Hey, guys. Welcome to the podcast. My guest today are Mark Freebree, MSO regional director, East and Rachel Pater, community medical liaison director West with Syneos Health. And we discuss the importance of investing in people and putting interpersonal relationships first and business second. So it's an awesome conversation. I think you guys are gonna love this. Don't forget to follow me on LinkedIn and join us for MSL talk live, which is typically the 1st Tuesday of every month at 1:30 PM EST.
And that's a live panel discussion, and it's on LinkedIn live. Look for the announcements on my LinkedIn feed. Welcome to MSL talk with Tom Caravella, a podcast specifically designed for MSL's and all things field medical. Alright. So, Rachel and Mark, welcome to the podcast. Thanks for joining me. Hey. Thanks for having us, Tom. So excited. So, guys, just you know, like, I like to give a little background, a little history.
So funny thing is I met Mark, like, a year ago, maybe over a year ago at the MSL Society meeting. We had this idea of doing this podcast, and couple things kinda came into our way. It never happened. And then I met Rachel, and Mark this year, again, at the MSL Society meeting. And we just got to talking, and we were like, alright. We gotta do something. And, this is an awesome idea. It's an awesome topic. You guys are gonna love this. So I am excited to have you guys both here.
It's many years in the making, but we made it. So why don't we start with introductions? Just brief intro. So, Rachel, why don't you go first? Rachel Pater, been, have a team of 9 MSLs who I manage. They are across the country. I've had the privilege of leading this team for almost 5 years, and, happy to be here with you today, Tom. Awesome. Well, thanks for joining me. And, Mark? Hi. Mark Freeberry. Live in Delaware. Some of that you know, some of you know that state.
But, yeah, I have been we have a actually an MSL team of 14, but it's split in half. And I manage 7 of them, and my colleague manages the other 7. And I've been actually managing this team only for a little over 6 months right now. Got you. Awesome. And, and, guys, just so you know, this this episode is actually sponsored by Syneos Health. So both Mark and and Rachel, obviously, are both at Syneos, great sponsor of ours.
And if you're not familiar, Syneos Health is a leading fully integrated biopharmaceutical solutions organization built to accelerate customer success. So they translate unique clinical medical affairs and commercial insights into outcomes to address modern market realities. So together, they share insights, use the latest technologies, and apply advanced business practices to speed customer delivery of important therapies to patients. Syneo supports a diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture.
To learn more about how they are shortening the distance from lab to life, visit syneoshealth.com. So thank you, guys. And let's just jump right into this. So the topic is we're gonna talk about people. People first. Business second. So before we get into that, let's talk about I'd love to hear a little bit about your guys' I know that that's not grammatically correct, but your philosophies with your team.
And what are the key ingredients in creating, maintaining, and fostering the right environment? So, Mark, let's let's start with you. Yeah, Tom. I I really feel you know, what pops out me at first is trust. And I really feel you have to trust your team, and they need to trust you as a manager. You know, we, you know, we're we hire these people because they're they're smart. They're good. They know what they're doing out there, but that that doesn't always resonate into a good team culture.
So you have to trust them. They have to trust you. You have to give them the autonomy to go out there and do their job. You know, everybody hears about micromanager people, and, you know, and everyone says, oh, I'm not a micromanager. But the people that say that are usually micromanagers. And the problem is, you know, you really can't be a micromanager in this role. It it you you just there's too much going on. So, really, just that trust and autonomy.
And, you know, my other philosophy is work hard, play hard. I've I've I've kind of done that everything in my life. I mean, we all work hard, but you also have time to have fun, do fun games, team building activities with with the group. And, you know, I try to start a lot of meetings off with a an icebreaker kinda game. There's a few different ones that I've adapted virtually from different things. So, you know, have a little fun. Ask about what they've done for the weekend.
Really just enjoy what you're doing and enjoy the people you're working with every day. Really makes, you know, it's so much easier to do your job and do it well. Yeah. And I totally agree. Gotta have fun, man. You gotta enjoy, you know, your your day job and not just what you do, but who you do it with. So, Rachel, what about you? I agree with everything Mark said. You know, you have to have that mutual trust. You have to build those relationships.
