Leadership through the Eyes of a Clinician: Growing a Culture of Trust and Inspiration at Gaylord

February 27, 2024

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YCSC "On Leadership" Grand Rounds February 27, 2024

Sonja LaBarbara MSOL, MS CCC/SLP

President & Chief Executive Officer, Gaylord Healthcare

ID11377

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00:00OK, welcome everybody.
00:02Everybody in the room.
00:04Also everybody over zoom,
00:07welcome to our newest edition of the
00:10on leadership brand Rounds Talk.
00:14It is my great pleasure to
00:16introduce our speaker today,
00:18Sonia La Barbara.
00:19She is President and CEO of
00:21Gaylord Specialty Healthcare,
00:23which is a rehabilitation focused nonprofit
00:26health system located in in Wallingford.
00:29The system is committed to providing
00:31inpatient and outpatient care for people
00:33at every point in their journey from
00:35illness or injury to maximum recovery.
00:37Named CEO in 2019,
00:39Miss La Barbara rose through the ranks
00:41of Gaylord over a span of 15 years,
00:44holding such positions as Director
00:46of Inpatient Therapy Services,
00:48Senior Director of Therapy
00:50and Outpatient Services,
00:51Vice President of Operations and Strategy,
00:53and and Chief Operating Officer.
00:55Because before she was named
00:57CEO and President.
00:58In addition to her training as a
01:00Speech and Language pathologist,
01:02Sonya holds a Master of Science degree in
01:05organizational leadership from Quinnipiac,
01:06A clinician at heart.
01:08Sonya's tremendous work ethic and
01:09deep care for the people working
01:11for her and with her have been
01:12recognized by the Quinnipiac
01:14Chamber of Conference of Commerce,
01:15who named her Woman of the Year in 2019.
01:19She's also been named a Power 25
01:20in Healthcare by Hartford Business
01:22Journal and one of six women who
01:24mean business by New Haven Biz.
01:26Please join me in welcoming Miss Sonia
01:28Labarbera to the Child Study Center.
01:37Thank you Darren for that lovely
01:39introduction and thank you to all
01:41of you for inviting me to be here
01:43with you today to talk a little
01:45bit about my history, my journey.
01:47And I promise I will do my best to not
01:50be long winded as I tell my story.
01:53But I think it's good to just get a
01:54little bit of perspective of who I am
01:56and where I come from and then I'll
01:57tell you a little bit about Gaylord.
01:59But the majority of our time
02:00we will spend in conversation.
02:05I'm never too short
02:08in conversation answering questions,
02:09and I'm sure Darren will ask me
02:12some really tough questions and
02:13I'll have trouble answering.
02:14But So what can I tell you about me?
02:17So I grew up.
02:18I I promise I'll make 50 years really,
02:20really short. 50 years and 5 minutes.
02:22I grew up in Western New York,
02:24right outside of Buffalo in
02:26a very small town.
02:27I am probably the biggest and
02:28one of the few Buffalo Bills fans
02:30in the state of Connecticut.
02:31I doubt that there's very many of us.
02:33I am the youngest of three.
02:35I have two older sisters.
02:37My middle sister,
02:38who's two years older than me,
02:40is the brainiac of the family.
02:42She was the valedictorian.
02:43She was the scientist.
02:45She's the current physician.
02:46And I was a little bit more the social 1,
02:50the boundary pusher.
02:51My mother called me the instigator,
02:54and I gave her most of the Gray hair
02:56that she currently has in her 80s.
02:59I'm sure.
02:59And you know,
03:00in this crowd,
03:01we could spend probably at least
03:02the next hour talking about birth
03:03order and how that impacts everybody,
03:05but we will not do that.
03:06But we found where our strengths
03:08were and and we leveraged them
03:10as we sort of grew up.
03:11So I went to College in
03:12Western New York in Fredonia.
03:14I'm sure nobody knows where Fredonia is,
03:15but it was 20 minutes from where I grew up.
03:18I became a speech language pathologist.
03:20So I finished my bachelor's degree
03:22and my master's degree at Fredonia.
03:24And then while I was in school,
03:27I worked four different jobs in
03:28addition to going to college.
03:30So I was ATA for a professor.
03:33I worked in a retail store.
03:36I was a church organist,
03:37believe it or not,
03:38still AM,
03:39and also worked at my family's restaurant.
03:43My parents owned a restaurant my entire life,
03:45and I think that that's where
03:46I really learned a lot about
03:48leadership working in a restaurant.
03:50It is chaos most of the time on
03:52a busy Friday or Saturday night,
03:54and I was the Hostess every
03:56Friday and Saturday night.
03:57So why do I tell you that?
03:59Because it became really clear to
04:00me at an early age that building
04:03relationships was the key to everything.
04:06And that's the theme that you're
04:08going to hear from me today.
04:10I used to take those aptitude
04:11tests when I was in school.
04:12I'm sure you all took them.
04:13And it always said that what
04:15should you be when you grow up?
04:16Air traffic controller.
04:17I probably took those aptitude
04:19tests seven or eight times.
04:21And my mother kept making them.
04:22Take again, take it again, take it again.
04:24You should be a teacher.
04:25You should be this.
04:26You should be that.
04:26Nope.
04:26Air traffic controller.
04:27So I guess being a hospital CEO
04:30is the closest I'm going to get to
04:32being an air traffic controller.
04:34So I mentioned the family restaurant,
04:36and I think that's important because
04:38I learned a lot about that.
04:39I learned how to work with people.
04:41I learned how to work as a team.
04:43I learned how to smile and say yes
04:45to the people that, oh, you know,
04:47always thought that they were correct with
04:49whatever the issue was in the moment.
04:50And I also learned that sometimes,
04:53you know, working together as a team,
04:54you can make anything happen.
04:56So I think that that's what I took
04:58away from working in a restaurant.
05:00You have to learn how to be nimble.
05:01You got to be a light on your
05:03feet and work as a team.
05:05When I finished college again,
05:07I was the troublemaker in my family.
05:08I wanted to get away,
05:10so I actually opened a paper map.
05:12I know many of you probably don't even
05:13know what a paper map looks like.
05:15Drew a line and ended up closing my
05:17eyes and pointing to Connecticut.
05:18And that's how I ended up here.
05:20Didn't have a job,
05:21didn't have a place to live,
05:23didn't know anybody.
05:24But that was how I started off here
05:26in Connecticut in my early 20s.
05:28I then started working as a
05:30treating clinician.
05:30So I'm a speech language pathologist,
05:32as you heard during the introduction.
05:33And I worked in pretty much every
05:35clinical setting you could think of.
05:37I worked in schools.
05:38I worked birth to three.
05:40I worked in home care, acute care hospitals.
05:43I pretty much worked rehab,
05:47pretty much anything that
05:48anybody would give me a job.
05:50And I learned and I started taking
05:52on more and more responsibility.
05:53So you know, if you're good at your job,
05:55somebody's going to say,
05:56hey, you want to be a,
05:57you want to take on some more responsibility,
05:58you want to be a supervisor,
05:59you want to take on a clinical
06:01leadership role.
