How Strong Cultures Endure

In part one of this two part series, we dive into leadership and its influence on shaping organizational culture. Did you know that according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average tenure at an organization in the United States is just four years? At Craig, the average is around seven to eight years, with many people staying 10, 20, 30 or even more than 40 years. What contributes to such remarkable longevity and loyalty? The answer lies in one powerful buzzword: culture.

Effective strategies to motivate and retain employees are vital tools for leaders across every industry. In this episode, our host, Jandel Allen-Davis, M.D., the current CEO and president of Craig Hospital, talks with predecessors, Mike Fordyce and Denny O'Malley. Together, they explore what shapes and influences workplace culture and how the spoken and unspoken contribute to the intricate dynamics of how teams, patients and leaders engage and excel.

Tune in and learn how each CEO stepped up and influenced a culture that continues to attract and retain talent and lead an established world-renowned rehabilitation hospital. 

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Disclaimer: The content in this podcast is intended for general informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment for specific medical conditions. No professional relationship is implied or otherwise established by reading this document. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat a health problem or disease without consulting with a qualified healthcare provider. Craig Hospital is not affiliated with resources that may be referenced in this podcast. Craig Hospital assumes no liability for any third-party material or for any action or inaction taken as a result of any content or any suggestions made in this podcast and should not be relied upon without independent investigation. The information on this page is a public service provided by Craig Hospital and in no way represents a recommendation or endorsement by Craig Hospital. Any use of this content by a corporation or other revenue-seeking or -generating organization is prohibited unless first approved by Craig Hospital. 

For more information, transcriptions and behind-the-scene photos, visit https://craighospital.org/unstoppable

Craig Hospital is a nationally recognized neurorehabilitation hospital and research center specialized in the care of individuals who have sustained a spinal cord injury (SCI) and/or a brain injury (BI). Located in Denver, Colorado, Craig Hospital is an independent, not-for-profit, 93-bed national center of excellence that has treated thousands of people with SCI and BI since 1956. Learn more: https://craighospital.org

Transcript

0:00:06.9Jandel Allen Davis: 0:00

Welcome to Unstoppable at Craig, where we pull back the curtain on what makes healthy workplace cultures click, and what happens when people are empowered to expand the boundaries of what is possible. We'll explore the perspectives of employees and leaders who have carte blanc to speak their truths, tell their stories, and unlock uncommon ways of approaching challenges. I'm Dr. Jandel Allen Davis, CEO and President of Craig Hospital, a world renowned rehabilitation hospital that exclusively specializes in the neuro rehabilitation and research of patients with spinal cord and brain injury. Join me as we learn from people who love what they do

and what happens when fear doesn't stifle innovation. 0:00: 0:42

50.8Jandel Allen

Davis: 0:49

I want to begin this episode by providing some background information since I start today's interview without much preamble. This episode is about leadership at the very top of an organization, specifically chief executive officers, and how these leaders influence workplace culture. I speak with Mike Fordyce and Denny O'Malley, who were my direct predecessors at Craig Hospital. The CEO baton was passed from Denny to Mike and then to me, and together the three of us have led Craig for 49 consecutive years. You might be thinking that I inflated that number or perhaps misspoke, but I assure you I didn't. You know, today, the average tenure at an organization in the United States is 4.1 years according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. At Craig, the average hovers around seven to eight years with many people staying 10, 20, 30, or even 40 years. In fact, one reason we have half a century of leadership between three CEOs, as we'll soon hear more about, is because Denny served as CEO for 34 years. So what makes Craig Hospital a place that encourages such long tenures? Well, we boil it down to one buzzword, culture.

