When Donna Roach began her term as a member of the CHIME Board of Trustees in January, she had a mission: to continue the dialog that started last year about how to continue to develop CIOs as leaders. It was a discussion that kicked off at the 2015 Fall Forum when Roach, CIO at Via Christi Ascension Information Services, and Tim Zoph presented the results of a survey designed to identify the leadership attributes that will be most critical for CIOs moving forward. In this interview, Roach talks about why the project appealed to her, the importance of alignment among senior leaders, and the results that surprised her most. She also discusses the increasing role of emotional intelligence in CIOs, the “scary” discussion that needs to be held, and what she hopes will happen next.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
- Challenging the status quo “in a respectful way.”
- Stretching the executive team’s vision
- “We need to build up our emotional intelligence.”
- The question to ask CEOs
- “I learned a lot by conducting those interviews.”
- Value of self-reflection
- Looking ahead — “I want it to be a continual dialogue.”
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Bold Statements
The CIO sometimes is the one that thinks outside of the box, and they need to continue to do that in a respectful way — challenge the status quo, but really bring that perspective. Because that dialogue that takes place is what’s really beneficial.
In any situation when you challenge something, you have to have really strong people skills and be able to have that emotional intelligence. In the past, I don’t know if CIOs have always done that effectively.
It’s that willingness to be able to do some introspection of, ‘Okay, maybe I do shy away from reaching across the table and working with the clinical side. What can I do to encourage that and how can I keep that dialogue going?’ That, to me, was just as valuable as the data that we collected.
Let’s educate other CIOs on how to do this. Maybe you want to do this once year, maybe you want to do it with different executive team members to get their feedback and get their perspectives. It can take on a life of its own in terms of how you want to utilize it.
It’s a great opportunity to sit down with somebody who may be new to the executive team and say, ‘how do you see my role impacting you and what could I be doing to better serve you in your role?’ I don’t think we spend enough time doing that. I think we get so focused on the day-to-day and what we have to do that we forget about our service.
Gamble: Obviously, there are a lot of organizations that have had CMIOs in place for a while, but there are still organizations that are just getting to that point and getting CMIOs and CNIOs in place, and I think that really speaks to the need to really have IT and clinical together to bridge that gap.
Roach: Right. We also heard the executives say that the CIO sometimes is the one that thinks outside of the box, and they need to continue to do that in a respectful way — challenge the status quo, but really bring that perspective. Because that dialogue that takes place is what’s really beneficial for that executive team in getting other people to see that perspective.
I think a really good point Tim brought up is that when we look at other industries, we’ve seen that the ones that are going to be the most successful or that have led change the best are where we bridged that gap, and the CIO has really been infiltrated throughout the executive ranks. And so it’s beneficial to the organization to keep having that dialogue and really stretching the vision of the executive team a little bit more.
Gamble: When you talk about challenging the status quo, it’s interesting because I feel like that might be something where CIOs are being given that permission now and hearing, ‘we want you to be that person,’ whereas maybe CIOs in the past felt that they had to shy away from that. Does that make sense?
Roach: Right. And I think that in any situation when you challenge something, you have to have really strong people skills and be able to have that emotional intelligence. In the past, I don’t know if CIOs have always done that effectively. We’re great technology people and really we need to build up our emotional intelligence a little bit and know how to do that in a respectful way. And I think it starts with building relationships and really understanding how to reach across the table, understand the needs of other executives at the organization, build those relationships, and be able to contribute in a really effective way.
I think that was one of the key things that we saw — that it gives CHIME an opportunity to say, ‘how do we build that up as a professional development?’ That’s kind of a soft skill, but we’re hearing from our executives that that’s something we need to really focus on. You have some really key things like change management and senior management leadership, but how do we build up some of the strong soft skills that other senior leaders have within our CIOs?
Gamble: That makes me think of the one comment where I believe it was a CEO who said that CIOs should have the skillset of a CEO, and it’s f along those same lines of really changing the dynamics of the role.
Roach: Right. A lot of times in the past, the CIO hasn’t always been at the table. There was kind of an inner core to the executive team, and what the executives are saying is we need to bring this more upfront and be at that table and be a true partner with everybody else there.
Gamble: And I’m sure part of that is getting more involved in professional development and trying to find ways to acquire those skills, because it’s not an easy thing to do.
Roach: Right, exactly. And again, it’s going back a little bit to those soft skills and working on those — you have to have opportunities to practice them a little bit. But I think it’s something where you can really see the need and the demand in the organization. And as we work with CIOs and we’re doing professional development, it’s not just the CIOs, but also the up and comers, the number twos that we need to develop as they enter into those ranks and what is their development path.
Gamble: Kind of along those lines, part of the research involved CIOs having conversations with the team leaders and opening up this dialogue, and I’m sure that produced some interesting feedback from both parties.