06:02And so I just kept taking on
06:03more and more responsibility.
06:04I was a supervisor,
06:05I was a manager,
06:06I was a director and really had no
06:08formal training and leadership other
06:09than I knew how to interact with people.
06:12And so that's really what I ended
06:14up leveraging as I took more
06:16and more responsibility.
06:17And then I got recruited to Gaylord in
06:2022,005 as the director of Inpatient Therapy.
06:23And I stayed in that job for about 7 years.
06:25And I loved that job because I was close
06:28to the patients still making an impact.
06:31And then we got a new CEO in 2012,
06:35and he later became my mentor.
06:36But when he first came in,
06:37he pretty much wiped out
06:39the entire leadership team.
06:40And that's many times what
06:41happens when you get a new CEO.
06:42And so many of us were kind of
06:44a little squirrely at the time
06:45what was going to come.
06:46And I came to find out that he
06:48was really looking for future
06:50leaders who had a can do attitude
06:52instead of why can't we do things.
06:54It was more what can we do
06:55and let's figure
06:56out ways to do things differently.
06:58So he really plucked many of us that
07:00were sort of in that middle management
07:02role and gave us more responsibility.
07:04So I took on different departments.
07:06I took on different business lines
07:08that maybe needed some attention.
07:11And you know, eventually I had
07:12a new job title as Darren Read
07:14some of them to you just now.
07:16Probably every year I had to end up with
07:18a different job title in a different few
07:21departments and then I became the CEO.
07:23And you know, as I look back on it and
07:25Darren and I have talked about this before,
07:27I didn't want to be a COOI
07:29definitely didn't want to be aceo.
07:31And it's sort of just all evolved as you
07:33took on more and more responsibility.
07:35The jobs just continued to to change.
07:37But leadership really is about,
07:42as I said before, is about relationships.
07:44And that's sort of how I built my career
07:47at Gaylord was getting to know people,
07:49getting to know the patients.
07:50You know, as a clinician,
07:52you work with an individual patient, right?
07:54You figure out what motivates them,
07:56what are their deficits, what do they need.
07:58Same thing holds true when
08:00you become a leader.
08:01You have to net to know your staff just
08:03the way you got to know your patients.
08:05What motivates people?
08:07How do you get them excited about,
08:09you know,
08:10what's the next challenge
08:11that they have to take on?
08:13How do you set a vision that everybody
08:15can rally around and get excited about?
08:17That's really what it became for
08:19me and and finding the right people
08:21around me that we're not the people
08:23that were always going to say yes,
08:25but the people who are going to
08:26say why and also surrounding
08:29yourself with people that have skill
08:32sets different than yours.
08:33You know,
08:33I can tell you guys know I'm very shy.
08:35You can probably see that I'm
08:37not the most analytical person,
08:38so I needed a really strong finance person.
08:40I needed a strong data analytics person
08:42because I was the person that wanted
08:44to be out and about talking to people,
08:46building relationships.
08:47And so you just build a team around
08:49you to sort of compensate for the
08:51things that maybe you're not strong in.
08:53And that's OK to say.
08:54I'm not perfect at everything.
08:56I don't know everything.
08:57And in fact,
08:58I think that that gives you a lot
09:00of credibility is when you're
09:01talking to people and you know,
09:02you say I don't know and that's OK.
09:05And I think people respond to that
09:07and they also want to help you.
09:09They want to teach you.
09:10You know,
09:10who helped me turn around all
09:12the departments that I turned
09:13around in my time at Gaylord,
09:14Not the CEO,
09:15many times,
09:16not even the manager of that department.
09:18It was the people that actually
09:20worked with the patients,
09:21worked in the departments
09:22who could tell me where the
09:24real opportunities were and then we were able
09:27to to really have an impact and fix things.
09:29So again, you know, I, I was the CEOO,
09:32My mentor was getting ready to retire.
09:34This was in 2018 and he said I
09:36really think you should throw
09:38your hat in the ring for CEO.
09:39And I said, Oh no,
09:41I'm happy to be the number two.
09:43I'm happy to be the operations person.
09:45I'm happy to be the support person.
09:47But that's not really what
09:48I want to do with my life.
09:50It was just too much pressure
09:52and I didn't really want to
09:53take on all that responsibility.
09:54And so he let it go for a little while.
09:56And then, you know,
09:57the hospital hired me an executive coach,
09:59which was very helpful because that
10:01person really helped me see that maybe
10:03this was the path I did want to take.
10:06And finally, my,
10:07the CEO that was retiring said,
10:09OK, this is your last chance.
10:10You got to throw your hat in the ring or not.
10:12They're still going to do a national search.
10:14But we really think that you
10:15should throw your hat in the ring.
10:17And he said, keep in mind,
10:19if you don't do this,
10:21and this is the only reason that I
10:22applied it was more of a defense
10:24than an offense.
10:25If you don't do this,
10:26somebody new might come into this
10:28organization and change everything that
10:29you've spent the last 10 years building.
10:31This is your vision, your mission,
10:33your strategy, your people.
10:34Somebody new coming in from the
10:36outside could change all that.
10:37Are you willing to accept that?
10:39And I was like, oh crap,
10:40OK now,
10:41now I decided that was really what it
10:43took to inspire me to apply for that job.
10:46So Long story short,
10:47I became the CEO in 2019 after
10:49what I would consider an exhaustive
10:52interview process,
10:53and I'm sure Darren will ask me a
10:55question or two about that later.
10:57And then my timing was perfect
10:59because 2019 I was a new CEO.
11:01I came into healthcare, it was fantastic.
11:04And then COVID hit in 2020 and
11:06all hell broke loose.
11:07So it was not exactly the easiest
11:09time to be in healthcare leadership,
11:11but I think because I came up
11:13through the ranks at Gaylord,
11:15I had built all of those relationships.
11:17Those relationships were easier to
11:19leverage during the pandemic because
11:21when I went out on the floors as a clinician,
11:24I wasn't afraid to be out on
11:26the floors with everybody else.
11:27I wasn't afraid to go and talk
11:28to the patients.
11:29I wasn't afraid to talk to the families
11:31and I had to ask the clinicians.
11:33They were willing to tell me
11:34what they needed.
11:35You know,
11:35people said how did you guys fare so well?
11:38Because we had better retention
11:40than most organizations.
11:41We've never had a travelling
11:43nurse in the organization During
11:45the entire pandemic.
11:46We were able to maintain
11:47our staffing and that I
11:49really truly believe is because
11:50of the culture because they we
11:52we asked them what they needed.
11:54They told us and we did what
11:55we could to give it to them.
11:56Now, not everything we couldn't give people,
11:58you know, the shifts they wanted
12:00necessarily or no weekends, no holidays,
12:01all the things that people asked for.
12:03But we really had a really strong
12:06culture and a good organizational
12:08structure of leadership and we were
12:11present and and I think that was what
12:13helped us really get through the
12:15pandemic in a pretty successful way.
12:17The two years of the pandemic in 2021
12:19and 22 are some of our best years,
12:21both in clinical outcomes as
12:23well as in financial outcomes.
12:25So I know that's a little bit odd,
12:27but I think that that was
12:29really what drove our culture,
12:30was really what drove that success.
