Q&A with CIO Lee Milligan, Part 2: “We Have a Chance to Do Some Really Cool Things.”

It almost didn’t happen. Lee Milligan seriously contemplated texting the CEO in the middle of the night to say he had changed his mind about taking the CIO role at Asante. His doubts were completely understandable; not only did it mean leaving the CMIO position, which is a significant change, but it also meant filling the shoes of his predecessor, who had resigned after more than 20 years at the helm.

If that wasn’t daunting enough, a new CEO had just taken over.

Fortunately, Milligan never sent the text, having decided that the rewards outweighed the risks. But it hasn’t been an easy adjustment. “I had to be more honest with myself than I’ve ever been in my professional career in sizing up what I do well and in what areas I’m lacking,” he said in a recent interview, during which he opened up about how he was able to grasp the CIO responsibilities, what surprised him most during the first 6 months, the goals he has established for his team, and why he never takes metrics at face value.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2



* Current state assessment – “I didn’t want to throw out things that were working well.”

* Targeted areas of improvement: standardization & processes

* Team building through leadership retreats

* Becoming a high reliability organization – “We’re moving boldly in that direction.”

* Creating an “exceptional customer experience”

* “Honeymoon period” as new CIO

* Shedding the CMIO role



LISTEN NOW USING THE PLAYER BELOW OR CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR iTUNES PODCAST FEED

Bold Statements

What I wanted to do was really assess current state, because I really didn’t want to throw out things that were working well – and my predecessor did a number of things really well. I wanted to make sure we weren’t spoiling that.

You’re identifying what you want to work on and what are your objectives. In a well-constructed system, these things roll up into each other.

The approach I try to take with my folks is to create a transparent environment where they’re free to talk about what works and what doesn’t; where we can criticize, but do so respectfully so that we can have an honest conversation.

When you come into a position like this, most people will give you a bit of a grace period. My advice is to take advantage of it. 

I needed to get out of the room and let him spread his wings. If he has questions, he can come to me, but people needed to see him as the leader in that space.

Gamble:  Do you think it was an advantage that you hadn’t previously been in a CIO role, and were able to come in with a fresh perspective?

Milligan:  Absolutely. The arguments had grown stale. Finance could see them a mile away, and so being able to frame that differently was really helpful.

 

Gamble:  Looking back at your first 6 or 7 months, were there certain priorities you wanted to address right away?

Milligan:  I had a lot of ideas in the back of my head as to what I wanted to do, and so when it happened, I felt like a kid in a candy store. I thought, ‘Wow, now I have a chance to do some really cool things.’ What I wanted to do was really assess current state, because I really didn’t want to throw out things that were working well — and my predecessor did a number of things really well. I wanted to make sure we weren’t spoiling that.

And so I took some time to meet with all of the individual teams to understand the work they’re doing — what’s working well and what isn’t. From that, a couple of themes bubbled to the surface. The first was we didn’t have great standard work in place. As a result, folks were doing good work,