Q&A with William Walders, Part 3: "You need to speak to the level of your audience."

William Walders, CIO, Health First

There are few things more daunting than dealing with a natural disaster; especially when you’re new to the organization, and the storm headed your way is a category 5 hurricane. It’s the type of news that would send any leader into a panic — unless the individual in question has quite a bit of experience with disasters. Like, say, being in a submarine during a tsunami. Or providing relief after a devastating earthquake. Or, perhaps most terrifying, having to testify before Congress.

Once you’ve weathered those types of storms — as William Walders has — it’s hard to be rattled. And so when Hurricane Dorian threatened the Florida coast (and ended up veering in another direction), he was ready. And Health First, which impressed him with its high level of disaster preparedness, was ready to focus on building a framework to enable better care, and a better overall experience.

Recently, healthsystemCIO spoke with Walders about his team’s core objectives, why effective communication is the basis for pretty much everything, his approach to professional development, and how his military career prepared him for the CIO role.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

“Trial by fire” leadership
Key CIO attributes: “Being able to translate IT speak into strategic speak.”
Professional development – “It’s naïve to think the staff will grow without being provided with tools.”
Value of cross-training
Ability to “deliver a succinct message that resonates”
Servant leadership & walking the walk
Moving past old IT tendencies
Learning from his military experience: “It was extremely beneficial from a life skills perspective.”

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Bold Statements

Being a good leader, motivating the staff, and being able to translate IT speak into strategic speak — those are the skill sets a good CIO needs. And, most importantly, being transparent with the resources you’re given, whether it’s time or money. You need to build a plan, stick to it, and if it changes, be able to articulate why.

The goal is for folks to understand two things: first, what the standard is for the role, so that if they want it, they know how to get there. Second is to be able to measure growth.

What I look for, and coach, is someone with the ability to turn that off; to understand the business and speak to the level of the audience, whether it’s physicians or providers. I look for someone who understands what they do, how it works, and won’t just come in and drop IT jargon and walk out of the room.

Being able to work through it is the most important part, and getting past that reactionary phase of, ‘the sky is falling.’ Let’s put the pieces back together. I think that’s invaluable.

Gamble: When you started with Health First, did you reach out to leaders at other organizations and ask how they approached the CIO role?

Walders: Honestly, I didn’t. I’ve always been a ‘trial by fire’ type of person. I asked in the beginning and, quite honestly, the answers I was getting were more like: ‘You’re ready. Just go for it.’ So I think it was more of self-confidence thing. I remember hearing at a lot of interviews, ‘This is different. You’re not at the Department of Defense anymore,’ or ‘You were in the military; you had tons of resources.’ Then I’d remind them that the whole time I was at Walter Reed, we were continuing resolution with no new resources. Or I’d hear, ‘In the military, if you order someone to do something, they do it.’ Let’s just say that wasn’t the case. People didn’t just do what I asked them to do.

I dealt with all of these management issues. The only difference was revenue cycle, and the slightly different versions of accounting. I learned two systems in grad school, a third in the military, and a fourth here, but other than that, it’s largely the same.

Gamble: You seem like you’re pretty candid. Is that something that was appreciated during the interview process? I’m sure it can go either way.

Walders: Apparently it was appreciated, because I did get hired. I was a finalist in all the roles I applied to. I declined two and was beat out by an internal candidate on the third.

Gamble: I’m sure with some organizations there’s a specific mold they’re looking for, but that seems to be changing. We’re starting to see people come to the CIO role from a variety of backgrounds, and I think that will only benefit the industry.

Walders: I agree. Healthcare has a lot to learn from other industries, particularly when it comes to Digital and Consumerization. Having industry experience from industries who do that well is starting to become very appealing.

Gamble: Earlier in our conversation, you mentioned staff development as one of your priorities; looking at your bio, I see you have a few professional certifications. Is this something you encourage because it has helped you along the way?

Walders: It has. We’re in a very dynamic environment. IT is so fast paced. I joke with my peers that in some departments, if you fall asleep at your desk for six months, and not a lot has changed when you wake up. In our world — in IT — you have to stay relevant. Things are changing. We’re so diverse from a technology, standards, and innovation perspective. It would be very naïve to assume that the staff is just going to grow organically without being provided with tools.

That’s why I’m such a big proponent of mentorship and personal growth. My job is to build a roadmap for every in my staff of 400 staff to become a CIO one day, if that’s what they want. And so I’ve developed a growth vector model focused on four areas: performance, for personal development, professional development, and leadership.