12:31So it's all I'm going to say
12:33about my story for right now.
12:35I'm going to take just a couple seconds
12:37to Orient everybody to Gaylord.
12:39I think how many of you have
12:41heard of Gaylord?
12:42OK, most people.
12:42So I won't spend a lot of time here,
12:45but I just want to make sure that
12:47everybody knows sort of where Gaylord
12:49fell in the continuum during the pandemic
12:51where what we do and then we can
12:54get into the question and answer period,
12:55which I think will be much more
12:57interesting than listening to me talk,
12:59OK,
12:59so Gaylord's a long term acute care hospital.
13:01What does that mean?
13:02We are licensed as a hospital.
13:04We're not a rehab.
13:05I know that's going to shock everybody
13:07because everybody knows Gaylord has a rehab,
13:09but we are actually a long
13:11term acute care hospital,
13:12meaning that we have a length of
13:15stay of about 25 days.
13:16We are still free standing,
13:19not-for-profit independent and
13:21I will to my dying day hope that
13:24we can stay that way forever.
13:26We have a 400 acre campus in Wallingford,
13:28so we are blessed with lots of green space,
13:31lots of healing green space.
13:33So a lot of our patients get to
13:35be outside as they're recovering.
13:37You know this is what I just talked about,
13:39this is sort of the healthcare
13:40continuum here in Connecticut.
13:41So we have short term acute cares which
13:44are like Yale long term acute then
13:46inpatient rehab then skilled nursing.
13:47So Gaylord many time gets confused
13:49as to where we fit and so we are
13:52the most acute setting right after
13:54the acute care we do pay take
13:57patients directly out of the ICU.
13:59Our nurse to pace ratios are very similar
14:01to a Med surg unit in a hospital.
14:04Obviously we have 24/7 medical coverage,
14:07respiratory coverage, nursing coverage,
14:09but we're also very focused
14:11on rehabilitation.
14:13These are our primary programs,
14:15complex rehab,
14:16spinal cord brain injury, stroke,
14:19ortho, neurologic diseases.
14:20But then we have a whole couple of
14:25programs related to medical complex.
14:26What does that mean?
14:28Patients that have had transplants,
14:30complex wounds, cardiac, those type of
14:33patients and then a lot of pulmonary,
14:35that's where our history lies.
14:37We were at TB sanatorium in 19 O2 and we've
14:40done pulmonary rehab pretty much ever since.
14:42So a lot of vent leaning back in the day,
14:44actually post COVID, we've seen a
14:46little bit of a decrease in that,
14:47but definitely still doing pulmonary rehab.
14:50We also have 5 outpatient locations,
14:52primarily therapy related
14:54except in Wallingford.
14:55We do have physiatrists and
14:58we also have psychologists,
15:00social workers and neuropsychologists in
15:02our neuro clinic in the Wallingford campus.
15:06I put this slide in here only because I know
15:08this audience might be interested in this.
15:10How many of you have heard of the
15:12Traurig House man that breaks my heart?
15:14So only facility in Connecticut
15:16right on the Gaylord campus that is a
15:19residential Center for brain injury.
15:21What that essentially means is patients
15:22who have finished their acute care stay,
15:25maybe have finished their rehab stay,
15:26but aren't ready to go home right.
15:28They still need supervision.
15:30They still need cognitive rehab,
15:32they still need aphasia rehab.
15:34They still need something that's
15:35preventing them from going home.
15:37So we built this residential care
15:39center probably 20 or 30 years ago.
15:42And those patients can go into
15:44the residential care facility.
15:45They learn how to do daily skills.
15:47They cook their own meals,
15:48they do their own laundry.
15:50They go out in the community,
15:51They learn how to take their meds.
15:53They go home on the weekends.
15:55So that's the key piece that helps the
15:57families transition into having their
15:59their newly injured person back with them.
16:01And then on Monday they come
16:02back and they say,
16:03OK,
16:03these are the things we struggled
16:04with over the weekend and we
16:06can address those in therapy.
16:07So I point this out to this crowd
16:09because I think this is a very unknown
16:11service that we have at Gaylord Now.
16:13I will tell you,
16:14most insurance companies don't pay for it.
16:17Shocking,
16:17but we do have a donor who will
16:19cover the care for any patient
16:22whose insurance doesn't cover it.
16:23So believe it or not,
16:25I have a donor who loves this
16:26program so much that any patient
16:28who needs it can get it.
16:30So if you have patients,
16:31it might be appropriate for this.
16:32Would love to talk to you more about that.
16:35And then quickly,
16:35you know,
16:36I talked about this a little bit over lunch
16:38with the group that I ate with at lunch.
16:39But over the last several years
16:41since I took over as President,
16:43we've been focused a lot on campus renewal,
16:47what I like to call that.
16:48So we did patient upgrades to all the rooms.
16:51We've added outdoor treatment spaces,
16:52which is that top middle picture there,
16:54you know,
16:55contiguous to the gym so people
16:57can go outside to treat.
16:58But then we really started to incorporate
17:02education as well as innovation and research.
17:05So we've always been a
17:07fantastic provider of care in
17:09Connecticut, but we're now just
17:10starting to get into really the
17:12research in rehabilitation medicine.
17:14We started a physiatry residency program,
17:17the first one in the state
17:19in conjunction with UConn.
17:20And we've started many programs
17:22related to nursing retention,
17:23nurse residency programs, ACNA Academy.
17:26So I think it's really important that
17:29providers not only look at providing
17:31care to patients in the moment,
17:32but what's coming next,
17:34How do we incorporate technology,
17:36How do we do things differently to
17:38really allow for growth and development?
17:40So with that,
17:41I will stop and see if there are
17:43any questions about my life story,
17:46which you heard in 5 minutes
17:47or less or Gaylord.
17:49And then I think we will go back to Darren.
17:52Anybody have any questions for me?
17:56Perfect. All right. Oh, I'm ready.
17:59I have one question. Yeah.
18:00And it's just something
18:02I've always wondered about.
18:03You know, great reputation,
18:04Gaylord, but you know pick up
18:06the setting with you know,
18:09chronic relief, typical patients some
18:14of whom are unconscious.
18:18We maintain positive cultural
18:23environment for staff when the
18:25people you're working with are so
18:28don't care and and
18:34yeah, so that's a really good question.
18:37And so even though the
18:39patients are very difficult,
18:40they all have a recovery journey too.
18:41So I mean they may come in, you know,
18:44like our brain injury population,
18:45many of them come in very low level.
18:48They're not able to speak,
18:49they're not able to walk,
18:50they come in on a stretcher.
18:51You would be surprised the vast majority
18:53of our patients walk out the door.
18:55So it's actually as much as people think
18:57it's really hard work, which it is.
19:00It's also very motivating because
19:01those little steps that people
19:03take and on their journey,
19:05recovery with their families and everyone
19:07around them is very motivating for staff.
19:10So I think it's actually the opposite.
19:12Yes, it's a difficult patient population,
19:14but I think people get motivated in helping
19:16those most catastrophically injured
19:18actually recover and get their life back.
