Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Leading Through Change and Growth at Phoenix Children’s with John Nickens

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Leading Through Change and Growth at Phoenix Children’s with John Nickens · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  - Hi, everyone. This is Scott King recording from
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  - Becker's twenty twenty six
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  - annual meeting. I'm here with a very special
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  - guest,
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  - John Nickens, president and chief executive officer over
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  - at Phoenix Children's. John, how are you doing?
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  - Thanks so much for joining us here at
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  - the conference. Well, thanks, Scott. Thrilled to be
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  - here. What a great conference year this is.
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  - Already getting started and lots of activity and
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  - energy.
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  - I'm happy to hear that, and you you
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  - could hear some of the energy here. There's
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  - people walking all around. We've had some great
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  - sessions, great celebrity keynote
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  - speakers as well. And just to start, John,
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  - can you kinda just briefly introduce yourself and
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  - maybe just talk a little bit about your
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  - role, please, and and the scope of your
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  - organization, what's currently commanding the most of your
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  - attention right now as a leader as well.
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  - Sure. Thank you, Scott.
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  - Now
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  - president and CEO of Phoenix Children's have the
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  - privilege to serve in that role. Give you
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  - a little scope of our hospital.
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  - We've really grown into a health system now,
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  - just under 2,000,000,000 650
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  - beds,
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  - 8,000 employees,
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  - three campuses, individual hospitals. We're the only level
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  - one PD trauma center in Arizona.
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  - And I think the thing I'm most excited
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  - about when I introduced Phoenix Children's Health System
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  - is that
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  - 2,500
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  - kids a day,
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  - access our care, whether it's through inpatient 400.
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  - You think about the disruption that is in
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  - a family's life. Right. We count it quite
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  - a privilege to stand in the gap for
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  - those kids, 2,500
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  - each day, every day, with a real focus
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  - of trying to do something bigger than ourselves
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  - and heal sick children.
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  - When you establish that kind of growth
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  - as a system, do you is there a
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  - time to sit back and reflect and and
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  - be happy with that growth? Or is it,
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  - no, we gotta we gotta keep, keep getting
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  - bigger. We have to keep growing in in
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  - one way or another. Yeah. What a fun
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  - question.
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  - As I've come up through the ranks, I
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  - was taught vision, structure, people. But, hey. We're
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  - a children's hospital. You gotta wrap that in
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  - a culture of fun. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So
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  - I think kids always encourage you to celebrate.
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  - For them, it's almost
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  - therapeutic to have play and normalcy. So, yeah,
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  - you gotta pause every once in a while
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  - and have a little fun. Yeah. Make sure
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  - the kids are having fun. Absolutely.
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  - Hey, you know, just kinda for everyone, in
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  - in a year marked by rapid change, what
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  - recent decision or pivot required the most leadership
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  - leadership conviction from you,
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  - particularly when it came to aligning people, resources,
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  - or capabilities?
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  - Well, I'm new to Phoenix. I started October
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  - 1, so it's been six months. So to
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  - me,
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  - it was this idea I wanted to get
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  - to know the the team, the culture. I
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  - wanted to listen. I wanted to find a
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  - way to connect. So I kicked this idea
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  - off. You read about it all the time.
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  - You only have one shot of being new.
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  - You're gonna go I did a hundred days
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  - of listening and connecting.
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  - And I gotta tell you, that was incredibly
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  - difficult.
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  - I am wired to go take action
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  - and to discipline myself to not, but to
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  - listen
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  - to the employees, the team, the doctors, nurses,
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  - and then put together a strategic plan.
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  - That really challenged me to be a little
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  - more measured,
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  - a little more statesman,
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  - to pause and slow down, which was which
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  - was difficult in today's age because, typically, its
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  - speed wins.
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  - Yeah. Yeah. I I I have a couple
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  - follow ups there. I mean, what do you
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  - what do you take away from
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  - focusing on so much listening? Does your active
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  - listening just really improve, and are you kinda
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  - just catching more in your daily life? Yeah.
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  - The practical nature of listening changes. Yeah. Yeah.
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  - You know, not waiting for you to get
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  - done talking so I can talk, because all
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  - I'm doing is listening and trying to figure
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  - out how do I connect.
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  - I also adjusted and,
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  - started using AI. I quit taking notes because
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  - I wanted to maintain
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  - eye contact. So I started using a little
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  - plot as AI to record
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  - our interactions and then give me a summary
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  - at the end of rounding or interacting.
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  - So the technical parts were a little interesting
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  - for me as well.
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  - So how how do you how do you
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  - arrange all that? Listen, is it are you
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  - doing some one on ones during that time?
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  - Are there a lot of group meetings? Like,
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  - how is that facilitated? Yes. Yes. Yes. And
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  - yes. Yeah.
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  - A lot of one on ones, specifically with
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  - those in a leadership role. You know, people
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  - need to have their voice heard. And so
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  - I wanted to take a moment, look eye
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  - to eye, sit down in their area, in
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  - their office, on their campus,
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  - and listen and talk. But the most fun
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  - was just showing up rounding.
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  - No one knew I was coming. I would
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  - pop them to the loading dock up at
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  - our Arrowhead campus and interact with all the
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  - facilities guys and just ask them, alright, what
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  - should I be focused on? How do I
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  - serve you? How's the organization
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  - help you to be successful? Because we all
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  - have a role
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  - in healing sick children.
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  - How did that focus on kinda communicating with
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  - your teammates
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  - change your approach to decision making?
