Joni: 

Hi, this is Dr. Joni Watson. Welcome to The Handoff, the podcast for nurse leaders brought to you by Works, healthcare's flexible staffing platform. I'm thrilled to introduce our episode guest today, Dr. Brad Jordan. He's the CEO of a long term acute care hospital in North Carolina. Brad's journey in healthcare began on the front lines as a paramedic, a role that ignited his passion for emergency medicine and led him through a series of impactful positions from system EMS director roles to academia, regional leadership, and ultimately to the executive suite as a CEO with a solid academic foundation. Brad holds an associate degree in emergency medical science from Davidson County Community College, a BA from Laurel University, a master of Health Administration from Pfeiffer University, and a doctorate in health administration from the Medical University of South Carolina. His professional credentials are equally impressive. He's a paramedic, a certified program planner, a fellow of the advisory board company, a fellow of the American College of Health Data Management, and a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives. Brad's leadership is rooted in his practical experience and academic expertise, and today he's here to share his approach to workforce management. We're excited to have him share and discuss his approach to workforce leadership, recruitment strategies, and engaging team members. Brad, welcome to The Handoff.

Brad: 

Thank you, Dr. Watson. I am equally thrilled to be here. Thank you.

Joni:

Absolutely. Well, you are known for being a passionate leader who loves people and puts the workforce first, which I will just tell you right now, I'm totally biased towards that kind of a leadership style. I'm curious, Brad, how has this philosophy shaped your approach to leadership?

Brad:

Thank you for that. So I began my career in EMS, as you had stated. I practiced as an EMT, which is an emergency medical technician and then became a paramedic. So it's always been about the people. Taking care of people is something that I have done my entire career. So I practiced as a paramedic. I was a program director of a local community college, and so I'm taking care of people as our students and prospective students. I was promoted to the dean of a community college, so I had a whole division that I'm taking care of. I was Assistant EMS Director, a Regional Director of Emergency and Trauma Services. I landed a role as a Vice President over emergency services and finally a hospital CEO position. I firmly believe that if we don't take care of our people, then how can they truly take care of our patients? It's important to me that my team knows where I stand in regards to leading them into our vision. The workforce is hard. There's a lot of competition in the area and especially here in North Carolina, and I need my team to know that I support them and I am the leader and the face of the organization, if you will, but I am there to support them.

I usually joke about my title as CEO, and I tell folks that it stands for Chief Experience Officer and not Chief Executive Officer. But I mean that it's important to me to make sure our team knows how much I and the entire leadership team appreciate their efforts because again, it's a hard job. Healthcare is hard. Sometimes we treat them with food and snacks, and maybe it's the occasional ice cream, candies and donuts, but we do that because we care for them.

I recall a time when I was a system EMS director, and for the Christmas holiday, I had handwritten some letters to the families of all of my EMTs and paramedics. And so when we addressed the letter, it was addressed to the family of, and then that team member's name and address, and that letter was a personal letter for me that thanked the family for supporting their family member that worked in EMS and offered some encouraging words. I remember, and it was so neat. I don't know. I've always been that kind of leader that likes to hand write notes, thank you cards and that kind of thing. I'm old school like that, but I took this upon myself because EMS was, and still is, I think, a hard profession.

Joni: 

Absolutely.

Brad: 

I remember working in Florida and I was the vice president over seven emergency departments, and this was during the pandemic, and so COVID was there. It was exhausting for every one of us, including myself, and I had nearly 300 people that either directly or indirectly reported to me. My wife and my three kids supported me in handwriting over 300 letters to every single team member's family. And I would address it the same to the family of “blank nurse” or “blank paramedic” or “blank CNA,” and just shared with them my gratitude for sharing their loved one with us during this time of uncertainty because it was still 2020. We had no idea what was going on. It was scary. And so to this day, I still joke about that and not really joke, but it's like, “Dad, do you remember that we helped you write all those letters?” I'm like, “No, you didn't help me write them, but you definitely helped me stuff the letters and place the stamps.” But it doesn't matter what role that I've been in or that the listeners may be in, but to take every day and try to uplift your team and let them know just how important they are to your mission.

Joni: 

Brad, there's so many beautiful pieces in that response. I love your perspective on being a Chief Experience Officer because really as part of a leader's role, I firmly believe that leaders curate the culture of their organization. And so absolutely we shape the experiences in big and small ways and with every single one of our decisions. I too am biased towards handwritten notes. I love it, but I have never written to the family members. That is a great idea. I've heard of some other large companies doing that, but man, for people who don't write handwritten notes, it definitely is a labor of love. It's an investment to write that many handwritten notes for sure. But it's powerful. And even though it is “old school” I think it's actually a novel thing these days because I don't know about you, but we don't get too many handwritten notes these days. 

