Tag Archives: leadership

Project in trouble? Some dos and don’ts

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If you work in IT, you’ve probably seen your share of projects that need help getting back on track. I could share a lot of stories from my many years in IT in multiple organizations. The complexity and scale of what canstockphoto12827499 (1) dowe do in IT continues to amaze me. Drawing on that experience, I want to share my tips on what to do and not to do if you find yourself taking on a troubled project.

What to do if you want to ensure success:

  • First, stop the churn
  • Get up to speed on the project scope, issues, and challenges as quickly as possible
  • Seek to understand enough of the past to inform the future
  • Focus on getting the project back on track and moving forward
  • Figure out who’s who, what their respective roles are and who owns what
  • Assume positive intent
  • Show respect and gratitude for all involved
  • Ensure all issues are surfaced, assigned to an owner for resolution, and tracked
  • Remove obstacles as they arise
  • Be transparent with leadership about the status and issues
  • Track progress using key metrics
  • Use daily huddles to ensure team members are on the same page, focused, and raising issues
  • Manage expectations for all involved and impacted
  • Document decisions so you don’t have to revisit or rehash them later
  • Consider what levers you can pull such as timeline, resources, budget, or scope
  • When you can’t change the timeline, be ruthless about scope changes
  • Keep calm – reduce team stress, diffuse conflict, and avoid finger pointing

And some tips on what not to do: Continue reading →

What’s the why?

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Yet another best practice from my IT colleagues at the University of Vermont Health Network (UVMHN). We emphasize “the why” in all our work and communications. From the updates on our upcoming Epic go canstockphoto4362942 (1) the whylive to agenda topics to user communications about scheduled downtimes, explaining the why helps everyone understand the context and reasons for what we do.

Our University of Vermont Medical Center (UVMMC) Chief Nursing Officer, Kate Fitzpatrick, reconnected us all to “the why” again at our IT All Staff meeting this week. With about 70 days left until go live, she spoke to the staff who are working long hours to implement a common, integrated EHR throughout the network.

She drew on the stories that were part of the Green Mountain Care Board Certificate of Need (CON) presentation when UVMHN first got the project approved.

Those stories were like those of every other healthcare system with a regional reach that cares for their patient population through integrated and coordinated services provided by an academic medical center and community hospitals. A common patient health record accessible by clinicians at all care locations.

I remember when my daughters were very young. Continue reading →

Hate has no place

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The most recent horrific mass shootings are not due to video games, the Internet, nor mental illness. There are more guns in the United States than people. Let that sink in.canstockphoto45815739 (1) no hate

Hate speech, racism, and white supremacy exist and are tolerated by some of our elected leaders who are supposed to keep us all safe. Let that sink in.

This is not who we want to be as a country. It is time for responsible, moral leaders to act.

I am saddened and outraged yet again by the mass shootings in El Paso, Dayton and Gilroy. We have seen hate target Jewish people at worship in Pittsburgh. We have now seen hate target Hispanic people shopping on a Saturday. These are people like you and me who go to stores, festivals, and churches like you and me.

I have no new messages. I have said it all before in one way or the other.

I wrote about every day racism last year after stories surfaced about incidents at a Starbucks, an Airbnb, a common dormitory room, and a college tour: Teaching moments – every day, everywhere

I wrote about the inhumane treatment of immigrants at the border: Heroes among us: pediatricians

I wrote about the strength and leadership of the Parkland students who started a national movement for gun reform after a mass shooting at their high school: What will you speak up for? and This can’t be the new normal

I wrote about gun control after the largest mass shooting in this country at a music concert in Las Vegas: When can we talk about it?

I wrote about the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub which targeted gay people: Who do we want to be?

I wrote about what I want for my grandchildren as I watched a gun control debate back in 2016: On being a grandparent

And I wrote about the need to build bridges as I listened with both sadness and fear to the divisive rhetoric during the 2016 presidential election: Build bridges, not walls

We must speak up for love and justice every chance we can. We must challenge those who hate and divide us as a people. And we must vote for the kind of leaders that we are willing to trust the future of our children and grandchildren to. Please join me.

IT takes a village

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GLRA is an acronym recognized by anyone who has been through a large-scale system implementation. Spelled out it is Go Live Readiness Assessment. It is typically done at the 90, 60, and 30-day mark before canstockphoto16594838 (1) hands puzzlea go live. At the University of Vermont Health Network (UVMHN), our 90-day GLRA for Epic Wave 1 was this week.

