Chris Paravate, CIO, Northeast Georgia Health System, Chapter 2

If you’re going to be a successful CIO, you need to learn how to do one simple thing: let go, says Chris Paravate. Yes, CIOs need to be aware of what’s going on throughout the organization, but he believes their purpose is to educate, set clear expectations and provide guidance. In this interview, Paravate talks about the groundwork his team is laying to prepare to roll out Epic across the system, why he’s all about workflow training but cautions against overusing consultants, and how NGHS worked to achieve operational engagement. He also talks about the concept of humble leadership, what he learned from Allana Cummings, and what it takes to build a culture inside the IT division.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2



* The CIO’s delicate balance — “You have to be willing to let go of some control.”

* Educate, set clear expectations & provide guidance

* The moment when “all the hard work paid off”

* Operational engagement

* Go-live — “It’s just the beginning”

* Chasing optimization

* From Chief Applications Officer to CIO — “There’s no safety net.”

* Humble leadership: “Take care of your staff.”



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Bold Statements

You could shepherd the process, but if you want operations to own it, you’re going to have to educate them, set clear expectations, and give them guidance on how to be successful. But you’re going to have to take your hand off the steering wheel a little bit, and that’s a delicate balance.

With this type of scale and magnitude, IT alone can’t make this a successful implementation. It’s going to take every aspect of the organization engaged and being transparent and leaning into the problems and being decisive, recognizing when we make mistakes and correcting them, and approaching the overall project with purpose and conviction.

Most people think, ‘It’s go-live; we’re done.’ Well, you’re not done, it’s just the beginning of the next phase. For just one moment, you’re like, ‘we’re up to date, we have the current release, the design is fresh and everything is good,’ and that’s gone in about 15 minutes. Then you’re chasing it optimization.

When you move from being a leader in the IT department to being the leader of the IT department, there’s no safety net. You are ultimately responsible for the outcome and the success of the department. Those few months — it was tough. It was frightening, and I had to really work through that.

Part of developing that IT strategy was building those relationships with each of my peers, each of the senior leaders, and understanding what their challenges and problems were, and then starting to shape that strategy into something that the organization could identify with.

Paravate:  I think a lot of times CIOs can see solutions and they can see the vision and the strategy for technology, but you can’t outstrip the pace of operation’s ability to make some of those decisions, and you have to be willing to let go of some of that control. And it doesn’t mean you can’t influence and it doesn’t mean you don’t steer the ship, but it does mean that you may be at the back of the room.

When we did demos, I didn’t open a single session. The operational directors opened every session; they managed the selection. I wasn’t at the front of the room saying, ‘hey guys, we’re going to look at an IT system today.’ I was in the back of the room actually, just making sure that the sound quality was good and the visibility was good and that people had what they needed. What I learned from that is you could shepherd the process, but if you want operations to own it, you’re going to have to educate them way in advance,