Brad: 

Absolutely. 

Joni: 

I love that you involved your family in it, and I love that your children have that memory of stuffing envelopes and putting stamps on those because wow, what a powerful example. And we don't really talk about that a whole lot in leadership, how some of these leadership activities sort of meld into our home lives, but they absolutely do. And so I love that your kids have that memory, that's so beautiful.

Brad:

Yeah. It was truly amazing. And the text messages and the pictures I received from the team, and they would hang the letter on their Christmas tree or it was on their mantle, or they sent me recordings of their family reading it aloud to them. So it truly made my holiday. But it was again, that uncertainty. We didn't know what to expect. We had only really been in COVID since February or March of that year, and so it was tough. So I will always cherish that and hope to continue doing stuff like that.

Joni: 

Those are great examples about putting people first and thinking broadly. So Brad, how does this leadership model or philosophy, how does it extend into honesty and transparency that can lead to better engagement and retention among your staff? I mean, I can see the ripple effects that some of this stuff that some of these interventions and care will do, but I'm curious, how does this extend to honesty and transparency in caring and engaging your team members?

Brad: 

Sure. I think the quick answer is visibility. As a leader, I firmly believe no matter what your role is, you cannot lead from your office. You must be present with your teams. You must practice intentional rounding, not only with your team, but with our patients as well. So on any given day, for me, my calendar has a block of time dedicated to rounding, and it doesn't say patient rounding or team member rounding. It's just rounding. And that may mean I'm rounding on a leader, I'm rounding on a patient and their family, I'm rounding with one of my frontline caregivers. It just means I'm out of this office and I am doing what I do best, and that's to build relationships and connect with my team.

It's not scripted by any means whatsoever. I never ask the same question. It's just me and them. So it's an opportunity for them to ask questions, an opportunity for me just to say, “how are you doing? How's your day going? How are you adapting to maybe this new process or this new system?” If they've shared something with me in the past, maybe about their family or maybe different accomplishments, I may ask about their child, their spouse or partner, that accomplishment they had. And for me, I remember things like that, so it's easy for me to recall them, but for them, they're shocked that I remembered, “Hey, he remembered that conversation about my kid getting drafted for this football team or my child starting.” And so I love that stuff. One of the questions I always leave my direct reports and indirect reports with when I'm meeting with them is, what can I do for you today? Is there something or anything I can do for you today? Now, typically the response is, “No, I'm good. I'm fine.” But if I notice that that caregiver is working extremely hard, they have a hard assignment that day, maybe I'm giving them a coupon to the cafe or to the Panera bread downstairs, or maybe I'm taking some chocolate to the floor and rounding and saying, “Hey, I see everyone's working hard today. Here's a bowl of chocolate.” 

And so it's always nice for me, but I need to ensure that A, I'm present, B, that I'm transparent with them. And lastly, I'm honest, they know where I stand. We have different meetings and such, and through my career we've attended different meetings just like everyone else has. But daily, we have different meetings like safety huddles, and our departments have meetings. I go to those. I don't sit in my office and let my team talk about safety and quality. No, I'm there with them because that's how important it is to me as their leader. But also I want my leadership team to see how engaged I am in discussions around quality, patient safety, and just overall support for what's going on that given day.

Joni:

Yeah, I totally agree, Brad. As C-suite leaders, I feel like so many of us know how important rounding is, but it's hard. It's difficult with so many different strategic initiatives to do. And I mean, I love that you've prioritized it and you've blocked it on your calendar. I mean, I know that sounds simple to a lot of people, but we can decide ahead of time what our priorities are and stick with it. 

Brad: 

And I want to say I do it five days a week. I try my best, but things are going to happen. People are going to call, people are going to stop in the office and it's going to change the trajectory of the day, but that's quite alright because I know tomorrow that I'm going to do it again and I'm going to make sure I'm out there on the floor. One of the great things I think about being in this role is my staff never sees me dressed down, if you will. And so sometimes I'll show up in a pair of scrubs and they're like, what is our CEO doing? He's wearing a pair of scrubs to the office. 

Joni: 

I love it. 

Brad: 

But they also know that when I'm wearing scrubs, it's because I'm on the floor, I'm in the department, I'm putting on PPE, and I'm going to visit that patient that's here with us, maybe on isolation precautions. I'm walking a staff member down to the cafeteria so they know how to find it. And I'm not just giving them all these directions, but they know that when I have those scrubs on, my intent for that day is to spend as much time as possible in the hospital and not in my office.

