Challenging the Status Quo: Allina Health's CEO

Lisa Shannon, the CEO of Allina Health, shares what goals she hopes to achieve in her first year as CEO, leadership transitions for the health system, and the importance of authentic leadership.

Editor's note: This conversation is a transcript from an episode of the HealthLeaders Women in Healthcare Leadership Podcast. Audio of the full interview can be found here.

On January 1, Lisa Shannon, the former COO and president of Allina Health, took the helm and became CEO on the nonprofit health system.

Shannon succeeded Penny Wheeler, MD, who retired and took a position on the board of directors. Prior to retiring, Wheeler and Shannon worked closely to ensure a smooth leadership transition for the workforce, the consumers, and the communities the system serves in Minnesota and western Wisconsin.

In the latest HealthLeaders Podcast episode, Shannon shares what goals she hopes to achieve in her first year as CEO, leadership transitions for the health system, and the importance of authentic leadership.

This transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.

HealthLeaders: What was your experience transitioning from serving as COO to CEO? How are those two roles similar and different at Allina Health?

Lisa Shannon: In many ways, there are quite a few similarities and there are some key differences.

I joined Allina Health almost five years ago for the COO role, which was focused on integrating us into an operating company. Taking all the collective assets, performance, and service lines, and ensuring to our consumers that any door they enter is a part of the same house. It was important that I focus on what the areas are that cause friction, or breaks in seamless care, or other performance gaps through an operational or implementation lens. And we're not done with that work yet; it's a long journey ahead.

In my role as CEO, it's ensuring that that continues with a much more intentional focus on our long-term future: Where are we heading? How are we going to transform this industry?

A friend and mentor told me the role of a CEO is more about leading the team, the role of a COO is more about managing the team or managing the business. The more I can lead the team and lead our strategic future, and delegate to others to actually run the business, I think the more successful I can be in this role.

HL: What goals do you wish to achieve in your first year as CEO? What pain points are you looking to address?

Shannon: I recently passed the 100-day mark and that first quarter I was focused on listening, even though I've been here almost five years. My hope is we build on the great foundation we have and elevate it to a place where our employees and our providers can't imagine working anywhere else.

This pandemic has created a lot of suffering. A lot of lives have been lost. There's a lot of burnout, stress, and mental health challenges. I believe that my most important job is to acknowledge and recognize that we have a weary workforce, and yet a workforce who is dedicated to the mission we have, the communities that we're serving, and the improvement journey. When I think about what we have to do, we have to create an organization and a culture where people believe they are empowered, they can speak up, and they can make things better for those we serve.

I believe in us. I believe we have the right foundation, and this notion that we put in place before the pandemic, is we are going to embark on what we call The Whole Way to Better in the context of our whole person care journey. That's challenging the status quo, making sure the system works for those we serve and for those who serve.

When thinking about my first year in this role, one of the great benefits I have from being internal and succeeding into this role is that I got to help craft our strategic priorities and directions. In addition to our workforce and how important it is that we tend to those who serve, we're on a strategic path to transform healthcare as delivered. That means we are committed to population health: being much more proactive and preventive in the care that we're providing, not only to individuals, but also to communities. We think about population health for a person, and we think about population health in the context of a community. In order to do population health, we have to pivot an economic model, so that our providers and teams understand that the reward is going to come from a value-based context.

A passion will be to ensure that our diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging initiatives that are designed to eliminate structural inequities in healthcare are weaved into who we are as an organization, as care providers, as an employer, as a purchaser of goods, and for our communities.

HL: Allina Health recently introduced the Allina Health Foundation, can you share what the health system hopes to accomplish philanthropically?

Shannon: Allina Health has always had a foundation, we've just had many of them. Like many other organizations that came together over a period of years and years, you bring in your facilities, your services, and sometimes that brings a separate philanthropy function or foundation. Those have been kept intact for a number of years. As part of our vision to ensure the system works together to ensure seamlessly connected care for our patients and community, we need to mirror that with our philanthropic experience. Part of this is creating alignment that can impact our patients and community broadly.

For example, we've been focused on mental health and addiction. It's been important for a long time and it's important now. So, rather than have foundations sitting at our site level, we're bringing them together and lifting them up at the system, which gives donors the opportunity to earmark sites of care as they wish, and earmark programs that cut across our community.

Lastly, one of our priorities is our quaternary hospital, Abbott, Northwestern. It has a 140-year history, and we are embarking on a revitalization project that will allow us to serve what is a broad geography. We get patients from a multi-state region, the most complex of all patients are going to be served in that campus environment. By integrating this foundation, we wanted to accomplish both those that have passions for their communities, the opportunity to give input there, and individuals who have passion for broad topics that cut across all parts of our community. They don't have to pick and choose the where, but they can instead invest in the what.

HL: There was a new president appointment at Abbott Northwestern Hospital recently. How has the organization utilized succession planning during these new leadership appointments?

Shannon: Yes. David Joos is now president, following Ann Madden Rice, who recently retired.

Penny Wheeler and I would both say we're very proud of the transition and succession we've accomplished over the last several months for me moving into this role, and her retirement and then return on our board. It's more important than ever for our community and our organization to have a sense of stability and future direction of the organization.

As David has taken the reins at Abbott Northwestern, he's been there for almost five years, he mentored with the outgoing president, Anne, who did wonderful work. He's been part of our campus planning system and that stability is a seamless transition as we are bringing together our system into a much more integrated focus on health improvement and population health.

I've told many people this, I came here to work with Dr. Wheeler and enjoyed a wonderful several years partnering. Up until her very last day, Penny cared most about my success in the role, and I cared most that she was honored for the work she had done for all the years she served here. I hope that was felt and seen by the people we lead that honoring her contributions and her caring about my success showed up in a way that allowed us to have a very seamless transition.

HL: How would you describe your leadership style and how has it evolved?

Shannon: When I think about leadership, and I think about leadership styles, I think about how important it is to show up authentically. And being super clear about what matters, and for me, what matters is I get the privilege to lead. That's quite a gift. That means I have a bit more responsibility to bring voices of those closest to the care or services we provide into the work that we do and the decisions we make. That means I also get to listen deeply to what our community needs from us. From a leader standpoint, I'm absolutely accountable for the strategic direction with an awesome executive team and a board that keeps us anchored at what we're trying to do for our community.

My job is to amplify the strengths of our leaders, and our teams, and empower them in the direction that we're going. We don't want everybody hitting the accelerator going in different directions. But we do want people to say, 'I've got a steering wheel of the vehicle I'm responsible for, and I know what direction I'm heading.'

HL: What advice do you have for women and others who want to authentically serve in leadership roles in healthcare?

Shannon: The most important thing is to get to know yourself and your strengths.

What gives you energy? When you leave at the end of the day, if you're drained and completely exhausted, what was your work? What were you doing that day? And why did you leave so exhausted?

When you leave at the end of the day, energized and ready for what's next, what were you doing then? How are you maximizing your own strengths? Because once you know your strengths, it's not hard to be authentic about them. Once you know your weaknesses, make sure you surround yourself with people who fill in those gaps. Authentic leadership starts with honesty about your own capabilities, and what you love, which is usually attributed to that which gives you energy.