And, you know, I've never felt like I'm the smartest person in the room on my team. So you have to understand what everyone brings to the table and ensuring that you're giving people the space to create and be that person. You know, that's that's the best thing you can do. Yeah. Well, I feel the same way, because I'm typically not the smartest person in the room. Just saying. I'm I'm comfortable enough in my own intellect to say that. But no. I appreciate that. So but alright.
So why is culture so important? Let's let's talk about that piece of it on a on a much larger scale. And, I guess what we'll do is let's let's go back to you, Rachel. I'm curious to hear your thoughts on on the importance of culture. Sure. I mean, the the culture you build starts with the minute that the team is in launch. And it's a question that I hear from candidates in every interview. What's the culture like of your team? What's the culture like of your organization?
And it's kind of this nebulous word that you kind of have to put these attributes to. And the culture I can honestly answer when I'm with candidates is it's collaborative. It's trusting. It's honest. It's open. It's transparent. And all of those words go into a feeling that you have when you are somewhere. So I can honestly say to people who are wanting to come into the organization and come on to my team in particular that we're collaborative.
We focus on the employee experience because there's a difference between employee experience and retention. If they're happy, they want to stay. And so if you can kind of proliferate that culture where you are encouraging development, encouraging trust and transparency, then it reaps benefits for your team and for the organization. You know, there's less turnover. There's less strife.
There's less, disconcert because people want to be where they are, and they bring their best selves when they can be happy in their roles. So they spend a lot of time with us, as you know. And and if we can make that time not dreadful and actually, you know, productive and happy, then you're gonna reap the rewards of having a positive culture, and and it's it's just huge. Yeah. Yeah. No doubt. I totally agree.
And, you know, Mark, you and I were talking, and you actually came up with the, you know, people first, business second, idea. And and you specifically talked about how important it was to invest in people. So can you talk about that a little bit? Sure, Tom. I mean, that's just always resonated with me through the different roles and positions I've had from, from, you know, community pharmacist to, you know, now manager of an MSL team.
The people that really stick out in my mind are the the the managers and directors that I've had or people I report to that really cared about me. You know, I'm I'm an open book. I I'll share anything, but it's hard. But so it's the little things that people did for me through my career, that showed that they were invested in me as a person and not just a statistic or a number or a Social Security number on their payroll.
You know, I can think of some of the directors I've worked with recently is, you know, just a simple text. Hey. You know, thinking about you before you head into your presentation. Good luck. You know, knowing it's it's so little and easy to do, but that meant so much to me that, like, wow. He's got my back. You know, he wishes he could be here, you know, whatever it might be.
So even it's like a simple test text or, you know, first thing you do when you get on a meeting with a 1 on 1, I'm gonna ask about, how was your weekend, Tom? You know, you told me you're going to that concert with your wife. How was it? You know? And that's the kind of things that really you know, it shows that they're investing as you as a person. You know, I like to know my people.
They're you know, as much as they wanna share with me because I wanna ask about that because, you know, we're all this is a job, you know, to be honest. And and, you know, we can be replaced and but you can replace those relationships sometimes. You build people, and they go even further than the the work we do. You know, if we end up leaving a position or I think we keep that network as long as you have those good relationships with you.
So, you know, I really always try to find ways to connect with people to do those little things. You know, maybe it's remember their birthday or send them an ecard or whatever it might be. But it's, like, the little things that really count to me, and I feel that, you know, that's where it really comes in. You know, the people come before, you know, the work. The work's gonna follow.
If you have the people support and they know that you have their back and they enjoy working with you and everything, they're gonna do much better. Like Rachel was mentioning before, you know, they know that you have their back and the culture is is there of a great team. They're gonna do amazing work for you. And that's kind of been the secret sauce that's been working for me and and the teams I've been able to be a part of. And and I I can say this because, like, I've seen it.
