MGMA Insights: Building Your Own Operational Leadership Development Program
Download MP3Well, hi, everyone. I'm Daniel Williams, senior editor at MGMA and host of the MGMA Podcast Network. Today, we are continuing with our coverage of the twenty twenty five MGMA Leaders Conference. If you haven't heard me say it already, that Leaders Conference is gonna be in Orlando, and it's September 28 through October 1. We're so excited about that.
Daniel Williams:I hope to see many of you at the show. Our guest today is going to be one of the speakers at the show. Today, we're joined by Carolyn Brubaker Moore. Carolyn has her MBA. She's also a fellow, has the FACMPE, and is vice president of operations for PeaceHealth Medical Group in Oregon.
Daniel Williams:Carolyn was just telling me about Oregon and giving me some directional advice where Oregon and some of the cities are there, so that was very helpful. Carolyn, I'll share one more thing. We'll be speaking on the session Build Your Own Operational Leadership Development Program. She'll walk us through some of the key points there and hopefully tell us a little bit about her life and her life in healthcare. So with all that said, Carolyn, welcome to the show.
Carolyn Brubaker Moore:Thank you so much, Daniel. I'm excited to be here.
Daniel Williams:Yeah. So you were telling me offline some of the people who might be listening to this in addition to our MGMA people are your family. Anybody you wanna say hey to, throw in a plug so when they hear this, they're gonna be shocked that they were mentioned in a podcast.
Carolyn Brubaker Moore:I couldn't, be doing what I do without the support of my family, my husband, Dustin, my parents, my sister, Melissa. I I have a fantastic, in law family, my in laws Dewey and Debbie Moore, my sister-in-law Bridget, and my four amazing nephews. So we are very family orientated, do a lot of Oregon activities together, and this is the best time of the year to do it.
Daniel Williams:Oh, that is so cool. It was almost like a Oscar winning acceptance speech where you don't want to forget anybody. So if anybody else pops into mind, you can drop their name in a little bit later too, and we'll say hey to them as well. So can't wait for all of you to hear the show as well. So that is so cool.
Daniel Williams:Before we get started then, Carolyn, tell me something about Oregon this time of year. What is so amazing about it right now? Because I wanna get back up there.
Carolyn Brubaker Moore:Oh, my pleasures. This is a beautiful time of the year to visit Oregon. It is virtually sunny every day. I would say the average temperature is usually in the 80 degrees, mid eighties, and we are very green. We we do obviously get a reasonable amount of moisture throughout the rest of the year to keep us in that green space, But we have absolutely beautiful landscapes.
Carolyn Brubaker Moore:In the state of Oregon, you have all topography. You've got the beach. You've got the mountains. You've got the High Desert. So perhaps, you know, Eugene is one of the best central places to live.
Carolyn Brubaker Moore:I may be a little biased, but I can get to any one of those, arenas within a couple of hours. And we also have fantastic rivers and lakes if you're a water sportsperson, hiking trails. So, and we are very animal friendly. So when you are out and about enjoying the outdoors, you are going to see a lot of furry friends. We do take our furry friends seriously as our family members.
Daniel Williams:That is so cool. You have sold me. I was telling you offline that I had a buddy. Oh gosh, it's been twenty five, thirty years ago, but, lived in Portland. And I made a lot of excuses to get over to Portland, spend some time with him.
Daniel Williams:And you were right. You can be in Portland and just drive a little bit. You're at the beach, drive in another direction, you're in the mountains. So a little bit of everything there. That is so cool.
Daniel Williams:So outside of just knowing your geography and where you are, tell us a little bit more about yourself. Any highlights in that health care career you might wanna share? You've obviously got that FACMPE. Anything you might wanna share with us about that health care journey.
Carolyn Brubaker Moore:Absolutely. So I have been in health care leadership for more than twenty one years now and primarily in academic medicine. I worked for a lot of years at Oregon Health Science University in Portland. And then about four years ago, transitioned to PeaceHealth, which is a nonprofit, Catholic health care organization. And working for a nonprofit organization is really important to me because part of the mission is to provide care for anyone that needs it.
