The Power of Leadership Influence

30-Seconds to Change a Career Trajectory

INTRODUCTION:
You’re listening to Tiller-Hewitt’s Leadership Lens Podcast. If you’re a leader - or an aspiring leader - who wants to stay relevant and impactful… YOU’RE IN THE RIGHT PLACE.

At Tiller-Hewitt we believe it’s faster, smarter -- and less painful -- to learn from leaders who have walked before us. That’s why we invite top leaders to be our guests on the Leadership Lens.

Your host is Tammy Tiller-Hewitt – Founder of Tiller-Hewitt HealthCare Strategies. Let’s jump into the podcast.

TAMMY:
My guest today is Chris Klay, Market President & CEO of HSHS Illinois Southern Market, a member of the Hospital Sisters Health System or HSHS. I’m always blown away when I hear real-life stories of a leader’s career journey, especially when the people who influence them the most were the least aware of the fire they ignited. Chris has one of those stories and a powerful lesson for other leaders.

TAMMY:
Chris Klay, welcome to the Leadership Lens Podcast. It's great to finally have you in the guest chair.

CHRIS:
Thanks, Tammy. I appreciate the opportunity to be with you this morning and look forward to our time together.

TAMMY:
Awesome. Well, I love interviewing healthcare leaders who started in a clinical role because there is a unique perspective given you and the other clinicians really fought on the front line and often have something that you're determined to fix or focus on.

I know that you started your healthcare career journey as a physical therapist, which led to the Divisional Director of Rehab Services for HSHS, the Western Wisconsin Division. And now you're two-time CEO.

So, tell our audience number 1: Did your clinical experience help you as a leader - and did you always know you wanted a leadership role?

CHRIS:
Yes, Tammy, that's a great question. I think my story like many healthcare executives across the country is not necessarily unique but I think my path is somewhat consistent with others.

Here's my story. I'm from northwestern Wisconsin originally. I knew early on in my high school career that I intended to be a physical therapist. When I finished high school, I headed north to Duluth, Minnesota. I was at the College of Saint Scholastica for six and a half years and ultimately left with a physical therapy degree, and that was my plan to work in rural hospitals and serve those rural markets as a physical therapist.

But interestingly enough, it was January 7th of 2000, was my first day working in a critical access hospital, actually one of the Mayo Health systems hospitals, I was in orientation and the President and CEO of that hospital was presenting to a group of new colleagues, and I was one of those new colleagues, and within thirty seconds of listening to this gentleman speak, I realized that I wanted to do what he did. I wanted to lead from the top at a hospital level, and here's why…this gentleman not only introduced himself but talked a lot about the healthcare landscape in that market and even expanded on what healthcare was like nationally at that point in time. He did that with grace, with excitement, with energy, with positivity. He was just very optimistic in a very complex environment and that really excited me and energized me.

And so, I continually kept an eye on this gentleman. And I did that, not through a lens of being critical, but through a lens of hey, I wanted to learn from this guy. I just really appreciated him as a leader. His leadership style and just some of the key takeaways for me were not only a positive approach to leadership and a very complex setting or environment. I love the fact that his role required engagement in the community with other leaders, engagement with legislators in the form of advocacy and just partnership, but also visioning, strategic planning, business development/growth. He was an exceptional guy and I learned so much from him. But it was within the first thirty seconds of my orientation period at this, successful hospital that I knew that I wanted to be a healthcare executive, really a president and CEO. Thankfully, here I am and I'm excited to serve in this capacity today.

TAMMY:
That is a wonderful story. And for all of our listeners, I hope you picked up that in “thirty seconds”, this man totally changed the trajectory for a young clinician and a future leader. And you still remember the exact date fast forward, 23 years later. That's profound.

My question to you is have you ever reached back out to the CEO to thank him or to communicate in any way?

CHRIS:
I've definitely been in touch with this individual a number of times throughout my career. And interestingly enough you know, so many of us, just as a result of our work, we end up being mentors for people, and we may not even know it. The flip side of that many of us do intentionally have people that we mentor. But in this case, this gentleman was a profound leader in my mind and definitely impacted my career and he didn't even know it at the time.

