Turnover, churn, half-life

At one time there was a high turnover in healthcare CIOs, a high turnover throughout the C-suite, said Branzell.

“I think at one time, the term was three to five years was kind of the life of the CIO in an organization,” he said.

Some called it the “half-life,” a term borrowed from science, referring to how long it would take for half of the unstable, radioactive atoms in a sample to decay.

“I think at one time, the term was three to five years was kind of the life of the CIO in an organization, which really I think was true of most of the “C” suite jobs,” Branzell said.

Recruiters have told Branzell recently there is no one on the bench, no one sitting on the sideline looking for jobs. “There are just no CIOs in need of work. So, you can kind of consider that kind of a zero unemployment rate,”Branzell said. “Then on top of that if you’re really looking for the top 10 percent-15 percent CIOs. The only way to get them is to steal them.”

Some have retired. Others, like John Glaser, former CIO at Partners Healthcare in Boston, have gone to work at vendor organizations. Glaser serves as CEO of health services at Siemens Healthcare. William Bria, MD, formerly CMIO at Shriners Hospital for Children’s, joined consulting firm HCI Group.

However, Branzell envisions a better situation ahead. He sees many up –and-comers in the industry. We’ve put now over a thousand students into our boot camp, of which probably 70-75 percent of those are next generation leaders that are not in CIO jobs yet.”

“That’s one of the things I’m very optimistic about,” he said.

“In every class you see three, five, maybe as many as 10 that you go: ‘OK that’s someone I see in a CIO job – in one year, five years, maybe 10 years. And, it almost always comes to fruition. You can just look at them and go ‘that’s a great leader who just needs a chance.’”

Branzell advocates for the training of the next generation of other IS executives. It’s something under discussion at CHIME.

There are many possibilities: chief security officers, chief technology officers, chief application officers, chief innovation officers, chief data officers, and the list goes on.

“We refer to that as the C-suite of CIO,” Branzell said. “Those are new and emerging executive roles that really complement the whole IS concept, and we’re seeing those really as great executive grooming opportunities.”

“It’s a huge need,” Branzell said. “You take security officers, for example, significantly negatively employed, meaning there’s three job openings for every one person in that career. People are trying to hire them; they can’t find them. They steal them from other industries, but it takes them five-10 years to learn healthcare.”

“There’s a whole new generation of next level executives that provides an opportunity to move up into the CIO ranks as well,” Branzell said. “There are lots of different jobs that kind of provide you experience before you move into that senior position of CIO.”

Mergers and acquisitions are also having an effect on CIOs today.

“So if you’re a CIO of a stand-alone hospital today,” Dixon said. “That’s likely going to change tomorrow.”

“Leaders who can operate well in these dynamic elements we call synaptic leaders, because we have our clients asking for this skill set,” she said. “They need someone who can perform well in a large environment – a highly matrixed environment. We see this a lot also with organizations that are going through mergers and acquisitions and with communication channels that are fluid and dynamic.”

Are those people hard to find? “Extremely,” Dixon said. “We always like to see someone who’s demonstrated innovative results. That’s a really good indicator that they are capable in this new environment, and they have that kind of synaptic ability.”

“I think CIOs are wonderfully positioned to take the strategic path in their careers,” said Dixon. “They have in their hands the most important lever for innovation, and that lever is going to be technology.”