PODCAST INTERVIEW: HOW WOULD YOU ENCOURAGE A CFO TO LEARN ABOUT OPERATIONS?

Chris Ekrem: [00:00:00] So an educator, a collaborator, somebody who's strategic and still can look at the financial side of, of the hospital and so forth. There are key, but it also sounds like a big portion of what you need to be doing is really getting to know the operations of the organization. And as you know, a lot of CFOs, that's not kind of where they come from.

So how would you tell a lot of these CFOs who might be CPAs, and then they just got kind of go through the typical controller, small hospitals, CFO, et cetera, and go through the ranks, but they don't necessarily know operations that well, what, what advice would you give to a CFO that maybe doesn't have that kind of experience?

Rodney Reider: So, so as, as leaders, we're all about constantly reprioritizing. I would make it a point. Of [00:01:00] re-prioritizing and spend time with the leaders and. The next level of management within the operational side. How do you find time for that? You, you put it on your calendar. You're intentional. You have a goal that I'm gonna meet with this number of operational managers, this certain period of time.

And it's not meeting with them to, you know, do the, let's go through the numbers. It's Hey, what do you need? How are you finding the financial reports coming to you? Are you, are you understanding those? What can I do with my team to help support you? So you're better able to perform in new. Can you imagine that tone difference that occurs rather than, Hey, you're missing your numbers, but now what do you need so that you can do your job better?

What tools can I offer to you? I think that'd be important. So back to that relationship building, but it's even, it's even more than that. It's not just, how are you doing? I have a relationship, but it's partnering to help them solve their problems so that the organization overall, again, succeeds, but that individual is a manager.

It feels like you're, you're part of their team and they can seek you out [00:02:00] when they have questions or need. And obviously it's not always the CFO, it's part of his team, but matching the, that CFO says by having an understanding. So again, it's all about priorities to what priority we're going to make or to make it.

So I have a better understanding, so I can be a better CFO so I can lead better, better strategically. I think that's key to what we should all be doing.

Tagged: podcast, healthcare, leadership, finance, CFO, operations, hospital