Leading with Kindness and Accountability - w. Kenneth Rose

Unlock the secrets to leading with kindness and accountability as we catch up with Kenneth Rose, President and CEO of UChicago Medicine AdventHealth Bolingbrook. After 16 years, Kenneth returns to share his remarkable journey from Grand Rapids to Chicago, emphasizing the critical role of genuine care in high-pressure environments like healthcare. Discover how establishing a people-centered culture, grounded in clear mission statements and intentional priorities, can build a robust and accountable team environment where staff members feel genuinely valued.

How do you build trust and morale in an organization? Kenneth and I examine the operational intricacies of an HR department, highlighting the importance of staying updated with team benefits and fostering educational and career growth. We dive into the significance of bi-annual team member engagement surveys and actionable plans designed to enhance workplace engagement and morale. Leaders will find valuable insights into striking the delicate balance between grace and accountability, setting clear expectations, and providing routine feedback. We also tackle the unique struggles faced by leaders who are natural people-pleasers, offering strategies for delivering constructive feedback while maintaining a caring atmosphere.

Kenneth's personal and professional journey is a testament to resilience and growth. From moving to Texas for his first executive role to enduring family highs and lows, his story includes opening a new hospital just before a major COVID-19 spike. Through these experiences, we explore the importance of balancing personal and professional growth, recognizing the dangers of pride and ego, and integrating personal and professional lives. Kenneth's wisdom on empathy, self-awareness, and leading oneself well provides practical leadership strategies that encourage us all to lead with heart and stay blessed. Join us for a conversation filled with heartfelt insights and powerful lessons in leadership.

Connect with Kenneth:

Kenneth Rose | LinkedIn
UChicago Medicine - AdventHealth Bolingbrook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Website

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The Leadwell Podcast gives mission-driven leaders principled and practical advice to do just that, lead well.

In each episode, your host Jon Kidwell, interviews leaders with great stories, to share strategies that help leaders navigate complex, confusing, and often down-right challenging leadership, personal growth, business, and workplace culture situations.

Jon is a nonprofit executive turned coach, speaker, author, and CEO of a leadership development company. In working with nonprofits and businesses, big and small, he realized the unique challenges leaders face when they are committed to keeping the mission and people the top priority. Those leaders’ commitment to their principles and the people they lead, plus seeing the need for more leaders who strive to do the right thing, the right way, for the right reasons, is what inspired Jon to start a leadership development company dedicated to the success of mission-driven leaders and their organiza...

Transcript

Jon Kidwell 0:01

Welcome to the Leadwell Podcast, the show where we interview mission-driven leaders doing it well. We talk to them about what they're doing and how they're doing it so that you can get what you need to lead your business and your people well. And today with me I have Kenneth Rose. He is the President and CEO at UChicago Medicine, advent Health, bowling Green and strategic oversight at Glenn Oaks, and this is a fun reconnection for Kenneth and I, or K-Rose, if you will, because we were just talking and I think it's been 16 years in Grand Rapids where we first got connected, right.

Kenneth Rose 0:39

Which is scary because I'm only like 19 years old.

Jon Kidwell 0:42

You and me both man, so I don't know how that happened, but it was a. It was a great time in preschool up there in Grand Rapids and and since then you've been all over the country You've done a stint in Dallas. Thank you for being bound down here by me and with us, and now you are up in Chicago doing what we just laid up there.

Kenneth Rose 1:02

Yes, it's been a great career. It's funny how you know your career will follow all sorts of paths if you allow it, and I truly believe that your steps are ordered, and I've just tried to follow those doors as God has opened them, and it's led to some cool responsibilities and opportunities.

