​I started my day like every day over the past month.  It’s the same way so many start their day.
 
I jumped up.  Crammed through all the latest information on COVID-19.  Looked at the ever-growing statistics.  My heart hurt.  I prayed for the frontline workers everywhere.  I asked myself how I can help that day.  And started working through my list of things to do.
 
Businesses in every industry are doing the same thing.  They’ve been hit with unforeseeable circumstances.  And asked to perform tasks that seem unattainable at first mention.
 
Yet over and over, they rise to the occasion.  They are pivoting.  They’re finding new ways to serve their customers.  They’re making new products. They’re working in conditions they’ve never seen before. Life is changing so, so fast.
 
Many of you are responding.  Bravely showing up each day.  Going above and beyond for your businesses and employers. You are heroes!  I thank you tremendously.

Professionally, we’ve collectively made so many adjustments.  When we slow down enough to think about it, it’s incredibly heartwarming.  But, there’s another part to this.
 
How are you pivoting personally?

How many things have changed in the way you conduct your professional life?  5?  10? 20?

There’s probably an equal amount of changes in your personal life.  I started making a list – working at home. Social distancing. Appointments being cancelled. Home schooling. Spring schedules getting blown up weeks at a time. So many things. But you already know this list. You’re living it.
 
So, I’m asking again.  How are you pivoting personally?
 
Just like with business, you’ve had to pivot.  But has it been intentional?

Every day, I found myself saying the same thing.  “This too shall pass.  It’ll be back to normal soon.”

And Every. Single. Day. I felt more overwhelmed.

Then, one morning – just like a ton of bricks – it hit me. I was going through my “normal” routine.  Yet not a single thing was normal.
 
Right then, I knew I had to reset.  To understand what my new “normal” looks like. To set a new routine.  I was going to pivot personally.
 
It wasn’t hard.  It didn’t take long.  It just took awareness and acceptance that normal is different today.  That normal may be different tomorrow.  That “normal” as I knew it – life may never be that “normal” again.

It took the realization that the current way wasn’t really working.  And it took some planning.

Here’s what my personal PIVOT looked like:

          P      Take time to PAUSE and PREPARE
          I       Define your INDIVIDUAL contribution with INTENTION
          V      Determine the VALUE and VELOCITY
          O     Think about the OUTCOMES and make OBSERVATIONS
          T      TACKLE this with TEAMWORK
 
Take time to PAUSE and PREPARE

I gave myself some uninterrupted space and time.  Truthfully…I had to do it in several blocks of time.  But, that’s ok.  Because I at least committed to pausing.

I started with a question.  What’s my new normal look like?  Then, a list.  All the things that are now included in my day.
 
Once I had my list, I could easily see that my “normal” routine wasn’t going to come close to meeting the demands of my “new normal.”
 
I made another list.  This list was all the things I could do to respond to my first list.

Define your INDIVIDUAL contribution with INTENTION

Prepared with a list of what my new normal looks like and ways to respond, I started defining what my contribution to each activity would be.  What could I do to adjust?  How could I make this work?
 
I had a lot of adjustments that could be made.  But it’s unlikely that completely changing a routine is going to be easy to maintain.  

In order to be intentional with the changes, I looked at the value and velocity of each change.

Determine the VALUE and VELOCITY

I knew I needed to make some changes FAST.
 
To make the right changes first, I focused on two things. What would make the biggest difference and how quickly could I do it?
 
To visualize this process, I made a chart.  I listed “how quickly I can do it (velocity)” from slow to fast and “what’s the impact (value)” from minimum to maximum.  I plotted each potential change on the chart.

Think about OUTCOMES and make OBSERVATIONS

When making changes, it’s important to think about the outcomes.  What will be the result of the change?  Specifically, what will it look like?  Understanding this will help you determine if the change is working.
 
Once you have made the change, give it some time.  See how it’s working.  Are you getting the results you planned?
 
Remember - it’s ok if you don’t. It may take time to get it right.
 
Just commit to observing and continuing to pivot.
 
