4 key considerations for creating & sustaining innovative healthcare teams

Innovation is a popular buzzword in nearly all industries today, but what does it mean exactly and how does one create teams that are innovative, particularly in the context of healthcare IT? An expert panel at the Becker's Hospital Review 9th Annual Meeting April 11 to April 14 in Chicago sought to answer those questions and more.

The panel included:

• Lyle Berkowitz, MD, president of the MDLive Medical Group and CMO and executive vice president of product at MDLive
• James May, chief innovation officer at Heritage Provider Network
• Brian Edds, vice president of product strategy at Spok
• Scott Alexander, vice president of innovation and product development at St. Louis-based Mercy

Mr. Alexander kicked off the discussion by drawing attention to how people tend to think about innovation.

"Unfortunately, innovation is an overused term," he said. "It is a nebulous word… it is a myth that innovation is getting people into a room and seeing what happens. It's actually more of a scientific endeavor. [You need to be] thinking about a goal and thinking about the experiments on how to solve the problems you are facing. It doesn't happen in the board room, it happens at the bedside with the patient. If you are going to do it well, you have to have that focused mindset."

Mr. May noted true innovative endeavors take courage.

"The word courage comes to mind," he said. "You need administrative courage to be able to try things and you need to realize you are not the smartest in the room. Listen to people. You want to push the envelope, but you also have to listen to your cautionary voice and deal with that polarity everyday."

Mr. Edds added organizational culture is key to innovation success.

"I'm going to double down culture," he said. "Ideas can come from anywhere in the organization, but there needs to be a culture that rewards [good ideas]. Change is scary and difficult, and many innovative efforts will fail, so there need to be a culture in place that allows people to fail gracefully and quickly."

The discussion eventually turned to creating a team of innovators at a healthcare organization. Dr. Berkowitz noted some important qualities of innovative people.

"The best innovators have a good left and right brain working together," he said. "Eternal optimism and [a great] work ethic. If you are not born with that propensity, it's hard to get it, and if you are born with it but don't have the knowledge and experience, you won't get very far."

He also said, "[Innovators] need to be translators. They need to be able to talk to the frontlines, then understand the financial piece, then what kind of IT would be needed. They need to be that person in the center. [When I interview someone for my team] I present a problem and then leave them to solve it. What I look for is someone asking me why we are solving [this problem]. I need them to dig in."

Editor's note: Quotes have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

 

 

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