0:02:04.4Jandel Allen Davis: 2:03

But while we all know that a good culture is central to making workplaces thrive, it can be a challenge to know how to create strong cultures and how to continue that legacy as new leaders enter the organization. The three of us discuss our thoughts on Craig's culture and why it has created a special place that employees come to stay, sometimes for their entire careers. So without further ado, let's

jump into today's episode. 0:02:32.1Jandel Allen Davis: 2:26

I have the privilege, the pleasure, the opportunity, the joy of welcoming Craig Hospital's former CEOs, Mike Fordyce, who I knew years before had this role, and whoever saw this coming, what a blessing. And Denny O'Malley, who I keep crediting, and I think that's right, with the creation of the both zaniness, the wonder, the beauty, and the joy of this culture. So welcome you two. It's just great

to be together. Great to be here. 0:03:00.9Denny O'Malley: 2:56

Thank you.

0:03:01.0Jandel Allen Davis: 2:58

I'm going to start with you, Denny. And I was running around thinking it was 30 years and you corrected me when we had a chance to walk the halls a few weeks ago that it was 35 years and started at Craig Hospital at the age of 25. Gosh. Can you share how you landed at Craig? And talk to us about a few of the milestones that you recall during your tenure that put Craig on the map as this world renowned neurorehabilitation hospital.

0:03:30.3Denny O'Malley: 3:27

Well, I actually came to Denver to this campus, Swedish Craig campus, as part of my requirement for my master's in hospital administration from the University of Minnesota. And back in those days, you had to do a full year almost of 11 months of a residency. So I selected this campus as one of my choices and got it. So anyway, I came here to the residency. I was asked by the CEO of Swedish at the time, Lowell Palmquist, to stick around and join the staff as an assistant. And they asked me that during the middle of my residency. So I actually took on co managing the Department of Nursing with a nursing leader. So there was me and a nursing leader running the nursing division. That was quite an experience. So two years later at that time, Swedish had a management contract with Craig. And not only that, but they had a separate contract for sharing of services. And that list at that time of shared services was quite lengthy. It whittled down over time as Craig absorbed more of those independently. But I was asked to come over here and interview with the Craig board at the ripe old age of 25. I couldn't even spell rehabilitation.

And the Craig staff was unbelievable. 0:04:55.6Denny O'Malley: 4:52

I remember assembling the managers the first week I was here and I said,"I don't know who's more intimidated by the fact that I'm your boss, you or me." I said, "But the fact is I don't know much, but you need to understand I know that I don't know much. And so I'm going to lean on you and you're going to need to teach me. But nobody's going to work any harder to try to catch up than I will." So that's kind of how I got here. In terms of some milestones, there's many of them. But I think the development of the culture, the culture was in many respects already here, but I don't think it was very well defined. And as I had to learn it and understand it, I tried to define it a little bit, not just for myself, but for the organization. So we understood what are the tenets of our culture that we need to make sure we're preserving, protecting, advancing. And that was something of, I think, a great source of pride. Therapeutic recreation. I mean, every department at Craig is very, very important. But I think that's one of the ones that its development was something I was very involved with and pleased with.

0:06:07.1Denny O'Malley: 6:05

Because I realized so much being someone who was very much loving the outdoors and sort of a doer of things in terms of my enjoyment in life, that you got to have more than just survival in mind when you get up. Someone who's survived a catastrophic injury, if your goal in the morning is to get up and say,"I survived another day," there's not much to look forward to. So we need to do everything we could to try to enrich the lives of our patients, but that meant taking a lot of risks. So those are some of the milestones that I think about. And I think it's also, it was there, but I think we, again, tried to make it more mission centric, was to make sure the decisions were really with the patient at the center, and we'd start there and move out. But we had to constantly reinforce that with the managers to say, "That's got to be your priority. You have to start with that frame of mind or we're going to make

bad decisions." So those are some of the things that Craig. 0:07: 7:08

11.1Jandel

Allen Davis: 7:11

Well there's so much there that we can explore, and I want to thinking about the idea of, let's call them really calculated risks. It sounds like a lot of it was still very much grounded in mission and purpose. I mean, I say, just so you know, Denny and Mike, that what we do in this building is in service to what happens after people leave this building.