Tackle this with Teamwork

This is by far, the most important part.
 
Take some time!  Make your lists.  See what adjustments you can make.  Implement the change.  Know that if it doesn’t work, you can try something else.

But mostly, remember… 

You don’t have to go at this alone.  We’re all in this together.  We’re all going through unique yet similar changes.
 
Reach out to people when you need help.  Keep pivoting.  And continue checking on each other.
​ 
We’ll all be better on the other side of this.

​In times of uncertainty, people turn to those who bring order to chaos, composure to anxiousness and a calmness to uncertainty. Mr. Rogers was one of those guys for many of us growing up, influencing us even if we didn't know or understand it at the time. He did the little things on a daily basis, communicating short and simple messages in his quiet way, profound and powerful, a regular, but kind, reminder that each of us is responsible to make the world a better place for all of us.
 
It is probably a fair statement to say that Covid-19 will change the way health care organizations look at supply chain continuity and may, for at least the foreseeable future, shape how we think about supply chain resilience from today onward. In the last month, with the disruptions introduced by the coronavirus, it is understandable for each of us to get lost in our own organizations, to focus on the immediate problems we're faced with. To shrink as a collective industry in order to focus on the laundry list of challenges in the day to day work right in front of us. After all, problem solving is what we as supply chain professionals do and if there is one primary thing that those of us who chose careers in supply chain fear, it is that we let our organizations down by not being able to solve those problems they face.
 
But this is not a time to look only inward; our organizations and our industry needs us to look externally as well. To collect and share our knowledge with our industry peers and partners, to help inform the direction of our industry, to memorialize the key successes we are having and help each other through the challenges we are facing, and to serve as the healthcare supply chain leaders the industry probably needs more now than at any time in the past couple of decades. To recognize the weaknesses in the supply chain at this time is appropriate, but to fail to repair and learn from this time is unacceptable for the future.
 
I have been inspired by the actions of so many over the past couple of months, watching organizations step up and offer to help others, to provide a guiding light even when the direction was uncertain. Like many of you, I have participated in dozens of hours of calls, hosted by different organizations over the past weeks. Most of these are hosted without any commercial intent but rather to share information and freely offer resources; to share what is known and vulnerably shine a light on what is unknown. Individuals drawn to the profession of supply chain are exceptionally unlikely to accept a mantle of 'hero'. However, I have heard from many across the healthcare supply chain as they have stepped forward to share strong messages about how we have to collaborate to support industry improvement, to celebrate wins when we experience them, and to serve our internal caregivers and patients’ needs in a better, more cohesive way in the future and improve the collective industry of the healthcare supply chain. To address the immediate shortages yes, but also to own the mistakes that have been made already and to not lose sight of improving what we do so as an industry, so the next crisis doesn't catch us unaware.
 
While they won't accept the title, the efforts of many are indeed heroic in what they are giving. It takes each of us to make the world a better place for all of us as Mr. Rogers spent his life trying to remind us and this is the time to really put our efforts toward establishing more resilient supply chains for those who will follow.

​AHRMM18 kicked off today.  The theme of the conference this year is talent.   I couldn't be more proud of AHRMM for prioritizing this topic. 

PEOPLE are a supply chain function's most essential resource.  Talented people cultivate relationships, develop strategies and advance the supply chain agenda.   People design processes, implement systems and extend insights to drive operational excellence.  The desired results (i.e. savings, innovation, quality improvement, service improvement, etc) are are predictable outcomes we get when we approach things in this order.  It's all too temping to take on the big savings goal without a corresponding investment in talent management.  This would be a risky step towards mortgaging your future.    

Today, I hosted an extraordinary panel of iconic leaders including Laurel Junk (Kaiser), Brent Johnson (former Intermountain Healthcare and Intalere) and Lara Latham (Stryker).  The concentration of wisdom offered to attendees by this panel was truly humbling and was an honor to moderate this session.  During the session, we shared the results from our industry's first survey about the competencies and attributes of the Supply Chain Leader of the Future.  You can also download it here. 

