Paola Arbour on innovation culture
From Driving Effective Change Management with Paola Arbour | Technovation 540 · · Metis Strategy
“It's been hard to foster a culture of innovation because IT people tend to want an exact science and perfection before going to production. We've had to allow people to think out of the box and not be discouraged if it isn't perfect or if their ideas don't get adopted.”
On , Paola Arbour, Executive Vice President & Chief Information Officer at TENET HEALTHCARE CORP, spoke about innovation culture during Driving Effective Change Management with Paola Arbour | Technovation 540 on Metis Strategy.
About Paola Arbour
In a September 2021 interview, Paola Arbour, then Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Tenet Healthcare, discussed the cultural transformation she was leading at the company. She described four strategic priorities: listening to the voice of the customer, changing the language of IT, building an innovation culture, and focusing on talent. Arbour stated that she defines culture through actions such as allowing people to present imperfect solutions, which she said builds energy for thinking differently. She noted that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization launched a telemedicine solution that "wasn't perfect but it worked," and she characterized this as an example of fostering a culture of innovation rather than a program of innovation. Arbour also discussed her approach to recruiting and team building, saying she focuses on "the things that cannot be taught" and trusts her gut when evaluating candidates. She stated that her leadership team had become "100% different" and that team members now hold each other accountable. Regarding external partnerships, Arbour said a strong relationship is based on "structure, relationship, proactivity, and escalation, not about contracts or pricing." She added that her organization had achieved transparency into its spending, which she said allowed customers to make decisions faster and enabled the team to reduce costs by about a third in three weeks.