So this wonderful way that y'all slip. 0:07:41.1Denny O'Malley: 7:37

This is

a dress rehearsal. 0:07:41.2Jandel Allen Davis: 7:40

And I love that line. I tell people at New Employee Orientation, that's my favorite line from the Craig recipe, is, "This is a dress rehearsal for real life." It's a beautiful thing. But the idea of the calculated risks that enable folks to see that there is incredible lives. And in fact, as y'all both know, because I hear it too, that there are some who will say, "I don't want to go back to who I was before these injuries," which is profound. And I suspect, and in fact I know, has not hurt anywhere else. And I know, Mike, that you actually didn't start your journey at Craig as president and CEO. If I recall, you were on the board at first. And you were here for 10 years. And I want to hear so much about what those 10 years were like from you. But when I think about the beautiful sort of front door of Craig that was part of your legacy, the expansion, I would just love to hear about that and anything else that you think would be important for me to make sure I haven't forgotten and don't forget as we move forward. So, yeah. Well, my journey with Craig started in 1997. I came to Denver in 1996 as a result of a major merger of four health systems to form Catholic Health Initiatives. And they picked Denver as the headquarters. And after, I think, the second year I was here, I got invited by one of our vendors, Great West, to go to a Bronco game in their booth. And Denny O'Malley was in the booth. So we met each other and we spent some time chatting. And, I don't know, a few months later he called and said, "Would you ever consider coming over and being on the board?" So I came over and got the tour and heard the story and agreed to be on the board. And it was a fun board. I mean, the board almost resembled the fun and the craziness of the staff and what goes on here. So I really got hooked on the board. And Denny asked me to be board chair. And then my term was up after six years. So I was off the board and still kind of stayed connected with the push dinners and those kind of things. But I still remember Denny called me one day and said,"I'd like to chat with you." And said, "It's time. And would you ever consider doing this?" And it was an honor. It was a true honor. And it was a crazy journey because I was leaving, I thought it was my job, great job. But I was really attracted to this place. And I had the bug. I came on board and we spent a little time together. And the biggest concern that I had coming into this role was how do you replace somebody that's been so great at a job for 34 years? And I knew that we were going to have to go through some changes. And people, the one thing about Craig, they're very protective of their culture and very protective of this place. So change back in 2008 wasn't a really fashionable word. I know I spent a lot of time thinking about how do you follow Denny and how do you kind of position the staff to feel comfortable with you? And position them to understand that change was a good thing. So we started coming up with... I started coming up with slogans, like taking a great place and making it better. And I must have said that a thousand times every day, as year round and round, just to get people thinking about,"Yeah, he's saying we really are great, but we could be better." But that was kind of my 10 year journey focused on operational improvements, trying to enhance quality, getting the campus to where it was, building a leadership team. We had some people retiring back in that time frame. But personally, once the building was done, the campus was done, and thinking about what that 10 year period looked like, I knew just like Denny had come to the same conclusion, it was time. You know, I just needed, it was time. And so I had known Jandel for many, many years, especially through the Colorado Forum. And so we did a search. Unlike when Denny did his own search, we did a search and Jandel was one of the finalists. And I had the utmost respect for your background and your leadership style. But I knew that it was going to be a good fit when I took you on a tour. And seeing how you could very comfortably interact with other folks, I still remember having lunch in the cafeteria and having people come up to the table and you interacting with them. And I walked away from that thinking, "She's got the right skill mix, the right personality,

Aww. Thank you. Thanks. So here you are. 0:13:06.2Jandel Allen Davis: 13:03

Here I am. And can you believe it's been four years? No, it's gone

fast. 0:13:09.5Jandel Allen Davis: 13:09

It's gone hideously fast. And certainly we say COVID put a time warp in it. But it's so funny, it was shortly after I started here, a few funny things that I thought to myself. The first, and I remember going home and saying this to Anthony, my husband, I said, "This has given my tenure," my sort of all contemporaries, let's just call us that, I said, "This will be my last gig. I have no interest in going anywhere else. I love this. I love what I get to do every day." And I told Anthony, "I think this is God's present to me for being a good person. I just love it." I also remember walking out one night and saying,"You know what? I think I could live here." And I said,"That's weird, Jandel. That's just plain strange." But I loved it so much. And you all should know that many nights, especially when we were over there we were in the other building, second floor, as I walked out, especially in the summer when there'd be patients outside or you could look up into this east building and windows were still open and you could see families and patients doing their thing. I'd always say a little private, silent prayer and say, "God, take care of... " I owned it. I said, "Take care of my sweet little hospital. Just take care of it and keep it safe tonight as you go