Dr. John Brumsted, UVMHN CEO, kicked the day off with a powerful message on how important the Epic project is to the network and our patients. He talked about why we are doing this for the region that includes six hospitals, a medical group, many ambulatory locations and home health and hospice in both Vermont and New York. He set realistic expectations saying it wouldn’t be perfect and there would be issues. But he expressed confidence in the project, and everyone involved in making it a success. His presence for a good portion of the morning spoke volumes about his support for this massive initiative and appreciation for all involved. The network CFO and the University of Vermont Medical Center (UVMMC) president, CNO, CMO and VP for Medical Group Operations were also there for a good portion of the morning.

Dr. Adam Buckley, UVMHN CIO, followed Dr. Brumsted by talking about how the journey to a common, fully integrated EHR began back in 2013.  A journey that included a Certificate of Need (CON) review and approval by the Green Mountain Care Board. He too set realistic expectations about how many tickets we’ll have at go live just like every other major EHR implementation around the country and thanked the interdisciplinary team involved.

Lori Boisjoli, UVMHN VP Application Portfolio, then framed the day for everyone. The morning would be focused on the UVMMC with revenue cycle and the full suite of specialty modules going live. The afternoon would be focused on the three affiliate sites where ambulatory clinical and revenue cycle are going live. She highlighted that GLRA is the time to raise any significant issues and risks so project leadership can capture them for follow-up. Continue reading →

Good intentions – a midyear checkup

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Remember those things called New Year’s resolutions? Do you make them? Do they last past January? At the start of 2019, I stepped back and did some soul searching (sounds deeper than it was!) and came canstockphoto9123549 (1) calendarup with three broad “intentions” rather than resolutions. They are balance, passion, and engagement.

By balance I wanted to figure out how to make my goal of working closer to three quarters time rather than full-time a reality. Being two plus years into our business, StarBridge Advisors, I was working much more than I initially intended. One of my goals when I stepped off the permanent CIO track in early 2016 was to have more flexibility in my career and work more like three quarters time over the course of the year. When I do an interim engagement, it is obviously a full-time commitment but then there are breaks in between.

So, in January, I decided I would be more intentional about scheduling down time. A great way to do that each week was to block off Tuesdays when I could and spend them with my daughter and two grandkids as that was her day off each week as a nurse practitioner. We had many fun Tuesdays together.

Since I said “yes” to another interim engagement in May it’s been more like having two full-time jobs considering how busy StarBridge Advisors is these days. Evenings and weekends are very full to say the least. A good problem to have for anyone with their own business! But I need to get back to a better balance during this period. It’s a work in process for sure. But I am loving the work I’m doing these days and the people I’m working with.

By passion I wanted to focus some time on developing next generation leaders which has long been a passion of mine. I’d been thinking about an idea for some time focused on developing next generation women leaders. Continue reading →

Modeling leadership, empowering others

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I had the opportunity to meet all the IT interns at The University of Vermont Health Network this week. Several of them are working on infrastructure teams that I am now responsible for as the interim Chief Technology c change key image update right align 2Officer. They are all excited to be working with us, learning and contributing.

When it was my turn to introduce myself, I told them I’m committed to developing next generation leaders and am happy to make time to meet with any of them this summer if they want to talk and get career advice. My days are busy, but I hope at least some of them take me up on the offer. I will find the time.

We all need role models and people who are willing to help us develop and grow professionally. Female leaders in health IT represent only 30% of senior leadership so it’s not yet a level playing field. With our StarBridge Advisors C-change service, we focus on developing women leaders in health IT through online courses and coaching.

On June 18, Gale Thompson and I will be presenting a webinar, “Develop Women Leaders, Transform Leadership” as part of the HIMSS Women in Health IT series.

The learning objectives are to:

  • Recognize that you are not the only one struggling with how to be effective, successful, and fulfilled.
  • Learn how you can make foundational shifts with intention to craft the leader you want to be and the life you want to live.
  • Discover clear, thoughtful steps you can take to steer your career progression while attending to your personal and family commitments. Explore ways you can be proactive in getting what you need/want both professionally and personally.
  • Learn to give yourself permission to invest in your own well-being and leadership growth and commit to taking that next step.

For more information or to register for the webinar, click here.

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What organization can’t benefit from lean?

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As I start my interim management role at a new organization, I’m learning about pockets of best practices throughout the health network for daily huddles and other lean methods. I’m learning from my team that canstockphoto67324721 lean thinkingidentifying the right metrics to measure in IT is a challenge.

And of course, I’m getting a lot of standing meetings added to my calendar while trying to understand what each group’s unique purpose is and where specific type decisions are made. These are important questions given most organizations have too many meetings and people often say they spend too much time in meetings.