But to answer your question Tammy, yes. This gentleman’s first name is Mark, and Mark and I have connected a number of times. But interestingly enough, the first time that I shared with him the impact he had on me professionally, was five or six years down the road from my first day within the organization. We bumped into each other and we spent about thirty minutes talking about where we had gone professionally and I shared that with him and he was not only thankful that I shared that story with him, but it just created an opportunity for us to stay in touch. He's now retired, but we definitely have remained in contact.

TAMMY:
That is a wonderful story.

On another note related, was there a pivotal point in your career, maybe a defining point or a moment that felt like an epiphany or an affirmation of your chosen path as a CEO?

CHRIS:
It was in the same facility, I landed in a Physical Rehabilitation Department and the leader of that unit at that time was also a great man who became a mentor of mine as well. He quickly, in my tenure, started providing me with the opportunity around business development initiatives. For example, we expanded our clinical footprint into off site or satellite locations and he had tasked me with leading those business development efforts.

So early on in my career, in reality within six months of me starting, I was given the opportunity to lead these business development efforts regarding satellite clinic expansion. And I knew at that point, I love business development, I love growth, the power of developing new relationships, and seeing something through from start to finish as it relates to just the advancement of the care and service we provide within this industry.

So it all happened quick and it all happened within this singular organization. It's settled in with me that I knew healthcare executive leadership was where I ultimately needed to be.

TAMMY:
What a blessing that it was not only quick but early in your career.

CHRIS:
Sometimes when I look back on the speed of how things unfolded for me, early on in our careers, as a physical therapist, you're trying to figure out the clinical side of being an independent practicing physical therapist, there's a lot that goes into that, but then you have this competing priority, and all the excitement around the other opportunities that I've mentioned, there's just a lot to learn in a short amount of time. That's exciting too.

You think about life, where people end up and how they get there. It's just always so interesting to me. I think for me, personally, who knows I could still be practicing as a physical therapist today and be very happy doing that. But because of where I ended up early on in my career, it just opened doors and created opportunities. Timing is definitely part of it, definitely a blessing.

TAMMY:
So, I guess now you're a firm believer in the power of influence as a leader.

CHRIS:
Yes, there's no question. As a matter of fact, one of the things we talk a lot about here at Saint Elizabeth's Hospital, not only with my senior leadership team, but our management team and our frontline colleagues and in our physician leaders, we believe we have an obligation to teach, mentor and develop future nurses, future physical therapists or our family medicine residents. It doesn't matter what or who, we have an obligation, as leaders, as healthcare professionals, to give back and help grow and develop our future peers.

In my position, on that topic directly correlates to my own personal experience. It's an obligation that I believe we have within our industry. And it’s definitely part of who we are culturally here at Saint Elizabeth Hospital.

TAMMY:
I love that you're passing it on.

If there was one thing you could tell leaders whether they're seasoned or aspiring leader, what would be one piece of advice you would give under this subject matter of role modeling?

CHRIS:
The answer to that question, Tammy is easy for me. Each one of us are where we are today because others have helped us at some point along the way. Whether we see it or not, there has been someone or a number of people who have helped us to be successful. And recognizing that we have the obligation to do just that for someone else. That's a key piece of advice that, again, is part of who we are organizationally here, it’s part of who I am personally and professionally. If you look at health care as a profession, we have that duty to help develop and grow those leaders that will be side by side with us today, but also who will be here when our time is done.

TAMMY:
What do you think are the top leadership challenges today, both professionally and organizationally? And then how do you face those challenges?

CHRIS:
Yes, it's a really good question. There are so many opportunities that we face as healthcare executives and as healthcare organizations. But there are a few that definitely rise to the top.

First is we do have a responsibility to be good at we do. Our patients, they are consumers now more than ever, and they have choice, and they have expectations of access, quality and cost. Those are really the three pillars that I believe our patients expect of us. We have to be good at that.

That is a challenge because as a healthcare system, and when I say healthcare system, I'm speaking on a national level, we have not been consumer-centric or as consumer-centric as we need to be for many years. And that is a big challenge for not only us here locally, but I think nationally to pivot, to becoming more consumer-centric.

Are we available when and where patients expect us or need us to be available? Are we good - meaning is the service we're providing of high quality - is it safe? And then thirdly, is it provided at a fair cost? We talked organizationally about these three opportunities, and they are very fair expectations of our patients and families.

It is a massive opportunity for us to be better in all three of those areas. And it's a challenge because we're fighting an ingrained tradition of healthcare delivery at a national level. This is a very, very different mindset. So, it impacts, not only clinical operations but back-office systems and functions, just the simple task of being able to let someone know what their services are going to cost. We're not great at that because there are so many things that impact that number.