away." 0:14:26.4Jandel Allen Davis: 14:23

I just love what I get to do. It's a wonderful place. You told me when I asked you, because we had a three month overlap, and I said, "Okay, what haven't you told me? What's the last thing?" You said,"Your job is just to use your phrase. Now I know where it comes from. Take a great place and make it better." And so that's what these four years and beyond have been. The reality is when I stopped all clinical after... Because I am a physician, crazy enough, an OB GYN, so they won't let me deliver babies here. It's the nuttiest thing. I just don't understand it, but I remember thinking when I stopped all clinical practice after 25 1/2 years of doing that or 25 years of doing that, I said, "What are the transferable skills from being at the bedside for 25 years that are going to be really important in being a full time administrator?" And I asked myself the question, "Well, what did your patients want?" I said, "Well, they assumed you knew your stuff, so you've got to be very much focused on lifelong learning. You have to have the ability to form instant relationships because you're meeting strangers every day who need you or you've got to partner with. You've got to have a high degree of integrity. You've got to do what you said you were going to do and follow through with it."

0:15:52.3Jandel Allen Davis: 15:49

You had to treat every patient as if they were your only one, and I used to get that. I think for me it was a compliment. I think for my staff it drove them crazy because we run late sometime in office hours because we wanted to make sure you were wholly present and taking care of patients. And the last one was that even if it was bad news, that patients knew that you weren't going to abandon them. And I said,"Okay, don't you think that's what every business partner, every team member who you'll have the opportunity to serve, every community leader or community organization you'll engage with, don't you think they want those very same things?" I said, "Yeah." I said, "Okay, so you'll be okay. It's just you're getting to start all over in terms of learning." And it certainly has been the case here. I never thought... I remember that first time walking around with you for that tour. I said, "Holy cow, he knows the names of everybody, but more the names he knows their stories." I'm going to love this because I love getting to know people that well, and it's fun to be able to walk around and say, "How's the new baby?" Or "How's your so and so, your father, your mother, doing that kind

of thing?" 0:16:55.3Jandel Allen Davis: 16:54

And with patients, being able to get to know them through and through in some really special ways that maybe we'll get a chance to talk about because I have done, believe it or not, almost 16, I think I'm up to 14, on the floor shifts with our nurses and our techs doing bowel programs. I know you did that too. Bowel programs, hauling laundry out, cleaning rooms, making beds, stocking, and really getting to know this work through and through. And then when you talk to patients and you get to know them that intimately, feeding patients intimately, you get to hear their stories. And I think what people are begging for more than anything else, all of us, is we want to see each other and we want to be seen by each other, and I think that's one of the most important things we bring as leaders to this work. So when I think about our time together, this last little bit, talking about our journeys that landed us at Craig, one of the things that is an interesting point that I keep in mind and am mindful of when I walk the halls, and in particular have the chance to visit with patients who you can't, and you all know this, you walk in rooms and they gush about this place. They've never had an experience like this, and they're coming off of a hideously unpredictable, unpredicted and tragic and catastrophic sort of welcome to this phase or

this type of healthcare. 0:18:17.3Jandel Allen Davis: 18:14

ICUs, the noise, the sort of pace is very different, and there's something about the descent that happens on that, the way the teams come in and descend upon them when they come here and just sort of wrap them in this culture that they talk about. And they just say, your team, this staff, this place is like no place I've ever been. And I say, yeah, we have an incredible team. I love these folks, I love serving them, they're amazing. And nearly to a person at some point it comes up, no, it's actually about leadership, it's the tone at the top. And then I... Because I just sort of push that back spotlight somewhere else, I say it was like this when I got here is what I say, and my job is to keep it as special as it is and not to break it. So that brings up this whole notion of culture, this elusive thing that

