Speaker 1: Welcome to the Healthcare Executive Podcast, providing you with insightful commentary and developments in the world of healthcare leadership. To learn more, visit ACHE.org. And without further ado, your host, Chris Coraggio. This is the Healthcare Executive Podcast. Once again, I'm your host, Chris Coraggio, and we are thrilled to sort of end our week on a high note with Anita Halverson as our guest. Anita, thank you so much for being here.

Speaker 2: Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1: You got it. Well, I'm going to... Well, she's the Vice President, Division of Professional Development with ACHE. But I want to read your bio first before we get into everything, because we're going to talk a lot about the week and a lot about different items within, well, what you oversee, what you oversee. Okay, folks, because Anita's done so much, I want to read the bio. All right. Anita Halverson, Vice President, once again, Professional Development with the American College of Healthcare Executives here in Chicago. The role encompasses the oversight of all nationally created and delivered educational programs and career services offered to the 48,000 healthcare executive members of the professional association. Now, prior to ACHE, Ms. Halverson was the Regional Strategy and Growth Officer for Presence Health in Chicago. She serves as the, or served as the ACHE Regent from 2014 to 2016, before assuming progressive executive leadership roles in several organizations. Ms. Halverson worked as a speech language pathologist as well. Once again, Anita, thank you so much. Thank you. We appreciate you being here. Pleasure speaking with you. So first off, okay, we're here at the end of the Congress, or just about the end. Just kind of summarize the week.

Speaker 2: The week has been amazing. High energy from the second we kicked off on Monday morning. We had over 4,400 healthcare leaders here from across the country, as well as outside of the country in some cases. The longest, furthest traveler that I met was a gentleman who came in from Australia. He is a chief medical officer, very new to his role, and he wanted to come to an organization that brings together leaders that have various types of backgrounds. So he chose ACHE as his destiny and had a really great experience. But it's very high energy throughout the entire week.

Speaker 1: That's great. That's what you want. That's what you need, right? So let's go back now. Let's talk about your personal journey with ACHE. When did it start, and what kind of impact has it had on your career?

Speaker 2: Sure. I'm going to go back even further, actually. So I started out my career as a speech language pathologist in hospitals, very interested in the medical side of speech pathology. So I'm working with people who have had neurological injuries, or perhaps they had oral or aortic laryngeal cancer, so they lost their ability to have voice. And I was knee-deep in hospitals and how they worked. I thought it was very interesting how procedures would come to be, and how policies were written, how regulations were followed. And I became interested in helping to write those policies. And then I became interested in sitting on teams. And then I thought, well, this leadership thing is kind of interesting. And worked my way into a supervisor-level position, and then eventually became a director of rehabilitation services at the time. And I sat down with our chief operating officer, who now, Rulon Stacey, who is very well known to ACHE as a chairman of ACHE in the past. And he said, you have a new profession. While you're a speech pathologist, certainly if you are going to go down the road of being a health care leader, you have a new organization. And I'd like to introduce you to American College of Health Care Executives. And that really got me on my way.

Speaker 1: So he recognized what a perfect match this would be.

Speaker 2: Absolutely. I saw a clinician who was turning into a health care administrator, and really pointed out that ACHE is the organization that brings together the clinicians as well as the administrators, and said this is how you will grow your career.

Speaker 1: Wow. That's great. That's great. Very appropriate that we had Rulon on a few days ago. Absolutely. His podcast was tremendous. OK. So tell us about the importance of being a fellow. You know, so many members strive to do that. Takes a lot of work. Just talk about that, and talk about what impact that has on you, and that would have on any member.

Speaker 2: Sure. You know, I think it starts with engagement with a profession. And really making the professional decision that this is the field that you want to excel in, and then figuring out how to do that. So the path of becoming a fellow really helps someone engage within their field, in this case health care management, and then also within their association. So there's opportunities to volunteer for different types of positions, and to be able to kind of, you know, pay it forward within our field, and to develop future leaders, and other leaders in areas. And all of that really helps to solidify the leadership skills that you need as you're growing into the point where you have the five years of management in order to be able to apply for the FACHE. But the credential itself, it signifies that you are competent as a health care leader. The board certification really aligns you with other board certifications of other health care industries, you know, even along the lines of physician specialties. And it just makes you take a look at yourself, and the competency gaps that you need to fill, and to figure out what that path of growth looks like from a professional development standpoint.