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  - Well, as I mentioned, the,
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  - I've always really subscribed to this idea that
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  - speed wins. You know, identify quick and execute
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  - faster.
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  - But what I learned here was a little
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  - more measured approach.
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  - There's a a quote. Brene Brown says,
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  - you know, clarity is kind.
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  - And I've always heard that, and it it
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  - sounds good. I never experienced it until this
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  - hundred days
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  - is the clarity that the team gave me
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  - was kind. Now I clearly know what I
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  - need to do to lead the organization.
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  - Yeah.
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  - Yeah.
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  - When you think about the forces reshaping health
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  - care right now, where do you believe leaders
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  - need to be more decisive, especially when balancing
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  - things like speed,
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  - risk, and and having the right teams in
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  - place?
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  - Well, I think you said it right. Forces
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  - that are reshaping health care. You go back
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  - to last summer with the big beautiful bill
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  - and now the HR one.
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  - All of us took a step back and
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  - took a breath.
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  - Okay. This is gonna radically change the fundamental
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  - base of health care. And I think as
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  - we go forward as leaders, we have to
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  - be decisive in what does the future look
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  - like. You know, what what is next for
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  - us? I think we have some generational decisions.
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  - I think we're at an inflection point. I
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  - would tell you in pediatric health care, I
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  - think that's behavioral health.
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  - We have the potential of losing a portion
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  - of a generation. Teenage suicide has gone up
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  - three years in a row. And what are
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  - we doing to stand in the gap for
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  - kids
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  - that are struggling? I think that's a that's
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  - a big deal. Care models. We've talked about
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  - them for years.
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  - But with the haircut everyone's gonna take from
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  - HR one, you've gotta relook at care models,
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  - access, and workforce.
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  - Workforce is the one that I think is
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  - gonna really
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  - whoever can figure that puzzle out is gonna
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  - win. Yeah. Definitely some issues that need a
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  - bigger spotlight. A 100% agree there.
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  - As uncertainty has become the norm,
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  - what leadership habit or mindset has been most
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  - critical in keeping your organization
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  - and your team and and staff moving forward?
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  - That uncertainty is a big deal. So two
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  - specific actions. One, I tell all our leaders,
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  - when you have total confidence and you're ready
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  - to act,
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  - pause.
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  - Ask a question Mhmm. Rather than execute. We're
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  - in an uncertain time. Just because it worked
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  - in the past doesn't mean it's gonna work
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  - in the future. We have to pause, have
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  - humility about the way we make decisions.
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  - And then the second is, let's be the
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  - best at getting better. Doesn't mean we're the
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  - best all the time, but we can certainly
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  - improve 1% from yesterday.
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  - And if we commit ourselves, let's be the
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  - best at getting better, it creates a humility
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  - and an effort that we're gonna hustle. And
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  - in Phoenix, we call it our desert vibe.
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  - We're a little desert sassy out there. I
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  - like that. I like that. You know, you've
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  - talked about listening and and communication. Just curious
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  - what are the ways you think you've evolved
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  - as a leader? I think one of the
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  - biggest ones is the challenges
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  - in, our our current workforce.
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  - You have in our environment,
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  - we have 60%
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  - of the frontline staff, let's use nurses as
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  - an example, are millennials.
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  - The way they see the world, the way
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  - they wanna be communicated to, the way they're
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  - inspired is different.
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  - 80% of our designated leaders, managers, and above
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  - are Gen x. They have a Gen xer
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  - who says, hey. Just do it. Make work
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  - your favorite. Like, they work is the outcome.
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  - Yeah. But a millennial says, yeah. I hear
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  - you, but I wanna do something bigger than
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  - myself. I'll work. I'll work hard,
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  - but I want it to mean something. And
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  - then you go to a Gen z, and
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  - a Gen zer says, yeah. I'm gonna work
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  - hard, and I want it to mean something.
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  - But, you know, on the time, I wanna
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  - do it. I want the flexibility of when
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  - I get to do it.
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  - And I don't disagree with any of those.
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  - I'm thrilled. I think they're challenging us to
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  - be better leaders.
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  - For me, I've had to adjust not only
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  - my perception, but my leadership style to make
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  - room
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  - for all the generations. They're all impactful in
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  - the way a hospital runs and a health
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  - system runs. 100%.
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  - And the last question I have for you,
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  - John, how are shifting workforce
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  - expectations
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  - around flexibility, purpose, and mobility influencing how you
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  - design roles,
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  - schedules, or care teams today? So it's combination
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  - of many things we've talked about. Getting out
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  - and listening
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  - those, what does the new care model look
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  - like? Many times, the frontline staff, they have
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  - the answer. If you'll just go listen to
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  - them and engage them Mhmm. They're happy to
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  - share it with you. I think it's about
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  - building community across,
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  - all generations. So for us, we follow the
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  - one word philosophy at the beginning of each
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  - year. We pick a one word, and it
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  - allows you and I to have a conversation
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  - around the hospital.
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  - So I'll go on the floor, visit with
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  - the nurses, same thing with the CFO. What's
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  - your one word? This year, my one word
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  - is ready
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  - because I believe Phoenix Children's Health System is
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  - ready for what's next in health care. I
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  - think we're ready to step into a national
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  - position and lead pediatric health care. Well, Well,
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  - thank you for being ready for this podcast.
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  - It was,
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  - great speaking with you here at Becker's annual
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  - meeting. Absolute pleasure. All the best. Thank you.
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  - Thank you, Scott.