Educating The New Supply Chain Workforce Via Social Media | E. 112

The Healthcare Leadership Experience

A competitive environment can prevent healthcare organizations from engaging online. Justin Poulin shares his insights into the untapped potential of social media with Jim Cagliostro.

Episode Introduction

Justin explains why the key to a successful podcast is consistency, how the pandemic masked issues with supply chain workforce shortages, and how silos in healthcare hold people – and organizations - back. He also explains why competition makes people fearful of social media, provides key tips to getting started and explains why ‘’chasing the money’’ will always leave you dissatisfied.

Show Topics

• Consistency is the key to successful podcasting
• Bring your whole self to an organization
• The supply chain workforce shortage came in under the radar
• Healthcare supply chain needs more mentorship
• Tailoring content to your target audience
• Competition creates a fear of social media
• Getting started online
• Leadership tip: ‘’Promote, promote, promote’’

02:56 Consistency is the key to successful podcasting

Justin said creating a regular schedule is the most important factor for long-term success.

‘’….podcasting, so much of it is a soft skill. I could give you little tips and pointers, but the most important thing about podcasting, and you're doing a great job with this, it's just being consistent. Making sure that you are putting content out on a regular schedule that people know what to expect. I see a lot of startup podcasts and they come out with a lot of gusto, and they do a bunch for about two or three months. And then, all of a sudden, there's a four-month gap. And those ones never really take off. I've always told everybody who wants to get involved and do it, "Hey, nobody's trying to own this space. It's a fun, creative outlet. But one of the things you have to do to be good with it is make sure that you are constantly putting out consistent content." You could do a podcast once a quarter, as long as you deliver it once a quarter on a schedule that people can expect…..It's like the TV series that comes to this great cliffhanging end of season two, and then they don't get renewed. And you're just left going, "Why? Why did you do this to me?" And so, yeah, that's the experience. And so, if you're doing podcast, just stick with it.’’

11:24 Bring your whole self to an organization

Justin said healthcare can be siloed but merging skills and interests benefits every organization.

‘’…what a convergence of my passion to do this radio show podcasting, my clinical background as a nurse, and then this entrepreneurial sales side. It's all just merged into this role and what this company is. And who would've thought all of that would've intersected, what I was doing? And I saw it as something separate. So I'd also encourage people to consider their diverse interests and experiences. And not try to partition or segment them but, actually, bring them to the table and bring their whole self to their employer, or help them create their dream job for themselves. It's really important that I think a lot of times we're taught diversify your revenue streams, you hear that, so it's all segmented. And you think about healthcare and it's very siloed. But we actually do that to ourselves. We silo our skills and interests, instead of merging them into what makes us a unique human being, which is, ultimately, how we can bring the most tremendous value to any organization that we're involved in.’’

14:28 The supply chain workforce shortage came in under the radar

Justin explained the impact of the pandemic on staffing shortages.

‘’I feel like the supply chain shortage, or workforce shortage, is sneaky. It came in under the radar. I'm sure people in supply chain might've been aware that it could be become an issue, but I don't think it was as transparent as the one that everybody talked about with nursing. We could have planned better, for sure, but we knew it was coming. I think some of the things that had happened with supply chain was really the emergence of strategic sourcing and these other roles that, at one point, when you said supply chain, in a lot of ways, you meant logistics or materials. And maybe a little bit of contracting and purchasing. But what has happened since the Affordable Care Act and value-based purchasing is we've now really expanded on the skillset that's required, where you can take your career.. But then, obviously, I think the fact that we didn't have enough people with enough experience in growing into these advanced roles in supply chain really came to a head when we hit the pandemic. Because, prior to that, it was pretty easy to say, "We're doing okay." Because we're consolidating agreements, we're looking for discounts based on volume and economies of scale, really. And I think once the supply and demand and the supply chain itself got disrupted, I think it really exposed something that was inherently there that we dodged dealing with for a really long time.’’

18:19 Healthcare supply chain needs more mentorship

Justin explained why time constraints are affecting leadership's ability to nurture talent.

‘’I definitely think there needs to be more mentorship, but I think there's plenty of willing mentors out there. The problem is, with the constraints that we're under, you're talking about taking somebody and their time that is incredibly valuable right now. So I feel like we're a little upside down on that. I think there's a lot of willing mentors that are in leadership positions. But it's about nurturing the talent and that takes a lot of time away. And, honestly, if you're already short on talent, then you're in a position where you're already lifting up, just with your own personal efforts. So how does the senior staff in a supply chain carve out that time right now to really mentor and nurture the individuals that are coming onto their team? So I think they can still do it, but I think they need a lot of augmented resources to help. And if you just even look at standardized training, like we've got the CMRP through ARM and there are some other programs that are out there, but, by and large, most of the training is institutional. And some of it needs to be tailored to the healthcare organization because everybody does things a little bit different. They use different ERPs. And so you can't just put a standard training package together. It requires, I think, the new blood coming in to be quite motivated, and also able to self-educate and be self-motivated to educate. And so, for that to really happen, you've got to inspire them. And you've got to give them resources that not only give them information, but that also give them encouragement.’’

21:26 Tailoring content to your target audience

Justin explained how social media enables people to find valuable content.