Carolyn Brubaker Moore:There is no, discrimination based on the ability to pay or based on an insurance carrier you may have or not have. And I I would say that, you know, one of the great things that has helped me along my journey has been being a part of the MGMA because I joined when I was a division manager in surgery. I was multi specialty surgery. And in that, I gained a lot of educational opportunities, taking my CMPE exam. I was part of a study group, in the Portland area and really got to know the members of that study group and still interact today using project based work for my fellowship credential and really just the national networking opportunities that the MGMA has had that has helped me as I have embarked on, you know, different project process improvement approaches.
Carolyn Brubaker Moore:And I really appreciate how those of us that belong to the MGMA can really steal shamelessly from each other in terms of best practices. So it's really helped my leadership journey. And, you know, the the quote iron sharpening iron is a thing, and we have some amazing leaders that are part of this organization.
Daniel Williams:That is so cool. And I love that you put that there, that those MGMA members can steal shamelessly from each other and just really learn from each other. And that is such an integral part of MGMA. I've learned this. I've been there for seven years now.
Daniel Williams:And being able to network with each other, that's one of the things about the Leaders Conference and our other face to face events. When I wander around with a microphone and a camera and talk to people there, I keep hearing again and again that they're there to learn for sure in the traditional sense, but also to network with people, see some of those familiar faces, learn from each other, help teach each other different aspects that are working in their practices, and that is so cool. So thanks for bringing that up. Let's get into some of the things that PeaceHealth is doing. Y'all have created, let me get this right, an internal operational leadership development program.
Daniel Williams:Talk about the origins of that. How did that come about? What did y'all identify where you really wanted to have that program put into place?
Carolyn Brubaker Moore:The program I'm gonna be sharing about in Orlando is not actually a PeaceHealth program Okay. But one that I've created.
Daniel Williams:Wow. Okay.
Carolyn Brubaker Moore:Yeah. Many organizations have some leadership resources, you know, whether they be classes or, modules or or handouts. Some have, some, you know, leader one zero one as you're a brand new leader just joining or just jumping in. And PeaceHealth is, definitely in that same arena where we have some resources available, but there isn't a specific operational leadership development program. And I saw that as a critical need.
Carolyn Brubaker Moore:It's something that I did in my previous organization on a bit of a smaller scale for the teams that reported to me. And when I joined PeaceHealth, I worked to scale it appropriately for, all of the teams that blow up through me, which is all of our ambulatory services. So this program, I felt, really addressed a critical gap and have had great success, in running since 2022.
Daniel Williams:Give us just an overview then. You can give us that 30,000 foot view or however you wanna share it with us. But what is the, I guess, the overarching goal of this development program? What are you looking at? You identified a need for it.
Daniel Williams:What are you looking at accomplishing for people who are in the program?
Carolyn Brubaker Moore:What I want to have each of the leaders that are involved in this program is to be able to identify where they have opportunities in their competencies or tasks. Perhaps they have less, confidence or less background in certain areas and being able to address those. And not uncommon, many of the leaders experience the same particular competencies or tasks that they struggle with. So then there becomes an opportunity at a peer group leader level to address that and elevate the performance, the comfort, the confidence associated with those particular areas. And it also, you know, allows the leader, that is what they're interested in, to then continue to grow in their leadership journey as well.
Daniel Williams:In looking at the program, you've incorporated several things, a SWOT analysis. You also have put together quarterly training retreats. I have to ask about the quarterly training retreats. You and I and James, who's our producer, were looking at a picture from The Office earlier and had Dwight Schrute on there for any of our office, fans out there. I think of the office when I think of, like, getaway retreats.
Daniel Williams:Do y'all do truss falls? Do you do rope, exercises? What does the retreat look like?
Carolyn Brubaker Moore:Great question. So, yes, I've I've had questions like that. Are you all going to a spa? No. There there is no spa, involved in these retreats.
Carolyn Brubaker Moore:We do go a little bit off-site. And when I say that, I mean that one of our hospital campuses actually where I'm sitting right now has a building kind of just behind it. It was a residence for, the family that owned the property many years ago when PeaceHealth bought this and built this particular hospital campus. And we've turned that house into a conference space. So it's on the campus, but it feels like it's off campus because it's in its own self contained house.