So that's the number one challenge: access, quality and cost.

TAMMY:
Well, I love that your system is committed to that for sure and that you're pivoting and being a model of consumer-centric care. I know that you and I talked on a leadership webinar, and we were talking about a singular focus. With Covid, there was a singular focus, and some people suggest that that's why we were able to do things that healthcare had never done before, pivot by the minute when needed. I loved what your comment was that our singular focus today needs to be the patient. So I love hearing that your system is very much committed to that consumer-centric, that's really where it starts. Because if we have too many people we're trying to please is our customers our singular focus, the medical staff, the community, or who is it? And you squarely stood on, it needs to be the patient. Do you want to talk anymore about that?

CHRIS:
I'd be happy to. Competing priorities, my gosh there are so many of them and I think if you were to walk throughout, whether it's my hospital here or a hospital down the street and find a colleague or a physician and ask what their number one priority is today, I think we'd be pretty safe in saying that not everybody would say our patient is the number one priority.

But the reality is we as a hospital, as a health system, should only have one customer. And not everybody may agree with this, and not everybody will want to hear this, but that one customer is our patient. We can't lose sight of that, and that should be at the center of all of our work, whether it's strategic planning, whether it's our performance improvement initiatives or access, cost and quality, those things that I just mentioned. We have to simplify this complex work. In doing that, our focus needs to be singular, and it's really the patient, in my opinion.

Now, if you talk to other leaders, and this doesn't mean that they're wrong by any means, but a lot of individuals would consider colleagues a customer, peers a customer, the medical staff are customers. You're right, we are all engaged and connected in delivering a service. But in reality, we are delivering a service that is focused on, our customer, which is our patient, and we do that together. So, synergies need to exist amongst all of the stakeholder groups and with one singular focus, which is the patient, in my opinion.

TAMMY:
Right. Well, I think that's going to give you an unbelievable competitive advantage if you get that culture to resonate throughout the organization. A lot of health systems sadly give that lip service because they want it to be that way, but at the end of the day it's not, there's not a singular focus. It's different every single day. We wonder why we drive them mad, because today it's the docs, tomorrow it's the patient. It's something different every day.

What do you think are the warning signs when an organization is getting close to running off the track?

CHRIS:
There are many warning signs, but, I think there's a couple of key things that you cannot only sense as you walk the halls of the organization, but you can see it in your performance. And when I say performance, I'm talking about those quality indicators that we track, of course, your financial performance and I think the indicators are really colleague engagement and physician engagement.

Those two stakeholder groups are vital in being able to focus on our key priority, which is our patients. I always use the quote, you can build the most beautiful of hospitals, but it's really no good unless you fill it with good, committed and aligned people. We as healthcare executives, need your teams, you need your people because they are the individuals that are doing the work. To me colleague engagement and physician engagement are the two key indicators that will tell you if you're on course or moving offline.

TAMMY:
Well, you know, Tiller-Hewitt works with organizations that want their leaders to consistently deliver strategic growth, not just growth, but the right kind of growth and measurable results. So, what would you say are your secrets or success strategies around strategic growth and measurable results?

CHRIS:
One of the things that we've been really good at as hospital-based providers in the United States is trying to be everything to everyone. I think that strategy worked for many, many years in healthcare, but we are now in an era where we have to figure out where we want to invest, in terms of strategic growth. When I asked the question, where do we want to invest? It's really about, where are or what are the strengths of your organization, thinking about your medical staff, thinking about the clinical teams that are supporting your medical staff, where are you good? And then being able to invest, grow, and expand in accordance to market demand.

One of the things that is very important for senior leaders is to really understand what is the market calling for. You have to know your markets and then invest where it's appropriate. The days are gone where you can invest in a lot of different things that don't necessarily correlate to a positive impact of the organization, whether it's volume growth, positive financial performance, or elevated market share. The key is really knowing your stakeholders, what are their strengths, knowing your market, what are the opportunities, and really investing appropriately.

TAMMY:
I really love that answer. That's been the best answer to that question that I've had so far on the podcast. I'll tell you why.

