Next-Gen Leadership: AAMI On Addressing HTM’s Talent Gap

Keri Stephens
Hi, welcome to htm 24/7 podcast. I’m your host, Keri Stephens. For this episode, I’m joined by one of the biggest names in htm right now, Danielle McGeary, who is AAMI’s vice president of htm. Danielle, thank you for joining me today.

Danielle McGeary
Hi, Keri, thanks for having me today. I always love coming on your podcast,

Keri Stephens
we love having you. And we had a really good conversation. I think it was a little over a year ago. So I’m just glad to have you back. So I’m glad you invited me back. Oh my gosh, you’re always welcome. So whenever you want to come on, please do. But um, so let’s just start get into this. AAMI just developed an htm leadership guide. Let’s talk about that.

Danielle McGeary
Yeah, absolutely. So we’ve actually had the HTM Leadership Development Guide for, I don’t know, about eight years now. But what we did was we refreshed it, we’ve had so many new resources come out over the years new certifications, that the guide was really outdated. So we took the time to update the guide. And it’s really a great resource for anyone that’s looking to move up in the HTM field take on a leadership type position, a manager position. And it’s also great for managers in the field to want to be able to mentor and lead, you know, they’re up and comers into the next position in their organization.

Keri Stephens
Yeah, and one of the things we’ve really found, you know, from our HTM salary survey is, you know, people are retiring and there is a massive need for new blood to come into the field to learn new skills or new leadership skills. Was that part of that, too, that, you know, the refresh looking at the demographic change? Absolutely.

Danielle McGeary
I mean, we also did a demographic survey that kind of parallels your salary survey. And we found that about 60% of the fields managers are over the age of 55. So that shows in the next 10 to 15 years, there’s going to be a huge mass exodus, and those people leaving are our long term seasoned technicians, and managers with all that historical knowledge and skill set that you just can’t learn, you know, day one on the job. So we really have to do a good job at preparing our future workforce to take on those senior technician and managerial type roles. So this guide will really help htm professionals move into those types of positions. So it really gives like a step by step process, like suggestions, like getting certifications, like your CHTM, your CBET or the CAPT if you’re just entering the field, obviously, you know, that’s the entry level certification, but it really starts that trajectory. And that process of getting, you know, starting certification from the beginning of your career. It also talks about good skills to have, such as you know, public speaking, you know, leadership development, project management, all things like that. So, it’s really a great resource.

Keri Stephens
Yeah, and I did want to talk about the step by step. So in the guy, there’s a section on getting started. So can you share some key insights from the section for listeners who might be interested in advancing their careers and htm?

Danielle McGeary
Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, it always starts with a willingness to learn, right. And in the leadership guide, there’s also in the back, there’s a checklist in like a note section where you can actually evaluate yourself against the matrix that’s in there. So you can kind of say, Okay, I need to really brush up on my project management skills, or maybe difficult conversations and things of that nature. So you can really go through it and kind of rate yourself, I think it’s on a one to five scale. And you can kind of see where you feel you’re good at, where you need some development. And it’s really a way to really open a conversation with your existing management because you can say, hey, you know, I need the skills, but I feel like, I need help really getting to the level of being able to, you know, feel comfortable having a difficult conversation with an employee, maybe I need to take a course or maybe I need some mentoring on that. And that’s really what this guy does, it really shows you those bare bones skills that are really needed to become a good leader.

Keri Stephens
And I think too, especially in this industry, because it’s such a tech, heavy interest industry, you know, it’s important to really talk about the soft skills because those are necessary to move up. I mean, you can’t just be technically proficient, you have to have the soft skills, the emotional, you know, EQ skills. So I think this is really great.

Danielle McGeary
agreed in it. I think that’s you know, you can be the best, you can be the best technician, but if you can’t communicate, you know, especially even understanding like what the C suite needs to know, and what clinicians want to know, right? When they’re, you know, MRI is down, for instance, they don’t care what specific component is broken on the MRI, it’s great that you know that to be able to fix it, but they want to know, you know, what’s wrong with it? How long will it be down? You know, when will we get parts? And how does it affect patient care? You know, do we need to divert patients? Do we need to send them elsewhere? Is this going to be down for a week? Or for a few hours? How do we, you know, figure out, you know, in a, you know, an emergency plan, if we need that to send patients elsewhere, maybe you know, you’re at a place that have multiple MRIs, and you’ll have to run off with one, but how does that affect, you know, patients scheduling, you know, so there’s, you know, the clinicians are really thinking about patient care, not that, you know, a part of a little what particular part of the board is broken, inside it or whatnot. So, you know, it’s really important, you know, those soft skills and being able to effectively communicate and speak their same language. No,

Keri Stephens
absolutely. And so the guide also addresses interviewing for leadership roles. Can you share some of the top techniques for interviewing for senior level positions? And what are some common mistakes that people interviewing should avoid?