Joni: 

That's a great visual cue. 

Brad: 

And I think that transparency has led to my current and my previous teams just feeling comfortable with me, which I absolutely love. I remember, and I think we've all been there. I remember working as a frontline caregiver in a hospital years ago, and I knew my supervisor's name, but I couldn't tell you what they looked like. I never saw administration. And so for my team, in my current role in previous roles, to be able to sit down with me and just have a conversation is just something that I truly love to do. And deep down, I think they do too.

Joni: 

Yeah, I agree.

Brad: 

They'll pop in the office, and I think I always joke and say, you're here for the candy, not me. But I do think that they obviously want some candy, but also they love that opportunity, just us, and they can be honest with me, and they know that there's no judgment, and if they are having an issue or maybe there's a barrier that needs to be removed, I'm going to stop what I'm doing and I'm going to get the necessary people involved, and we're going to see what we can do to remove that barrier because I want them to know again, that that's the honesty piece, that's the transparency piece, but that's who I am as a leader, and hopefully that will be picked up on by other leaders, and they will also start to act that way if they're not already doing it.

Joni: 

Yeah, absolutely. And a little candy never hurt anyone. I mean, to pop into your leader's office and grab some candy, take a breath and ask about their day, or even share an issue in a comfortable environment. I mean that those are clear cues about what the culture is in an organization and it's powerful. And the visual cue of wearing scrubs, I think, again, so many times we tend to discount these simple or easy interventions, but as clinicians who are in leadership roles, I mean, scrubs are like the original power suits. I mean, it really is. When you wear a pair of scrubs, I mean, people will tell you things that they won't tell you otherwise. It just changes things. So I love that you do that and you remind your team members of your past, present, and future. That leads me to our next question because you do have a background as a paramedic, and I love when C-suite leaders are clinicians. I really do think that they have different perspectives in lots of beautifully diverse ways. Not to say that non-clinicians in the Csuites don't because I appreciate their perspectives as well. But as we're caring for people, patients and team members, clinicians tend to have a little bit different perspective. And so with your background as a paramedic, Brad and your unique hands-on approach in leadership, I'm curious, how does your clinical experience influence your leadership style and the patient care that sort of ripples from your leadership?

Brad: 

So being a paramedic was the absolute job that allowed me to learn how to be a leader. And people would think, well, you're a clinician. You're a pre-hospital provider, but being a paramedic in rural North Carolina, you are partnered with someone who, they may also be a paramedic, but more than likely their scope of practice is not as expanded as yours. So there may be an EMT or an advanced EMT. And with those different scopes of practices, the paramedic is ultimately in charge of patient care. I'm in charge of the unit, I'm in charge of my partner, whatever treatment plan that we decide is all on my shoulders as the paramedic. So you learn quickly in the field how to be a leader. 

I think back to being dispatched to maybe a motor vehicle accident with multiple patients or maybe dispatched to an event with multiple patients. As that paramedic, as soon as I arrived, I had to do a full scope of the scene, what's going on. I had to delegate tasks to my partner. I had to work collaboratively with the local fire department, maybe it's law enforcement to determine what our next steps were. And that may be me requesting some additional resources, maybe performing some interventions on scene or maybe even deciding what hospital they should go to. So those decisions as a paramedic were always made in the best interest of the patient. It didn't matter if I knew a hospital was five minutes down the road, if that patient needed a cardiac center or a trauma center and it was 45 minutes or an hour away, then we were going to try to take that route based on my assessment and my clinical judgment that this patient would be okay with me until we got to that facility. So this allowed me to learn how to lead people always. If I made the decisions to put the patient and people first, I knew I would always be supported.

I've used this in every role that I've been in. So in my current role, I don't practice as a paramedic, obviously here in the hospital, but that knowledge that I gained, that skillset that I have has allowed me to have some really meaningful conversations with our providers, with specialists, our care team, with our nurses, our CNAs, our respiratory therapists, because if we're having conversations about a patient and maybe discussing those next steps, yes, I know my knowledge is that of a paramedic and it's more pre-hospital medicine, but I was trained, right? I went to school. I have proven that I'm capable by a skill set and by taking a license or exam. And so that has helped me. But when we get involved, sometimes we have to jump in and help in terms of the decision making process, not necessarily as a clinician, but I'm there as a clinician at heart, don't get me wrong, but sometimes we step in, but also sometimes we take that huge step back and we let the leadership team do what they do each day.