Research has shown that as individuals, we need to focus more on our strengths and not our weaknesses. Focusing on your weaknesses just makes you less bad at something. It doesn't make you strong. But focusing on your strengths is where you're really going to shine, where people are going to do better, you're going to have better results. I've never heard any leader say that we need to focus on the strength of the organization. So that was a great answer, Chris.

CHRIS:
Thank you for that. The other thing that happens when you focus on your strength and focus in those areas where you're good, your colleagues, your medical staff, the community sees that positive momentum. So it moves beyond, more volume, it creates a stronger culture. It creates stronger alignment when it comes to strategy and strategic growth. It also creates that bridge between you and your organization and the community.

TAMMY:
There's nothing so frustrating for a stakeholder whomever it is - a colleague, medical staff or community member to see the organization do something like, Why? Why would you do this? You don’t do it well. That's not your expertise. Why is it going to be a flavor of the year program? So, again great and I agree with you. When you focus on that you're going to create that alignment, engagement. I love that.

Well as it happens with all great interviews, our time has run out. But before we end, I love to wrap up with what we call our rapid-fire lightning round. Are you up for a few questions I can just throw at you real quick?

CHRIS:
I sure am!

TAMMY:
Okay. What is your favorite leadership quote?

CHRIS:
Tammy, this is easy. I'm a Green Bay Packer football fan. I love the history that goes to that organization and Vince Lombardi, in particular. So one of Vince Lombardi's quotes and here it is, “the greatest accomplishment is not in never failing, but in rising again after you fall.”

I love this quote because the reality of our work is, it isn't easy, we will have missteps, but you have to learn and you have to pick up where you are and move forward. That's a quote that hangs on the wall in my basement at home and I've got it on my bulletin board in my office.

TAMMY:
What about your biggest leadership pet peeve?

CHRIS:
Micromanagement. There's a place in a time for it. We, as healthcare professionals, healthcare leaders, we're highly trained. We understand where our strengths are and where opportunities are. I think allowing people to complete their work within the walls of appropriate strategic alignment, with an appropriate amount of autonomy is a good form of leadership. We're known in healthcare is not being nimble enough, and I think one of the key drivers behind that perception is we have a tendency to micromanage too much at times. We have to trust our leaders.

TAMMY:
What about a top value that guides what you do?

CHRIS:
Integrity is number one. With integrity comes transparency, honesty and follow-through. I think the worst thing we can do as leaders is not do what we've said we're going to do. That all rolls up to the communication. Integrity resonates high for me.

TAMMY:
Okay, when looking for a new team member, is there a specific quality that you should or that you do look for to stand out?

CHRIS:
I always look for someone who is calm yet confident. The why behind that is those characteristics lead me to believe initially as I meet new potential leaders is that they will not only listen but hear what situations and people are presenting. And in turn, will make objective decisions.

TAMMY:
Do you have a hobby? I know leaders need a healthy distraction. What would you say your hobby is?

CHRIS:
Well, this is going to be an interesting one, Tammy. I'm a barefoot, water skier. In the summer, we spend a fair amount of time on the water doing just that barefoot water skiing. So that's what I love to do in my free time.

TAMMY:
What was your proudest moment last year?

CHRIS:
My product moment was being selected and entrusted with the opportunity to lead Saint Elizabeth’s Hospital here in O’Fallon, Illinois as the President and CEO. Definitely, an honor that our system President and CEO Damon Boatwright has the confidence in me to lead this important ministry.

TAMMY:
And something that is exciting that's coming up that you're looking forward to personally or professionally.

CHRIS:
We're fortunate to be in a market where there's so much growth opportunities. We have a number of strategic initiatives that will really change the landscape of healthcare in this region. That's exciting to me to be able to be part of that, not only develop but really implement and see how those initiatives truly impact patient care in southern Illinois. So that's exciting.

And then on a personal level, I'll tell you my wife Leslie and I have two sons, a 12 year old and a 14 year old. Our 14 year old starts driver's ed this spring. So that's exciting and scary all at the same time.

TAMMY:
Well, Chris, thank you again for being my guest on the Leadership Lens Podcast.

CHRIS:
Thank you, Tammy. I've enjoyed my time with you today.

CLOSING:

Tiller-Hewitt works with leaders who want to consistently deliver strategic growth and measurable results.

The organization is recognized as the leading experts in strategic growth, network integrity, and physician engagement. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Leadership Lens. For more leadership resources and strategic growth solutions, visit tillerhewitt.com.