Jon Kidwell 1:26

Absolutely, and we're going to talk about that. And specifically, I was kind of teeing up and asking you about leading in a place where there's high demand, kind of high expectation on performance, on the need for accountability, and yet every single one of us is leading a person and so people are probably starting to think right. In construction and doing electricity there's high demand, high accountability, because it can damage somebody's life. You and I. You fly on planes, I fly on planes. I wanna make sure that that plane has some high accountability because I'd prefer that it gets where it's supposed to go, Right. And that exists in medicine and for a lot of us that have high mission, high compassion, high focus on people, sometimes it gets a little challenging to make sure that we keep up with the performance and the accountability. Keep up with the performance and the accountability. What are, what are some of the pieces that that are unique to you as you start to look at that and then start to guide us through kind of how medicine approaches. Some of that too, if you would.

Kenneth Rose 2:33

Yeah, well, for me, you know, I think it always the foundation that I try to lead from in every aspect is based in kindness and love. Um, you know, people will. People will allow themselves to be in a system where they are held accountable If they know it's a system that truly cares about them as a person, does that make sense?

Jon Kidwell 3:03

Mm. People will allow themselves to be in a system where there is accountability if they know that there is truly love. Yes, that is powerful.

Kenneth Rose 3:15

Yes, so you know. That's why it's the foundation of what I do. I never aspired to be a nice guy or a nice leader, but I definitely want to be seen and known as kind and loving to people. So that kindness sometimes comes with necessary accountability, and in healthcare especially. You're absolutely right. Something that's important to us at AdventHealth is we wear these monikers for our badge.

Jon Kidwell 3:42

I care for you like my.

Kenneth Rose 3:44

I've got my wife Alyssa on there.

Kenneth Rose 3:47

And what that does is that gives you some personal accountability. If I, as a frontline team member, a nurse or a tech or a physician or a leader, truly believe that I want to care for you like someone that I love, well then I want it to be an accountable system. I want to make sure that we have good hand washing. I want to make sure that we do timeouts before we do procedures to make sure that we're operating on the right side of the person and everyone is locked in and ready to go. So you know, there's just the real basic approach to accountability and making sure that there are high levels of it, and that starts with having that kindness and love at the foundation. And some people get uncomfortable when you talk about love or kindness in a business setting, a work setting, and I would just say there is no other way for you to truly foster high levels of accountability and strong culture if you don't have that.

Jon Kidwell 4:55

One, I'm going to find myself an Advent Health partner. Hospital health system, because that badge right there. Hospital health system because that badge right there. I can only imagine the comfort and the trust that is immediately built with a patient when it sees I will care for you, just like I do my wife, alyssa, just like I do my child If I put one of my kiddos names in there, whatever that might be. Oh man, that hits.

Jon Kidwell 5:20

And you touched on culture, right, and you even you brought in that someone will allow themselves to be a part of this if they also know that they're going to be cared for. We talk a lot about kind of mutually agreed upon expectations and that culture that it's not just you, kenneth, it's not just a nurse, shift supervisor that's doing this. What does that culture of accountability look like once you get people that are all bought in on that same idea? We're going to be kind, we're going to love. We opt into this level of accountability because of the work we want to do. How does that start to play itself out once that culture starts to exist? How does that start?

Kenneth Rose 6:04

to play itself out once that culture starts to exist. Yeah, it's powerful when you really get all these things working together and make them very clear for people. You know, with our team, the model that I've made for our team to help us know how our culture works. We're a people-centered culture and we're based in this foundation of our mission statement. Our mission statement at Advent Health is extending the healing ministry of Christ. That just grounds everything that we do. It makes it very clear who we are.

Kenneth Rose 6:32

And then we have three priorities that are in a very intentional order. That's care for each other, which is all about team. Then we care for our patients and their family members. And that's an intentional order because I want to make sure our team's cups are filled, they're cared for, they're loved, because then they can pour that out on the patients and their families. If you're burnt out, if your cup is empty, if you don't feel cared for, it's real hard to fake it with a patient and their family Right.