Joni: 

Yes. Yeah, that's great, Brad. So as you obviously have a clinician-forward mindset as an executive leader, I know that you take care of the interprofessional team these days. I mean, you are in a healthcare setting that has lots of different professionals and healthcare team members. So what key pieces are you focusing on right now as you develop nurses and other healthcare leaders, both inside and outside of the hospital walls?

Brad: 

I am a first generation college student. Like many people. My parents worked in textiles. I never dreamed that college would be an option for me if I'm being honest. I was an okay student in high school if I'm being transparent with you and the listeners, I didn't really put in 100%. But it wasn't until after high school that I realized that I could really make a difference in the lives of people. But I knew I could not do it alone. It made me then think - what is my career going to look like? And I thought, you know what? Let me go back to school and earn my CNA. So I earned my CNA license, if you will, right when I was 18. And as I grew in my career, I had amazing mentors that guided me in my career path and also my educational journey, if you will. So to answer your question, I think mentoring healthcare leaders by encouraging them to focus on their education, to focus on board certifications because we know that sets them apart from a lot of other leaders to have that membership in maybe local and state and national organizations. And then lastly, some volunteering. I always make sure they know that I may not be the best mentor for you, and that's quite all right, but if I'm not, I'm going to try to help you find somebody that is.

And so they should try to find a mentor that matches their character, their dreams, but most importantly, a mentor that will help them through their journey to excellence or success in their mind. As a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives, and I am a fellow of the American College of Health Data Management. If it wasn't for mentors for me years ago, I probably wouldn't have even thought twice about joining these organizations because again, you don't know what you don't know. But those mentors of mine helped to educate me and support me. So over my career, I have encouraged several people to obtain their undergraduate degrees or graduate degrees, some doctoral degrees. And I also do some adjunct professor and some teaching for Purdue Global. And so this contracted instruction time allows me to also impact those earning their degrees in healthcare administration. So that's a huge, just an amazing feeling, knowing that you help someone accomplish a goal, whether inside the hospital or out. And the network that's opened for me for my previous students and current students, but also the network that I'm providing to them. So now when they say, “I'm trying to get started in healthcare and I'm really good at finance and I have an undergraduate degree in finance, what do I do?” And so I'm able to have that conversation and go through different organizations that maybe are in their area or maybe organizations that allow remote work. And so what can I help you with? And so for me, it's really helping others to be successful, whatever path that may mean for them, because I know that without a doubt, I wouldn't be where I am today without the help and support of my mentors.

Joni: 

I wholeheartedly agree, and I think any leader can probably attest to the same of having somebody in their life who saw their potential and encouraged them. And so to give back to others and spur them on, I mean, you're clearly a people person, Brad. It's clear that you love people and you put the workforce first, not only in your current role, but also through adjunct teaching and ancillary mentoring and support. That's beautiful. And so on The Handoff, we focus heavily on the nursing workforce, but nursing doesn't work in a vacuum. And you've kind of touched on this a little bit. Clearly, you think about nurses and the entire interprofessional team. How can we support nurses through focusing on the entire healthcare workforce?

Brad: 

Sure. So the nursing workforce, I don't say that's just registered nurses. The nursing workforce is our registered nurses, our licensed practical nurses, our CNAs, they are crucial, so crucial in caring for patients. So as a workforce, I believe that we have to adapt to what is needed for our patients. So I read about things on Becker's and other avenues that say a lot of healthcare organizations are really focusing on nursing recruitment and retention. Some are focusing on retention by performing stay interviews, and some focus on retention of other specialties like CNAs, housekeeping, case management and beyond. I remember working for a health system in Indiana. And when I started there, they referred to every employee as a caregiver. And I thought, what an amazing concept. And so I loved that, and I still use it to this day. So no matter what your role, whether you work in admissions, case management, nursing or administration, you are a caregiver. Your role matters to the care that is being provided to our patients. And we can't forget that. I believe when we approach every caregiver now with that, I mean every discipline with this mentality, every member of the team sees just how valuable they are to the care being provided. So they may not be a clinician by training or licensure, but they are caring for the patients daily. And we can't forget that.

Joni: 

I love that.

Brad: 

And I want to go back to what you said about me being a people person. I truly am a people person. I know we've all taken those surveys and stuff and those talent cards that tell us where we land. My top strengths on my talent card is individuals, which falls under the people acumen. So that means that relationships are most important to me, and I'm a good listener, and I personalize my relationships by proactive learning what is important to those folks that I lead. And so just wanted to share that. So I truly am a people person, l love people, and do what I can each and every day to help support them.