Carolyn Brubaker Moore:It's got the kitchen. It's got a couple of rooms have been turned into smaller conference rooms. And then really the main open space, which we primarily use as a meeting, we have a nice blank wall to project. And it's just cozy couches and chairs, and it feels like you've really gotten away and can focus without getting away. So that's that's what we do.
Carolyn Brubaker Moore:And with in terms of the quarterly retreat, I'm actually running one of these every single month because I have, a supervisor group, a manager group, and then a director group. So each one of them has a quarterly retreat. But for me, I'm running one each month and they are half day. We start at noon with lunch and mingling because that is absolutely important to have that connection. And then once we hit 12:30, we run 12:30 to 04:30 with our content.
Carolyn Brubaker Moore:And, we haven't done truss falls, or rope walks, but we always open up with a retreat reflection. And then we do a leadership bonding activity, which is really geared towards just furthering the development of the relationships of these peer leaders with each other. And there's always an element of fun. Sometimes there's an element of contest with a prize involved. So, but it's to to get everybody warmed up and ready to go as well as connect with each other.
Daniel Williams:That is so cool. So later today, at MGMA, several of us are going to do a team bonding activity where we're going to what they call monster golf. It's mini golf, but it's in this facility where there's a lot of spooky stuff in there, a lot of scary things jump out at you. So we're going to have fun there. So for y'all's fun activities, do y'all do stuff like monster golf, or what what do y'all what's a fun activity at the end of the day that y'all do?
Carolyn Brubaker Moore:With the retreat format specifically, they're they're smaller activities where we're we're staying on-site, and it's in the interest of time. So we've, we've done things such as, actually, and I will be leading a retreat on Thursday this week, actually, with our supervisors. So I'll tell you what we're gonna be doing, But, we're gonna be doing a rock paper scissors tournament with prize. So everybody, it's best out of three rounds. Section.
Carolyn Brubaker Moore:And so we eventually whittle the group down until we're down to the final two. So that's, that's what we're planning to do to, get get things going. We also end, our retreat with a team roundtable where group can bring up any topics, any questions, any concerns for discussion, any, you know, peer to peer advice asking as well. So that's yet another avenue where we have a connection point coming out of these retreats.
Daniel Williams:That is so cool because we've seen this across injuries, but we've seen this across industries, in corporations, in organizations, really in a pronounced way since the pandemic occurred in 2020. I don't know how it was in your particular organization. I mean, it is a medical practice, so maybe y'all have stayed on-site in many corporations. I've read lots of articles and studies about this where you've got the remote work, you've got the hybrid work, and it can put some challenges on there. It seems like y'all have done some really cool things that have encouraged engagement, buy in, kind of that community within the culture.
Daniel Williams:What advice would you give? I mean, you've already shared some of the things that you're doing, but ongoing the check-in, and I wanted to follow-up with one piece of this, for this leadership development program, are you recruiting people, or do people put their name in the hat? I mean, how does the qualification of that occur?
Carolyn Brubaker Moore:Oh, good question. I include all of my leaders.
Daniel Williams:Okay.
Carolyn Brubaker Moore:So it's, it's, again, all of our outpatient leaders. So every single one of my supervisors, for example, this Thursday, whether they're operational supervisors, I also include the clinical supervisors. So these are individuals that, may have a partial clinical practice while also serving in both a clinical and operational leadership role where they're straddling both. But, I am a 100% inclusive of all the leaders. And really the only time we have someone not attend is if they are on vacation or out sick.
Carolyn Brubaker Moore:Otherwise, everyone is there. They are committed.
Daniel Williams:I love that. So we've heard a lot about the success. We don't wanna bring in the negative side of it, but we wanna help any of our listeners here. You've established this program, has had a lot of success. What were the friction points or challenges in getting this off the ground?
Daniel Williams:So for any of our listeners, if they wanna do that, what can they expect?
