Edith Dees, President & CEO, CAPSYN (Former Longtime CIO), Chapter 1

Is change really so bad? Can implementing a new system really shake a staff to its core, paralyzing the ability to provide the best care? Yes, and that’s why it has to be handled with extreme care, says Edith Dees. Of all the lessons she learned during her two decades as CIO, the most valuable was how to effectively introduce and manage change. In this interview, Dees reflects on her experiences — not just as an IT leader, but as a clinician and consultant — and shares how she was able to conquer some of the biggest roadblocks in advancing an organization. She also talks about what excites her most in today’s industry, why she made to the move to consulting, and the direction she believes the CIO will take.

Chapter 1



* Consulting after 20+ years as CIO

* Reflecting on 10 years at Holy Spirit

* Chance to redefine the CIO role — “It was love at first sight.”

* Visible leadership & accountability

* Change management strategy — “This is what’s going to happen”

* Staff education curriculum

* “It was a night-and-day satisfier.”



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Bold Statements

The organization saw the need to provide state of the-art clinical equipment, technology and information systems, so with that, I think it was very insightful to rethink the whole role positioning of the CIO.

IT governance is absolutely essential, and in every organization I’ve been in, I’ve done it to the extent the organization could accept that model. You have to adapt to the culture and you to adapt to the leadership style and you have to do whatever is totally consistent with the CEO’s vision.

It was painfully obvious that it didn’t matter what kind of hardware the vendors said it should run on, we were just trying to run it on the hardware that we were familiar with. We thought we knew better. And what we found out is we didn’t.

I’ve almost come to expect that when technology makes us uncomfortable, it’s IT’s fault, so let’s talk about that. Let’s not let that happen, let’s know what we’re getting into before we get into it.

Do I have the right people in the right positions? Do I have leaders leading or do I have leaders defending the old guard? That’s a reality you just have to accept. People are people. Some will let go and grab on, and some won’t. And the ones that don’t, you have to take care of that. You have to address that, because the staff doesn’t need that confusion.

Gamble:  Hi Edith, thank you so much for taking some time to speak with us today.

Dees:  My pleasure, Kate. Thank you.

Gamble:  I’m looking forward to getting a lot of your thoughts about the industry, and I think the best way to do that is to first give our readers and listeners an idea of where you are right now.

Dees:  I had been a CIO for over 20 years and my career is exclusively healthcare. I started as a clinician, got a degree in business, got a Master’s in organizational development and stayed close to healthcare. I can’t imagine a more rewarding discipline to be in.

Right now I’m heading up a consulting company collaborating with an organization psychologist in Maine whose practice also was exclusively healthcare. We’re helping organizations make it better through the change that everyone is going through. My practice, in particular, is focused on issues that executives and leaders just can’t get their arms around because the pace is too fast, there are too many imposed deadlines, there are too many competing priorities and some of these underlying things that need attention just aren’t getting it, that could make things go more smoothly, so I’m pretty excited about that. It’s something I had been toying with for years, and I’m glad I got the opportunity to go for it now.

Gamble:  Right.