One of my first observations week one as I listened to colleagues is that there is potential for lean methods such as a daily management system, huddles, and visual boards.

I’ve learned a lot about lean and what it takes to introduce new concepts into organizations in recent years. One of the most important lessons I’ve learned is to listen and get to know an organization before making any assumptions.

I will be doing a lot of listening and learning in the coming weeks. When it comes to lean methods, I will share my experiences in previous organizations as it makes sense with my new colleagues and teams.

If you share my passion for lean thinking or are interested in learning more, check out my post “Lean classics worth a second look”. It’s a recap of previous posts covering huddles, visual boards, and gemba walks from my journey as a lean leader in different organizations. And if you have a story on how you have applied lean thinking in your organization, I would love to hear it.

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Leadership transitions – learning a new organization

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“Working together, we improve people’s lives”. That’s the vision of The University of Vermont Health Network (UVMHN) where I started this week as the interim Chief Technology Officer. I am excited to be canstockphoto3439718 time to learnpart of a healthcare provider organization again – even though it is temporary.

The first week has been what you’d expect – meeting new people, learning new acronyms, understanding the key issues, getting accounts and devices setup, getting access to systems, and gathering documents for review. While healthcare organizations differ, the issues and challenges are common.

My focus over the next several months will be to drive forward major infrastructure projects. With the Epic Wave 1 implementation scheduled for November at multiple UVMHN affiliates, there are critical interdependent projects that my teams will need to complete.

The opportunity to be part of a team, solving problems and making a difference is something I love doing. Yes, the days will be long, there will be lots of meetings and email, and production support issues. But, at the end of the day, I’ll know that the systems and solutions we provide and support make a difference in the lives of clinicians and in turn our patients and families.

As I act like a sponge and drink from the fire hose in the early weeks, I’ll need to get up to speed quickly on all the current activity and issues. Fortunately, the organization is not entirely new for me. I worked with Dr. Adam Buckley, Chief Information Officer, and his leadership team in late 2017 and again recently on consulting engagements focused on IT redesign.  But consulting is nothing like how deep and broad you need to go as an interim leader. As I said at our redesign retreat this week, I’m switching gears from an outside view to an inside view and excited to be part of the team. Continue reading →

Finding your passion

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One piece of advice I give young people is that they don’t have to decide what they want to do for the rest of their life at age 22. Just think of all the jobs that didn’t exist 10 years ago and what might exist 10 yearscanstockphoto19577734 (1) finding passion from now.

As we acknowledge the nurses among us for National Nurses Week, think how much the nursing field has changed over the years and how many opportunities and different paths nurses can take these days. There is a growing need for nurses with informatics training but that is just one possible path among many.

My oldest daughter is a nurse practitioner. But she didn’t start there when she went to college. She got her undergraduate degree in hotel and restaurant management with a minor in business. She wanted to do travel and tourism – and see the world. On graduation day she looked at me and said, “Mom, I don’t know what I’m going to do with my life that’s meaningful, but I don’t think it’s travel and tourism”. I looked at her and said, “Just get a job and then figure it out”. That was the response of a parent having just put their oldest of two children through college and anxious for her to get started in the full-time work world. Can all you parents of young adults relate? Or did I sound like a callous and unsupportive parent?

She floundered for a year or two after college with a couple different jobs including work in the travel industry for a short time. But she started thinking early on after graduation about becoming a nurse. Whenever she talked to me about it, I told her she’d be a great nurse – super organized, able to multi-task better than anyone I knew, with fabulous people skills. But I also told her that she’d have to buckle down and study the sciences if she wanted to be a nurse.

She considered her options and decided to pursue a combined nursing / nurse practitioner program getting her second bachelor’s degree then her masters. She had found her passion! Continue reading →

M&A work is not just about technology

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Between the organizations I’ve served as CIO and the health systems I’m advising these days through StarBridge Advisors, I’ve seen plenty of M&A activity over the years. Mergers and affiliation agreements People putting the pieces together conceptcome in all sizes.

For a CIO there are the typical areas to look at for system consolidation and integration. But it’s not just about technology. You have to consider the people who are impacted.

I recently wrote an article for the CIO Techie Magazine Healthcare Technology Special Edition 2019 called “M&A activity continues – for IT leaders it’s not just about technology”. I advised on how best to retain talent while still ensuring the strategic goals of the organization and the drivers for the M&A activity are met. My advice:

  • Get to know your new partners and colleagues early
  • Remember that culture is key
  • Partner with HR early on
  • Communicate early and often
  • Think win-win not win-lose
  • Be kind and generous

Check out the full article here.

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