Amanda Wilde (Host): Join us as two healthcare leaders share their insights and experiences as we explore innovation and women in leadership.

Welcome to the Healthcare Executive Podcast, providing you with insightful commentary and developments in the world of healthcare leadership. To learn more, visit ache.org. I'm your host, Amanda Wilde. In this podcast episode, I am joined by Tesha Montgomery. Tesha is Senior Vice President at Houston Methodist, and Michelle Stansbury, Associate Chief Innovation Officer and Vice President for IT at Houston Methodist. You can hear Tesha and Michelle and their co-presenter, Roberta Schwartz, at the Congress on Healthcare Leadership. The Congress takes place March 24th through the 27th in Houston. To learn more and register, visit ache.org/congress. Tesha and Michelle, welcome. Glad to have you here today.

Tesha Montgomery: Great. We're glad to be here.

Michelle Stansbury: Thank you very much for having us.

Host: As we are focusing on innovation and women in leadership and seeing as you are both in senior leadership positions, let's learn more about your personal stories in terms of your professional journey. Tesha, if I may start with you, what led you toward a career in the healthcare management field?

Tesha Montgomery: Well, I have been exposed to healthcare most of my life. It actually started as more of a personal journey for me. When I was a teenager, unfortunately, my older brother was diagnosed with kidney failure. And so, I started being exposed to healthcare at a younger age. And through everything he went through, from that experience, it really got me interested in becoming a nurse.

So, going into high school, I knew I wanted to be a nurse. Going into college, I went to nursing school. And I've worked in the hospital, even before a nurse. I worked my way up, I was a unit clerk, a PCA, you name it. And so, I had that clinical experience. But I knew I still wanted to do more, and I wanted to be in a position where I could have more influence on change. And through that is where I discovered, the MHA degree. There was a colleague of mine who was getting her dual MD/MHA, and she talked to me about the MHA program. And it was a business degree, but focused in healthcare, and I was like, "Well, that's what I want to do." And so, after grad school, that's what really brought me into the healthcare management field. While in grad school, I was exposed to ACHE. I also did an administrative fellowship. And then, that launched me into my path of healthcare management and leadership.

Host: So, you've described there some of the support you got along the way, or some of the institutions or organizations or things that were set up to help you. And Michelle, what pointed you in the direction of healthcare leadership?

Michelle Stansbury: I always find it interesting when I hear people of how they get into healthcare in general. And usually, it is some sort of personal story, which is mine as well. I am from Texas. So, what does a good Texan do way back when? You start off in an oil company, which is what I did. And there I moved into kind of a technology firm. But after I had my first born, who had some problems in the very beginning, and was in the neonatal ICU for a few months, after you get through that initial shock and you know that everything's going to be okay, actually, both my husband and I were looking around and just felt like what a rewarding career that it could be in healthcare and where you feel like you're making such a difference and it's not so much of, "Okay, how well did we do this quarter? And how well did we do this quarter?" And so, my husband actually went back to school. I didn't need to, but I found my way to Houston Methodist and I will say I've been here for 32 years. Overall, it's been just a really great career choice for me because it gave me the opportunity to feel like I was doing something that makes a difference for our community and for our patients, which was ultimately what I was looking for. So, it gave more meaning to what I was doing in my work. So, that's how I got, and eventually, overall, I wasn't here long before the management opportunity came along, and I've been there ever since.

Host: So from two different backgrounds, but both describing getting into this part of healthcare as actually being able to do more, that it was more expansive for both of you. Now, you're both at Houston Methodist Center for Innovation. Tesha, can you describe the mission and goals of this organization?

Tesha Montgomery: Well, let me tell you this from a personal experience I think that will shed some light. And then, we can get into more of the mission and vision of the Center for Innovation. I will say I've been with Houston Methodist now for six years, and I came in from the outside. I came in from another organization. And when I started, I started to become a member of our Center for Innovation, which, by the way, it was introduced to me as you're going to come to this DIOP meeting, D-I-O-P. I'm like, "What is DIOP?" And it's Digital Innovative Obsessed People. I said, "Great. I will be a part of DIOP." And I started joining this group and it was like something I had never seen. And I'll say this, I've worked at different organizations, large healthcare systems, but coming in from the outside and seeing this team of innovators that were also operators.