Danielle McGeary
You know, I would say the common mistakes, even from people that I’ve interviewed in the past is really coming off too cocky. Okay, no feeling like, they know more than you. And, you know, I also in and I would also say, when you’re interviewing for higher level positions, it’s really important to be able to, like I said, effectively communicate that clinical talk to be able to translate technical jargon into clinical talk. And in just to be able, I think, to really come across as sincere and have a sense of empathy. You know, at the end of the day, you know, when you we interview so many people, and you can tell just from their voice, their demeanor, who really cares about this role, who really understands the path to the patient, and who doesn’t. And I think, you know, I remember interviewing someone once and asking them, you know, what their weakness was, and they told me, they didn’t have one. And I think, you know, in their mind, they thought, wow, you know, I’m going to show her that I’m perfect. But the fact that they said they didn’t have a weakness is a weakness in itself. And being able to admit, you know, when you know, you need mentoring or counsel or maybe being able to say, I’m sorry to apologize when you’ve done something wrong, and just being able to relate to others around you, you know, when, when you come off that arrogant, probably, for lack of a better word, that doesn’t sit well with others, that doesn’t sit well in health care. And, and I think at the end of the day, just being genuinely passionate about what you do, you know, say fueled by passion, will, will really get you much further, and people can see that in interviews, whether you’re on the phone, or whether you’re in person. And I think just really being able to connect with others that way, I think really goes a long way and makes a difference.

Keri Stephens
So if you had to rate in your opinion to and input the guy, like the top three soft skills that you think every biomed should have, what would you say they are the

Danielle McGeary
top three soft skills, I would say being able to communicate verbally being able to communicate in writing, and also being very organized and detail oriented, because, you know, you need to be able to, to follow a process, whether it’s healthcare process, or the process to, to maintain or fix a device. You

Keri Stephens
know, I was having a talk with a friend the other day about this, because it’s like, you know, as artificial intelligence, you know, so much. And I’m not saying that’s in the biomed field, specifically, but so much is being automated with artificial intelligence, but really, it was what sets people apart. And what’s going to continue to set them apart is those soft skills, those human skills that people need to do their job that a computer could never do?

Danielle McGeary
Agreed, I mean, you’re never gonna, you know, I think you keep saying empathy, but I think computers are never going to replace, you know, empathy. And, you know, when it comes down to the clinicians and the people in the hospital, and I think just us being able to understand, you know, I always say, you know, when I talk to students, and I think this also applies, you know, while we’re talking about leadership and leadership development, is being able to understand the equipment and how it’s used clinically. I always tell the students you know, when you’re interning if you have the opportunity to scrub into a case and see how the equipment is being used, you know, on the patient’s understanding all the people in the O R in their functions. What’s done to get that device up and running. You know, it just makes you more valuable, because you’re not just talking about a device, now you’re talking about a workflow, you’re talking about patient care, you understand more than just the device. And when you’re able to really, you know, connect with the clinicians and really understand their jobs, I think that’s really when you become a leader, right? Because now, you’re not just thinking my optically in your day to day job and just, you know, break fix, you’re thinking about the whole continuity of care how that device affects the patient, the clinician in whole HDO in general. So you know, it’s really important, if you have the opportunity to learn that, and really take the time to see clinically how everything is used. It just makes you that much more valuable. And when you think about even moving up beyond, if you want to move outside of htm, until like a hospital C suite, you know, you need to understand that you have to understand how everything ties together from the financial piece to the, you know, coding, HR, you know, the engineering side, everything works together harmoniously. So hospitals work, and we have a piece in that, but understanding how those other pieces of the puzzle fit together. So everything works harmoniously is really important as well.

Keri Stephens
No, that’s great. And just for a final question, so this documents free to AAMI members, but can be purchased for the AAMI store for those who are not members of AAMI. But why should people use this resource? How can it help those in the HTM field? Well, it was developed

Danielle McGeary
by htm leaders for htm leaders, so you’re really getting an inside view of what the best of the best really feel you need to do to succeed. These are people who have done it who have succeeded in their positions. And you’re getting in the insider scoop almost. And it really is a step by step guide, it was really created to help. We also have, we have the leadership development guide. And we also have the career guide as well. The Career Guide is more focused on those starting out in htm understanding what they need to succeed in their career as they are and the leadership guide takes that career guide to the next level, and how to move into that next level position. And it also just want to be clear, too, that, you know, being a manager and being a leader are two different things. You know, you can be a manager and not a good leader. So this really helps you to lead. And you can be a technician and not have direct reports or be in a manager role and be a leader. So this helps you be a leader. So don’t sell yourself short either. And I think it’s definitely worth checking out. You know, it definitely makes you sit down and think about where you’re at in these key competency areas for being a leader. And you can score yourself and I think it’s just a great exercise for everyone to do. And really see, okay, this is where I’m at. And this is where I need development. And I think no matter where you are in your career and never hurts to take a step back, focus on you work on you, evaluate where you are, and see how you can be better. Now

Keri Stephens
that’s great. Thank you so much, Danielle. It’s as always, it’s such a pleasure to have you here. We love AAMI at 24/7. And we support all your endeavors. So just thank you.

Danielle McGeary
Oh, and we appreciate 24 x 7 too, we love your support of us. You know, thank you for doing the salary survey. We’re so happy to support it year after year.

Keri Stephens
It’s instrumental and just again, please everyone take the salary survey your insights really helped shape you know, salaries and htm field it’s so important that everyone just embraces a salary survey and takes it because we want to make sure everyone’s being paid fairly. So thank you so much, Danielle and to our listeners. Thank you all so and be sure to visit www.24x7mag.com For more industry news and insights. Thank you, take care.