CHIME Q&A - Maintaining a Life Work Balance

Question: As a busy executive, what “guardrails” do you have in place to maintain a life work balance?

As a healthcare executive, I have to be willing and ready to allow work into my personal life at any given point in time. This is just the nature of our business; healthcare and the provision of care itself never stops and since technology is a salient piece of patient care today, neither can we. However, to ensure that we're still able to live our personal lives, I preach the idea of thoughtful prioritization. I do this by prioritizing the channels of communication with my folks up front; If I need to decide/respond to something right away, call my cell and leave a concise voicemail if I am unable to answer. If it can wait up to an hour, send me a text/SMS message. If it can wait 4-8 hours, send it in Teams/Slack/WhatsApp. If it can wait a day, use email and refer back to this priority list if you don't hear back within 24 hours. 

• Saad Chaudhry , CIO, Saudi German Hospitals

I make sure I leave open slots in my calendar.  It may only be 15 minutes between calls and meetings but shifting gears is important - - not to mention if it is meetings you have to travel to (walk or drive), most of us don’t allow enough travel time.  But you need to make sure mind “mind” is making the shift, as well, not just your body.

• David Finn , EVP Strategic Innovation, CynergisTek

I do not answer emails on the weekends and because we have sales reps on the west coast, I only monitor email every 30 minutes up until 5 PM Pacific time. My phone stays out of the living room as well, so I do not get tempted.

• Lawrence Kaiser , VP of Marketing, Optimum Healthcare IT

I take all of my PTO and do not work while I am on PTO.  A fun exercise I perform with my team every 6 months is vacation planning.  It encourages teammates to use their PTO and we all know who will be gone when, so people can take a 1-2-week vacation and not be worried about it.  It is also great for short 3- and 4-day weekend trips too!

• Sarah Richardson , MBA, CHCIO, CPC, FCHIME, CA Market CIO, HealthCare Partners, DaVita Medical Group

I have prioritized other elements of my life over my career to makes sure that, where possible, my work drowsing ‘become’ me.  For example, I never do routine (catch up) work on weekends - yes Go Lives and community events but they are the exception and not the rule.

• Tressa Springmann , SVP & CIO, LifeBridge Health

Question: What is one tip you can provide a newer executive, so they can get a hold on life work balance earlier in their career? 

Have an honest conversation with your "A-team" - your own leadership team. Negotiate a priority list for channels of communication within non-business-hours and then communicate that list down. I've found that if my staff has a clear way to escalate items during off-hours, their angst is considerably lower if they ever need to get in touch with me or the rest of the leadership team due to an issue. As a result, they're more proactive and confident when dealing with adverse events. 

• Saad Chaudhry , CIO, Saudi German Hospitals

Do not become a slave to any device.  We’ve all sat in those meetings where someone is pulling out their phone or can’t sit down without a laptop/tablet propped in front of them.  They are constantly responding to someone or something completely removed from the meeting you are supposed to be in.  Resist!  If it is something emergent, find a different way to get the message but jumping to every beep, tone or vibration those little devices make is a distraction that will cost you at some point.  If you can avoid the addiction, it is much easier than having to break the habit later.  Someone once asked me what the greatest technical invention in Information Technology was.  I said, “The off switch.”  Take time to think, to connect with ‘real’ people and stay in the moment when you are supposed to be engaged with people.

• David Finn , EVP Strategic Innovation, CynergisTek

Don’t over extend yourself. You are entitled to your time and once you let someone infringe upon that, they will do it again. Respect your personal time and others will too.

• Lawrence Kaiser , VP of Marketing, Optimum Healthcare IT

Schedule your workouts, time with family, and other key personal events in your life so you view them appointments you can’t miss.  For example, placing the gym on your calendar increases your likelihood of going and sets a good example for your team.  I make my calendar open to my entire team and the transparency appreciated.

• Sarah Richardson , MBA, CHCIO, CPC, FCHIME, CA Market CIO, HealthCare Partners, DaVita Medical Group

I refrain from emailing too much off hours or weekends or holidays - so my team doesn’t feel the pressure to always have to be online.

• Tressa Springmann , SVP & CIO, LifeBridge Health