Readers Write: Six Foundations of Highly Productive Technology Teams: How to Handle System and Talent Transitions

Six Foundations of Highly Productive Technology Teams: How to Handle System and Talent Transitions
By  Mark Thomas

Mark Thomas, MS, MBA is CTO of MRO.

There is one certainty in healthcare IT. Teams, tasks, and technology will always change. Maintaining a productive and efficient team culture during these transitions is essential to keep up with today’s fast-paced and connected health IT ecosystem.

A well-developed technology culture ensures optimal outcomes through months of high-volume activity, such as EHR conversions, and during regular day-to-day operations. And by focusing on high productivity, health system CIOs build a solid foundation to weather our industry’s inevitable shifts in strategic initiatives and organizational leadership.

This article explores six principles of developing a technology team culture for high production and resilience in healthcare. The leadership journey begins with flexibility and the willingness to accept change.

Embrace change and inspire flexibility

One of the most important qualities of a high-production culture is the ability to evolve. Effective technology leaders exhibit flexibility and welcome changes that drive positive outcomes for the team. This involves personal accountability at all levels to challenge barriers and work toward common goals.

A recent example is our company’s deliberate decision to rebrand the “IT” team to the “Technology” team. Rebranding the name of the department was a simple, yet effective way to help the team transition away from IT ticket-takers to strategic business outcome thinkers.

By fostering an environment where change is accepted and encouraged, CIOs ensure their systems and processes remain adaptable and responsive to advancing business needs.

Use data-driven decision-making

Predictability is important for sustaining high productivity. But predictability is often elusive during times of dramatic change and system transition. Savvy healthcare CIOs use data to build a bridge between opposing forces — doubt and certainty.

Whether with clients, partners, or internal stakeholders, data is a proven guide to effective technology leadership decisions. Teams make more informed decisions and remain focused on outcomes when performance can be tracked against data-driven commitments.

A variety of metrics can be used to measure the impact of team culture. This includes use of the Westrum culture survey, delivery predictability, and alignment of talent with skills and interests. By continuously monitoring these metrics, organizations can ensure teams are performing well and remain engaged and motivated. This data-driven approach enables the organization to make informed adjustments and sustain high productivity over time.

Finally, rewarding transparency when teams go off track further reinforces a culture of honest and continuous improvement.

Build composable and collaborative teams

Organizing teams around domains that require cohesive changes fosters a composable culture. This means aligning teams with a common backlog and driving toward shared outcomes.

This approach, coupled with a systems-thinking mindset, ensures that each team understands its role within the broader system and takes personal accountability for its contributions. By empowering teams to self-regulate, technology leaders also quickly identify necessary shifts and improvements to maintain high productivity.

Encourage extreme ownership for optimal availability

In today’s 24/7 plugged-in healthcare environment, system availability is non-negotiable. The concept of extreme ownership holds teams accountable for their systems end to end, from implementation to bringing disabled systems back online.

Eliminating handoffs and ensuring continuous monitoring helps teams proactively address issues before clients are affected. This cultural shift drives significant technological progress and ensures systems experience upmost reliability.

This type of accountability model eliminates reliance on project managers. Teams and individuals are directly responsible for their outcomes, fostering a sense of pride and ownership while delivering remarkable improvements in release frequency and quality.

Use telemetry and feature flags to support scalability

All systems must be scalable to enable future growth. Build telemetry into every step of the development life cycle, providing visibility into system performance and identifying bottlenecks.

Feature flags are another proven tool for health IT leaders. With these flags, technology teams release features at a controlled pace that enables organizations to scale effectively. This continuous improvement mindset should be ingrained in the team culture to ensure the organization is able to grow alongside new technological capabilities and industry demands.

Gather direct feedback from end users

A user-focused culture is essential for delivering valuable products. Routine inspections and direct feedback from end users are integral to the development process.

Teach your technology teams to speak the language of the business for each department or service line they support. Knowing the proper vernacular (e.g., nursing, laboratory, revenue cycle) helps teams effectively communicate with stakeholders and translate technical requirements into business value.

Frequent feedback loops with end users are also encouraged to ensure constant refinement and alignment with departmental needs.

With these six principles in mind, CIOs turn their leadership focus to individuals within and across their teams, ensuring the right people are in the right roles to drive technical excellence.

Translate Culture into Sustained Productivity

A new talent management strategy is the final cornerstone of its high-production culture. Instead of traditional promotion paths that elevate individuals based on technical skills, consider identifying specific strengths, interests, and weaknesses that suggest positions as individual contributors or talent managers.

By embedding these principles into your team’s culture, organizations create an environment where high productivity is both achievable and sustainable. Hospitals and health systems looking to embark on a similar journey should apply these strategies to transform their technology culture and achieve exceptional results.