The Leaders' Guide to Earning Your Seat in the C-Suite - Podcast

Transcription:

Intro: The following SHSMD podcast is a production of DoctorPodcasting.com.

Bill Klaproth: This is a special podcast produced on site at SHSMD Connections 2021 Annual Conference in San Antonio as we talk with keynote speakers and session leaders direct from the show floor. With me is Tammy Tiller-Hewitt. She is the Chief Executive Officer at Tiller-Hewitt HealthCare Strategies. Tammy, thank you so much for stopping by the podcast booth at SHSMD Connections 2021

Tammy Tiller-Hewitt: Hey, Bill. There's no way I would miss stopping by this booth.

Bill Klaproth: That's right. We've been waiting for you, Tammy. I'm glad you stopped by. So your session, The Leader's Guide to Earning Your Seat in the C-suite. Can you just give us a brief overview of that?

Tammy Tiller-Hewitt: Yeah. So we wanted to, as leaders, give back to the industry, give back to the professionals who are on their journey to the C-suite or on their journey for promotion or leadership. Oftentimes, we get in the red and think people will see what we're doing and see the results that we're getting. And we neglect ourselves by raising our hand or creating a plan that will take us where we want to go with. And so this session was all about being intentional and surrounding yourself, you know, with people who can also help you with your journey and then pulling the trigger, you know, taking the initiative and doing it.

Bill Klaproth: Yeah. So you talked about having a plan for where you want to go. How important is that to have an intentional growth plan to deliver the results that you want?

Tammy Tiller-Hewitt: Well, it's extremely important. It's like getting in a car and not really knowing what your destination is. So without a plan, you just kind of go with the flow and take what comes your way, good or bad. So, If you're intentional, then you've created your own roadmap. You know what kind of leaders you need to engage with or surround yourself with so that they can help guide you and lead you. So it's very important that you're intentional with a plan.

Bill Klaproth: Right. So with that plan, it's important that you don't become pigeonholed, is that when you don't try to advance and they just think of you as, "Oh, that person just does this," right? So it's important to step out of that, so you're not pigeonholed, so you can deliver results, not only for your place of employment, your organization, but for your personal goals as well. Is that right?.

Tammy Tiller-Hewitt: Exactly. You know, I mean, you want to always think about your organization, but it starts with you and what value you're delivering to your organization. And you can't do that without being strategic. So exactly to your point, if you came in and you're in IT or you're in nursing, if you don't share with people that you have intentions to do something outside of that, they will always think of you as the IT guy or the nurse or the director. And, you know, just to back up a little bit, my goal in life, my big audacious goal is to lead millions to discover their why or their purpose. And every time I share that goal, you know, backing up even further, I believe that your goal should be so big, that it's embarrassing to share with people where people will roll their eyes and say, "Really, Tammy?" Millions, billions.

Bill Klaproth: All right.

Tammy Tiller-Hewitt: So everyone that I told that goal to that I want to lead millions to discover their purpose, without exception, 100% of the time, they would say, "Oh, I'm 50. And I still don't know what my purpose is" or "I'm 75. I still don't know what my purpose is."

Bill Klaproth: "I still don't know what I want to become when I grow up." Right.

Tammy Tiller-Hewitt: Exactly. So as I engage in conversation with them, they would start telling me how they wanted to be the CEO, or they wanted to be, you know, a neurosurgeon, but, you know, there was no way they could do that. They were trying to raise kids or they didn't have the money for college or whatever, you know.

Bill Klaproth: There was something in the way usually.

Tammy Tiller-Hewitt: Always. And then it led first from excuses on why they couldn't, shouldn't, wouldn't do something to then regret as it would evolve like, "Oh, I so could have done that," "Oh, I so should have done that. Why wouldn't I do that?" So that's why I stopped and I wrote the book, you know, Untie Every kNOT, little K big N-O-T, discover what nots are causing you to miss out, chicken out or be counted out.

And so I just find, you know, even in the conference or the workshop that we just did so many people the same, we ask, "Who knows about your plan? Does your boss, does your boss's boss or do just you know or does no one know?" And, you know, the results are always revealing. The right people don't know including yourself where you want to go. So that's why intentionality and really the influence piece is so important in leadership.

Bill Klaproth: Yeah, there's that old saying, "It's not what you know, but who knows you."

Tammy Tiller-Hewitt: That's correct.

Bill Klaproth: To make sure that people know of you and where you want to go.

Tammy Tiller-Hewitt: That is exactly right.

Bill Klaproth: Right. So good. So you talk about creating and maximizing your advancement opportunities. By following three clear principles of leadership. Here we go. Strategic purpose for growth, influence through engagement and success through execution of growth strategies. Can you just tell us about those three quickly?