Speaker 1: And that leads us into, you know, something that you did, maybe that transition, okay, from maybe the clinical setting into the C-suite, the administrative setting. Sometimes folks might not be aware of that gap, right? And can you talk a little bit about how ACHE, if you pay attention, and you go to the Congress, and you learn what the ACHE is all about, how that gap can close?

Speaker 2: Absolutely. You know, the way that the Board of Governors examination, which is part of becoming a fellow and to be able to be board certified, is, the way that it's formed is it's around 10 knowledge areas. So it is written by health care executives who are fellow credentialed, and every year they take a look at the most relevant health care issues and make sure that that's woven into the questions of the Board of Governors examination. So that helps you identify the areas that you might need to learn a little bit about. And we also have competency assessments. So we have a tool that you're able to look at these 10 knowledge areas, and you're able to figure out, gee, maybe it's governance that I need to know a little bit more about, or health care finance. And then specifically within that, the subtopics. ACHE does a really fine job of matching those specific competency areas with different educational offerings, whether that's in person or at a local level, or articles in our journals or webinars, things like this, in order to help assure that you have enough of those skills to move forward with your career.

Speaker 1: So many tools available, right? Absolutely. And like you just mentioned, a lot of it is very individualized, customized. Not everyone's the same, obviously, making that transition. So there's a lot that you can look under and say, OK, yeah, I might need help in this area,

Speaker 2: you know? Completely. And everyone's career looks different. So in career pathways, they come in all shapes and sizes. And also, while you are developing in your career, right turns happen all the time, sometimes unexpectedly. And to be able to know that you have these solid skills across these areas, and you can carry them anywhere, because you have the credential and the designation, it speaks so much to the level of skill that this individual has as a basis.

Speaker 1: Let's talk about another phase of developing your career here in health care. And it's happening in real time, right now, below us. The floor is below us. It's been happening all week long. And that's the networking. How important an event like this is, because you said right turns can happen all the time. Unexpected things can happen all the time. And a lot of those instances derive from a networking experience. How important is that, to just be aware that I need to mingle? That's all it really starts with, right?

Speaker 2: It does. But I think it's so much more than mingling. I think it's forming relationships with individuals. And it might be around a topic, or around a situation. It could be around a problem that you're trying to solve. But to be able to connect people to people, and people to ideas, and doing that through forming relationships, it's a gift that ACHE offers. Not only at the national level, but I think at the local level, as well. Being involved in chapter activities, so being involved with local education offerings or local networking, it really builds a base around a geographic area. And then coming to something like Congress, you realize that your geographic area, while you thought it was so robust, that it leaves you with the rest of the country, and in essence, outside of the United States, to be able to form those other relationships to best support

Speaker 1: you. And I love seeing it happen downstairs. And you can actually walk by and hear different conversations, and actually hear the communication and the networking happening in real time. We have a podcast. You know, we did a podcast, folks, audience listening, we had a networking expert on. And he explained, and so go back in the archives of the Healthcare Executive Podcast, folks, and check that out, because there's actually an art to preparing to network. It's just not, oh, like you said, you're mingling, and then you realize, oh, I can benefit from this conversation. There's actually tools that you can use before you come to an event like Congress to prepare yourself to network, and put yourself in the right positions to benefit, I guess, you know? And I'm sure you've seen that.

Speaker 2: Yes, and really, my role within ACHE is to listen to our members, and really take in their feedback, and to do whatever we possibly can for them to have the best experience possible at our events. And one of the things that we heard from is, it would be really incredible to easily identify fellow members who are in my geographic location. So we established different colored lanyards to hold name tags. So you're easily able to see that red is the middle of the country, and so I know who I automatically am talking to. We also have ribbons on our badges, which some people laugh at, but it helps you to spark a conversation very easily. Gee, I see that you're a past regent. What does that mean? Sure. And how does that coordinate efforts with the chapter? What does that mean to me? I'm involved in my local chapter, and how can I become more involved on a national level? And so it kind of fosters those discussions right out of the gate.