Kenneth Rose 7:03

And the last piece, our third priority, is to care for this business. So we believe in good stewardship and that's not just reductions and cost management and expense, it's about growth. How do we find new ways for us to grow this business and invest wisely in what we've been given. So we've got those three priorities and then, across to the three, are our four service standards for AdventHealth. Those four service standards are love me, keep me safe, make it easy and own it. So in all three of those priorities there's an opportunity to love, there's an opportunity to own it to not just be a renter, but an owner.

Kenneth Rose 7:47

There's an opportunity to keep someone safe, whether that be a team member or a patient. Our business, our investment keep it safe. And you know, making it easy is something that again translates to all three of those pillars. We want to make it easy for our team members to come and work and do a great job. We want to make it easy for our team members to come and work and do a great job. We want to make it easy for our patients to access the healthcare they need and to get the help that they need. So those are the bones of the structure.

Kenneth Rose 8:16

And then the very pointy top of it is that you know we want to be transformative to people, and what that means within Advent Health is that we will be holistic, we will be viable, affordable, exceptional, and when you put all those things and we'll be connected as the fifth, when you put all those things together, it describes what transformation looks like, because when you've got a holistic experience which is a big part of who we are as Advent Health body, mind and spirit that's something that I think everyone needs in the world today. They need a holistic approach to health care. We don't want to just be an acute care provider when you're in crisis, but how do we help prevent some of the crisis when you're in crisis? But how do we help prevent some of the crisis? And then a lot of physical issues actually stem from mental and spiritual issues.

Jon Kidwell 9:21

You don't force people to take that from us, but we gladly offer it if they'd like it. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, yeah, absolutely. It is amazing how interconnected the entire kind. Other day going over his bike, he's fine, all is well now, right, and, like you, you get us at a place of vulnerability, of crisis, and I've been around so many healthcare providers that they care so deeply, so I'm kind of pulling us back to this. We care for each other. We your patients in the general population are good at always needing you and at some point those people are going to run dry on the cup. So I'm kind of I know I'm going a little operational here, but how do you work that out and walk that out in an industry with a mission where we could all justify just never shutting it off, kind of going, going, going, going. So how do you all practically kind of care for each other and make sure that there is an intentional refilling?

Building Trust Through Clear Communication

Kenneth Rose 10:47

Yeah, that's great, great question. There's a number of different initiatives and things that we do, and I'll just share a few that I think are most impactful. One of the key things that I love about our hospital is that the leaders that we have in the department that we call Mission and Ministry, which are traditional chaplains. Obviously they are focused on our patients and caring for them, but we also employ them to take great care of our team members, and so there's a number of different initiatives that this Mission and Ministry department has come up with. So there's a number of different initiatives that this mission ministry department has come up with. Things like what we call Soul Cafe, which is a cart that they push around and it has chocolates and it has herbal teas and it has, I think, a neck massager, and anyone can order the Soul Cafe cart, order the soul cafe cart, and basically it goes to the unit. If someone is having a hard day or they're going through something personally, their team members can can know that and can reach out to mission ministry and say, hey, you know, can we get the soul cafe cart for this team member? And in those moments too, john, what's beautiful is then the mission and ministry leader has an opportunity to see if that team member wants to open up about what's going on, to talk through it, to have a safe, confidential space where they can unpack some of those challenges that they're going through. They can get prayer if they'd like to have it, and so that's one of the most fundamental ways fundamental ways and, I think, most impactful that we care. And then when you talk about some of the operational things that sit within our traditional HR department, it's a lot of little things Making sure our benefits are staying up to date with with what our team needs. You know things like paternity leave and benefits from day one. So when you start with us, you've got all of the benefits. You don't wait for a 90-day period. Making sure that we're doing everything we can to help you advance your education, if you want to, and help you grow in your career.

Kenneth Rose 12:59

We have a team member engagement survey that we do twice a year, once in the spring, once in the fall and that's a pulse check. Tell us honestly, how are you feeling? You know, is the organization going in the direction that you're comfortable with? And then in between those two surveys, we do action plans where it's just, it's one or two things.

