After splitting its COO role between two leaders over a year ago, IU Health has found success through strong communication and collaboration across teams.
Indianapolis-based Indiana University Health first split the roles in July 2023, following the retirement of COO Michelle Janney, PhD, RN.
The system said the role had gotten too big for one person, so it was divided between two leaders: Ron Stiver would be senior vice president of system healthcare operations and Brian Shockney senior vice president of system regional operations.
The roles and responsibilities continually changed, as they do in many executive positions, Mr. Shockney told Becker's.
"There's new services that come about [and] other shifts in responsibility occur across the organization," he said. "It's been a good first year, and we continue to look at how we need to change going forward."
As for what has made them successful in taking on the roles, cross-collaboration between their teams, particularly by having their direct reports sit in on each other's meetings, has been important.
"We ensure that cross-pollination occurs, so that we're always keeping people informed and we don't work in silos," Mr. Shockney said. "We also ensure there's space for our leaders to collaborate."
It has also been helpful that the pair know and communicate well with one another, with both having served long tenures in the organization, Mr. Shockney said.
Coordination is key, Mr. Stiver added.
"The roles demand a relationship built on mutual trust, which allows for coordination, collaboration, for disagreement when that occurs, but [also] having good conversations around that," he said. "If you have that in place, it can be a very powerful model, and it has been for us."
Strong succession planning is another key factor.
"We had a strong runway with the transition of Michelle Janney retiring in 2023, so we had time to plan," Mr. Shockney said.
When splitting roles or making significant moves within an organization, having that runway to plan, learn and handoff work streams leads to success in implementation, he said.
"It's mutual trust and it's being mission-centric," Mr. Stiver said of their vision in the roles. "We're stewards of the healthcare system, and we need to deliver on a very aggressive agenda."