19:21So the way we,
19:22what we say at Gaylord is you come to the
19:24acute care hospital to save your life,
19:26but then you come to Gaylord
19:26to get your life back,
19:27whatever that's going to be.
19:29And so we've become sort of part of
19:31the family in that person's recovery.
19:34So yes,
19:35it's difficult work,
19:36but I have found that for most
19:39people it's actually very motivating
19:41and an environment that promotes
19:43sort of that can do spirit,
19:45we call it think possible.
19:46At Gaylord, it's cheesy that's our tagline.
19:48But we think possible for our patients
19:50and we think possible for what's
19:51what the future can hold for them.
19:53And so that's that's sort of
19:54the mindset that we all have.
20:01And and honestly, when people have the
20:04choice of recovering in an urban area
20:06or they can go someplace where they have
20:08access to 400 acres of green space and
20:10gardens and outdoor areas and everything,
20:12most people will choose that
20:14sort of healing environment.
20:15And we've really focused on
20:17treating the whole person,
20:18not just the medical diagnosis.
20:20So we've added programs in our
20:22office of Integrative Medicine,
20:23you know, mindfulness, massage, Reiki,
20:26all of sort of the ancillary sort
20:30of programs that people are looking
20:32for to sort of help them recover.
20:33We just built a beautiful new Chapel,
20:35you know, to sort of speak to
20:37everyone's spirituality because
20:38people have to be treated as people,
20:40not a diagnosis.
20:41And so we had to create an
20:42environment that treated the
20:44whole person and the whole family.
20:46So I know I'm speaking to the choir here.
20:48Go ahead. Yeah.
20:50Yeah.
20:51We've built a lot of social
20:52capital and social credibility
20:54by having been part of the
20:59other side of that is folks
21:02that that move up to higher echelons
21:04but then have relationships that
21:05have changed with the people with
21:07whom they had worked before.
21:10Or I'm just
21:10wondering what's that's like either for
21:12you or your leadership team. And you
21:14know I think any leadership
21:15team you should have a,
21:16you shouldn't have all people that have
21:18grown up from inside an organization.
21:20So we have my senior team
21:21is a blend of outsiders.
21:22I don't mean to say it that way,
21:23but people that have come in from
21:25the outside as well as people
21:26have sort of come in and grown
21:28up through the organization.
21:29But it is very challenging when you
21:31are used to working side by side with
21:33someone and then you become their
21:35their supervisor or their manager.
21:37The you have to set very clear
21:39boundaries pretty quickly.
21:40And that doesn't mean that you can't keep
21:43the familiarity and sort of the relationship,
21:45but it does change.
21:46And so you have to be very honest with
21:48those people that the role has changed
21:50and you have to present yourself
21:52a little bit differently and you
21:54have to address things differently.
21:55But I will tell you that most people
21:57that I work with in the organization,
21:59I'm not friends with them.
22:00I mean, I have,
22:01I have a great relationship
22:02with all of the employees,
22:03but we're not out,
22:04you know,
22:04having cocktails after work together
22:06and you have to maintain that boundary.
22:08And I think for some supervisors
22:09that's very challenging.
22:10When you when you were peers
22:12and now you're a supervisor,
22:13how do you make that transition?
22:15And so we spent a lot of time
22:17actually and my VP of HR and I
22:19working with new leaders on just
22:20that because it is important to
22:22set those boundaries early on or
22:24it can make for very uncomfortable
22:26situations down the line.
22:27Yes,
22:28this is somewhat related I suppose.
22:30But you know as a CEOI imagine you're
22:34you're working with a myriad of
22:37professionals from different specialties,
22:39positions not positions. And I'm,
22:41I'm kind of wondering what you've learned,
22:46you know and navigating and like what
22:48ecosystems have you created to help give
22:51feedback to these different specialities.
22:55You know someone who isn't a physician
22:59but working with physicians.
23:01And because I I can imagine like
23:03you know if if I become a leader
23:06in some respect in some system,
23:07I'll be working with people
23:09outside of my own speciality.
23:10So just kind of wondering what it's like,
23:12what you,
23:13what strategies you've kind of come
23:15up with to learn about someone else's
23:17like niche and then feel like it's a
23:20healthy ecosystem to give feedback.
23:22Yeah. So I mean that's a that's a good point.
23:24I've worked with all sorts of
23:26different disciplines as you
23:27can imagine in in my career.
23:28The first thing you have to do is admit
23:30that you don't know what what their,
23:32what their role is and have them explain it
23:34to you, you know, so spend time with them.
23:37I've done shadowing in all of the different
23:39areas of the hospital, just observing.
23:40You know what? And then you ask,
23:42what are the challenges that you face?
23:43Tell me about what you need me
23:45to know as the CEO, and trust me,
23:48people will eventually open up.
23:49You come tearing in to meet with a
23:51new group of people and you act like
23:53you know you're dead in the water.
23:55You have to take the time to
23:57hear from them what they need,
23:59what they know, and let them teach you.
24:01That's been my my sort of philosophy
24:02is go in and let somebody else teach
24:05you what they do because you'll
24:07never know it as well as they do.
24:09And you have to be OK to say that,
24:10that you'll never know it as well as I do.
24:12The speech pathologists are the
24:13ones that I really had the most
24:14trouble with because you know,
24:15of course that's my, that's my field.
24:17So I I go in and I'm like, why are no,
24:20OK, I'm not going to judge.
24:21Tell me what's going on, you know.
24:23And so but I think it it all comes
24:26down to being humble and being
24:28willing to listen and taking time.
24:30You can't ever come in too quickly and
24:32pretend that you know everything because
24:34I I think that's that's the kiss of death.
24:37But physicians especially want to
24:38teach you about their sub specialty.
24:41And so if you take the time to to
24:42observe and talk to their patients and
24:44talk to them and talk to their staff,
24:46goes a long way.
24:47Did that answer your question?
24:48Yeah,
24:49Yeah.
24:51Anybody else have a question before
24:53we move on?
24:56All right, Darren, you ready? All right.
24:59Now, now comes the tough questions.
25:03Are we sitting here? Yeah.
25:04Do we need the microphones or?
25:06I don't know.
25:06Can the people on Zoom hear us?
25:08You. Me as well. If you can, we.
25:09Oh, I'm getting a nod that
25:11they can hear us.
25:11But do you want to use the microphone?
25:13It's fine. They
25:16are on, though. Are there?
25:18I have a very loud nod.
25:26Now it's on. Is it on? OK.
25:29There we go. All right. Ready.
25:31Darren, what do you got for me?
25:33It's not that bad. OK.
25:35So thank you for everything
25:38that you shared so far.
25:40I knew that when you started talking
25:41about your leadership, it was,
25:42did you learn something lot? Yeah.
25:45But you know one of the one of the
25:48main reasons that we had invited you
25:50to speak is because I knew that how
25:53much you invest in people and how
25:55much you think about service and sort
25:57of leading from the ground up how,
25:59how important that is to you.
26:01So I guess my my first question is a
26:03more general one or more open-ended one,
26:06which is you know
26:10who within your organization,
26:13who are the folks that you feel
26:16most beholden to and how do you,
26:18how does that frame up how you lead,
26:21who am I most beholden to? OK.
