higher attendance (close to 5000 registered) than many in-person conferences in past years, education and discussion on everything from spiritual practices, to congregational growth, to anti-racism organizing, and to getting out the vote in November. While people missed the hugs and hallway conversations, it was an overall positive experience for thousands of UUs.

That same UUA leadership had the foresight back in April to advise all congregations to plan on virtual Sunday services through May 2021. UU congregations all over the country are adapting to virtual services as the new normal and they are doing so in varying and creative ways. Many congregations report higher “attendance” than in the past.

The lessons are clear – it is time to reimagine and embrace the virtual world we now live in where we can. If planned and executed right, little is lost and much is gained.

So back to our health IT industry. What does the typical lineup of Fall conferences look like? Continue reading →

More podcast recommendations – going beyond HIT

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If you are like me, there is no gym time and no commute time these days. But there are still ways to get exercise every day. My long daily dog walks are one of those times when I try to get smarter. And podcasts are the means.

I have made podcast recommendations in the past and still have my favorite “go to” for health IT but I have added a few more in recent months.

ThisWeekinHealthIT – this has been my “go to” podcast since Bill Russell started it in 2018 as a weekly show. In 2019 he went to a twice weekly format. And during the pandemic, he went to daily podcasts with an excellent and very timely Field Report series – interviews with health IT leaders on how they are managing during this crisis and preparing for recovery and the new, better normal. Many great lessons and insights have been shared the past few months. Kudos to all his guests for their incredible work and making time to share with others. And kudos to Bill for his ongoing commitment to developing next generation leaders. My firm, StarBridge Advisors, is a proud sponsor of the show and share in that commitment.

Digital Health Leaders – this is a relatively new podcast series started by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) a few months ago. Russ Branzell, CHIME President and CEO, interviews IT leaders on a range of topics.

Relentless Health Value – this is a podcast I first became acquainted with when I was asked to be a guest back in 2018 – my episode was “The Evolving Role of the Chief Information Officer”. But IT is not the focus. Stacey Richter, a healthcare entrepreneur and innovator, has hosted the show since 2014. The website describes the podcast this way: “The show that connects you with other health care leaders trying to achieve the quadruple aim of improving population health and patient and provider experience, while managing costs effectively. Our mission is to help transform health care by breaking down silos and connecting disconnected parts of our industry. The first step toward collaboration is simply knowing what others are working on and wrestling to overcome.” So, if you want the big picture on healthcare and not just IT, add this one to your list. And like Bill, Stacy has a special COVID-19 series as well.

And continuing down the beyond IT path, I have recently started listening to a few other ones: Continue reading →

At the intersection of racism and healthcare

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It has been two weeks since George Floyd was murdered by police in Minneapolis. Since then, millions of people have joined protests in major cities and small rural towns around the world to make their voices heard. They have said enough is enough, racism must end and real change is needed.

When the protests end and our national focus begins to shift, we can not go back to business as usual. The statements of support and solidarity made by so many these past two weeks must turn into action.

At the local, state, and federal level we must hold our government leaders accountable for change and exercise our right to vote for those committed to change. With the focus on police brutality, we are beginning to hear some major cities announce planned changes in policing. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has introduced his “Say Their Name” agenda to reform policing in New York state. House and Senate Democrats have introduced the Justice in Policing Act.

In recent days, we have seen many “white coat” rallies as well – White Coats for Black Lives. My social media feeds are filled with pictures and stories of hospital staff rallies – many of them organized by the residents. Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, UMass Memorial in Worcester, Massachusetts, and Henry Ford Health System in Detroit were just a few of them. And these are hospitals who saw thousands of COVID-19 patients in recent months. Truly our healthcare heroes.

In 2014, after Michael Brown was shot by police in Ferguson, we saw similar support. Students at 70 medical schools around the country organized a national white coat die-in saying it was an “important time for medical institutions to respond to the violence and race-related trauma that affect our communities and the patients we serve”. They lay down for fifteen and a half minutes. Eleven minutes to represent the number of times that Eric Garner said “I can’t breathe” as he was in a choke hold by police in New York City and four and a half minutes to represent the four and a half hours that Michael Brown’s body lay in the street after being shot by a police officer. And yet here we are in 2020.

These hospital staff rallies along with the many statements of support from hospital and health system CEOs are an important show of support but we also need action and attention to health disparities. I want to share two heartfelt CEO statements that were the most impactful for me. They are from healthcare leaders I have worked with and greatly respect. Continue reading →