Late last week, I participating in a podcast interview with Nate Mickish, on behalf of The Bellwether League.  It was so rewarding to get to know Nate through this process and I admire his superpower of leading with curiosity as he asked powerful questions.  Impressive.  We had a great time recording the podcast and talking about some of the topics just reminded me of why I do what I do.  I'm more committed than ever to elevating the healthcare supply chain.  Here is a link to the podcast if you are interested in listening in:   

This week continued to be full of tremendous insights on healthcare talent.  Each session at AHRMM is filled with leaders demonstrating a real commitment to attracting, developing and engaging the best talent for our healthcare supply chain.  It's arguably the best time to be in the healthcare supply chain profession.  

Imagine being in the automotive industry in the industrial revolution or in the telecom industry in the late 90's.  This is our time to shine as our industry powers through an irreversible inflection point.  Talent is finally the front burner topic.  We need a new generation of leaders to compliment the experienced incumbent leaders and collectively guide us into our future.  Our patients are depending on us.   

Over the last couple months, I've been privileged to serve as a keynote speaker at numerous events, to support inspiring coaching clients, to cultivate commercial growth for supplier organizations and to facilitate education events.  Overwhelmingly, the question I keep getting asked is "what keeps you up at night?" 

Our healthcare supply chain is at a crossroads, facing an unprecedented convergence of circumstances.  Are we progressing or regressing?

Below are seven "front burner" topics consuming my attention credits:

1. Merger Mania:  Companies often buy each other for a few specific reasons:  economies of scale, economies of scope, customer/market share growth, population health risk pool viability, diversification or synergies.  The real challenging work begins post merger when the integration activities consume both organizations for period of time.  Many mega-mergers make perfect strategic sense.  Others should cause us to pause and invite curiosity about the motive, strategic justification and conviction to integrate.  Let's not forget that if IDNs were publicly traded companies, the Fortune 500 list would be reconfigured to include many hospital systems (pre-merger).  


2. Strategic Misalignment:  The CDC reports 86% of nation's $2.7 trillion annual health care expenditures are for people with chronic and mental health conditions.  Why does the C-Suite task service line leaders and supply chain leaders to reduce supply expense when they could be collaborating to fundamentally change the care model while addressing the total cost of care?  Why is supply chain taking goals and initiatives from others rather than sitting at the table (as part of C-Suite) and influencing/setting the goals and initiatives?  If 50% of a hospital's cost structure is non-labor, then when is supply chain going to step up and earn the seat at the table next to the COO, CFO, CIO, CHRO and CMO? 


3. Executive Talent:  There have been more than 25 vacant VP/Chief Supply Chain Officer roles since January.  More astounding than the actual number of openings is the harsh reality that these organizations did not have a clear successor ready to assume the role (or unfortunately did not have enough confidence in the qualified emerging leader in their own organization).  Through my coaching and mentoring business, I've been exposed to number of uniquely-talented emerging leaders, each of whom are already ready for top-spot roles.  Who is fostering their development, advocating for them and coaching them to their fullest potential?  Many feel isolated, trapped and discouraged even though our future is in their hands.  


4. Leadership Development:  Possibly related to the Executive Talent topic above, the healthcare supply chain is under-investing in its leadership talent.  Supply Chain Sherpas issues an annual Supply Chain Leader of the Future survey.  Responses indicate we are not adequately elevating the leadership competencies of our incumbent executive leaders, our emerging leaders or our next general leaders.  Improving supply chain influence and impact is a function of leadership competency much more than technical competency.  


5. Benchmarking:  We continue to misuse benchmarking for prices and for practices.  Benchmarking is a great starting point on a value continuum, which supply chain should be creating over time as illustrated below.   We are too often stuck at phase 1.1 in a perpetual loop of benchmarking prices with each other rather than advancing each expense category to incremental forms of value towards population health.  Benchmarking alone may also create an artificial price floor for our industry.  Why would any supplier provide lower an IDN lower prices if they expected that price to show up in an  industry-wide benchmarking database (even if de-identified)?  From a practice benchmarking perspective, we have a bit of impostor syndrome in that we limit benchmarking people, process and technology to healthcare peers.  Imagine the breakthrough potential if healthcare supply chain leaders began benchmarking their people investments to Proctor & Gamble or Apple rather than to each other.  


