Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / How to Prepare & Lead Your Staff Through Change

Transcript

How to Prepare & Lead Your Staff Through Change · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:00
  - Hi, everyone. This is Lucas Voss with Becker's
• 0:02
  - Healthcare. Thanks so much for tuning in to
• 0:04
  - the Becker's Healthcare podcast series. It's great to
• 0:06
  - have you. Today, we're talking about how to
• 0:08
  - prepare and lead your staff through change. And
• 0:12
  - joining me for today's discussion, I'm so excited
• 0:15
  - to have her, is Mary Jo Williamson. She's
• 0:17
  - the chief administrative officer at Mayo Clinic Laboratories.
• 0:20
  - Mary Jo, thanks so much for being here
• 0:21
  - and taking some time. It's great to have
• 0:22
  - you.
• 0:23
  - Oh, it's a pleasure to be here.
• 0:26
  - You bring an incredible amount of experience
• 0:29
  - to this
• 0:30
  - conversations, thirty years as a health care leader.
• 0:32
  - Again,
• 0:33
  - different roles. You've served as chief administrators officer
• 0:36
  - for both Mayo Clinic in Rochester and Mayo
• 0:38
  - Clinic health system. You've also served as a
• 0:40
  - chair of practice administration and were a member
• 0:42
  - of Mayo Clinic's board of governors and board
• 0:44
  - of trustees, which gives you this sort of
• 0:47
  - broad overview of having dealt with so many
• 0:49
  - different people
• 0:50
  - and different entities throughout your career.
• 0:53
  - How have you seen
• 0:55
  - the approach to change management
• 0:58
  - evolve
• 0:59
  - not just in that time period that you've
• 1:01
  - spent, but also in these different positions?
• 1:04
  - Well, isn't it fascinating
• 1:06
  - when you look back across your career, look
• 1:09
  - back
• 1:09
  - past over time?
• 1:11
  - And, you know, the issues might change, but
• 1:14
  - so many of the challenges that you have
• 1:16
  - to overcome are still the same. I mean,
• 1:19
  - whether it's staffing shortages,
• 1:22
  - lack of engagement from your employees,
• 1:25
  - economic hardship,
• 1:26
  - or shifts in the economy,
• 1:29
  - all of
• 1:30
  - them really require you to change course. And
• 1:32
  - and that's regardless if if you're changing, you
• 1:35
  - know, your approach because of new Medicare regulations
• 1:37
  - or if you're trying to engage and optimize,
• 1:41
  - how you engage with AI and new technology
• 1:43
  - to bring more answers and efficiencies.
• 1:46
  - I mean, it still comes down to the
• 1:48
  - same things that you really have to work
• 1:49
  - through.
• 1:50
  - So the pivot isn't new,
• 1:52
  - and that's really been a constant through my
• 1:54
  - thirty years of leadership at Mayo Clinic and
• 1:57
  - now Mayo Clinic Laboratories.
• 1:59
  - What's changed, I think, is the pace of
• 2:02
  - change.
• 2:03
  - And we were talking before the podcast started
• 2:06
  - about the 28 ways you can immediately contact
• 2:08
  - any leader, whether it's Teams, Zoom,
• 2:12
  - email, text. Yes. And and that rapid pace
• 2:15
  - of change and being able to synthesize what's
• 2:18
  - coming at you
• 2:19
  - and and really to be able to adapt
• 2:21
  - quickly,
• 2:23
  - is a new skill set or a skill
• 2:25
  - set that really has to be enhanced across
• 2:27
  - our whole workforce. I mean, if you look
• 2:28
  - at technology development over the last five years,
• 2:31
  - you know, the level of acceleration we've seen
• 2:33
  - in the past twenty four months, I think,
• 2:35
  - have stunned even experts who are close to
• 2:38
  - it. So that ability to pilot,
• 2:41
  - learn,
• 2:42
  - adapt quickly
• 2:43
  - really now has to be the standard way
• 2:46
  - of operating. We no longer have the luxury
• 2:48
  - to deeply evaluate everything and make sure our
• 2:52
  - actions are all perfectly coordinated.