I I know people on your team. I've seen you guys in action. I've seen you at conferences. I've seen your teammates, and I see the way you guys interact. And what you guys are doing really works. You're you're obviously showing great interest in other people. And and that interest then becomes the investment. It's not just and I and and this seems it kinda this seems easy, but it's not that easy because we're we're running so fast now. There's so many things that everybody's trying to do.
We're so busy all the time, meeting to meeting to meeting. But to be able to put that people first mentality where it's, like, genuinely curious. How was your weekend? How was that concert? I see you guys do this. I see the way your team the way the way your team interacts, and I think it's special. And I think it's I'm I'm glad that we're doing this together because I know you guys well enough to be able to see it firsthand, which I think makes a big difference.
And then, Rachel, one of the things I wanted to ask you is, you know, we're talking about, you know, we started talking about from, like, a leadership perspective. But what about the MSLs? Like, how do the MSLs foster the culture? And and what do you see the MSLs doing in their role to help to to, you know, to build up that that team culture?
I mean, that's a great question, and it has to start with the people who are tenured, who have kind of already been ingrained in the culture and know what we bring to the table. For the people who are new to the team, they have to reflect that and show what it's like to come in. You know, we've talked a little bit about during the interview process.
We're gonna talk about it a little bit later too, but ensuring that not only is is this a good fit for that person, but are we a good fit for them, and are they going to, you know, get into that culture? They the the liaisons on the team carry a huge part of this.
Fostering relationships with the others on the team, with others in their territories, others, internal and external stakeholders proliferating that culture and really showing it and and giving a feeling of connectedness, not only to the 2 or 3 people who are close to them on the team, but across the team and across geographies. You know? I encourage people on my team to pick up the phone, make a phone call, get on Zoom, get on Teams. You know? So much of communication is tone and body language.
And a simple email can be, if it hits me the wrong day at the wrong time, I'm gonna put a tone to it. But if I pick up the phone and say, hey, Tom. How's it going? Or if we get on Teams, I can kinda see how you're reacting. You know? That's part of our culture is that open communication.
And if they can foster that and build that by picking up the phone and talking to their matrix partners and getting on Teams and really reflecting what it is and and giving people a sense of connectedness just as a whole to our organization as well as to their teams. Yeah. No. That's great stuff.
And, you know, as as you're talking about this, the MSL piece, I can't help but think about, recognition and how important it is, to recognize and and, you know, provide some type of, you know, whether it's programs or initiatives that can develop that that team culture, and excitement and and recognition. So, Mark, do you guys tell me tell me how you guys handle that? Do you do anything on that side of the equation? Yeah, Tom. And and I you're you're absolutely it's such an important part.
You know, we work in silos, so we don't get to get all together and, you know, have big her her rah ras, you know, parties and everything like that. So, like, you know, how can we kinda recognize each other or, recognize people for great work? And, you know, one thing we do is we have a point system, That's it's a platform that you can get points, and you can actually redeem those points for merchandise.
So what we do is, you know, even peer to peer recognition, our MSLs can recognize another peer through this platform. They can't give them points actually with monetary value. But as a manager, we can then submit for points, and then it gets into their account or things. So, you know, they're able to celebrate each other's successes or if one helps out somebody else. So, you know, I think that's a really neat system.
But it's always important to find out how your team likes to be recognized individually. So, you know, some people like to be recognized and called out in public, and some people like it in in in private. So I'll use, you know, just simple thank yous a lot. You know, that goes a long way, to be honest. Like, thank you. I try to leave every Friday, ending with a text to the whole team. Thank you for everything you do for us and the company. You know, great job. Enjoy your weekend.
Again, it gives it's a little things, but, you know, go back to the kind of points and recognition system. One thing we we're doing right now is, you know, different companies have, like, put them ups or shout outs or high fives. And, you know, I've been part of things that we have High 5 Fridays. So we can submit and do our big call with with our client on Fridays. They do High 5 Fridays, and they'll call out, different great initiatives that the the team's doing and things like that.
