Tag Archives: work/life balance

Family ties – we all have a story

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I am the youngest of my three siblings; I have a sister and two brothers. My husband, Tom, grew up the middle child with an older brother and a younger sister. All of our parents were deceased by the time we Blooming Grove cropped icaruswere in our mid-30’s and raising our own children.

My husband’s brother, Ted, died last November. Tom and Ted had an up and down relationship over the years but had come to a good place together last year. They got together for dinner on Wednesdays and had become good friends.

Yesterday, Tom and I drove 350 plus miles to a small community, Blooming Grove, near Williamsport, Pennsylvania to bury Ted’s ashes. Tom’s sister flew in from Arizona and several of their cousins who live in New England joined us. Why Blooming Grove? This is where seven generations of Schade’s are buried. It is a small community of Dunkard Baptists who first immigrated from Germany in the early 1800’s. A place in the Schade family history I’d only heard stories about until this trip.

Several of those generations are on our family photo wall. It is a work in process. Tom continues to add pictures from both of our families as we go through old boxes of photos. Our oldest granddaughter is five. She loves the movie Coco and understands it is about honoring and remembering your ancestors. When she visits, we often review the family photo wall and explain who everyone is.   Continue reading →

4 Tips when you must work on vacation

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If summer is the weeks between Memorial Day and Labor Day, summer is a third over already. Have you made your summer vacation plans? Have you figured out how you’re going to get a break and renew your canstockphoto38573795 (1) work on vacationenergy?

I’ve advocated making vacation time truly yours and figuring out how to completely shut off from work. You need to make sure you have someone covering while you are away and trust that they will handle things well without you.

It’s a little different now that I have my own business with two colleagues and our work is more fluid. When I am off for 2 weeks on a long planned European trip later this year, I will shut it off completely. My colleagues will handle whatever comes up.

But when I take other shorter breaks, I will continue to manage my key commitments and the high priorities. Here are some tips for managing when you must work on vacation:

Timebox – If you need to do certain work, schedule a specific block of time to do it then shut it off for the rest of the day.

Accessibility – Make sure your colleagues know when you are and aren’t available. With cell coverage and Wi-Fi being pervasive, it shouldn’t be hard to do whatever you have to do wherever you are. But when you are in a remote area and have limited or spotty cell coverage, make sure others know this.

Email management – We all know email can be a time sink. It’s endless. Scan it quickly and deal with only what’s time sensitive and high priority. The rest can wait. Since you are not checking it as often, ask colleagues to text you if there is something you need to deal with.

Managing family expectations – If you are the only family member who needs to work while away, let them know the time you need for work and manage their expectations.  Trust me, it will avoid stupid fights and bad feelings.

For advice on completely shutting off on vacation and why it’s so important to do so, check out my post, “Take time to reboot”.

Kudos to all of you who plan to spend some of your vacation time doing community service or volunteering for something you are passionate about – there are many opportunities to pay it forward these days.

Happy summer! It will be over before you know it.

Related Posts: 

Take time to reboot

Do you know your big rocks?

Time to stop and smell the roses

Sabbaticals for CIOs – why not?

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I talk to several CIOs each week. I listen to them and try to figure out how we might help them through our advisory services at StarBridge Advisors. Depending on where the CIO is in his or her career, they canstockphoto51125301 sabbaticalsometimes ask, “How and when can I join you at StarBridge?”. The idea of getting off the permanent CIO track and having more flexibility can be appealing.

The idea of a “substitute CIO” came up from one of the CIOs I talked to recently. He was thinking about how to get his organization prepared for someone else to lead for a period with the knowledge that he would be back after several months. I told him it sounded like a sabbatical to me – not a bad idea.

Sabbatical means a rest from work or a break. When we think about sabbaticals, we typically think of professors and ministers. It’s a time for them to go away, reflect, study, research, write, and get rejuvenated.

Just think what a CIO could do with an opportunity like that!

When I was working as a CIO fulltime and would visit other countries on vacation, I thought how awesome it would be to spend several months studying another country’s healthcare system. The lessons and new ideas I could bring back to my organization. But that’s just one idea. What about taking time to learn about leading edge healthcare organizations in the U.S. Or studying a particular problem that every healthcare organization is trying to solve. Or working with start-ups on a new and innovative product.

