Todd Forkel, CEO of Altru Health System in Grand Forks, N.D., quite literally knows what it's like to walk in his colleagues shoes, and it's all because of a program called "Shadow Me, Todd."
Mr. Forkel has been CEO of Altru for more than two years, but has been in healthcare for 32 years with 13 years of CEO experience.
"When you're in a CEO role, you can easily be disconnected from where the work happens," Mr. Forkel told Becker's. "I think it's just important to always have your finger on the pulse of that and the challenges that your people go through each and every day."
Mr. Forkel uses the "Shadow Me, Todd" program to keep that pulse strong at Altru.
A nonprofit health system, Altru comprises around 3,400 employees, including more than 300 providers across 65 care specialties. It also features an acute care hospital, specialty hospital, more than two dozen practice locations and a level II trauma center.
In the program, Mr. Forkel will shadow a different colleague two to four times a month, typically in the morning or afternoon.
When Becker's connected with him, he was gearing up to shadow one of the health system's obstetrics physicians on her hospital rounds the next day.
"I've been in surgery, shadowed anesthesia, physical therapy, I really just kind of have a broad cross section of the work we do," he said.
While he's done a version of this program for years in his leadership roles, Mr. Forkel says the level of teamwork on the floors never ceases to impress him.
The program has also received positive feedback from health system employees and has made Mr. Forkel a stronger leader.
Needless to say, it's a program he intends to maintain.
"Every time I do it, I walk away with something that is a learning for me, or something that I wasn't aware of, or a challenge that maybe I could help out with," he said. "I think it always helps you as a leader to remember that decisions you make have a trickle down effect to where, in our case in healthcare, where the care is delivered."