So they'll get a kind of a national call out. But we'll also use our small team meetings or my one on ones to kind of give individual recognition from just our team. So there's a lot of different ways, but I think it is very important. I mean, like, simple even things like an ecard, celebrating milestones, anniversaries, birthdays, having you know, we had a little virtual birthday party for one of our teammates.
So just little things like that again, just recognize, different life events or, you know, milestones in their career. But, it's definitely an important thing to do. You you wanna make people feel valued and and appreciated during their job and the hard work they're doing. Yeah. And as so as you're talking, for those of you that can't that aren't watching this on YouTube and you're just listening, Rachel's nodding a lot.
So, Rachel, let I want you to talk about this because it sounds like this is a an area this recognition piece is something you're pretty passionate about. Absolutely. I I mean, everyone does their job. And like Mark said, they wanna be recognized differently. Finding what resonates with each person and how they wanna be recognized is so crucial. If you recognize a certain person on my team in front of the whole team, they would be horrified.
So picking out what they what they need, we do thank you Thursdays. You can get on the platform and just give a shout out to 1 or 2 or whoever you wanna do. But recognition people want to be recognized. You just need to know the venue in which to do it. But how good does it feel when you get an email from someone that says, great job or, like Mark said, hey. Thinking about you usually going this presentation. Let me know how it goes.
Being there, showing up, and just being available and and doing those small things, a birthday text, like you said, something around the holidays, regardless of what they might celebrate. Just, hey, thinking of you. Hope you have a a good season holiday season. It's just something that you that they know that you're thinking about them outside of their production in their role. Yeah. I think we've I think we've evolved as a culture that's very tribal.
I think we all want to have a sense of community. We wanna be a part of something. And we wanna know that the other people that are in that community, that tribe that we're a part of, they that they have our back Mhmm. And that they have genuine interest in us. And the stuff that you guys are talking about, it's not hard. This isn't complicated stuff. I I it's just something that sometimes we need to continue to remind ourselves of. Yeah. Because we're going in a 1000000 different directions.
But one of the things that's important Mark, you talked about this before. And, Rachel, I wanna hear from you. Is this the interpersonal piece? Right. It is getting individualized with people. So if you could talk about that a little bit, just breaking it down to the individual and how how, you'd like to connect on an interpersonal level with your team, because Mark talked about it a little bit, but I wanna give you a chance to talk about that too.
Sure. Sure. And regardless of the size of the organization, whether it's 50 people or 50,000 people, people wanna know they aren't alone. You know, we work in an isolated environment. We're at our desks, in our homes. Some roles tend to be more virtual than others. Some are more face to face than others. But, regardless, you are as the as the liaison, you are primarily operating by yourself. So we I want to encourage people that they're not alone, that they have their people. Find them.
I help you know, we help connect through mentorships. We help connect through opportunities to meet other teams within our organization in your particular geography. Mark's been a part of that as well, you know, to hey. There's no water cooler. There's no lunch room where you can go and get together. You you need those opportunities. As you said, you know, tribal. You know, you wanna have those people. You wanna connect with someone. You wanna know that I had a great engagement.
I wanna I wanna share it with someone. And you know who you can pick up the phone or, oh my gosh. That could not have gone worse. I need to know what I could do better. Who can I call? So ensuring that they have that the people on my team have those. So I do weekly 1 on ones with people on my team. I do recognize birthdays and service anniversaries and and really encourage them. Like I said before, pick up the phone, you know, get involved with other initiatives that are outside of our team.
Find the people you connect with, and then foster and cultivate those relationships so you know that you aren't alone in this whole, this whole thing. Yeah. It's lonely in the field sometimes. Right? Indeed. It could be lonely out there. So this has been pretty easy, and it's been it's it's been a a a very free flowing conversation. I wanna try to step this up a notch and make it a little more difficult. This question is gonna be a little harder.
Okay. So, Mark, and the reason this is harder because it this is something that's kinda nuanced. But when you're interviewing candidates, how do you assess the candidate for a good cultural fit within your organization? Yeah. It is a great question, Tom. And and I I feel, you know, Rachel and I are actually very fortunate. We have a, you know, great recruiting team that that does great screening and and sends us great candidates to interview.