6. Ripe Fruit on the Ground:  Why do walk over ripe fruit on the ground to climb trees to the highest branches, out on thin limbs to get what we believe to be the last bits of fruit?  Many hospital systems continue to explore creative ways of eliminating choices for physicians so they can rationalize suppliers and implants to create negotiating leverage with suppliers.  Meanwhile, there are still hundreds of unaddressed Purchased Services expense categories throughout Construction/Facilities, Finance,  IT, Human Resources, Marketing, Clinical Operations and others.  We also fight over the acquisition price of equipment only to forgo 20-30% of its value at the end of its useful life.  We still cost-shift through price haggling rather than creating value by addressing the 30-40% waste in the shared supply chain between the supplier and the hospital.  I'm committed to creating a movement around these important topics.  Look for articles, videos and whitepapers and maybe even some mastermind groups in the near future.  


7. Innovation:  Excluding academic hospitals, its rare for an IDN to have an R&D budget.  Suppliers are therefore a tremendous source for meaningful innovation.  Progressive IDNs already consider their best suppliers to be an extension of their teams.  However, there is an overwhelming sense of discouragement from supplier organizations that their ideas, concepts and relationship are trapped in the bottleneck of the healthcare supply chain.  I invite each of us to embrace important lessons learned from RTI's journey, which is highlighted in the film Puncture (click here for a summary of the film).  How many meaningful innovations are not making it to the point of care because of breakdowns in our healthcare supply chain?  How does a company making a single breakthrough device get the attention of supply chain?  How does a company offering tech solutions to supply chain itself get the attention of supply chain?  How does the supply chain leader know how and where to allocate their limited attention credits, when they are already overworked, undervalued and misunderstood?  Providers and suppliers are both struggling while meaningful innovation comes to a halt.  

These topics are white-hot in our healthcare supply chain today.  They are relevant, important and urgent.  These topics understandably shape the battleground for my provider and supplier clients.  I invest significant time digging into solutions around these areas since I'm not a fan of admiring problems.  Supply Chain Sherpas is centered around these topics and we will continue to adapt to the ever changing needs of our clients.  

With that said, these are not necessarily the topics that keep me up at night.  I have found myself consumed by our country's mental health epidemic.  The CDC just released a long term study, highlighting a 25.4% increase in suicide rates (nationwide) between 1999 and 2016.  Click Here for the study.  I don't yet know what this means to me, but something is clearly pulling my attention towards a meaningful purpose. 

​What's keeping you up at night?

It's been three weeks since the "go-live" of Supply Chain Sherpas.  I spent the first week in Santa Monica at a Rich Litvin Coaching Intensive program.  Then flew directly to the IDN Summit in Orlando for an extraordinary week with the healthcare supply chain industry.  This week started with a trip to Atlanta to spend time with John Pritchard of Shared Moving Media before heading to my home office in Colorado for a few much-needed days to catch up on messages and inquiries. 

​
1.  Talent is Becoming a Top Priority
At the IDN Summit board dinner, John Kelly asked each attendee to highlight what they are most looking forward to in the healthcare supply chain (or in the world more broadly).  The hottest theme...leaders from suppliers and providers were excited about the interest and focus on talent and leadership development. 