Roach: Yes. It was kind of interesting because I sat down and I actually met with three of my executives, and you do get a little nervous because basically you’re asking them in some ways, ‘how am I doing?’ You’re opening yourself up a little bit more to saying, ‘I’m really interested in more professional development — how do I become a better executive?’
It’s really being willing to be a little vulnerable and having that dialogue with them. I think the interview process was just as valuable as the data that we collected, because I think if every CIO could sit down and show this data from other CIOs and have an open dialogue around, ‘do you agree, do you disagree with what the CIOs are saying, what is your perspective,’ — I found it extremely valuable. I got insight into what are people are thinking, and that’s not feedback you get on a regular basis. By asking these questions and being willing to listen to their feedback, you get a really good perspective of where that executive team is going and what are their expectations on my role as a CIO. It’s that willingness to be able to do some introspection of, ‘Okay, maybe I do shy away from reaching across the table and working with the clinical side. What can I do to encourage that and how can I keep that dialogue going?’ That, to me, was just as valuable as the data that we collected, and I really encourage other CIOs to be able to share this data, have that conversation. It’s an easy enough dialogue and it’s an easy enough process to do, but in terms of the benefits, the CIOs that actually went through the process of sitting down with their executive team, we heard great feedback from them. They learned a lot, and I learned a lot by conducting those interviews and being able really do some self-reflection on, okay, I have my own work that I have to do.
Gamble: I would imagine some of the CIOs were surprised by not only what the CEOs said but maybe the things that came out of their mouth, just realizing how they really do view certain things?
Roach: Definitely. And I think in certain situations or certain settings, the CIO may not report to the CEO, or they may not have access to them. And so having that dialogue or having that access really shows you, what potentially could be my development path? So if you really are looking to develop as a CIO — maybe you’ve only been in the role for a couple of years, it gives you a great opportunity to say, ‘now I’m starting to understanding a little bit more of the needs of the organization and what needs to be developed personally within me, but also maybe within that executive team.’
Gamble: Yeah, and I think what’s also beneficial about that is it doesn’t require a huge effort or even bringing in outside consultants or anything like that. It’s a tool that can be used anywhere.
Roach: Exactly. And every organization is different. A CIO in a small, 100-bed hospital may get totally different feedback than a CIO that’s in a 400-bed hospital or a multi-hospital system. And so I think that dialogue is more appropriate, because one size isn’t going to fit all. We can’t make these far-reaching conclusions with the data, but by being able to utilize this tool and get the CIOs or the executive team to do their own survey process and have that dialogue, that’s really the value of this.
That’s what we said within CHIME — this is actually a great tool to put in the toolbox to really educate people a little bit more, maybe in a CHIME boot camp or in some sessions where, let’s educate other CIOs on how to do this. Maybe you want to do this once year, maybe you want to do it with different executive team members to get their feedback and get their perspectives. It can take on a life of its own in terms of how you want to utilize it.
Gamble: Right, making it something beyond just a one-time event.
Roach: Right.
Gamble: For you, did your involvement in the project change your views on the role?
Roach: I think the perspective that I walked away with was that first off, one size doesn’t fit all, so you can’t make too many far-reaching conclusions about things. But I looked at it as it really opened up a strong dialogue, and it’s a dialogue that I want to keep going. And like you said, I don’t want it to just be a one-time thing, I really want it to be a continual dialogue. Being able to have that on a regular basis and take that time is going to sit with me, and it’s really about how do I take that information and then professionally develop from that.
So yes, I learned quite a bit from it. Coming into Via Christi, I am learning quite a bit by applying this tool to my new setting here and getting people’s feedback, so that it’s been really a valuable tool that has helped me quite a bit in understanding the needs of the organization.
Gamble: Right, and especially with the enormous change we’ve seen in the last couple of years in the role, it’s especially important, I would think, to keep this dialogue going as the expectations change.
Roach: Right. Think about it, even as new members of the executive team come in, it’s a great opportunity to sit down with somebody who may be new to the executive team and say, ‘how do you see my role impacting you and what could I be doing to better serve you in your role?’ I don’t think we spend enough time doing that. I think we get so focused on the day-to-day and what we have to do that we forget about our service and the fact that we should be serving other people within the executive team to make the most of that executive team and make the most for the organization.
Gamble: Really interesting. Well, this is really helpful. I appreciate your time. I think this is a really interesting initiative, and I look forward to seeing how it will continue to grow.
Roach: I am too. I started on the CHIME boards in January, so this has definitely given me a platform to bring to the board and really look at how we do these things for our membership and how do we help develop CIOs in the future, because it is such a changing industry and there’s such a need out there. And CHIME is a great organization that can really provide this type of development and really assist the CIO and healthcare.
Gamble: Absolutely. And congratulations, that should be an exciting position.
Roach: Yeah, thank you. I’m looking forward to it.
Gamble: Well, thank you so much. I look forward to hopefully catching up with you in a couple of months.
Roach: That’d be great. Thanks, Kate. I appreciate it.
Gamble: Thank you, Donna.
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