26:22So first I would say definitely
26:24the patience probably then their
26:27families and our employees. You know,
26:29I know the right answer is my board,
26:31my donors, those that would be the
26:32right answers for the for those people
26:34that would be sitting in my room.
26:36But I truly believe that the most important
26:39stakeholders in healthcare are the patients.
26:41So if you don't make them your
26:44number one priority that's that's
26:46not going to work out very well.
26:47So how do you do that?
26:49Talk to them, listen to them,
26:51hear their feedback.
26:52So I am happiest when I am out on the units,
26:55talking to patients, talking to families.
26:58Everybody has a story to tell
27:00and they want to tell you.
27:02So it's OK to walk into a patient's
27:03room and they're like, who are you?
27:05And I always ask,
27:06what's going well with your stay?
27:09What's not going well?
27:10What could we be doing better?
27:12That's my favorite question to ask,
27:14whether it's a patient,
27:15a family member or an employee,
27:16what could we be doing better?
27:17Because honestly,
27:18that's the only way to hear from people.
27:20Surveys don't really work all that well.
27:22I mean, yes, you get some survey feedback,
27:23but most people don't bother
27:24to fill them out completely.
27:26But when you actually sit down and have
27:27a conversation with somebody eye to eye,
27:29you, you get the true story.
27:32So, and how about with your staff?
27:36Same thing.
27:36I I think leadership rounding is probably the
27:39most important thing that a leader can do.
27:41And I don't mean rounding,
27:42walking around and saying hi,
27:44hello, how you doing?
27:45No, it's actually asking the questions.
27:47And my standard questions
27:49are what's working well,
27:50what's not?
27:51What tools do you need to do
27:53your job that you don't have?
27:55Is there anybody that you want to
27:57recognize because you want to build
27:58that culture of recognition too?
28:00So people will often say, oh,
28:02this person did something nice
28:03for me yesterday,
28:04and then I will go back to my office,
28:05write them a card, send them an e-mail,
28:07find them and congratulate them.
28:09So what's working well? What's not?
28:11Who do you want to recognize?
28:12What tools do you need?
28:13And what else do you want to share with me?
28:15What programs and services should
28:16we be providing that we're not?
28:19What are the challenges that
28:20you have in your day-to-day job
28:22that I can help you address?
28:24So once a month I have lunch
28:26with a group of random employees.
28:28They get picked out of a hat.
28:29I don't know who picks them.
28:30Somebody in HR picks them.
28:31And we sit around a table
28:33for an hour and a half.
28:34We have lunch very socially,
28:36and we have these conversations
28:37because I think if you're
28:39too far removed from what's
28:41actually going on it,
28:42you're never going to hear the true story.
28:44So, yeah, And what about deliberately
28:48or intentionally developing the
28:51people who work for you? How?
28:53How have you integrated that into
28:54into your into your leadership
28:56philosophy and what you're doing?
28:57That's the best part of the job,
28:58to be quite honest.
29:00I love nothing more.
29:01When an employee shows up in my doorstep
29:04and says I don't know what's next,
29:06can you help me figure out, you know,
29:07what else I might be able to do or
29:10how I can grow or how I can develop?
29:12I say that right at new
29:13employee orientation at Gaylord.
29:14I say my door is open all the time.
29:16Please show up in my office because
29:18that means I don't have to go to
29:19a budget meeting or something
29:20else if somebody's in my office
29:22telling me what they need.
29:23So it's it's been sort of a
29:25cornerstone of of leadership.
29:27And I would say my proudest
29:30moments are actually watching
29:31the people that are growing and
29:33developing within the organization.
29:35Most people don't go into
29:37healthcare to do the status quo.
29:39They're looking for what's next.
29:40It's something different
29:41for every single person.
29:42Leadership is not for everybody,
29:45but there's always ways to
29:46help people grow and develop.
29:48And if they're unhappy with
29:49what they're currently doing,
29:50there's a way to to shift gears
29:52and find the right seat.
29:54They may be on the right bus,
29:55but not in the right seat.
29:56So there have been plenty of people
29:58who've been in jobs and we've created
30:00new jobs for them based on their
30:01strengths and and their skills.
30:03And I think that that's part of that
30:05culture of growing and developing is
30:07to have that sort of open door policy.
30:09So I love when people are
30:11looking for mentors.
30:12I get called all the time and I
30:14make time for that all the time.
30:16I mean it's it's the number
30:17one thing that I like to do.
30:18And I have to say that's partially
30:20because I've had some good mentors
30:21in my life too and it makes
30:22a big difference if you have
30:24somebody that can help you.
30:27OK. Sorry, Darren.
30:28I get excited about these things.
30:29I'm going to jump off my
30:31chair pretty soon. Go ahead.
30:32And I'm going to and now I'm going to
30:34ask some some more difficult questions.
30:36Yeah, we had the positive ones. OK.
30:38So what is the biggest leadership challenge
30:41you feel you have faced in your career?
30:43I think it's, I'm facing it
30:45right now to be quite honest.
30:46When we started talking about it at lunch.
30:50The financial implications of
30:52healthcare right now are very,
30:53very challenging. So you know,
30:55you've always been able to do the right
30:57thing by your patients and and make a
30:59margin and that's been my experience.
31:00You know, if you're not being
31:02excessive and you're not, you know,
31:04and you're mindful you've been able
31:07to do the right thing and you've been
31:09able to make a minuscule margin.
31:10Healthcare's never making huge margins,
31:11but at least a minuscule margin right now.
31:14It has become more and more
31:15challenging post pandemic.
31:16Salary costs are through the roof.
31:18I think everybody probably knows that.
31:19I think at Gaylord our average salary
31:22increases over the last couple years,
31:24it's like 13%, right.
31:26So especially in nursing physicians,
31:29therapists,
31:29those those rates have gone up
31:32significantly cause competition is
31:33significant and you know there are
31:35hospitals in the state that we're
31:37offering $30,000 sign on bonuses for nurses.
31:39I mean you you can't compete with that.
31:41So financially it's becoming
31:43harder and harder.
31:44Supply costs are up,
31:46pharmacy costs are up,
31:48food costs are up.
31:49So all the costs are probably up
31:51about 10 to 15% and reimbursement
31:53has gone up 1 to 2% if you're lucky.
31:56Medicaid hasn't gone up at all.
31:57Medicare has been about flat for me anyway.
32:00I don't know about for all of you,
32:01but you know the and the commercial
32:03rates maybe go up 1 or 2%,
32:04that's not sustainable.
32:05So the greatest challenge that
32:07we face now is how do you keep
32:10doing mission driven work,
32:11doing what's right by your patients
32:14and making at least a margin
32:15so that you're not at risk for
32:17having to close your doors.
32:19And so we've started to look
32:20at revenue diversification.
32:21What else could we be doing?
32:23What other services could we be providing?
32:25Are there any other programs
32:26that play to our strengths?
32:28We've got 400 acres of land.
32:29Do we want to be a solar farm?
32:30I mean there's there's.