‘’… …So I think the answer to the question that you just asked me is individualized. And I think this is one of the keys of social media. What it does enable people to do is to find the content that they find valuable. And as a matter of fact, LinkedIn, in the way that they continue to do developments in their platform, is geared around connecting people with noted experts that are talking about the things that somebody wants to be learning about. They're very focused on that. And they also throttle... They don't want big media blasts. They don't want content in a commodity sense, where you just hit everybody and hit them with a ton. They don't want the users of the LinkedIn platform to get washed out. They want them to be pulled in and find value for being on their platform because it helps them grow professionally. That is different than the approach for Facebook. However, I still believe in all forms of social media having a purpose. But you do have to tailor the content to that targeted audience, and which platform they're on, and maybe the reasons that they're on that platform. So I prefer LinkedIn for a lot of reasons. But, mostly, I believe in their philosophy about connecting people to the resources that they are looking for and/or needing.’’

25:20 Competition creates a fear of social media

Justin said collaboration and transparency can help to transform healthcare.

‘’We talk a lot about transparency, collaboration. There are a lot of themes that people incorporate into their vision for how to transform healthcare, not just in the supply chain but across the board. But, yet, we say those things, but a lot of what happens is we live in a very competitive environment. And I believe that we haven't really taught our culture here in the United States how to work collaboratively and competitively with a certain amount of respect. And I think a lot of people are fearful of social media because of that reason. But if we actually learned how to do what you just said, where we could converse even with our competitors on certain topics... Because guess what? Your competitors, because you're bringing different value props to the table, it's not a one size fits all. It's different perspectives on how to solve similar problems. And those perspectives match up with different cultures in different ways. And I think we fail to recognize that it's not you're everything to everybody. You're hopefully, and every good business owner knows this, you're hopefully aligning yourself with a good customer for your company so that they have a good experience and that only builds your reputation. I think we absolutely need to do a better job, not even just in healthcare, but in general, of how can we come to the same table with our competitors in a professional manner and both benefit?’’

30:34 Getting started online

Justin said getting involved is about more than being a content consumer.

‘’… the best way to do it is to follow some hashtags, like #HealthcareSupplyChain, HealthcarePurchasing. Just look for some of those. Maybe find some companies that you've done business with, colleagues, and connect with them. But, essentially, curate the content that you want to see on LinkedIn. And when you find something that you have maybe some thoughts on, the hardest thing is creating content. It takes effort, it takes thought. But the one thing you can do to share your knowledge, you can share somebody else's post on a topic that you're either experienced or passionate about. Or that you know, "Hey, this was a great conversation that so-and-so had on this podcast." Or maybe somebody just does a general post, a couple of paragraphs on an experience they had. You could highlight that by sharing it out and saying, "Really good insights here." Something that I have always noticed that people often overlook, you don't have to tell the whole story. You don't have to be the single authority. But it definitely helps when you share somebody else's content with one or two lines that include your own insights. And especially if you think it's something that most people miss. Just get other people thinking by seeing your post. That's the best way to get involved, not just be a content consumer. ‘’

34:16 Leadership tip: ‘’Promote, promote, promote’’

Justin said a servant leadership mentality is common among successful leaders.

‘’I don't know if this is really a big aha lesson, and I might give you two, but a lot of times people are worried about elevating the people that work for them or that they're mentoring. And I just think, time and time again, it pays huge dividends to elevate those that are under you. They're never going to replace you. You're just going to become more valuable. And you never know where they're going to go in their career. So I feel like in leadership, it's just promote, promote, promote, and develop the people that are around you. You never know when you're going to need them. So, sometimes, there's just that hesitancy. I think all the great leaders are never worried about being replaced. And, sometimes, on the sales side, that can be adding staff to the team, or maybe it's you're adding a CRM, and so you know all of the functions of your role are now going to be documented. And you're like, "Oh, that could make it easier for them to bring somebody else in... You're never going to have a shortage of career opportunities if you approach it that way. You just won't. So I think that's a common amongst really excellent leaders. That servant leadership mentality I think is really important.’’

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You’ll also hear:

Justin’s career history, via nursing and a podcast on Boston Celtics: ‘’This is in 2005. Podcasting, that term was coined in the same year. I didn't even know it was a term. I called it a toll-free, live, call-in webcast, specifically for Celtics fans. I had people calling in from Australia and Italy, all over the world. And wound up credentialing my way into the locker room with credentialed access to the Boston Celtics. I was the first person from new media to get in there.’’

Tackling the workforce shortage in the healthcare supply chain: ‘’And then you're also competing with other industries, which is another difficult aspect, as people don't really find the healthcare supply chain as a destination career. They find supply chain as a destination career. They go to school for it. But not always for healthcare. And a lot of times, the wages are just more competitive in other industries. And so we do find that there's that new talent that's being trained isn't necessarily landing in healthcare roles, unfortunately. And it's certainly something that we need to tackle.’’

Why the healthcare supply chain is limited on social media: ‘’And I think there's some fundamental reasons for it too, which is to say people don't necessarily want to share their strategies for fear of losing their negotiating leverage. So I think the healthcare supply chain leader, in general, is positioned differently than maybe a clinician in how they would have a discussion on LinkedIn.’’

Don’t chase the money: ‘’But chasing the money, I think, will almost always leave you somewhat dissatisfied. So align your organizational strategies with your professional goals. As long as it's not simply money, you'll win every single time.’’

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