Transitioning into a new C-suite is often a strategic process factoring in the organizational culture, operations and dynamics. While each individual brings their own experience to the transition, they also navigate the situation with fresh eyes and a desire to understand the processes in place.
This is true for Tracey Lewis Taylor, who is about one month into her role as COO of Mountain View, Calif.-based El Camino Health.
"I'm feeling pretty good," she told Becker's. "The team at El Camino is exceptional. There's been an incredibly warm and gracious welcome from everyone across the organization, including the board, medical staff, executive team and front-line staff. It's been a really smooth transition thanks to our shared values of excellence in practice and commitment to quality.
"Having been a COO before, I'm familiar with the tactical aspects of the role. My focus has been on understanding the cultural nuances and decision-making processes here. So, overall, I'm feeling positive but appropriately cautious."
Ms. Lewis Taylor began her new role May 20 after serving as COO of Pleasanton, Calif.-based Stanford Health Care Tri-Valley. She oversees hospital operational and functional areas, including clinical inpatient areas, nursing, facilities, patient experience, pharmacy, and all support and ancillary services.
As she continues transitioning into a new C-suite, Ms. Lewis Taylor is committed to her own leadership brand.
"That's something that has helped guide both my practice as well as how I show up in any organization, and that helped me to be a really consistent leader," she said.
Ms. Lewis Taylor said she also focuses on understanding the organization's governance models as well as on ensuring it has a strong foundation for expectations of what success will look like.
In her first month at El Camino Health, this has included talking to as many people as possible throughout the health system.
"Really taking the time to listen and to be curious about where we are as an organization," said Ms. Lewis Taylor, who has also spent time reviewing data and outcomes and talking to key stakeholders.
She said she is evaluating that feedback to determine the initiatives that need attention and how they fit into the health system's strategic plan.
"Making sure that patient throughput is optimized so that we're treating the right patients in the right spaces at the right time," she said. "And making sure that we're doing so in the most efficient manner with all of the right quality structures behind that."
Her other top priority is "making sure that we've got the right accountability to drive those changes."
For other executives transitioning into a new C-suite, she recommends taking time off between roles.
"It allows for that mental break between the prior role and new role," Ms. Lewis Taylor said. "It was really helpful for me, quite honestly, to be fully all in and committed to helping a successful transition in my prior role and to be present for it until the very last day of my last role without having to think about the next role."
She took about a month off between her prior and new roles.
"It was just enough time that it allowed me to really use those 30 days to start to break from the last role and start to really shift and say, 'How do I start to plan for my entry into this next role with El Camino?' I went on site. I visited with a leadership team. I met my new executive assistant. I had lunch with Dan Woods, our CEO. I really started to get acclimated. … It also gave me time to reflect on my own leadership brand, mention my own expectations of the role and then really put some very thoughtful [efforts] around what my onboarding should look like.
"Especially with C-level roles, there's no formal onboarding plan. No one's going to hand you a plan. It's really up to you as the leader to have a plan, and having been a COO before, that frame of reference was really helpful."
But Ms. Lewis Taylor, who leveraged her executive coach to help with her transition, acknowledged that transitions come with challenges.
"Especially coming into the role as an external candidate, having to get caught up on various initiatives, projects, strategic plans, really quickly while we're still trying to make decisions," she said. "Everyone is already in full motion. They're not really thinking about, 'Oh, I need to give our new [leader] context or the back story for X, Y, Z.' They're not in onboarding mode. They're in 'I have to move forward' mode, and I think that's a little bit of a challenge.
"I think if you're not prepared for that, it can be a steeper learning curve. So, preparing mentally for how to accelerate that learning process as quickly as possible and giving yourself some grace in recognizing that you're not going to know as much as everybody else [on] day one. Making sure for me, at least, I'm asking for that context, and I'm asking folks to get me caught up to speed so I can be a good partner moving forward."