32:31So we've had to look outside of
32:33ourselves and really think about,
32:34OK,
32:35where else can we generate revenue
32:36to support the mission so that we
32:38don't have to change the mission
32:40because insurance companies aren't
32:42paying the way that they need to.
32:44We've also been very fortunate.
32:46I mentioned one donor that we've had
32:49when I was talking about Traurig.
32:51But in the last five years I've
32:52spent a lot of time in philanthropy.
32:55Not anybody's favorite thing to do is
32:57to go out and ask people for money.
32:59But if you're a mission driven organization,
33:01philanthropy is a reality.
33:02So you have to go out and find
33:05grants and investors and people
33:06who are interested in maintaining
33:08the mission and being able to
33:09support that mission financially
33:10so that we can keep doing the good
33:12work that we're doing.
33:13So I would say of all of the years
33:15that I've been in leadership,
33:16right now is the most difficult
33:19time and I don't see it
33:21getting better anytime soon to
33:22be quite honest.
33:22So as a leader, how do you manage
33:25that personally and psychologically?
33:26What do you do for yourself?
33:28Given that I should have guessed that was
33:30going to be one of the questions here.
33:33So it, you know for me personally,
33:37you have to find OK,
33:40so I'll I there's some things that
33:41I've sort of had to structure.
33:43I structure thinking time into my calendar.
33:45I know that sounds ridiculous but
33:47I have two hours a block on my
33:49calendar every week to just think
33:51about what's next what's new.
33:53It's the it's my time where I close my doors.
33:56I have those papers,
33:57those three M papers all over my wall and I,
34:00you know, scribble my,
34:01my musings about,
34:02you know what we could be doing.
34:03So that gives me some outlet for
34:05some of that creativity.
34:06But for me personally,
34:07you have to find self-care.
34:09And I had a really good executive coach
34:11a few years ago who beat that into
34:13my head that I was always looking at
34:16other people 1st and never looking at
34:18what I needed to sort of refill my cup.
34:21And so I have now made it so that
34:23I don't have events more than two
34:25nights a week, which I was going to
34:27different events five nights a week,
34:29galas, people's fundraisers, talks,
34:32social events, whatever it was,
34:35you felt like you had to be at everything.
34:37But you don't really have
34:38to be at everything.
34:38So, you know,
34:39I really have now limited where I have
34:41at least three nights a week at home.
34:43And that for me is important.
34:44I do one sort of self-care
34:46thing a week for myself,
34:47whether it's getting a massage,
34:48going to get my nails done,
34:49whatever it is something that's just for me.
34:53And now I've also taken up the
34:54practice of yoga and meditation,
34:56both of which have been supremely helpful.
34:58Five years ago,
34:59I would have laughed if you told me
35:01that mindfulness was going to work for
35:02me because I'm not the most Zen person,
35:06but it has really helped me
35:08sort of refocus my energy.
35:10So I don't know if that answered
35:12the question, but you know,
35:13I have taken what I've personally
35:15learned and tried to instill
35:17that in some of the employees.
35:19You have to take care of yourself
35:21so that other people can take care,
35:23so that you can take care of patients.
35:25And so I walk around the units all
35:26the time and say to the nurses,
35:28we've got this 400 acre campus,
35:30it's 60° outside.
35:30Go outside and get some fresh
35:32air on your face, get some,
35:34you know, get something,
35:36some sense of refresh rejuvenation
35:37so that you can come back and
35:39take care of patients again.
35:41And you would be shocked how hard it
35:42is to get nurses to leave the bedside.
35:44They don't want to,
35:45but when they come back,
35:47then they feel much better
35:48and they can give back
35:48to their patients.
35:49So what I've learned from myself,
35:51I've tried to instill in other people,
35:52but it's still we hired right during COVID,
35:56we hired mindfulness facilitators to
35:57actually work with the staff on the
35:59units and those people still come
36:00in from the Copper Beach Society.
36:02It's a it's a meditation
36:04retreat center in West Hartford.
36:06So they actually came in when we do
36:09mindfulness and meditation with the
36:10staff sort of right on the units and
36:12that that I think sort of help them
36:14sort of have permission to do that.
36:15I mean during COVID we had Wellness
36:17carts that would go around and you know,
36:19trying to get people to to take
36:21care of themselves,
36:21but it's not always easy to do.
36:24Healthcare workers are stubborn.
36:27Sorry, that's my filter falling off
36:32physicians especially. OK.
36:35So this this question,
36:39I don't know it's an obligatory question,
36:41but I did, I did want to ask you about when
36:43you made your transition to the CEO role,
36:47you were mid career, you were the first
36:52woman to assume that role and you also,
36:55as you mentioned in your talk before,
36:58you were the, you were an internal candidate.
37:01So I'm curious, maybe we go 123.
37:04Those 3 aspects of your identity,
37:07what that was,
37:08I'd like for you how those factored in,
37:12what your experience was.
37:13Yeah, so people have asked me many,
37:15many times about the gender question.
37:18And you know, for me,
37:20gender was never really an issue until
37:22I threw my hat in the ring for CEO,
37:24and I'll talk about that in a second.
37:26But you know,
37:27when Healthcare is 80% female,
37:28so it was never really,
37:31I didn't feel like I ever hit that
37:33glass ceiling and people didn't offer
37:34me opportunities either because I was
37:36a woman or not because I was a woman.
37:38I didn't ever have that that feeling.
37:41When I decided to apply for the CEO position,
37:44my board of directors,
37:45who obviously was doing the search,
37:47was primarily white, male, older.
37:54And you know that that was the
37:55first inkling that I had that
37:57this was going to be an issue,
37:58that I was female.
38:00However, I think they hurdled that one
38:03a little bit easier than the mid career.
38:05They felt I was young,
38:07I was,
38:07you know,
38:08in my early 40s and all of the CE
38:10OS or most of the CE OS before
38:12me had been end of career and
38:14they retired from Gaylord.
38:15So it was a totally different vibe for them.
38:19But I actually think the highest
38:21hurdle for them was clinician because
38:24I think they struggled with all of
38:26our previous CE OS were businessmen,
38:27bankers,
38:28finance people and they struggled with
38:30how can a clinician understand the
38:33business of healthcare and be able to
38:37translate that and be a clinician.
38:39And so I think that was actually the,
38:41the,
38:41the hardest thing for the board to
38:44understand was that it is possible
38:46and much more so than age and
38:49and being a female and you know,
38:52talking about a rigorous
38:56interview process, you know, most of the,
38:58I was there for the previous two CE OS,
39:00right. They had one day of interviews
39:02and **** they're, they're the CEO,
39:04fantastic for me, internal candidate,
39:06clinician, younger, female.
39:07It was almost six months of interviews with
39:10every board member multiple times with every
39:13person that you could possibly imagine.
39:16And it got to the point where I was like,
39:18why am I doing this?
39:18This is way too much hassle. And again,
39:21my executive coach at the time said,
39:23if this is something you really want,
39:24take it and prove them wrong.
39:26And so here we are.
39:27And that's what I did.
39:28You know, you take the job,
39:29you get the job, and then you spend
39:30the next six months saying, you know,
39:32these are all the things that.
39:33And we've made tremendous progress.