• 2:55
  - You know, instead, these rapid cycle
• 2:57
  - of change is really, I think, how you
• 2:59
  - have to operate,
• 3:01
  - to make sure you're bringing all the best
• 3:03
  - to your teams, to your customers, to your
• 3:05
  - patients,
• 3:06
  - and, it's something that we really try to
• 3:08
  - adapt in our everyday language and how we
• 3:11
  - manage,
• 3:12
  - our teams.
• 3:13
  - You know, diagnostic technology is just one example
• 3:16
  - of that. It evolves so rapidly. I mean,
• 3:19
  - solutions
• 3:20
  - from a year ago,
• 3:21
  - may look very different from what's available and
• 3:23
  - on the market today. You cannot be stagnant.
• 3:26
  - I mean, we use that language often. It's
• 3:28
  - a dynamic environment.
• 3:30
  - We have to constantly be looking ahead and
• 3:32
  - making some bets on how we think this
• 3:34
  - is gonna evolve. Because to remain relevant, we
• 3:37
  - have to be adapting
• 3:38
  - at the same speed,
• 3:40
  - that the technology and the market is moving,
• 3:43
  - and that that's challenging.
• 3:45
  - I just wanna come back to something that
• 3:47
  - you said earlier too, that connection of sort
• 3:49
  - of the the basics haven't changed,
• 3:52
  - focusing on the basics with then balancing it
• 3:54
  - with that approach of everything changes fast. You
• 3:57
  - cannot do what you just described
• 3:59
  - if you don't have the basics down. You
• 4:01
  - need to still have an eye on these
• 4:03
  - basics that you've mentioned that are so important.
• 4:04
  - But one of the things that I think
• 4:06
  - is very interesting in this is we know
• 4:08
  - that speed is important. Right? It's we we
• 4:11
  - as you just described, it's one of those
• 4:12
  - elements that needs to happen. You cannot evolve
• 4:15
  - if you're not doing it at the speed
• 4:17
  - at which it happens today.
• 4:19
  - How do you balance that need to pivot
• 4:21
  - quickly
• 4:23
  - than with employee readiness?
• 4:26
  - Well, it's such a key question because, you
• 4:28
  - know, candidly, without our teams, we're nothing. We
• 4:31
  - have all the best ideas,
• 4:33
  - all the best resources,
• 4:34
  - but without connecting the dots to the people
• 4:37
  - who are actually delivering the service on our
• 4:39
  - behalf, like, you're just gonna fail.
• 4:42
  - And I think one of the biggest challenges
• 4:44
  - comes back to we have so many different
• 4:47
  - modes of communication, and that can be a
• 4:49
  - luxury, but it can also be a distraction
• 4:51
  - if you're not really
• 4:53
  - disciplined
• 4:54
  - about how you start to layer in messaging
• 4:57
  - and priorities
• 4:58
  - to your team.
• 5:00
  - I also think we have to be very
• 5:01
  - disciplined on what we pursue.
• 5:03
  - You know, the opportunities,
• 5:05
  - like, for automation, for instance, are endless.
• 5:08
  - But we as an executive team
• 5:10
  - really have to have our act together on
• 5:12
  - what are the best bets, so we're narrowing
• 5:14
  - the focus
• 5:15
  - of what we're trying to pursue. So moving
• 5:18
  - quickly
• 5:19
  - doesn't mean chasing every new tool or opportunity
• 5:22
  - or idea.
• 5:24
  - That approach isn't practical or sustainable and certainly
• 5:27
  - won't get you deep results.
• 5:29
  - You might get some surface level,
• 5:31
  - movement, but you won't bring the rest of
• 5:34
  - the organization along with you. And and the
• 5:36
  - risks of draining resources
• 5:38
  - without having that meaningful
• 5:41
  - long term impact are real. And so we
• 5:43
  - have to constantly be evaluating
• 5:46
  - how much bandwidth do we have, how do
• 5:48
  - we prioritize.