Kenneth Rose 13:19

Every leader sits with their team and says, okay, here's what we said in the survey as a team, how engaged we are, what's one thing that we want to keep doing because we feel like we're really moving in the right place? And then what's one opportunity for us to improve and make you feel like this is an engaging place to be and that gives us actionable, intentional movement in the right direction? Perfect it. Uh. You know there's varying levels of expertise, um, with our leaders and how they do, uh, those action plans and follow up on them. Excuse me, but it's a it's a very clear system that we want to know how our team members are feeling. We want to be intentional about following up on that to make sure that we're improving.

Jon Kidwell 14:05

That is awesome. We just had a guest on Corey Shear who wrote the book Closing the Trust Gap, and one of the things he talked about in trust and as well, I mean care for team members and nurturing that culture. He said one of those critical actions is routine feedback combined with action based on what we heard and that is what I just heard you say inside of that engagement survey and how powerful that is. So sometimes when we hear the word love and we hear the word accountability, I might have a tendency to let you slide right and grace is 100%, a 100% needed and good thing, and there's probably opportunities and needs inside of a piece where this is what we need to rise to. Otherwise, I'm just going to really be kind as we move in a different direction. How does that kind of love, culture of kindness and accountability to the mission, to each other, to your patients, how does that start to play itself out when things might not be going as best as we would hope?

Kenneth Rose 15:32

Yeah, exactly, I think that that's an important nuance and point, and I think it may be a Brene Brown quote, but clarity is kindness and, like you talked about earlier, the clarity of expectations. So how does that go hand in hand with with grace? Is, I will be very clear with the expectations of of what each person is expected to do and then, depending on I mean, there's there's different degrees of it, right Depending on what type of a mistake is made, there's room for grace. So everyone's going to make some sort of a mistake and that's where that grace comes in. I believe, the first time that you make a mistake, or as you're learning, as you're developing, it's a gentle correction. Remember, the expectation is this and in this situation, you missed the expectation. This is where we want you to be, where we need you to be.

Kenneth Rose 16:31

Now, when it comes to a second and third time, if it becomes habitual, then that's where it's a different conversation, right, that's where it's.

Kenneth Rose 16:38

I care for you enough that I need to give you this direct feedback on how I need you to improve and making sure people understand why. So you know so many narratives and rumors and things that organizations just naturally will create, and if we as leaders are not very clear about the why behind some of the things that we do or decisions that we make or expectations that we have. I mean, every organization has. Well, you know they just want me to do this for them to get a bonus. Or you know they just want me to do this so they don't have to do it. Or you know you got to be really clear with people about why those expectations are what they are and then just hold holding people to that. So, yeah, it's a mixture of of the grace, but caring enough to people, um, to not only be clear but care enough to confront I think that's that's one that's that's missed at times is, um, and I think that's in the nice culture uh, is what you're describing?

Kenneth Rose 17:40

uh, well, you know, you know, I'm sure they meant to do the right thing, but actually that means that you don't care about them enough to confront them and let them know that they're outside of the expectation. Right now. I want to help you get lined up with the expectation of what we need.

Jon Kidwell 17:58

Yeah, you are coaching me and speaking language that I have coached myself into over the last decade because I am a recovering people.

Kenneth Rose 18:05

pleaser, that is 100 percent.

Jon Kidwell 18:08

The thing that I have coached myself into over the last decade, because I am a recovering people pleaser that is 100% the thing. I've had to really learn a lot of the language. Like, like you're using right, being clear is being kind, uh, and and doing that, so, uh, what I also know is that there are people out there like me, uh, that are probably like I don't know that I can do this. Uh, k Rose, like you're, you're calm, you're collected, you're cool, you got this right here, uh, but, uh, I'm going to walk into that room and be like all right, um, so you know that thing that happened last week like okay, uh, and then they leave, right, and we never actually get to the thing and it's not quite clear.