Joni: 

Oh, that's great, Brad, and I appreciate the perspective of talking about all team members as caregivers. I've never worked in an organization that did that. I'm going to adopt that. I love that because as much as we say that in healthcare, like in special meetings, I mean, our words are important. What we call our team members, our associates, it matters. And so I love that every person on the team is a caregiver because they are. I mean, they're shaping the care. Yeah, that's beautiful. So Brad, we've unpacked quite a bit about people-centric leadership and putting the workforce first, a clinician forward leadership style. I'm always curious what makes a leader and how they're shaped. You gave us a little bit of insight into that, but what are you doing these days? What are you reading or learning about to spur your thinking or nourish your soul? Do you have any great recommendations and no worries if not.

Brad: 

Yeah, so for me, it's the soul. This has nothing to do with healthcare leadership whatsoever. But for me, I enjoy traveling with my family to learn about new places. We visited states across the US, The Bahamas. We've been to Alaska and Hawaii, but soon my wife and I will be visiting Italy, Greece, and Turkey in the next few weeks and super excited. We'll be celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary and just us too, just touring the world, if you will. But my goal is to travel around the world and people watch (don't judge me, we all do it). 

Joni: 

Absolutely. 

Brad: 

I like to learn about healthcare in other places and how healthcare has transformed, especially in my local area, as well as across the globe. It's amazing to me to see old hospital buildings and then just to learn the history of what used to be there and how care has truly changed over the years, and how our mindset is completely different.

But in regards to professionally, I am an audiobook guy. I love getting in the car, turning on the audiobook, and then driving to my destination. So I like to listen to good books on maybe being a good leader, how to be a great father, a great husband. But recently I had a business development leader that reported to me, and she was promoted within our company, which is outstanding, and she has a desire to become a CEO, and one day she'll get there. But I was reminded of a book that was given to me some years ago, and it was called How to Become CEO by Jeffrey Fox. And because she was being promoted to a C-suite level position, I thought, you know what? Let me dust the cover off of that book. Let me reread that book myself. And so I reread that book and reminded myself of those rules, if you will, that Mr. Fox put into place about rising to the top.

And then obviously I passed it along, and I was happy I shared it with her. But yeah, so for me, I love being involved in my children's lives. And so whether that's taking them and watching them in dance classes or watching them play in baseball, and my son, my oldest son will be 18 in a few months. So watching him grow into a young man. And so it's all about family for me. That's what I spend most of my time doing. And in my free time, I feel like I'm grading papers for Purdue, but that's okay too because I love it. I love the impact that I'm able to have on people, whether it's in my full-time capacity or my adjunct.

Joni: 

Yeah, that's great, Brad. I mean, we're holistic beings. So all of those pieces, no doubt, intertwine into the way that you lead and what you do. I mean, there's great evidence to show that people who travel are creative individuals and produce more ideas right after their vacation. So I think, yeah, go ahead. Enjoy Greece in Italy and Turkey. That sounds amazing. So, well, Brad, ultimately, what would you like to hand off to nurse leaders at all levels and in every setting today?

Brad: 

Never stop learning. I think that we have to push ourselves. We have to learn how to be comfortable in uncomfortable situations. And if that means taking that extra course in Excel because you need to strengthen that, or maybe taking that extra course in conflict management or maybe learn how to just be better at public speaking, do something that helps you learn and grow both personally and professionally. I think when I finished my doctoral studies back in 2018, I said, “Oh, I'm done with school. I don't want to go back to school now.” I had a great, great experience at school, but after that I thought, I've got to do something. So I picked up the guitar and I started to practice, and I used to learn. I used to know how to read music. I played the piano as a child. And so to be able to read music as a guitar player is a little bit different than that on a piano, but it's something I did with my family, and I love being outside and outdoors, and so we're really big into ATVs. And so for that, I had to learn about that, but I had to put myself in that uncomfortable situation to learn what it was like so we could have fun. But yeah, so just never stop learning. Continuing education is so important, and so whatever you can do, just embrace yourself in that.

Joni: 

That's great guidance, Brad. So Brad, you've got the experience and background, incredible ideas. Where can people follow or connect with you to find more of your work and continue conversations?

Brad: 

Yeah, I'd love to connect with the listeners. I am on LinkedIn, so you can search for me there, Brad Jordan, and I'd be happy to connect with you and maybe schedule some Zoom calls and just get to know each other and pick each other's brains, if you will, and learn about what you're doing in healthcare, what I'm doing in healthcare, and how maybe we can partner together.

Joni: 

Excellent. Everyone, be sure to find Dr. Brad Jordan on LinkedIn. Brad, thank you for sharing your time, energy, expertise, and passion with us today. I love the way that you love and care for people, so thank you for joining us on The Handoff.

Brad: 

Thank you, Dr. Watson.