• 5:50
  - I think the other thing that that I
• 5:52
  - know our teams are looking for and that
• 5:54
  - we take very seriously
• 5:56
  - is really grounding
• 5:57
  - those decisions in our mission,
• 6:00
  - vision, and strategy.
• 6:02
  - You know, it can become very alienating
• 6:04
  - for teams and employees and staff if it
• 6:07
  - appears it appears you're just doing a scattershot
• 6:10
  - across what the next shiny object is.
• 6:13
  - But if if a new opportunity doesn't clearly
• 6:16
  - support our long term direction,
• 6:18
  - you know, we consider it a distraction. We
• 6:20
  - might come back to it at a later
• 6:22
  - moment, but but we try to keep very
• 6:25
  - focused
• 6:26
  - on what's gonna propel and evolve the organization
• 6:29
  - forward and allow us to bring more answers
• 6:31
  - to patients throughout the world.
• 6:34
  - And so when initiatives do align, you know,
• 6:37
  - with the mission, vision, and long term, it
• 6:39
  - becomes much easier
• 6:41
  - to prepare staff because the changes really reinforce
• 6:44
  - what our teams already understand,
• 6:47
  - and it it feels to them more like
• 6:48
  - an opportunity versus just a disruption. So it's
• 6:52
  - it's so important to connect those dots on
• 6:54
  - where we're headed,
• 6:56
  - who we are, and our values, how that's
• 6:59
  - staying the same,
• 7:01
  - but how we must evolve to get to
• 7:03
  - a better place to have a bigger impact
• 7:05
  - and to provide better services.
• 7:08
  - And it's it's interesting. I think understanding our
• 7:11
  - employees' perspective
• 7:13
  - and readiness
• 7:14
  - couldn't be more critical than it is today.
• 7:17
  - It's always been important
• 7:18
  - to listen, to understand, to synthesize what you
• 7:22
  - hear from the frontline teams. They don't they
• 7:24
  - don't have access to as much information as
• 7:26
  - you do, so they don't always have all
• 7:28
  - the right pieces. But they do have deep
• 7:31
  - nuance understanding
• 7:33
  - of their piece of the pie, of the
• 7:35
  - of the experience.
• 7:36
  - And and making sure as leaders that we
• 7:39
  - don't blow by that, that we deeply understand
• 7:42
  - and synthesize that is is so important. I
• 7:45
  - mean, we work hard to provide opportunities
• 7:48
  - for our staff to ask questions and give
• 7:50
  - us feedback,
• 7:52
  - and and that helps us understand where the
• 7:54
  - gaps are on their readiness to evolve and
• 7:56
  - change. And and candidly,
• 7:58
  - sometimes will flag issues that we misunderstood,
• 8:01
  - that might cause us to reevaluate
• 8:03
  - a major move or a major new technology
• 8:06
  - adoption.
• 8:07
  - You mentioned proactivity a couple of of times,
• 8:09
  - which I think is very crucial. You also
• 8:11
  - mentioned something else, which I think is important,
• 8:13
  - which is listening
• 8:14
  - to your folks, which is important. Listening to
• 8:16
  - your teams, listening to your leaders, most importantly.
• 8:19
  - But, again, if we're not listening,
• 8:21
  - we can't be proactive because it doesn't help
• 8:24
  - us identify the problems and the issues that
• 8:26
  - organizations are facing. So I think that that's
• 8:27
  - really, really key. Now,
• 8:29
  - we would hope that all leaders understand that
• 8:32
  - listening to their teams is important.
• 8:35
  - You've touched on this a little bit, but
• 8:37
  - I wanna just dive a little bit deeper
• 8:39
  - into the how of all of this. Right?
• 8:41
  - Apart from just listening,
• 8:44
  - what needs to happen from a leadership perspective
• 8:47
  - to build more trust and confidence with teams?
• 8:49
  - What are those things that you want leaders
• 8:52
  - to do?