just like, well... 0:19:14.0Jandel Allen Davis: 19:12

You know good culture when you see it. Some of the beauty of what certainly has been developed here is sort of the spoken and unspoken, but yet, and you've talked about it, Denny, the intentional way that you went about saying we're patient and family focused, patient first, patient first. My view as a leader, and I think it's what makes us, enables a patient first and a family first culture is the service, the servant leadership way and role that we play. 'Cause I sort of say my job is to serve the team so that they can do their very best work. And it would be totally disingenuous if I said we do that perfectly all the time. We stumble, we have things that are not gonna be done perfectly or

it takes a little time to get there. 0:20:05.6Jandel Allen Davis: 20:02

But I do view it as my responsibility, absolutely, to be the keeper of that culture, probably the biggest warrior for it out of anybody here. And the interesting thing from a challenge perspective that I thought would be kind of fun to actually start in this discussion is, we talk about in the Institute for Healthcare Improvement the whole triple A, quality, the care experience and sort of the efficiency or the economics, the finances, the cost. And there's this tension that that sets up as a former clinician but also certainly in this role where there are people who think, and certainly can be salvoed against any of us at any given time, you care more about, especially as an administrator, you care more about that than you care about this or those sorts of things. It can be very difficult for people to see that the system works because they've got to think about all of them all the time or you're more focused on the future than the present or the present than the future kind of thing. So I thought that would really be kind of fun as we think about this notion of culture which has... It's the soft stuff but it's that soft stuff that's the hardest for, I think I will own it, to sort of keep front and center and be okay with using words like love and the budgets and the margins all at the same time or very, very high quality care with care experience at the same time.

0:21:34.7Jandel Allen Davis: 21:33

I thought maybe it would be kind of fun to talk a little bit about how teams handle challenges during your tenure as well as mine and how we then use that tension to get to some creative solutions. Certainly could talk about the new build that we're talking about but I want to hear about any

that you all faced during your time here. 0:21:56.4Denny O'Malley: 21:52

Now, this is again back at least 35, again 40 ish years ago before all the technologies that we know today was available. But there was a young spinal cord injured woman who was here, she was a high schooler. And it was come graduation and she wanted to graduate with her class but she wasn't quite ready to go home. So we had at that time the big gym which was left open other than at noon when I'd go out there and beat my brains out against some of the younger staff playing basketball. But the staff came forward and said we need to find a way to let her graduate with her class. We have to handle all these logistics technologically so that she can be real time and they can see her back there and she can see them here. And the assistant principal from the high school flew out here to give her her diploma. So we called her up and she came up in her power chair to get her diploma real time and everybody back there at home all the kids are standing up cheering and giving her standing ovation. But I make it sound simple, it was a very complicated thing to pull off logistically and the staff just rallied and did everything they could

possibly do to make sure this happened. 0:23:19.0Denny O'Malley: 23:17

And it happened without a hitch and it was a beautiful experience. So once you put the patient first and say we're going to make that happen, then you don't have to ask people, they just make it happen.

0:23:32.7Jandel Allen Davis: 23:31

Yeah. Mike, any from your time that you want to share, but then also as you think about it, we know that this culture is part of why you have the patient outcomes you have. And so during challenging moments, how did you keep folks motivated? And it could be... I'm not even going to prompt you. That's okay. I didn't find it difficult to keep them motivated. The patients and families kept them motivated. And the beauty of the model that Denny created here was that every day you had your hands on a patient and their families and you could see the outcome. It wasn't like being in an acute care hospital where you had a patient for three days, then they get discharged and you have no idea what's happened after that. You know, you live here for 90 days, 120 days. And the staff care so much. But the interesting side note to that was thinking about how staff drive change. We have a reputation here of being the very best and getting people back to the highest level of independence. And we're very proud of that here. And the docs are very proud of that here. But one day, Candy Tefertiller, our director of PT, came in and said, "We're missing something. We have no idea when they leave on Thursday what life's like that first week when they're back home. Because they want their Craig team, but we as an organization proclaim that we do it better than anybody else. But how do they fare when they leave here?" So she came up with this idea and I thought, why not? And we funded it and we took ten patients that were discharged and we put a PT or a nurse or whatever and they went back home with the family. Just to record what life was like getting on a plane to get to Des Moines and what the house was like and what the supplies were like. And they came back with horror stories about they ordered all the supplies, they got there, there's no supplies. The bed wasn't there. They had to wait in the airport because of a delay for five hours and they didn't have the supplies they needed to take care of themselves. So they came up with all these great ideas, the docs and the staff. It was just a way of saying, our staff know how to be innovative and recognize the challenges. It would be easy not to go down that road, but they said we can do it better. And

