Vice president, supply chain, The University of Kansas Health System
Please tell us about a key mentor or event in your life.
Janie Ott: I have had two wonderful mentors in my life. Joanie Brown was a retired army nurse and she oversaw value analysis. She took me under her wing and really mentored me to be a healthcare business executive. She coached me on how to write emails, when to call people by their first names, how to say no without saying no, how to be politically savvy, the list goes on and on. I know if I called her today, she would drop what she was doing to help. She was positive in all situations. The most remarkable thing she taught me was to always look forward. The past is in the past and if I take my eyes off forward the outcome could be compromised. Her coaching was invaluable. She taught me to always keep moving forward. I now find myself repeating this lesson to professionals I mentor. Things I remember learning from Joanie are the following:
- Be a good communicator
- Inspire your staff
- Be joyful, share positivity
- Operate with high integrity
- Be flexible, open to all ideas
- The power of delegation, let go so others can grow
- Collaboration: Always have a network of peers. Life is about relationships
- Be mentored and be a mentor
The second impactful mentor was a neighbor. I was only 17-18 years old. I cleaned her house for extra money. She taught me all about healthcare. MB was a nurse and saw potential in me. Every Saturday when I came to clean her house, she talked to me about moving away for a college education. She also gave me her nursing journals. Most of all, she openly shared with me what she saw in me. This is powerful, being a young girl growing up on a farm in Southwest Missouri. I wasn’t even sure if I would go to college. But MB really coached me on furthering my education and helped me hone the talents I had. I was president of our school student council … the first female elected to that position. I didn’t think it was a big deal at the time but now looking back it was huge. MB really coached me and helped me see my own potential. I feel like I owe her everything. She gave me confidence and helped me be strategic regarding my career. She made a powerful impact on me. MB was positive and strong. I remember her strength was what impressed me the most. I could relate to her. She will never know the power she instilled in me.
What did you learn about yourself and/or your supply chain team amid the COVID-19 pandemic?
Ott: We have learned many lessons, mostly collaboration. It was a team fighting together for a common good. It was dividing and conquering to overcome challenges we had never faced in our careers. We learned to trust our guts, we were nimble, we never split as a team and we were “in it to win it.” In problem solving, we trusted our processes, our systems and most of all our people. We stuck to the basics and they didn’t fail us. There are things supply chain will do differently going forward – we won’t be the same “old” supply chain. My team and I say our biggest win was that during all the months we were navigating the pandemic, we were never without PPE, never. We did substitute items, but we were never without valuable PPE. We want to protect our staff, patients and guests.
We will use analytics differently; we will use tools we created to help us in the future. It was an opportunity in many regards.