Jon Kidwell 18:43

And then we, and then we got our friends that are over there that, uh, that they they may be more of what we would describe as as a hammer, uh, looking for nails and sometimes thumbs. Thumbs get in the way, uh, we forget to pull that thumb and they're going to strike hard, right, so, uh, so you have a temperament about you, you got a tone about you, you got this focus about you. Help some of us that are trying to walk that straight and narrow in. How am I really clear and kind? What are some of the things that you think about or the ways that you approach some of this delivery to make sure the message is understood really clearly? But we leave there knowing that even if we've just had a spat, I care for you, I'm still on your side, I'm still here, but this is where it's going to leave at the level of expectation. Guide us through a little bit of your process there and how you make sure you do that.

Kenneth Rose 19:34

Yeah, I tell you, um, part of this starts so early on, right? So something that I implemented years ago, based on a coaching that I got from an organizational department organizational development department in the past, was viewing people like bank accounts, and it sounds strange, but hang with me. So, for every withdrawal that you need to make from your bank account, you've got to make sure that you have deposits, and if you have no deposits but you're only making withdrawals, you've overdrawn your account and that's going to become a real problem. For people that struggle with kind confrontation, what I would tell them is with a team that you're working with or that you're leading, that you need to hold accountable, you need to make sure that you're starting with a lot of deposits. What are deposits? Deposits are catching people doing things really well and giving them that specific, positive feedback. Hey, when you took that patient exactly where they needed to go instead of giving them eight step directions, that was perfect. That was awesome. That's what we believe in here. Thanks for doing that.

Kenneth Rose 20:55

Something that I put into practice with deposits is for all of my direct reports. The top of our agenda every time we meet is give me someone to recognize for doing great work. Give me somebody who deserves kudos, and what I do when I get that name is I write them a note and have it mailed to their home. If it's the second or third time, then I'll call them. I'll pick up the phone and call them, or I'll walk and I'll find them and recognize them, and so little things like that start to permeate and create a culture that then, when you need to have conversations about expectations and accountability Well, that's not the first conversation that we've had.

Kenneth Rose 21:39

The first conversation, the first couple of conversations we had, were building you up and cheering you on about the great work that you do. And since I know that you're capable of that and since I've seen you do great work, I'm sure that this was just a misunderstanding, of you getting out of alignment with the expectations. So I want to make sure you're aware this is where we need to be in the work that we're doing and making sure people know that you believe in them, in the work that we're doing, and making sure people know that you believe in them, that you care for them and that you have a genuine kindness in your interactions with them. And then, for the people pleasers, something you got to realize is you can't control everyone's reaction to accountability, but I'm sure going to try.

Kenneth Rose 22:18

I'm just telling you that that's right and there will be some people that you'll have a great conversation. You will have made deposits, you have done everything right and they won't be able to handle that accountability and that is not anything that you need to worry about or take on yourself. Some people will struggle with it. As long as you've been true to yourself and you've gone through the right steps as best as possible, the rest will fall in place what?

Jon Kidwell 22:49

what a good encouragement. And and I'm just going back to even on your positive feedback, it was not just that. Hey, I had a girl, I had a boy. You gave very specific, constructive, positive feedback. Hey, you took an eight step thing and you whittled it down and made it really easy for a team member, for a patient, for whatever. That is a very specific, reinforcing positive thing that if anyone else caught that they grabbed it. If not, we want to highlight that. That is. That's an amazing thing to turn in there. Before I ask you my last question, which is what does it mean for you to lead? Well, any last things that you have for us on this topic of kind, loving, clear expectations and how we live that out in high stakes, high demand areas.