And so, you're sitting in the room, and our Chief Innovation Officer, who is also our co-presenter, Roberta, is also the CEO of our flagship academic medical center hospital. And then, you also have IT in the room, they're focusing on IT, but also innovation. We have Legal in the room, HR, Physician Operations, you name it. But all of these interdisciplinary groups wearing dual hats in innovation. And that to me, really made the difference, this is really something unique and special. And it was just energizing to be a part of a team where we really could vet ideas, we're vetting new technology. And, hey, if we come up with the proposals, it makes sense. We tackle an ROI, and then let's try it. Let's work it through and try it, and you have everybody in the room, whereas I would say in other groups I've seen, you have a group that's separate from the operations. You have a group that may not be in the day to day and they bring solutions. And typically, it's the operators that are like, "No way, this is not going to work. We can't do it." And so, I think our mission is to really implement technology. That's going to survive and it's going to make operations easier. It's going to make things more efficient and you have the right people in the room to kind of strike that balance.

And so, we are not afraid to try things. We want to try them. We obviously want to be sound in our business cases and what we expect the return on investment to be. But we are out there really trying to push the envelope in innovation to make our operations more efficient, to make things better for our patients, et cetera.

Michelle Stansbury: If I could just quickly add to that. I mean, one of the key words that we use often and when we're describing overall our innovation is whatever we do must be transforming the way that we do our business. I think not only us, but everyone out there probably listening who will listen to this knows we've all got problems that we're trying to solve within our institutions. And this is a way that we are solving those problems, by really just looking at the different technologies or processes that we can do to help us transform. Because if we don't do it, there's others out there who are quickly thinking that they can solve healthcare who aren't even in health care today and solve problems that we have.

Host: Well, Michelle, that's a great point. And through your roles, both of you are constantly innovating in your organization and delivery and care. So first of all, Michelle, how do you encourage and create that culture of innovation?

Michelle Stansbury: I will tell you, it starts from the top, and it is built in overall then to our mission to provide the best quality, safety, service, and innovation. I mean, it's all an and, it's not the or for our patients. And this is something that every last one of our employees, and if you ask anyone who's responsible for innovation, while we have the Center for Innovation, we say it's our entire workforce, because what you will learn is that many of our workforce, they know things they've seen or ways that we could be doing things better overall in our organization, and we do want to hear from them. While we have this group of individuals that are in our DIOP group, that's the group that will help take these ideas and concepts that are coming forward for us to be able to try them out, pilot them, what we say, and to see if we're truly getting that benefit that we think that is going to happen.

But I will tell you this whole culture is really ingrained overall throughout our organization, and I hear it all the time where people are sending us emails or sending us ideas of things that they want to try out because they've seen it or heard it being used at other locations. And on the flip side of that, I would just want to add, these are the same people that if we're the ones finding it that we go to and we're like, "We found a solution, we think it's going to work," we want your help to pilot it in our organization to see if you really truly think it's going to provide that benefit to us or our patients. So, it kind of works both ways. It's where we get ideas from, and we also are relying upon everyone in this organization to help us through this innovation journey that we're on.

Host: That is certainly different from the traditional, just top-down leadership style. Tesha, what lessons have you learned from maintaining this culture of innovation?

Tesha Montgomery: A couple of lessons I will mention, one, know the problem that you're trying to solve. So, I think be very clear at the beginning. What are we trying to fix? What do we expect this technology to do and solve for us? So, you have to be clear up front and know that.

The second lesson I will say is it's not always technology that's needed. Sometimes we assume the technology is needed, when really it's our internal infrastructure, or our operational workflows, or processes. So, you really have to be clear and know the difference with that. If you put slick technology on top of broken processes, you just have slick technology on top of broken processes. That's not truly transforming the operation. So, you have to be able to separate the two.

And then, I would also say, make sure that you clearly define what success looks like. And so we implement this, we deem this to be a success if, right? Do we want to see a reduction in no-shows? Do we want to decrease staff? Do we need to increase revenue? Like whatever that purpose is, there's an increase in patient satisfaction. There's various ways to manage whatever that return is. But be clear to know what you want to see in return.

And then, the last thing I'll say, and Michelle may have some more to add, you know what, sometimes you have to switch gears. And so, don't be afraid to fail, and you can't be afraid to change the course. That's what innovation is all about. You're trying things quickly, you're learning, you're pivoting if needed until you get to that transformational change that you're looking for.

Host: And how do you keep confidence with your staff when you are failing along the way?

Michelle Stansbury: Well, if I can add to that, I would just say it is an expectation. When we talk about innovation at Houston Methodist, we succeed fast or we fail fast. And we have to, because we have to know whether or not these things that we're trying and all these new technologies, if they're going to work for us. And I will say, being in the IT space, there used to be the old mentality, work at it as long as you have to to make it work, because we've made this investment. And what we've learned is, that is not the right approach for the long term. The right approach is, if it's not working, call it. Call it quick and let's move on, but learn from what it is that it didn't.