• 8:53
  - Well, it's it's such a great question. And
• 8:56
  - I'll say, you know, I have so many
• 8:58
  - great leaders who work underneath me, and and
• 9:00
  - some of them are up and comers.
• 9:02
  - And it's funny. One one kind of rookie
• 9:04
  - error I'll sometimes see people make is
• 9:07
  - if an employee
• 9:08
  - leads with a concern,
• 9:10
  - you know, then then the leaders listening kinda
• 9:13
  - turns off. Oh, they just don't wanna change.
• 9:15
  - You know, you often hear that. My team
• 9:17
  - just doesn't wanna change. And I always say,
• 9:19
  - you have to dig, like, four layers deeper
• 9:21
  - to understand what's driving that unwillingness or concern
• 9:25
  - about change. And I think people sometimes,
• 9:28
  - will jump to the conclusion that it's just
• 9:30
  - a desire, not,
• 9:32
  - I don't know how or I don't have
• 9:34
  - the skills or I don't have the pieces.
• 9:36
  - But but to get to your question specifically,
• 9:39
  - I mean, one of one of the things
• 9:41
  - that has served me well in in my
• 9:43
  - leadership journey is really
• 9:46
  - focusing on communicating with transparency.
• 9:49
  - And I think being direct
• 9:51
  - and transparent is sometimes hard for leaders. They
• 9:53
  - want to,
• 9:55
  - share the good, not the bad. They they
• 9:57
  - sometimes skirt around issues in ways that might
• 10:00
  - be hard for teams to understand what they're
• 10:02
  - really trying to get at. And being honest
• 10:05
  - about results as we implement new tools or
• 10:08
  - when we have successes or mid missteps, that
• 10:11
  - that all builds credibility and trust.
• 10:15
  - And and you have to kinda have this
• 10:16
  - balance of looking around the corner to see
• 10:18
  - what might be coming, but also
• 10:20
  - having people's back if things don't go well
• 10:22
  - and helping them helping them reposition or retool
• 10:27
  - so they can figure out how to work
• 10:28
  - through whatever challenges come their way. And and
• 10:31
  - I think when people don't have that trust,
• 10:33
  - with you to be upfront when things aren't
• 10:35
  - going well in that in that instance,
• 10:38
  - they're they're far more likely to trust you
• 10:41
  - when things are a good idea, and they're
• 10:44
  - willing to take that leap of faith. And
• 10:46
  - so trust has always been important in leadership.
• 10:50
  - But I think in in today's environment with
• 10:53
  - social media,
• 10:54
  - so much change, you know, some underlying fear
• 10:57
  - of what that change means for people's roles,
• 10:59
  - trust just you can't double down on it
• 11:02
  - enough. So,
• 11:03
  - you know, I I think it is not
• 11:05
  - just communicating,
• 11:06
  - it's also educating.
• 11:09
  - And we work hard to equip our staff
• 11:11
  - with the knowledge
• 11:13
  - to engage with the change rather than having
• 11:15
  - it happen to them. You know, that that's
• 11:17
  - just a key element of change management. But
• 11:20
  - you really have to put your money where
• 11:22
  - your mouth is. I mean, you have to
• 11:23
  - be willing to commit the time, for them
• 11:26
  - to be able to engage. You have to
• 11:27
  - be willing to break it down so they
• 11:29
  - see the pieces and how it will impact
• 11:31
  - them. But once again, in that mantra of
• 11:34
  - go slow to go fast, I think it
• 11:35
  - can be very powerful,
• 11:37
  - to really equip staff with knowledge,
• 11:41
  - to to make sure they're part of driving
• 11:43
  - the journey, not just part of, you know,
• 11:45
  - being dragged along with it. And, you know,
• 11:48
  - a couple of an examples,
• 11:50
  - Mayo Clinic offers lots of opportunities to learn
• 11:52
  - about topics outside of your work. You know?