Balancing Personal and Professional Growth

Kenneth Rose 23:39

Yeah, I think that's something I learned a couple of years back, john. I actually, you know, over the past couple of years, I've had a challenging personal and professional journey, you know, starting back in 2016, we moved to Texas, my wife and I, and we didn't have any kids, and we were getting started. I was my first executive role and that was a challenge when you're your first time executive and trying to figure out what that means and how you fit on a new team. And then we started having kids in 2018. And what was a challenge in 2018 is, in April, we found out that my wife was pregnant and told my parents, told her parents, everyone was excited, and then, in May of 2018, I actually lost my dad, collapsed of a massive heart attack and died on the spot. He was 55.

Kenneth Rose 24:38

We were weeks, weeks past telling him he was going to be a grandfather for the first time. We were weeks past telling him he was going to be a grandfather for the first time. And so that affects your personal and your professional side. You're one person, you're a whole person. You can't really separate the two and leave them apart. And then I got the opportunity to be the CEO of opening and building a new hospital, and that came with challenges. We opened two weeks before the second COVID spike.

Kenneth Rose 25:08

So we were a brand new hospital and dealing with COVID and ups and downs, and then on top of that we had some financial struggles. We lost 24 million our first year and we were able to lose about 13 13. So obviously that puts a lot of professional stress on you as a leader, as a CEO, and eventually our team pulled together and rallied and, even though we went through some difficult things in that situation, we came out on the other end. We were blessed in a lot of ways. Through that situation, you know, I could definitely see God's hand in it when it really shouldn't have worked and it did, um.

Kenneth Rose 25:47

But amongst that time too, going back to the personal, you know, my wife and I experienced the miscarriage, um, which was a really challenging, uh, personal thing as well. And, uh, you know, we moved houses. Among that time, we had all three of our kids. In that time we I mean it was, it was we moved houses. Among that time we had all three of our kids.

Kenneth Rose 26:05

In that time it was a lot happening and what that season taught me, this long story, what that taught me was, as leaders, for us to lead well, we have to be balanced, whole people. I'm notorious for wanting to be very accountable and working hard to get the results that are needed, whatever it takes, and the wall that I hit about two years ago was just burnout, of shouldering all of the responsibility, trying to get it all done on my own. And I went through an experience with an opportunity to fast and pray, and one of the things that came out of that was just this idea that I was living with a lot of pride and ego, and it's a slippery slope right that pride and ego was hey, I'll figure this out, I'll do the work, I'll be here, I'll get it done.

Kenneth Rose 27:03

You know, it's just going to take drive, it's going to take grit. And while that is true, it was a lot about what I'm going to do, all the things that I'll get done, all the effort that I'll put in. And when I surrendered a lot of that in my personal walk with God and brought him into it and committed a lot of this to prayer and I realized that I didn't have to figure it all out, I also realized that I needed to have a better balance to my personal and professional life. It's not bad to take time off of work. It's not bad to leave work early to get home to your kids and swim or go to the park, because you need that. I wasn't bringing my best self to work because I was unbalanced. So I would say that's a great thing to keep in mind. Is leading well, is leading yourself well first.

Leadership Through Self-Awareness and Empathy

Jon Kidwell 27:55

Wow, every single one of us, myself included, going back and just listening to that piece, because there's there's a whole lot of depth and a whole lot of learning inside of there, and one of the things I found personally is, when we go through really challenging experiences, we either get bitter or we get better. We kind of move away from people or we have a different level of empathy, and I hear the latter in all of what you just shared with us and teeing us up that, as leaders, to lead well, we have to start leading ourselves and we have to look at this as a balanced, holistic approach. Kenneth, it was amazing, my friend. I am so glad that we got back together and that you carved out the time to come talk with me and share your story as well as how you lead, where you lead, with everybody else. Thank you for doing that.

Kenneth Rose 28:56

Happy to. I'm just honored that you asked and allowed me to get on here and ramble a little bit. I had a great time.

Jon Kidwell 29:02

Good, good and for everybody else. Thank you so much for tuning in. Be well, lead on and God bless.