But then when we we we do get to speak with Ullman, there you know, how there's different processes where, you know, phone conversation versus presentation and everything, and most of it's virtual now. So it's hard to read people a little bit more than this virtual kind of world we are in. But I, you know, I don't have a a a secret sauce to this, really, but I kinda stick to my gut.
When I'm having conversation with people, I really feel, you know, I can read people pretty well and how they're gonna fit with my personality and some of the other people that and the culture that I'm trying to develop. Because and one thing I do use, and I I guess it might be like a little trick, I wanna hear them talk about team. Like, we've been mentioning that word a lot.
If you're throwing that word out and you're be able to provide examples because, you know, they're always asking, give me an example when blah blah blah. If they're saying, you know, my team and I, we put this together. This was successful. Those are the examples I wanna hear. Not I did this, I did that, I'm the greatest person in the world. Like, I don't wanna hear that.
You know, I wanna hear how you collaborate and how you collaborate with team members or managers or, you know, cross functional teams in in the business. So they're the kind of the words I'm listening for when I'm interviewing people, and I frame a lot of my questions around that. You know, I don't wanna hear I. You know, I know it's cliche. There's no I in team and things, but I don't wanna hear all the I's.
I wanna say, I initiated this but brought on these teammates, and collaboratively, we accomplished that. So that's really what I like to hear because, again, I get back to you know, these are smart people. We can teach them the therapeutic area. We can teach them medications and drugs and vaccines or whatever we might be representing. And but we can't really kind of make them fit the culture. You know, you can't you can't change people's personalities that easy.
So, again, I that I listen for those kind of keywords, how they give examples of collaboration and things. So, again, I I go by my gut a lot of it. It's it's been pretty successful for me. So, hopefully, knock on wood, it it continues. Well, it's tough. It's not easy because everybody's on their best behavior during an interview. So you don't always know what you're getting.
So I think, to your point, I think it's really important to go with your gut because you're you're not always getting the full picture from words. And even even from like, people can be really they can practice really well. And they can get to a point where they do everything right, but you still don't totally get a full sense for the person and what their core values might be and and how they might fit into the organization.
There's a little bit of guesswork, and maybe it's guesswork and maybe it's a gut feeling. But I I think that it's I definitely think that that's a big piece of the equation. Because once you make that decision, you have somebody on the team. If it's the wrong decision now, it could create a, you know, a bit of a cog in the wheel of the culture, which you kinda wanna avoid. Right? Absolutely. Yeah. So I wanna get Rachel, I wanna get back to you.
Because you said you you used the term in a conversation we had used the term psychological safety. So can you explain what that means and how that fits into this this team culture concept? I can give it my best shot, Tom. Psychological safety is is paramount to me and to the success of of my team. It means that people on the team trust me. I trust them.
They feel safe to communicate openly about questions or process changes or anything with that, a fear of a negative backlash or a consequence that it's a two way street. I have to, as a leader, show vulnerability and transparency. If I want that back from my team, I have to model those behaviors. Hopefully, as as we build our relationships, they start to model that to other people on the team as well. It's a two way street. I can't always be asking for things from them.
I have to give of myself as well. So to me, it's that you are collaborative. You are you have integrity. You show up when you're supposed to show up. You underpromise and overdeliver. You follow through on the things you say you're going to do so that the person on your team who you are leading will trust you. And then in turn, you can trust them. You have the space where you can freely share ideas. You can be innovative.
It frees the people on my team to to kind of think beyond their role and be creative. Because if they're so worried about they don't know which Rachel they're gonna get today. If it's, you know, hot or cold Rachel, they don't know. But, hopefully, it's medium Rachel all the time. And, you know, we can they they know that they are gonna get the same person when they come to me, and it's not gonna be I'm gonna snap or I'm gonna be like, oh, yeah. Sure. Whatever. And just kinda flake out about it.