• 11:55
  - So whether it's
• 11:56
  - data science or automation, we have lots of
• 11:58
  - learning environments. And
• 12:00
  - encouraging people to participate in that and then
• 12:03
  - also helping them apply it to what's going
• 12:06
  - on in your work unit, in your business
• 12:08
  - unit, I think is a is a great
• 12:10
  - luxury that we have.
• 12:12
  - And and we also try to be very
• 12:14
  - clear about our intention to find meaningful ways
• 12:18
  - to use these new tools. So, you know,
• 12:20
  - it's back to that. It's not just a
• 12:21
  - shiny object. Here's the why behind why we're
• 12:24
  - we're really investing,
• 12:26
  - whether it's automation or new data capabilities.
• 12:29
  - And and we really try to encourage staff
• 12:32
  - to be knowledgeable and to build their
• 12:35
  - understanding and expertise so that they can help
• 12:37
  - us
• 12:39
  - understand the best way to incorporate these new
• 12:41
  - capabilities. And, man, when that comes together, like,
• 12:44
  - it's magic. When you've got the investment side
• 12:47
  - of the new capability and you have an
• 12:49
  - educated team who's engaged and willing to take
• 12:52
  - some risks, you know, it's really can be
• 12:54
  - exciting. And as I said before, we often
• 12:57
  - use pilots and shared learnings
• 13:00
  - as ways to help people move without major
• 13:03
  - business risk or potential for major disruption.
• 13:07
  - And and most new solutions candidly start out
• 13:09
  - in a small scale as an initiative in
• 13:12
  - a small work unit,
• 13:14
  - but you really have to be disciplined about
• 13:16
  - building it so that it can scale if
• 13:18
  - it takes off. You you can kinda sometimes
• 13:20
  - get caught in a trap of you have
• 13:22
  - a successful pilot, but you can't figure out
• 13:24
  - how to scale it. But but we share
• 13:26
  - transparently what works, what doesn't,
• 13:29
  - and and how the team did such a
• 13:31
  - great job of helping us identify both sides
• 13:33
  - of that.
• 13:34
  - And and I think that reassures staff that
• 13:36
  - once again, we're we're looking for deep impacts.
• 13:39
  - We're not just looking for surface level
• 13:42
  - implementations,
• 13:43
  - before we scale.
• 13:45
  - And I think it also supports that iterative
• 13:48
  - approach where staff can be identified
• 13:51
  - and help
• 13:52
  - drive improvements to whatever we started out with
• 13:56
  - as we evolve in implementation.
• 13:59
  - Yeah. And, again, like, that's
• 14:01
  - just to summarize that, it's so crucial, I
• 14:03
  - think, because, again, it's one thing to change
• 14:06
  - a workflow,
• 14:07
  - get used to it, then work the workflow
• 14:09
  - and just keep doing what you're doing. It's
• 14:11
  - another thing, and that's what you want to
• 14:13
  - actually
• 14:13
  - innovate and completely redesign the workflow to make
• 14:17
  - it better for everybody else, which is bringing
• 14:19
  - that innovation to the organization,
• 14:21
  - which is so crucial for the future. Now,
• 14:24
  - Mary Jo, how do we do this
• 14:26
  - over time? Right?
• 14:28
  - One thing that I've learned in working for
• 14:30
  - different organizations
• 14:32
  - is that it's great to have this going
• 14:34
  - for a couple months, and it works fine.
• 14:36
  - And it's we've implemented
• 14:38
  - this change, and it's going great. And then
• 14:40
  - it's slowly,
• 14:41
  - like, a little bit of a sand, kind
• 14:43
  - of quicksand, it just ebbs away. Right? How
• 14:45
  - do we do this over time? How do
• 14:47
  - we sustain this?