39:35And I think all the board members who had
39:38hesitations are now no longer hesitant.
39:40So that's the fun part is get to be like,
39:43you know, ha, ha.
39:45After it was six months of painful,
39:47torturous interviews.
39:47So did that answer your question?
39:49Yeah, sort of. Yeah. No, it did.
39:51It did. And.
39:52And does any of that come up now,
39:54even indirectly or?
39:56No, no.
39:56And I actually think,
39:58you know, it's made me,
40:00it made me really want this job more,
40:02going through that rigorous interview
40:03process, 'cause I didn't really want it.
40:04And then when you had to fight for it,
40:06you really wanted it.
40:07And then I think it's actually made me
40:11more in tune to how other people might
40:13feel going into different leadership
40:15roles from different backgrounds.
40:17And I can relate to that a little bit better,
40:19I think.
40:21Yeah,
40:23so.
40:23A question on a slightly different
40:26from a slightly different vein,
40:28which is I know over lunch you
40:30had mentioned that you now have
40:32some new training programs.
40:34So I'm wondering if you could say a
40:36little bit about that because we have
40:38trainees in the room and that's one
40:39of our missions at the Child Study
40:40Center is education and training.
40:42If you could speak a little bit about
40:45your programs and then a little bit
40:47more generally what your thoughts
40:49are on training the next generation
40:51and why it's important, Sure.
40:53So post Pandemic,
40:55we were not able to recruit
40:58nursing assistants.
40:59I don't think anybody could
41:00recruit nursing assistants.
41:01So we started our own school.
41:03It was not as easy as it sounds getting
41:05through the DPH approvals to start a school,
41:08but we were able to do that.
41:09And I think that's one pillar
41:12in the nursing arena.
41:13We started a nurse residency program
41:15so that we could recruit new nurses,
41:17give them support for an entire year.
41:20So we have two staff members who are
41:22sort of the mentors for our new nurses
41:25and they actually spend time with
41:27them in the SIM lab or at the bedside,
41:29whatever they need to make
41:30them feel more supported.
41:31Because what we were finding is people
41:33come out of school especially right
41:35after the pandemic and they didn't
41:37have a lot of hands on experience
41:38and so they were really struggling
41:40with sort of that first job.
41:41So we created that in 2021.
41:44We started the first residency
41:46program for PM and our physicians
41:49physical medicine and rehabilitation,
41:52so physiatry with UConn and that
41:56was important to us because we were
41:58first of all identified a need.
41:59There was no training programs
42:01in Connecticut.
42:02You either were training in
42:03New York or in Boston,
42:05which made it challenging to get new hires.
42:08So luckily most of my physiatry team
42:10has been a Gaylord for over 30 years,
42:12but they're getting ready to retire.
42:14And so, you know,
42:15I want to make sure that we have a good
42:17pipeline of physiatrist in the state,
42:18not just for Gaylord but for all of the
42:20other rehab providers in the state.
42:22So we started a residency program.
42:25We have lots of student programs and
42:27therapies and we take, you know,
42:29psychology fellows and social
42:31workers and dietitians.
42:32I mean,
42:32so we have sort of this culture of education.
42:35And why is that important?
42:37Because I think it,
42:37first of all,
42:38it keeps the clinicians at the
42:41highest level of their practice
42:44because they're teaching.
42:45So you're constantly learning
42:47if you're teaching.
42:48So I think that helps not
42:49only provide better service,
42:50but I also think as a provider,
42:53it's our responsibility to train the
42:55next generation because otherwise
42:56there's going to be nobody there to
42:58take care of us when we get to that point.
43:00So we've instilled in all of our
43:02clinical areas the need to really have
43:04some sort of educational component,
43:06either taking students,
43:07creating an education component
43:09And then because we're, you know,
43:12complex rehabilitation,
43:13everything is team oriented.
43:15So, you know,
43:16being part of an interdisciplinary
43:17team and learning that way and
43:19that intraprofessional way,
43:20I also think makes more well-rounded
43:22clinicians in the long run.
43:24Yeah.
43:24Can you say a little more about
43:26that 'cause we have people from
43:27many different training backgrounds
43:28here at the Child Study Center.
43:30How,
43:30how do you envision those sort of
43:32multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary teams?
43:34How does that work?
43:35So I mean just from a purely
43:37provider standpoint,
43:38you know every patient that comes
43:40to Gaylord gets assigned A-Team and
43:41their team is APT and OTA speech pathologist,
43:43a psychologist, a care manager,
43:45a physician, APA or an APRN.
43:47So they they meet twice a week just
43:49as an interdisciplinary team to talk
43:51about the treatment of that patient.
43:54One of those meetings includes
43:55the patient in the family,
43:56one of them is just the treating team.
43:58So we're built that way.
43:59That's how we That's how we function.
44:02But I think from an education standpoint,
44:04having students come in,
44:05even if they're a different discipline,
44:07but learning about all of
44:09the different disciplines,
44:10sometimes people will be like,
44:11oh,
44:11I really like that.
44:12Maybe I want to go do that.
44:13And it's better to find that
44:15out while you're a student than,
44:17you know, get into your career.
44:18I mean, I've had PTS that have spent
44:20seven years in school, you know,
44:22and then they start taking care of
44:23patients and they're like, yeah,
44:24I don't really want to do this anymore.
44:25Oh, God, OK,
44:26you just spent seven years in school.
44:28Maybe we should have figured that out a
44:29little sooner in in the in the process.
44:31But I think it's really important
44:33for people to learn again.
44:34As I said before, patients are whole people.
44:38They all have interests,
44:40goals, individual, you know,
44:42aspects of the recovery that are different.
44:46And so everybody approaches
44:48their recovery differently.
44:49So each discipline has a
44:51goal for that patient,
44:52but it should still be all
44:53centered around with that
44:54individual patient wants and needs.
44:56So I don't know if that helped,
44:57but interdisciplinary education I
44:59think is the way of the future.
45:01And I'm sure you guys are doing that here.
45:03Yeah.
45:06OK. So two other questions for you
45:08and then we'll open up to anyone
45:11else who may have a question.
45:12What's the leadership success
45:14you are most proud of?
45:18Oh, now that's a good one.
45:19OK, Leadership success, I'm most proud of.
45:21I would say when I became the CEO in 2019,
45:24I blew up and redesigned
45:26our entire strategic plan.
45:28And that strategic plan had to do with
45:30all the things we already talked about,
45:31education, innovation, research,
45:34campus renewal, we built gardens,
45:37we we renovated patient rooms.
45:40And you know, even during COVID,
45:42we've been able to see the
45:43fruits of our laborers there.
45:44So even though we had to stop construction,
45:47start construction, stop construction,
45:49we've really made a visible
45:51impact on the campus we built that
45:54just opened this past December,
45:56what we're calling the Institute
45:57for Advanced Rehabilitation.
45:59And we've commingled education,
46:02research and the physiatry residency,
46:04as well as our office of
46:05integrative Medicine.
46:06And a Chapel is down there too.
46:07But we created sort of this innovation hub
46:10and anybody in the hospital can go down.