that's the kind of team we have here. 0:26:30.1Jandel Allen Davis: 26:27

There's two things I heard in both stories and all the stories. First, the identification of a problem that's often coming from we may see them from our level, but the team see them. And then they show up at our doors and we've got two answers, maybe three. Yes, no, maybe. But more often than not, if we keep mission and purpose and who we serve center, you're going to say, okay, go out and let's figure it out. And you found the money. It could be we have a neurobehavioral program with the brain injury patients, how as they're sort of making their time through their disorders of consciousness that there can be violent. And 80 percent of them are guys and there's some big guys and we got some tiny people running around here trying to care for them. And you think about workers comp injuries, you think about sort of a safe work environment for our employees. And Diane Reinhard, who at the time was our chief nursing officer and hospital services VP and doing new work today in part, said let's hire an applied behavioral analyst to come in here and help us figure out how to manage behavior in a way that gets patients more quickly into therapy,

but also keeps our staff safe. 0:27:40.5Jandel Allen Davis: 27:37

And hired this whipper snapper Ari, who has not only built a neurobehavioral program that doesn't exist in any other systems, but is doing it in collaboration with research so we can publish the data. And a very grateful anonymous donor has given us significant dollars to accelerate the development and the integration of the program. So it all starts with someone coming to your door with a good idea and you not saying no, and not even maybe, but go out and let's just see what we can do. You know, this sort of test and try and move ahead is how I think we continue to grow and develop. So that's one I heard in that, but the other is, again, as you say, if it's right for patients, if it's right for staff, I'm pretty certain I can find somebody around here to help you get it done. And then it's our job to figure out how do we sustain it, which could give you a gray hair or two. Well, Denny started that, as he described it before. His job is to make sure that the staff had the resources to do their jobs the way they need to

be done. 0:28:45.9Jandel Allen Davis: 28:44

Well, Mike, so I'm going to challenge you on one thing. And I've been saying this to myself, because it's really important, I think, for us also to remember. There came a point, and it was a lot earlier than on the last day of day 10, that it stopped being Denny's organization and it was yours. So take your mad props for what I get to do, right? And I've told myself that. You know, we can say it the one way where it's not my fault, but it is my problem, right, as leaders. But the other way we can say it is there comes this point where you're comfortable enough that, no, this is Mike's organization. You know, this is Denny's organization. I pray that there'll come a day that this was what Jandel left as her mark. So, I mean, I feel like I inherited a beautiful gift that absolutely started in '58, let's just say actually '07, but '58 when John Young said, "Let's do spinal cord," or whatever. But you left me a gift,

so take a bow. Take a laugh. Take a laugh. 0:29:41.9Denny O'Malley: 29:36

Absolutely.