Speaker 1: Yeah, that's great. That's wonderful. Let's talk a little bit, Anita, about CHOICE. You know, we talked about developing professional leadership, and I know CHOICE is a byproduct of that, and you can really use that as a tool going forward. So CHOICE, folks, if you don't know, it's the new professional tailored development series that ACHE has come upon. It's that on-site, that on-location program. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Speaker 2: Absolutely. It is our pleasure to be able to bring our faculty and our renowned subject matter experts to an organization. So many organizations have and should have leadership development type of programs, whether they're year-long cohorts or they're maybe a quarterly seminar where all of the management team will get together and work together as a team towards strengthening specific leadership development opportunities. ACHE is able to support that. So we can provide workshops. We can provide keynote speakers. We're happy to help with assessments of leadership skill levels and then to help to identify where those specific areas are that we potentially could fill for them. We can work together with organizations around coaching and helping leaders individually as well as in a group-think type of environment develop. Something that you said earlier around the individual nature of professional development really applies here as well. I think that ACHE is able to help an organization define what they'd like their leadership development opportunities to be with their teams by helping them assess their leaders and figure out what are those specific areas that maybe it is around a business area like health care finance or strategic thinking or negotiation or teamwork, and we're able to help an organization determine that.

Speaker 1: It's a truly tailored program. Every business is different. Every health care organization is different within what their members bring, right? It's so beneficial. It really is. And then you can kind of ping pong that with an event like Congress where you come here and in this instance, and I want to ask you about this, the overriding theme, there were many themes, but this year, innovation. Can you talk about how that was kind of injected into so many events here during Congress 2019?

Speaker 2: It was one of many, but really what's happening in health care now and keeping up with the pace of change, we have to support our leaders differently and there are many, many decisions that they need to make each day and around big moves within refining health at the community level and we need to help leaders really progress in doing things differently. It's not just about changing regulation. It's not just about a changing payment structure, but really taking a look at how an organization functions and how that leader can help to define what that organization wants to be and how it can get there, and I think doing things differently and innovating and just having the energy around change and tackling it full on, that's what this week's really about.

Speaker 1: And a lot of that revolves around behavior too, right? We had someone on, I don't know if it was Rulin, it may have been Rulin, where he said, you know what, because I asked him about leadership and what's one of the important traits that come to your mind and he said, and he made it so simple, he said, you know, a lot of people are smart and that's great, but it's better to be nice, you know, and just that simplicity, sometimes it's common sense, but sometimes it's hard to execute, hard to wrap your mind around, right? It's got to be a behavioral change and a culture.

Speaker 2: But to rely on those foundational notions, they're so important. Ethics is another one. It's just, it is an imperative for ACHE members, and we believe the field of healthcare management, to have integrity and to really project the code of ethics that we all agree to each year. And that's something that healthcare leaders can always fall back on as kind of their foundation of their decision-making.

Speaker 1: Anita, is it too early to start thinking about the 2020 Congress?

Speaker 2: We are actually thinking about 2021, so we are far ahead.

Speaker 1: So it's not. No, it's not. No, I know. And you said before we started, you already have pages and pages of things, even though this is such a success, we want to build on this.

Speaker 2: That's exactly right. I mean, it has been a terrific week of being able to delight our attendees as much as possible, but we want to hear from them. We want to be able to deliver what they need and do it in such a way where people have the tools that they came for and that they can bring back and institute within their organizations and then across organizations, so that we want to be sure that we have enough opportunity. It's not just about education, but also the networking piece to be able to bring leaders together so that they can share as many best practices as possible.

Speaker 1: Well, you are such a big reason for ACHE's success and Congress's success, Anita. Thank you so much for being on the Healthcare Executive Podcast. It was a pleasure speaking with you. Thank you. Appreciate it. Most definitely. And folks, remember to subscribe and give us a five-star rating. Why wouldn't you give us a five-star rating just listening to what Anita had to say in the last 20 minutes? Five stars, no question about that. So you don't miss any future episodes, too. That's a good way to subscribe and remember what we're doing here at the Healthcare Executive Podcast. Once again, I'm your host, Chris Karashio. We will see you next time.