Wouldn’t our industry benefit from letting our senior practitioners step back from the day-to-day and go deeper on work we need to do?

You earn vacation time each year, so why not earn sabbatical time? Continue reading →

Family first

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With a family vacation in our future that includes four grandkids between 2 and 5 years old, I am reminded who my big rocks are. While there may be times that vacation week when the level of chaos is more than I want, just being able to spend extended time together will be worth it.

I executed a new master plan two years ago that included living close to my daughters and their families. Since then I have had a chance to spend far more time with them than when I lived and worked halfway across the country.

I hope you all know who your big rocks are. And more importantly, that you make time to spend with them.

With that in mind, I’m sharing the “Do you know your big rocks?”  post I published in April two years ago.

Do you know your big rocks?

April is a mixed month for me. No, I’m not talking about the fact that we had snow this week. In April, I celebrate many happy milestones, including my birthday and my wedding anniversary. Andcanstockphoto25793802 now, both my daughters have April wedding anniversaries. And the blooming daffodils along the road remind me that spring is finally here. 

Yet, there is always a sad part of April for me. My father died from Hodgkin’s disease on April 23rd, just a few days before my fourth birthday. Losing a parent as a child leaves a hole in your heart and shapes who you are.

Stephen Covey has a great story about “big rocks”. If you’re not familiar with it, just google it. Our families are our big rocks and my daughters remind me of that. And as little as they are, my grandchildren are also big rocks for me.  Every time one of my daughters calls me on FaceTime and I see a cute little toddler smiling at me from my iPhone, I fall in love with them all over again. 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 →

Find your voice, a mentor, and be bold

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The week started with #Oprah2020 trending on Twitter. If you missed Oprah’s inspirational speech at the Golden Globes on Sunday night you can find it on YouTube. Who doesn’t love Oprah? But, should we canstockphoto13471338 (002) mentorelect another president who lacks government experience?

But these aren’t the questions I want to address. A Slate article by Dahlia Lithwick got my attention on Monday. She said the real message of Oprah’s speech wasn’t about her but about us. Do we feel empowered enough to act. She focused on women running for office at all levels. And that led me to think more about empowerment.

While that buzz was happening on Monday, I was in a daylong meeting with a small group of women leaders from various industries. We had been brought together by the first female president of a large, national organization to discuss the challenges women in leadership face. It was an insightful discussion as stories were shared, dissected, and analyzed.

As I bring this back to health IT, I’m not going to rehash the stories and lessons from my experience as a female IT leader over the years. I’ve shared some of them in previous posts. Rather, I want to again encourage you to take steps to own your career and find ways to develop yourself. Find your voice and speak up. Find the mentors you need to help you. And be bold.

HIMSS18 is less than 2 months away. To get the most out of the annual conference you need to make choices and plan your time there carefully. There are many ways to invest in “you” while there, including education and networking.

I’ve had the opportunity to present at many previous HIMSS conferences on a range of topics. This year, I was asked to support the Career Fair and the Women in HIT sessions. I’m committed to developing the next generation of leaders, so I gladly said yes! Continue reading →

Another year, another chance

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Whatever resolutions or goals, personal or professional, you had in 2017 – it’s time to revisit, revise, and recommit. The most common ones are go to the gym, eat healthy, lose weight, read more, watch less TV, canstockphoto24043991 (002) NYEspend more time with your family, get organized.

And then there are bigger, loftier goals. My daughter has a saying on the wall of her home office, “Do Something Great Today”. It means doing something bigger than herself.  For her, it is helping her company act more responsibly, to act more sustainably. It is a great motivator to live her values and find ways to have a greater impact.

She also has her personal mission statement on her office wall – “live a life that I’d want for my two daughters”. If she wants something for them, then she must do the same – like be healthy or be a good friend.

I was inspired by a Happy New Year post on LinkedIn from Vicki Davis, VP at Healthcare IT Leaders. She said, “No matter what life has for us, we should enjoy every minute of it. Celebrate the beginning of a new year the most, as it is a clean slate. Set positive goals and resolutions. Hang them where you can see them every hour of the new year. Choose your actions and words wisely this year so that you are remembered as a good human being, a great friend and a true guide when you end this year.”