I've always gotten way too much credit. 0:29:46.9Jandel Allen Davis: 29:42

Yeah. No, there comes a point where if, and actually it's funny, I told myself this the other day. I said, "I know you keep," I'm just going to be completely vulnerable in front of you too,"I know you keep saying Denny and Mike, Denny and Mike, both in your own head or even to others and talking," or the culture was this when you came. I said, "But four years in is plenty of time to break a culture." Seriously. Ten years is plenty of time to break a culture. The fact that it is as good as it is, is about

you and is about you. And so just know that. 0:30:18.3Denny O'Malley: 30:14

And

you. 0:30:19.4Jandel Allen Davis: 30:17

And now it's my time. You know, just yesterday, because we've got a big two day retreat coming up with our leadership team, the directors and the executives to talk about how do we lead during disruptive times because we've got a big expansion coming. I think that back to noise, as you mentioned earlier, is going to certainly be part of that, but also coming out of a pandemic where people are tired and a little beleaguered. And talking about, just yesterday we were talking about this, how to set up this one particular exercise we want to do. Do we separate the clinical from the administrative? Do we mix them? Do they cross functional? I decided immediately that we ought to do them cross functionally, but there is some value to having clinicians be able to do some talking. I've often called us administrative folks, the backup singers, or Dan Frank, our CFO, likes to call us cynically or whatever, overhead, as opposed to certainly those at the front line. But it can be pretty darn easy if we're not mindful of that for the folks in administrative roles who are not necessarily everyday touching patients to begin to sort of fall out of... To see that where and

how do I align to mission and focus. 0:31:40.0Jandel Allen Davis: 31:36

So imagine just in our own organizations or our own sort of sector, but even outside of it where you're that person on an assembly line or you're the assistant who's sitting there answering the phones in organizations. Imagine that person and what do you think are some of the important ingredients to making sure that they feel just as seen and just as important as the people who are sort of in our business, we call it at the front line or at the bedside. And how did you all keep that front and center for all... Because I am blown away at the alignment, whether you are Adam, who used to sit at the front desk and now is in admissions, or Mark Weickum doing materials management who totally sees it, let alone me, right? It could be argued because I'm not front line either. So how did you all sort of manage making sure that everybody felt seen and heard and what advice would you give to other leaders? I'll put one out there that Denny started for all those reasons, and that was the Grub Buddy program, where there was an expectation under your leadership that administrative staff sign up for Grub Buddies, which means that they would go to the third floor, fourth floor, wherever they're eating their lunch and feed patients and get to know the patients. And that kind of... That helped build that connectivity of I'm here doing more than accounting work.

I'm actually having an impact on somebody's life. 0:33:16.1Denny O'Malley: 33:14

You know, going on with that, and I'm thinking of what sort of culture or leadership principles here are maybe lessons that could be transferred to other settings or environments. You know, we talk about team, but I've never seen it work like it works at Craig anywhere else any better. Everybody uses the term. You know, we're a team. But I think it functions differently here, and I think we talk about the word family, and I think that's important to Craig because I think we mean it. And I used to describe it this way, it isn't just about doing our job because we're trying to take care of patients and their family. But the reason we do, I believe, a better job is because the staff here, by and large, care about the people they do it with. They're just as devoted to the people on their left and their right, their teammates, the people they work with. They don't want to let them down because they love them. And that kind of commitment to the family atmosphere does make a difference over time, and I think at the heart of a lot of this is the idea of trust. Not every decision that we're going to make as leaders or any of the leaders in the organization make are going

to be universally accepted or universally loved, like Grub Buddies. 0:34: 34:35

40.3Denny

O'Malley: 34:39

But people, I think, if they believe that over time management cares about them and management's going to listen to them and they're going to consider their point of view and their perspective, then they're going to give you the benefit of the doubt when those times come along that they don't agree with the decision you've made. But they're going to go with it because they realize their track record is pretty doggone strong, and I still feel like we're loved, and I still feel like my input was considered. It just wasn't... I didn't win this one. So I think that's an important consideration. And I think another thing to me that was hugely important, and I know Mike and Jandale, you've continued it, but it's this idea of reducing psychological size. And by that I mean in every conceivable way that I could think of, I didn't want to be seen as the boss. I wanted to do everything I could to reduce that psychological size where here comes the boss. Well, you are the boss, and you can't explain your way out of that. But you can, when it gets tough and food service is having a tough time keeping up with the cafeteria, you can jump in the back and help on