I'm gonna listen. I'm going to provide feedback and get their feedback and their buy in as well. Because I can sit here and talk to somebody all day long and say, do this, this, this, and this. But if there's no buy in from them, it's not really gonna be effective on any level. So being having that psychological safety to trust, collaborate, communicate, all of that is what is what makes it such a privilege to be leading this team because I I feel like we've created it. It's not just me.
I'm not the one saying this is a safe environment. I have to demonstrate that and and repeatedly because, you know, one one little thing can have somebody say, should shouldn't really follow through on that. So then it's a constant, you know, building up that trust and and making those deposits into their accounts that, hey. I'm here. I'm gonna follow through. I'm human. I might forget something once in a while, but just know that you can always come to me with questions.
If you see a process that needs to be different, but we've always done it that way, please come to me and say, hey. I see it a different way, and and we can have a discussion. But share your barriers, share your successes, and, you know, I I I feel like that's the best way for a team to thrive. Oh, it sounds awesome. I mean, and I think it's it's probably got a lot to do with why you guys have developed such great teams is because you have this I'm gonna say open door poll.
I like psychological safety better than open door policy. But I I just think that the terms kinda go hand in hand. But it seems like you've just built this very open culture where, you you are connecting on a whole different level with and developing a level of trust that really goes beyond the normal, you know, relationship. So I I think that's awesome. I appreciate you explaining that. Because when you said to me, I was like, am I supposed to know what this is?
So, Mark, I wanna get back to and and, you know, when you when you look at the dynamic between, you know, the boss and the team, the supervisor and and the MSLs, and you wanna try to make these connections and and and get personal, but not too personal. So how do you how do you navigate that? The, you know, walk that line of getting to a personal, interpersonal level with your team, but not overstepping bounds or, you know, taking people out of their comfort zone?
Because every you said it before. Everybody's different. So how do you enter into those conversations? Or how do you go about getting to know people, but but, you know, doing it in a cautious way? Mhmm. And you're right, Tom. That sometimes it is a fine line. You kinda have to walk, and you have to really feel people out. I mentioned earlier, I am an open book. And, you know, one thing I did with my team when I was trying to meet them when I came on to the this this role was it it simple enough.
I got this paper off the Internet. Sure. People have done it where it's like, you know, tell me about yourself. You know? I do it for my wife, with my daughters every Mother's Day and everything. But, you know, it's one of these things that it's it's and I and I played around it, and I and I made it more relevant to kind of our role. But I filled it out myself in our first team meeting. I shared things about myself with, you know, wife, 2 daughters, and goldendoodle. You know?
So I I went through and I kinda shared things. You know? Simple enough, favorite color, favorite food, favorite drink. So they got to know me right away and saw kind of how I felt about sharing. And then they all had the opportunity to share their their list of things that they wanna do. And some people, again, were, like, open books like me and willing to share. Others were a little more reserved on what they shared and everything, and that was perfectly fine.
But then as time went on and I developed trust and psychological safety with with them, they opened up more. And, you know, that's, like, like, probably my favorite part of the job is being on field rides where we're in cars for hours and hours and hours together, and we're just talking. Just having conversation, learning about, you know, their family, their friends, their their their life ambition, where they wanna retire to someday. Like, all kinds of things come up.
So that paper also helps me do the little things too. You know, if we do go out to dinner and I'm looking at the menu specials, I can say, I guarantee you're probably gonna get that filet. And and they're like, oh, how did you know I love filet? You know? And it's those little things. And then I always make notes in my notebook under each person, when I learn more things.
If they share with me their grandchild's name that they, you know, are really excited about that are playing in a tournament this weekend. So I can do those little things and ask for it because they shared it with me. So, you know, it is. It's a feeling that I kinda get from each person and individually how how far I kinda take it with them. And I do want that psychological safety.
I mean, I've had teammate or, you know, people that reported to me come to me about, you know, really serious personal situation sometimes. And, you know, not really to ask my advice, but just more of a, hey. I'm telling you this because, you know, it might interfere with some of my work moving forward or whatever. But just giving me a heads up, I might miss something or whatever. And I it and it is nice to know that stuff.