We all are driven by different motivations. But fundamentally, I believe we all want to be good people and do good for others.

I look forward to another year of learning and making a difference through my client work and the non-profit organizations where I volunteer my time. With my colleagues at StarBridge Advisors, we work with organizations to advance healthcare by leveraging technology.

While I have yet to formulate any bigger than me goals for this year, I am recommitting to some basic resolutions. Continue reading →

You need to own your own career

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December brings the holidays and social time with co-workers, friends and family. It’s also a good time to take stock and reflect on your work and career. Two years ago at this time I planned my next chapter and canstock120117 careerdecided to leave a permanent CIO position. My two goals were to live where I wanted to live and have more flexibility in my career.

I talk with a lot of people at different stages of their career who are taking stock and trying to figure out their choices.

They may be in their 30’s, relatively young in their career, and thinking about the next right move and where that would position them for the long run.

Or, they may be someone in their 50’s or early 60’s and thinking about how long they want to work and the one final job change that might make the capstone to their career.

Or, they may be someone who has made the decision to “retire”, but not quite yet. They are considering what kind of work they still want to do, and how much.

For people in that last group, I ask them to think about 3 questions:

  • What do you want to do? After all, what you are good at and enjoy the most?
  • How much do you want to work?  If you’ve been working 60+ hours a week at a demanding job, it’s time to consider how much time you want for yourself, your family, your other passions and hobbies.
  • What do you need financially? There are 3 ways to look at it: continue at roughly the same income level and continue contributing to your retirement, make enough to live on but not contribute any further to retirement, or start drawing on your retirement savings.

Until you ask and answer these important questions, it’s hard to make a solid plan.

For people younger in their career, these questions still apply. But there are others: Continue reading →

One year anniversary, how are we doing?

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For the first birthdays of my four grandkids, there have been party hats and “smash” cakes. But what does a small team of entrepreneurs do on the first anniversary of founding their firm? They take stock and plan canstockphoto48088945for year two.

David Muntz, Russ Rudish and I launched StarBridge Advisors in October of 2016. So how does a health IT advisory firm measure success after year one?

Number of clients – We have already assisted 12 healthcare provider organizations with some repeat engagements and have national reach.

Revenue – Any first-year projections can be a crapshoot but you need to start somewhere. We may have been overly optimistic but we are well on our way with our client base and pipeline.

Size of our team – In addition to our three principals, we now have almost 20 advisors on our team available for interim management, leadership support and consulting. Their IT leadership experience includes serving as CIO, CTO, CISO, CMIO or CNIO in healthcare organizations.

Channel partners – We work closely with several larger consulting firms who offer services that we don’t. We partner with Healthcare IT Leaders, a leading staffing firm and Rudish Executive Search, which specializes in healthcare.  And we are working with a few start-up technology vendors who are bringing to market new and novel solutions for healthcare providers.

Referrals – Our principals combined have over 90 years of experience in the healthcare industry. Our relationships are a key component of growing a new business and getting known in the market.

Name and brand recognition – A year ago we had decided on a name and incorporated, but had yet to figure out our branding. That was some fun work at first; by January we launched our website and social media presence. Continue reading →

Family support systems: priceless

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I am regularly reminded how much young working couples with children need family support systems. Even with the new more flexible work arrangements and the ability to work from home occasionally or on canstockphoto43984614a permanent basis, working parents need help from time to time.

We have four young working parents in our family. They balance the demands of their jobs and raising young children. That’s my two daughters and our sons-in-law or as my husband called them on Father’s Day, “active duty dads”. And he of course is an “active duty grandpa” when needed.

My oldest daughter is a nurse practitioner who works three 12 hour shifts a week and a fourth shift one week a month. She has an hour plus drive each way to the hospital. She leaves the house before her 1-year-old and 2-year-old children are awake. She gets home in time for bath and bedtime stories.

On the days she works, my son-in-law gets the children up, dressed, fed and off to the day care center. He is a senior loan officer at a mortgage company with an office in downtown Boston. He takes the train in and out and works from home a few days a week. Continue reading →