• 14:49
  - Well, it's the key to success. Right? And,
• 14:52
  - you know, I think one thing that leaders
• 14:53
  - can kind of overlook is how much stress
• 14:57
  - it is when your entire workflow of your
• 14:59
  - day is changing
• 15:01
  - or engaging differently. I mean, think about the
• 15:03
  - pride
• 15:04
  - that people take in delivering on the tasks
• 15:07
  - that they're required to for their role. And
• 15:09
  - then you you throw that all up in
• 15:11
  - the air, introduce a new tool. I mean,
• 15:13
  - you've gotta have the the safety net around
• 15:16
  - that so that they have the confidence to
• 15:18
  - learn and engage.
• 15:20
  - You know? But beyond that, honestly,
• 15:22
  - I I would say the best solutions almost
• 15:26
  - always come from the people closest to the
• 15:28
  - work. So it goes back to that real
• 15:31
  - investment
• 15:32
  - in understanding
• 15:34
  - what teams are saying
• 15:36
  - and how you translate that into some of
• 15:38
  - the opportunities
• 15:40
  - that you see as a leader. And candidly,
• 15:42
  - you know, leading that way also kinda reinforces
• 15:45
  - that trust we were talking about earlier
• 15:47
  - and shows that you value the staff's expertise
• 15:52
  - and perspective,
• 15:53
  - which, you know, honestly, as a leader, you
• 15:55
  - have to learn how to do that. These
• 15:57
  - are important elements
• 15:59
  - for the business to be able to be
• 16:01
  - successful and evolve. And I I think when
• 16:04
  - people feel trusted and valued, they're they're much
• 16:07
  - more likely once again to take those risks,
• 16:10
  - but also to help you with that evolution
• 16:13
  - and and to keep it moving, not to
• 16:15
  - get paralyzed or not to, you know, fall
• 16:17
  - into the quicksand or, you know, the the
• 16:20
  - inertia to go back to the status quo,
• 16:24
  - because they understand you have their back and
• 16:26
  - you're gonna help them
• 16:27
  - continue to work through. It's not a perfectly
• 16:30
  - straight line.
• 16:31
  - I I don't think I've ever seen an
• 16:32
  - implementation of a big opportunity that that went
• 16:35
  - exactly as planned. There's always
• 16:38
  - twists and turns.
• 16:39
  - And, you know, there's different tactics to be
• 16:41
  - able to pull it out. I I think
• 16:43
  - one that often works is to really,
• 16:46
  - foster a culture of curiosity.
• 16:48
  - You know, you it it can help
• 16:51
  - it can help turn,
• 16:52
  - what might be viewed as criticism if something
• 16:54
  - doesn't go well
• 16:56
  - to a better understanding of what's happening so
• 16:59
  - we can adjust. And I think when curiosity
• 17:02
  - and that continuous reevaluation
• 17:04
  - are part of not just the leadership culture,
• 17:07
  - but also of the teams,
• 17:09
  - you know, they become more open,
• 17:11
  - to ideas and different perspectives because they know
• 17:13
  - it's not gonna be just an edict. They
• 17:16
  - know there's a curiosity to really understand,
• 17:19
  - how to get to the best long term
• 17:21
  - solution. And and I personally think this can
• 17:24
  - really
• 17:25
  - drive towards more effective problem solving
• 17:28
  - and better adoption,
• 17:30
  - of new systems or ways of working. I
• 17:32
  - mean, I think we've all been part of
• 17:33
  - a project
• 17:34
  - where leadership was so certain they had
• 17:37
  - designs on what the answer was. They missed
• 17:39
  - some nuances from the frontline staff
• 17:42
  - that ended up causing problems down the road.
• 17:44
  - And how do you avoid that? I think
• 17:46
  - it's a key element to learn.
• 17:49
  - Mary Jo, it's so great to have you.
• 17:50
  - Thank you so much for a fantastic conversation
• 17:53
  - and your time. It's it's great to have
• 17:54
  - you.
• 17:55
  - Well, thank you. It's always fun to be
• 17:57
  - here. We also want to thank our podcast
• 17:59
  - sponsor Mayo Clinic Laboratories. You can tune in
• 18:01
  - to more podcasts from Becker's Healthcare by visiting
• 18:03
  - our podcast page at beckershospitalreview.com.