Tammy Tiller-Hewitt: Yes. So the first is what we've talked about, intentional, be intentional about it. The second is influence. One of my co-speakers talked about-- well, both of my co speakers were at a same organization and they had career mapping where there were literally people in the organization, which it happens informally, whether they have a process or not, where they're thinking about creating a new department, a new division, a new role. And they're trying to think who in the organization would fit that. So they have career mapping where there are three different kinds of business partners, the ones that know of you, the ones that know you and kind of know what you do and then there are the peoples who they call table pounders, who will pound the table to say, "Cameron needs to be the next VP of this."

So that's about how you can influence through engagement. You know, my mom always used to say, you know, "Show me your friends and I'll show you your future." The same thing happens in an organization. People can help you or harm you. And we always also talk about don't hitch, you know, your wagon to one leader because especially in healthcare, leadership changes so frequently. And if you're seen as, you know, Joe's guy or Joe's girl, you know, and that Joe, the CEO gets whacked or moves on, then you don't have any, you know, kind of...

Bill Klaproth: You're rudderless at that point.

Tammy Tiller-Hewitt: That's exactly right.

Bill Klaproth: Wow. That's a great quote. "Show me your friends and I'll show you your future."

Tammy Tiller-Hewitt: That's right.

Bill Klaproth: Yeah, it's so important to have a plan. As you were talking, I was wondering as you're talking about those three, is it a failure of management that we don't go to our employees and say, "Hey, where do you want to go in this company?"

Tammy Tiller-Hewitt: You better believe it. It absolutely is. And I won't get the quote correctly, but Zig Ziglar said you'll always get where you want to be if you help enough people along the way. It's a colossal failure on leadership that that isn't a priority to develop their people. And I will tell you, you know, as we're working through different generations right now, there are five generations in the workplace, and the millennial generation for sure is the generation that, you know, they get a bad rep and it's not a bad rep, it's like they know what they want to do. And if they're not challenged, if they're not making a difference, they're out of here. And that's a leadership problem that they're not taking these millennials and creating a plan and a roadmap, and then helping them execute it.

Bill Klaproth: And that only helps the business as well.

Tammy Tiller-Hewitt: It's a win-win. Yes.

Bill Klaproth: Because you have more engaged employees. They really have bought in, they're empowered and they're going to do better work for you.

Tammy Tiller-Hewitt: That's correct. And I love the word you used, empowered. We've gotten away from that and so we do strategic growth assessments in organizations, and we find that the biggest opportunity for organizations is empowerment, that you've got to empower your employees to make some decisions. They have a brain, they have an education, let them use it.

Bill Klaproth: Right. So, so true. This has been a great conversation, Tammy. Thank you for stopping by. As the parent of two millennials, I think that generation is maligned as well. I love the millennial generation.

Tammy Tiller-Hewitt: Me too.

Bill Klaproth: I'm probably biased because I have kids that are millennials, but I think they're great and their friends are awesome. And they're just good kids and they want to do well. And they do have a better work-life balance structure than us, me boomer had. So I think it's a great generation and I don't like it when people talk bad about them. "Oh, the snowflake generation." I think that's wrong.

Tammy Tiller-Hewitt: They don't either. They don't either, like, "I'm not that kind of millennial." I will tell you that that the government got it right when they were on their campaigns, ad campaigns for the Army and the millennials are a generation that love their parents. So they seek their parents' advice before they make big decisions. So the Army as they were recruiting, you know, young men and women, their campaign, if you'll remember, was "You made them strong. We'll make them Army strong." So they really campaigned to the parents because the millennials so reliant upon their parents to help make the decisions. So I love millennials. I have two millennials myself too, and I think they're awesome.

Bill Klaproth: They are awesome. And you're right, I have such a good relationship with them and my children's friends all have good relationships with their parents too, so that's wonderful. Tammy, this has been a great discussion. Thank you for stopping by. Thank you for supporting SHSMD and being here at SHSMD Connections 2021.

Tammy Tiller-Hewitt: My pleasure. Thanks for having me, Bill.

Bill Klaproth: And sign up for the SHSMD Connections Virtual Conference, October 19th through the 21st 2021, which will feature two days of new sessions plus recordings from the in-person event. Go to shsmd.org/education/annual conference to learn more and to get registered. And please join us at next year's conference, SHSMD Connections 2022, September 11th through the 14th at Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center at National Harbor, Maryland outside of Washington, DC. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels. And to access our full podcast library for other topics of interest to you, visit shsmd.org/podcasts. I'm Bill Klaproth. As always, thanks for listening.