So, you know, just building that relationship, building that trust, and letting them take it to whatever they're comfortable with sharing is kinda how I handle it. But, yeah, I love learning about people. I just I like people. So, you know, very interesting. Some of the things that I I learn about them as we, you know, move forward and do these field rides and one on ones and things like that. And I'm sure Rachel has similar stories to it like that. Well, you guys are both, like, naturals.
Like, you're just natural people. You know, you're a people person, people people. Does that make sense? But you guys are you're natural at it. You could just see it. But and the reason that this episode, I think, is important because not everybody doesn't come naturally for everyone. Some people, you know, they they struggle a little bit with, you know, getting closer to people or making stronger connections or developing this muscle. But it it seems like you guys totally have it.
And I'm curious because I wanna get to the one last thing that I wanted to talk about with you guys is, you know, we talked a lot about culture and developing team. But what about professional development, as it relates to the MSLs, and how you can help them in their careers? Do you guys have any programs or any types of things you can share from a professional development standpoint?
I mean, one thing I I really like to go over and have, developed with with my team is an individual development plan. Mhmm. And and we do have that as a company that we review with them quarterly. And because it is nice to see their interest. You know, we wanna set them I mean, I know every manager in our company and and probably a lot around the the industry wanna set our people up for success moving forward. You know, this might not be their end role.
They might be looking forward, you know, trying to get to a different position in the company or anything. And and I wanna be a part of that. I I mean, I I tell people all the time, like, hey. You might be my boss someday, so, you know, I'm gonna be nice to you. But but you never know what what the future is gonna bring. It is a small world and small especially smaller in industry. But knowing what their passion is, where they wanna go, and try to set them up.
You know, if they're really in the IT, you know, if something comes up with our company that they need an IT advisory board from from field medical, guess what? I know that Tom talked to me about that, and I'm gonna put Tom's name for it. So setting them up to be successful is is really the name of the game. So I love, you know, reviewing the IDPs with them, and putting them in good positions moving forward. Rachel, I don't know if there's other ways that you kind of assess that.
But Yeah. I mean, an an echo to the IDP for sure because that really gives you a peek behind the curtain of what that person wants. You might see it differently. You might think, oh, well, Mark would be great at this, but Mark doesn't wanna do that. So you have to really be in tune with what each individual contributor wants to do. I've done there's people on my team who have, you know, their have designs on leadership.
And so we've done book reviews together where we've read them and discussed them during our 1 on ones. And how does this apply to your role now, and how would it apply in the future, and and what would you do? And and, potentially, some case studies for when you're in leadership, how does this look, and and how would you react? You know? Because, you know, whatever mistakes I've made, those are opportunities to learn for people who want to evolve into that role.
But, you know, the IDPs, reading books with them, recommending podcasts, for sure, these are little sound bites you can listen to, that you can learn and develop. And then we have, you know, modules that you can get involved with as well.
And knowing what each person wants to do, like you said, with the tech, and then having that keen ear for those opportunities when they arise so that you're not just tuned out on a meeting and not really listening when they say, we are getting together a DE and I team. Do you have anyone who would be interested in you? Like, automatically, you know that there is someone on your team who has brought that up and is passionate and wants to be in that.
So facilitating those opportunities and, again, setting them up for success because I learned this from a leader a long time ago. Their success is my success, and I wanna take them as far as they can go. And I hope that someday they're my leader. I I mean, that would be that would be amazing. So Well, you guys are certainly I mean, it's it's gonna happen. You guys are developing people, and you're developing culture, and you're developing team.
And, I I thank you guys for coming on to talk about this. I think it's a really important topic. You guys crushed it. But more importantly, I thank you guys for being such awesome leaders because I see it. I see the way people react to you, and you guys are fun to be around. And I could see why your culture is so special. Well, thanks for having us again, Tom. You. It was a lot of fun. Awesome. Alright, guys. Don't forget to check out sinioshealth.com, and thank you all for tuning in.
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