46:12It's actually a circular space and people
46:14can go down and have brainstorming sessions.
46:17It's got this cool light in the
46:18ceiling where you can change the color
46:19and do all sorts of crazy things.
46:21And you were creating an environment
46:23for people to think,
46:24people to imagine,
46:25people to dream away from the hubbub
46:28of the patient units.
46:30And So what am I most proud of is the
46:32fact that we've been able to execute on a
46:34lot of these things even during a pandemic.
46:38All of those programs that I've just
46:41mentioned are almost entirely donor
46:43funded because you know, when you're,
46:45when you've got a thin margin,
46:47you can't be doing construction
46:48projects with your margin.
46:49You've got to be giving it to your staff.
46:50So we've been able to really
46:52cultivate a lot of individual donors
46:53that have been very supportive.
46:55So as much as I don't like
46:57that aspect of the job,
46:58it's been pretty successful.
47:01That's pretty much it I think.
47:04OK, so final question for me
47:05and then if anybody else has
47:07questions here over zoom please,
47:12it's kind of a two-part question
47:14of course. So testing me,
47:19looking out at the people here,
47:20if you had to give one kernel or one
47:24gem of wisdom about leadership that
47:28is service focused, what would it be?
47:31Take the time to get to know what
47:34inspires your people because I think
47:36you can have a vision and it that's
47:38the other part that's important.
47:40You better be able to articulate
47:42your vision to your your reports
47:44at any given point in time.
47:46Your elevator speech,
47:47your what's the future look like in a
47:50succinct way that people can remember.
47:52OK, so make sure you have that sort
47:54of mission statement in mind or
47:55what your vision is for the future.
47:57But then you have to find and each
48:00individual person, what motivates them,
48:02what inspires them, what are their goals.
48:05And so that would be my advice,
48:07Relationship, building, building,
48:09trust, being authentic, all of those.
48:12I know that was more than one
48:13piece of advice,
48:14but it's hard to say just one thing and
48:17I'm going to sneak in one more question.
48:19So legacy,
48:20what do you hope your given that?
48:23What do you hope your legacy will be?
48:26So what do I hope my legacy will be?
48:28I hope that Gaylord will continue to
48:31be a thriving independent organization
48:33in the state of Connecticut.
48:36In order to do so,
48:36I do think we need to build
48:39our more national reputation,
48:41hence the reason for the research
48:43and education because I think we're
48:45well known to New Haven County,
48:47Hartford County.
48:47But when you go beyond that,
48:49I think people don't realize
48:51the gem that is here.
48:53So I would like for us not to be the
48:56best kept secret and to really spend
48:58some time educating the community,
49:01but also providers as to what the benefits
49:03are and continuing to grow the organization.
49:05Because I think if you don't
49:07grow in this market,
49:08you're not going to survive.
49:09So growth,
49:12innovation and development for for
49:15employees and honestly finding the
49:18next person to take the dream and and
49:21continue with it because you know you
49:23never want to be the CEO that stays too long.
49:26So once you feel like your
49:28your impact is been maximized,
49:30it's your time to step aside
49:32and let somebody else take it.
49:33So I think that that would be the legacies,
49:35finding the next person to build on
49:37the dream that we've already built.
49:39Sonya. Thank you. You're welcome.
49:42OK. So does anybody have questions
49:44either here or over zoom?
49:46We have a few minutes for questions.
49:48Checking the time. Yep. Yeah,
49:52right there in the front row. Thank
49:54you. That was, that was really inspiring
49:56and great talk and a great discussion.
49:58The the monster should be awesome. OK. Yeah.
50:00You kind of alluded to this earlier on.
50:02It's a real important piece of advice
50:04about knowing your weaknesses and going
50:06around you to kind of support you.
50:09But are there any skills that you had
50:11to develop your leadership journey that
50:13you didn't have previously or maybe
50:15trained skills that you maybe did,
50:17but it's wrong for your leadership journey?
50:21Yeah.
50:21I mean, you know, I tend to be
50:23somebody who's always positive.
50:25That's just my my nature.
50:28But you can't always be the sunshiny,
50:29rainbowy, you know, delightful person 24/7.
50:33So probably crucial conversations was one
50:35of the things that I had to learn early
50:37on that wasn't my comfort zone. You know,
50:40how do you have those coaching moments,
50:42those coaching conversations
50:43in a way that is productive.
50:47I think the other thing,
50:48just from a practical standpoint,
50:49healthcare finance was something I
50:51was not particularly attuned to.
50:53I now can, you know,
50:54spout at Bouse verse and page and verse,
50:58but that probably was the other thing.
51:01And then I think for me,
51:04be more confident.
51:05I know it seems like I'm probably a
51:07pretty outgoing, gregarious person,
51:08but I was, I'm much more,
51:10I'm happier to have other people in
51:12front of me and so to be the support
51:14and really bolster other people.
51:16But as the CEO,
51:17sometimes you have to put yourself out
51:18there and you end up on a billboard
51:20or on some TV camera somewhere or,
51:22you know,
51:22speaking in front of Congress
51:23and you just have to do,
51:25you have to learn how to do that and
51:26be comfortable in your own skin.
51:27So I would say those are the
51:29three things that I had to learn.
51:34Yes, in that mentors were
51:36a big part of kind of
51:37augmenting your career and
51:39helping you and guide you into
51:40pushing you for the next step.
51:42How did you know and how
51:43did you pick those people?
51:44Did you find them?
51:45Did they find you?
51:46What was that experience like? So
51:51the first mentors that I found,
51:53I just looked for people who I thought
51:55were good leaders, who inspired me,
51:58who did I want to emulate?
52:00And then you watch them,
52:01you spend time with them,
52:03and then you introduce yourself
52:04to them and you say, you know,
52:06I've been very inspired by you.
52:07I'd love for you to, you know,
52:09to meet with me periodically,
52:10and most people are very willing.
52:13So early on it was a little bit
52:14more grassroots where you just find
52:16somebody that you think does something
52:17well and you study them and you
52:19hang out with them and, you know,
52:21you invite yourself to their lunch table.
52:23As my career progressed, it became a
52:25little bit more structured because again,
52:28I was looking for a female healthcare leader.
52:32And so, you know,
52:33I actually sought out Marna Borgstrom,
52:35who was obviously everybody knows
52:36who that is, who is the CEO of El.
52:37And she made time for me whenever
52:39I needed it.
52:40I mean, I would call her up and say,
52:42hey, I have a question, she'd say great,
52:44I'll take your question.
52:45I'll take your e-mail,
52:46I'll meet you for dinner.
52:47And to this day,
52:48I still see her from time to time.
52:50So at some point it's just natural.
52:52And then you actually have to,
52:53when you get to a certain level,
52:54you have to find somebody.
52:54You have to find the person that
52:56you think does a good job that
52:58you want to emulate and ask them
52:59to formally be your mentor and.
53:01And help you. Yeah, good question.
53:07Oh, come on. There's 4 minutes left.
53:09Who else wants to pummel me with a question?
53:16Anybody else going, going, gone, I think.
53:21Thank you guys so much for this and
53:23for inviting me. And hopefully,
53:24I will see all of you again. Thank you.