The goal is for folks to understand two things: first, what the standard is for the role, so that if they want it, they know how to get there. Second is to be able to measure growth and show, from a referential and audit-proof perspective, why we do what we’re doing with staff, and why forces shape the staff mix we have now. I’m a huge proponent of cross-training and being able to matrix the staff so as to wax and wane based on requirements.

Gamble: As a leader, what attributes do you consider to be the most important in individuals who have the potential to advance?

Walders: Yeah, great question. IT people are notorious for trying to be the smartest person in the room and speaking over peoples’ heads. What I look for, and coach, is someone with the ability to turn that off; to understand the business and speak to the level of the audience, whether it’s physicians or providers. I look for someone who understands what they do, how it works, and won’t just come in and drop IT jargon and walk out of the room.

I used to think my problems were the worst, biggest things that ever existed, until I got to Walter Reed. I’d tell me boss that the system is down and is affecting 30 of the 32 hospitals, and he’d say, ‘Okay, got it.’ And I’d say, ‘Really? That’s it?’ And he’d say, ‘The Vice President is on the other line.’

Once you achieve higher leadership positions, you start to have far bigger problems, and so folks need to be able to deliver a succinct message that resonates and conveys its meaning. Having the ability to tell someone what they need to know — not what you know — is so important. I don’t need to hear everything; just the punchline.

Another is empathy. I’m a big fan of servant leadership. I’ve done almost every job subordinate to me now, with the exception of the CMIO. I was an EMT. I’ve been on wards. I’ve done everything in IT; I’ve pulled cable. I’ve been a system and network administrator.

The beauty of the Navy is we’re an expeditionary force. Right now people who are the age and rank I was at retirement have nuclear weapon keys out in the middle of the ocean. That same authority and scope of responsibility is pushed down to levels like I once had of being the entire network administrator for a system. Having that ‘been there, done that’ mentality is a huge part of servant leadership.

The other thing is I’m very candid and transparent — to a fault, at times. I’ve learned to temper that as I’ve matured, but those are also skills I look for: the ability to communicate, and to be able to translate IT. Having a business mindset around IT is also huge. In years past, there was a lot of that ‘the sky is falling’ mentality — ‘If we don’t get what we’re asking for, we’re going to be on the front pages of the USA Today, or some threat vector is going to get us.’ The trick is getting away from that doom and gloom passioned plea, and into a rationale business conversation based upon the standards your peers are already using: IRR, NPV, TCO, ROI.

Gamble: I’m sure that’s really important. As we know, things can get really prickly in the healthcare environment, especially in IT.

Walders: Right. Again, it’s using the topic of the moment to get what you need from a resource perspective. And so I really value leaders who can speak to the business side of IT, not just the scary part.

Gamble: Right. When you talked about some of your previous experiences, it reminded me of a conversation I once had with Daniel Barchi, CIO at NewYork-Presbyterian, who served in the Navy. He said that being forced to deal with extreme situations gave him a perspective he wouldn’t otherwise have had. Was that the case for you?

Walders: Yes, definitely. I don’t think I can be rattled at this point. I’ve had to brief Congress on some of the issues we had at Walter Reed. I’ve had bullets fired over my head. So when we have issues here, I’m able to handle them — I think it was evident during the hurricane. I received a lot of kudos for my calmness and ability to sort through and solve the problem. Honestly, I can’t think of anything that would rattle me at this point.

Being able to work through it is the most important part, and getting past that reactionary phase of, ‘the sky is falling.’ Let’s put the pieces back together. I think that’s invaluable, and it’s unfortunate that more organizations don’t realize this about veterans who are re-entering the workforce.

Gamble: I would imagine appearing before Congress had to be one of the scariest situations.

Will: It was. I’ll never forget it. It was in my first days at Walter Reed, which is a 2.7 million square foot campus the size of the Mall of America, and we’re supporting 32 hospitals and clinics. And, not even thinking about the magnitude of that, I had senators and congressmen knocking on the door every day for the simplest of things, like if one of their constituents is admitted into the facility. So it’s easy to get crisis fatigue — if everything is a crisis, nothing is a crisis. But it was extremely beneficial from a life skills perspective.

Gamble: Right. I can see why something like a hurricane didn’t rattle you that much. Well, that should about wrap it up. I could certainly speak to you longer, but in the interest of time, I should let you go. I’d love to talk again down the road to see how things are working out.

Walders: Absolutely. I’m happy to do it again. I love your work. I was following the series on Ed Marx, which was good to see.

Gamble: Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks so much for your time, and I hope to speak again soon.

Walders: Thanks.

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