Carolyn Brubaker Moore:Well, I look at this in two ways. First, you have to create a strong program that sits on the valuable foundation. And for us, this comes back to our peace health competencies, that our ambulatory leadership team has worked collectively with us to create for each level of leadership, supervisor, manager, director. And that's really been what this program is sitting on. And I did an anonymous survey for each level of leader to self rate themselves on their perception of their experience, their confidence with each of the areas, the tasks, the competencies, and there are opportunities for free text boxes to be able to say, I'm would really like to feel stronger in these areas of competencies.
Carolyn Brubaker Moore:Also an opportunity to just say, I'd like to know more about these topics, whether they're listed in our competencies or not. And it does take work certainly to do that and make sure that each of the leaders is completing it. But having it be anonymous, I feel like helped the honesty portion of it because I couldn't tie anybody's response to a specific person. And then really taking that result and building it into a program. And each year following doing a survey of how the year went, whether the leaders felt like it continued to be a value use of their time.
Carolyn Brubaker Moore:Do they wanna continue? What would they like to see for the next year? So, you know, there's I I would say most of the leaders really feel strongly that this is absolutely a value add for them. But it's important to note that it's four and a half hours out of their day once a quarter. And that can be a good amount of time away from the practices that you are directly managing.
Carolyn Brubaker Moore:For me, it's four and a half hours out of every month plus a lot of time because I'm I'm prepping and coordinating and putting together these trainings. So the biggest challenge that I've run into here has essentially, I think, been probably on my end because there's a lot of time that I spend investing in this. And it's, what I would call outside of traditional work hours if if you can say I have traditional work hours in a twenty four seven operation. But, it's it's something that I'm very passionate about. And I see it as a huge value add critical to our success engagement of our leaders and of the teams that they are leading that I am willing to continue to do this as long as my team continues to see it as a value add and wants to continue.
Carolyn Brubaker Moore:And so, you know, here we are, essentially starting our fourth fiscal year of this.
Daniel Williams:Incredible. What's been the biggest reward for you personally in seeing this have success four years into it?
Carolyn Brubaker Moore:You know, I I would say just really seeing the learning increase, the performance increase across the individual leaders. We've had staff promote into supervisor roles, seeing them grow as first time leaders, promoting supervisors to managers, and seeing them, you know, grow there and managers into directors and really the it's absolutely phenomenal to be able to promote from within. And I I feel like some of the success with that ties back to this program.
Daniel Williams:Yeah. That's gotta be rewarding. So, Carolyn, I just wanna thank you so much for joining us today, and I'm looking forward to seeing you in Orlando. That's going be great, so thank you so much.
Carolyn Brubaker Moore:My pleasure. Thank you for having me.
Daniel Williams:Before we sign off, I'll have to ask, since you're going all the way across the country, we'll put your name in the bucket for longest distance covered. I think there may be a couple of people from Hawaii and maybe even Alaska, so they'll probably have traveled farther. But as you go to Orlando, are you an amusement park person? Are you planning to go to Disney or any of the other places around there, or will you just be there in game mode, you know, planning for your session?
Carolyn Brubaker Moore:Oh, I take any opportunity I can to travel and enjoy the local attractions. So I will be headed there a few days early. I already have purchased tickets for Discovery Cove so that I can swim with dolphins. That's a bucket list item for me that I haven't realized. And I do have a couple day pass to visit Disney World.
Carolyn Brubaker Moore:I've never been to Orlando, so I'm very excited to experience and see what I can see.
Daniel Williams:That is incredible. Well, I cannot wait to catch up with you when I see you and hear your story about it swimming with the dolphins. Is that correct?
Carolyn Brubaker Moore:Correct.
Daniel Williams:Yeah. I cannot wait to hear that story. Alright. So for our listeners, I just wanna share one more time. Do not miss Carolyn's session.
Daniel Williams:It's build your own operational leadership development program. It's gonna be taking place Monday, September 29 at four p. M. Eastern Time. And that's at our MGMA Leaders Conference in Orlando.
Daniel Williams:So can't wait to see Carolyn there, and can't wait wait to see y'all there as well. So y'all take care, and thank you for being MGMA podcast listeners.