So as we go to other technologies, you know what you're looking for to see if it's going to work or not. So, that's where it is that I think people, they're comfortable with it. They're comfortable of letting you know this was not the expectation. And we have a category that we use, what we call our rest in peace category. And we're very careful to be able to show individuals we're not afraid to do that. We're not afraid to try new things, but we're not afraid to call it when it's just not working either.

Host: So, innovation does not equal technology. As you said, Tesha, if processes are broken, that isn't going to work. So, you, in your work, you have to always consider the human element. And then, co-opt everyone, everyone knows what success looks like. So, those times we do stumble or fail, we're in it together. Now, you are both co-presenting on this topic at a leadership in-site session at ACHE's 2025 Congress on Healthcare Leadership. What will attendees hear about during the session? Tesha?

Tesha Montgomery: I'm excited about this session. We were actually talking about this earlier today. So, they're going to hear a lot in this session. We're looking at this session in three main subgroups, I'll say. So, we are going to talk about leadership in general. We're also going to talk about women in leadership and have some discussion and Q&A around that. And then, we're going to get into this last bucket in terms of leadership and innovation and technology. And so, we're going to look at leadership, but look at it from those three different perspectives.

Host: Which should start a lot of interesting discussions.

Tesha Montgomery: Absolutely. Absolutely.

Host: Well, Michelle, what are some of the ways you see women in healthcare leadership leading the way in innovation?

Michelle Stansbury: What I would say is that I think there is a very strong desire overall for women to create the change overall that's necessary, especially in health care. I mean, traditionally, women are the ones who are taking care of healthcare needs overall in their families. And so, if you are also doing that and you're in these positions of leadership, you feel this great responsibility to want to make things better overall moving forward, and it does. You do have this unique opportunity now. And I've come to explain the reason why that we hold these dual roles is, one, you know where the problems are at. Yes, we do know where the problems are at, because we're also the ones experiencing the healthcare journey, right? But we're also able to make those leadership decisions to be able to help create that change that we know is what our patients and our consumers are looking for overall from Houston Methodist.

And then getting back to, as you heard both from Tesha and I, we have this strong underlying desire to provide something back to the overall community of what we're doing. And overall feeling like you're making a difference in this organization and the communities that we serve here at Houston Methodist. So, I think you couple all of that together and that's the reason why there is just such this strong desire and how women can help to make these changes within their organizations.

Host: And finally, Tesha from your position as Senior Vice President at Houston Methodist. Can you talk about your experience with ACHE and how membership and board certification helped you in your career journey?

Tesha Montgomery: I became affiliated with ACHE while I was in grad school in my MHA program. That's how I was exposed to ACHE as a student member. Then after graduating and becoming a professional, that was the thing to do, right? You stay in ACHE. I was able to attend the annual congress meetings, really began to network, and it gave me a broader perspective of what's happening in healthcare in general, especially being new in my professional career going into healthcare leadership and healthcare management. It's great to be able to get together outside of your organization and hear what's happening across the board and share stories and network and learn from each other. So, that has been very rewarding for me along the way, I did decide to get board-certified through FACHE. And through that experience, again, I will say anytime you're board-certified in anything, you get board-certified to prove that there's a level of competency there.

It's a way to show that, you know, "Hey, I do care about this profession and I do want to go above and beyond to learn all I can to be competent in the field that I'm dedicating my work years to." And so, that was the reason for me to obtain the certification. And in terms of how it has helped me, again, I would just say just with the networking and being among like leaders that are interested in this continuous learning.

The final point I'll make about leadership and tying this back to the certification, I also think it's important if you are going to get the certification as a leader, you have to translate that into practice. You don't stop at getting the certification. You have to be able to execute. You have to stay knowledgeable in healthcare. You have to apply everything that we've learned through our ACHE educational opportunities.

Host: Exactly. And as a leader, apply that to your 20,000-foot view of the entire organization. Tesha, Michelle, thank you so much both for this conversation and really look forward to future innovations from you and your inspiring leadership. Thanks for your time today.

Michelle Stansbury: Thank you.

Tesha Montgomery: Thank you.

Host: You can hear Tesha and Michelle and their co-presenter, Roberta Schwartz, at the Congress on Healthcare Leadership, which takes place March 24th through the 27th in Houston. To learn more and register, visit ache.org/congress. For more resources and information, visit healthcareexecutive.org. Subscribe so you won't miss an episode and stay tuned for our next discussion. This is Healthcare Executive Podcast from the American College of Healthcare Executives.