In a fast-evolving industry like healthcare, strong leadership is more important than ever. As hospital and health systems continue to navigate challenges including workforce, financial pressures and potential policy changes, sometimes leadership boils down to a simple, yet powerful, tool: communication.
“The best leadership advice I’ve ever received is to ‘over communicate,’ Jenni Alvey, CFO of Indianapolis-based IU Health, told Becker’s. “I believe in updating team members on all aspects of the organization, even if the results don’t directly affect them.”
IU Health comprises more than 38,000 employees, according to its website.
To do this, Ms. Alvey said she holds monthly leadership calls to ensure systemwide updates reach leaders of all levels, with a goal of avoiding any “telephone game” communication gaps within her management team.
She also prioritizes providing comprehensive financial communication to IU Health’s senior executive team, including a summary of the system’s public finances and news releases, along with messaging and talking points for leaders to provide to their teams.
“I also provide summaries of how my own areas of responsibility perform to be transparent on our [key performance indicators] in delivering our services to the system and have quarterly, in-person meetings with our regions to discuss,” she said.
Through fostering transparency and trust in communication, Ms. Alvey said this can help improve an organization’s sense of unity.