the line. 0:35:58.6Denny O'Malley: 35:56

When the snow is crazy out here, and they're having a hard time keeping up, it's come on out and grab a shovel. You do those things to be able to say to those people,"I understand how much you're giving, and I want to help." And that nobody's too good to do what we need to do to get the job done at the moment. I think that instills a great deal of loyalty and commitment over time. And that's those kind of things that, I mean, it wasn't accidental that the Halloween and the crazy costumes and all that sort of business, that wasn't accidental. It was if we can laugh at ourselves, if we can laugh at the boss and say,"What an idiot." But look, he's willing to sacrifice himself and what little pride he might have had to make it feel like he's one of us and she's one of us. That's the kind of thing that builds this loyalty and this trust over

time, so. 0:36:58.9Jandel Allen Davis: 36:56

And I think there's some authenticity to it because you, well, I'll own it for myself, and I suspect for the two of you. We also want to be one of the

crew. 0:37:07.2Denny O'Malley: Sure. Sure. 0:37:08.5Denny O'Malley: 37:06

It's fun. It's not only does it have that impact, as you were talking about Grub Buddies, I was thinking about the side product of that is the impact of how they perceive you as a leader. And not only the staff, but the patients and families. Because nobody ever walks into doing Grub Buddies and has a big name badge that says who you are, and you don't bother talking about it, you just do it. But you'd hear these comments afterwards like, some patient said, "You wouldn't believe who was feeding me today." "Vice

President of Nursing was here." 0:37:47.4Jandel Allen Davis: 37:43

Yeah, the one I thought about, Mike, and I'm not sure on whose watch it happened, but I think about our engineers who work with our patients. In particular, those who were manual laborers or construction workers to help them get, that's one of the coolest stories to be able to tell. I don't know when that started, but to know that engineers have the opportunity to actually be part of rehab. To say let's see if you can still swing a hammer or what we are going to be able to do is, I think, part of this idea of how we keep people aligned to mission and culture. And you hear from pretty much everybody, and not every day is great, we know that, that they love working here. Well, actually, I did want to ask you a question on this, though, Mike, and what was the importance of rounding? Because you modeled that for me beautifully my first day here. When I came to, not my first, well, it was my first day here, as it turns out. I would have to be honest and say that a high degree of it was selfishness. It's one thing to be in a leadership role and go from meeting to meeting and bang out budgets and review financials, but it gave me such satisfaction to be able to walk through and just talk to people. And if I could have done it all day, I would have done it all day, but you can't, but I certainly would try to do it a couple times a day. It just felt so good to have a conversation with somebody and the

gratification of having them say whatever wonderful place this is. 0:39: 39:21

26.6Jandel

Allen Davis: 39:26

Yeah, yeah. Also helps with problem solving, I'd imagine. It

does. 0:39:33.0Jandel Allen Davis: It makes you accessible. 0:39: 39:30

34.9Denny

O'Malley: 39:32

Yeah, and I used to say to Veronica, the executive assistant, when I'd be... Particularly if I'd be having an incredibly busy or whatever day, I tried to do the same thing a couple times a day. Maybe I couldn't do the whole hospital, but I used to say to her, I'm going upstairs and remember why I'm here. And there was that instant perspective and I needed to do that and I needed to repeat that so that I didn't forget why I was there and what needed to be at the center of

my approach to making decisions and creating the right environment. 0:40: 40:04

13.7Jandel

Allen Davis: 40:09

We're going to end our conversation with Denny's thoughts. I just loved how he said that he regularly visited patients and staff to remember why he was at Craig so that he could continue creating the right environment. As someone who served as CEO for 34 years, we know he was one of Craig's biggest cheerleaders, whether he toured the floors or not. But he wanted that connection to keep him grounded in our culture, which is a beautiful thing and something we can all take note of and perhaps replicate in our own organizations. And if the conversation feels like it hasn't fully wrapped up yet, that's because it hasn't. We chose to divide our interview into two parts. That's in no small part because we could have talked for hours more. So in the next episode, we continue to talk about culture, but also home in on leadership skills, particularly what makes a great leader. And if you like what you heard today, be sure to subscribe to our podcast so that you never miss an episode.