2.  Coaching is Powerful
As a practicing coach, I've often witnessed the wonderful professional breakthroughs of my clients. Over these last three weeks, I've also witnessed a concentration of life-changing personal breakthroughs.  I’m beginning to fully appreciate the cumulative power of our limiting thoughts, beliefs and behaviors.  I will forever cherish the emails and letters I've received these last three weeks.  I’m filled with gratitude for the wonderful coaches supporting my own development too.  
​

3.  Our Next Generation of Leaders will Positively Change our World
Next generation leaders (generally from the millennial generation) have been reaching out to me at an unexpectedly high rate.  These extraordinary individuals are wired for meaningful purpose, willing to explore diverse experiences, hopeful, curious, optimistic, eager to learn, collaborative and connected.  They think BIG and are aspirational about what's possible.  I've left every single conversation inspired and I'm committed to helping to prepare our next generation, emerging leaders and motivated incumbent leaders for the healthcare of tomorrow.  


4.  Healthcare Suppliers Feel Discouraged
Suppliers continue to transition from feature-selling to a solutions approach.  They consistently voiced concern about their inability to get meaningful solutions to the point of use.  They are discouraged by the bottleneck that has become the healthcare supply chain.  Frustration is often confused with deep underlying discouragement with the lack of progress.  Our suppliers are very intentionally trying.   
 

5.  Supply Chain Leaders Feel Undervalued
CFO's continue to escalate price savings expectations of supply chain functions.  Supply Chain leaders know there is more potential to deliver all forms of value.  M&A distraction is real.  Resources are constrained.  Expectations continue to increase and are often unrealistic, despite the very real cost issues in healthcare.  It's a formula for feeling undervalued, misunderstood, underappreciated and often overwhelmed.  Will Supply Chain leaders lean into courage and ask for help and support?

Spring 2018 is an especially meaningful time for me as I invite three wonderful new chapters in my life.  As winter gives way to the spectacular renewal of life all around us, I am welcoming growth opportunities on both the professional and personal fronts.

Professionally, I am intentionally choosing courage over comfort as I leave the safety net of corporate leadership roles, where I have invested over 20 years of my professional life. I joined the healthcare industry a decade ago after losing both of my parents, four months apart from each other, in two different healthcare systems.  Since that time, I've been inspired to elevate the collective capabilities of the supply chain so we can directly improve affordability, quality, compassion, service levels throughout entire healthcare industry.  Leading Intermountain Healthcare's supply chain transformation and helping Pensiamo serve its commercialization mission have been incredibly rewarding experiences.  I'm filled with gratitude for the opportunity to have interacted with so many extraordinary individuals. 

Today, I'm officially announcing the formation and startup of a company called Supply Chain Sherpas.  Supply Chain Sherpas helps provider and supplier organizations unlock the transformative potential of the healthcare supply chain.  Solutions include executive coaching, education services and advisory services.  I've been humbled by level the industry support and related momentum.  Supply Chain Sherpas has contracted clients across all three pillars of the business and I'm a bit surprised to be already focusing efforts on how to scale the business.  

I passionately believe in the force multiplier effect of investing all of my professional time helping inspired leaders to pursue their dreams, providing talent development resources to the motivated and helping organizations accelerate their plans.  Too many brilliant supplier solutions are prevented from reaching the point of care/use because of the increasingly-frustrating bottleneck that has become the healthcare supply chain.  For providers, the potential to elevate talent, improve strategic relevance and to liberate meaningful solutions is extraordinary.

Personally, I'm grateful for an unexpected and welcomed breakthrough with my health.  For 15 years, I suffered from a progressively-worsening, intractable migraine condition.  Two years ago, a nutrition change dramatically improved this condition.  After living with such a debilitating condition (and with the associated limiting beliefs that often accompany a degenerative illness), it took me the better part of 18 months to embrace the possibilities of an independent future.  I now honor my deep-rooted entrepreneurial spirit and embrace the present and future with excitement. 

Finally, Christine and I are celebrating a meaningful 20-year anniversary of starting our lives together and moving to Colorado in 1998.  We are happy to be back "home" in Colorado after wonderful chapters in the Carolinas and in Utah.  We are enjoying high quality time together and with close friends as we hike, bike, motorcycle and ski throughout the beautiful rocky mountains. 

Wishing you the renewing gifts of Spring.  Let's make the time to connect with each other over these next few months.