Missy has worked for Kettering Health Network for a little over three years, but she has been in the health care community for a long time. Her experience resulted in her identity as a well-cultivated leader in health care, striving to engage with those around her in a meaningful way. She’s worked hard for her reputation as an innovator in her field, and it shows. But what truly causes her to stand out is an innate part of the person she is—her passion for reaching beyond the walls of Fort Hamilton Hospital and serving the greater community. This, matched with the way she fervently cares for her co-workers, makes her an exceptional health care worker in her community.
As the director of nursing administration at Fort Hamilton Hospital, Missy’s ability to be an effective leader is evidenced by her role. She has extensive experience in managing inpatient and emergency services, but her leadership goes beyond that. Missy has a distinctive way of connecting with the people with which she interacts. Her first skill is engaging people around a common purpose. Her co-workers constantly observe the way she is able to lead through inspiring her team, helping to guide them and develop processes to support achieving the desired outcome. During a transition in department structure, in which Missy moved from directing cardiology services to inpatient units only, she proved herself by creating a synergy and standardization of all inpatient units. Missy is skilled at breaking down barriers between departments and creating a productive collaboration. Those working in nursing see Missy as the “go-to” when issues arise, because she always figures out how to best execute a plan and leverage expertise for her entire team.
Missy devotes time outside of her regular responsibilities to a Products Committee to evaluate medical devices and confirm that they are effective. She is an invaluable member because she is seen as someone who understands those she works with and demonstrates skill in implementation, education, and ensuring all needs are met, giving her an edge up in judging product usefulness. Missy is also very intentional in her recognition efforts, making sure each member of her team is shown appreciation for what they do. She does this in small but creative ways, for example, when the ICU was achieving their infection initiatives, she purchased lip balms and handed them out to each staff member with a message saying, “You are the bomb!” This is just one example of the many ways Missy goes the extra mile to give light to the wonderful things her staff are doing. She is thorough in guiding her employees, helping them with process development to complete the tasks at hand and celebrating their successes in seeing those processes through.
Many impactful leaders at Kettering Health Network are known for one of the network’s core values in particular, but Missy is an ardent example of all five. Her years of experience have resulted in her constantly displaying the expertise she has in her field, an integral part of being “competent.” She shows “caring” through the efforts she makes in thanking and recognizing her staff and taking the time to get to know them on a personal level. She is “innovative” in the way she looks at current processes differently and finds new ways to bring people together and improve their productivity. The way she has strategically developed a strong and efficient team is evidence to her “collaborative” nature. Perhaps one of the most important values she exhibits is “trustworthy,” as her co-workers and direct reports count on her to perform, and she never lets them down.
When Missy became aware of a hunger need in the greater Hamilton community, she took it upon herself to socialize the idea of fulfilling that need at her team’s daily huddles. Missy asked her team to help with a community-wide project by collecting 250 boxes of cereal for two high schools in Highland Park with the highest percentage of poverty. Because of her engaging personality and the way her energy and passion generate such excitement, Missy and her team collected 2,200 boxes. Her team expressed gratitude that they have a leader like Missy to take on this project—but that’s just who she is. She is considered the “point person” in leading the community awareness campaign Pink Around the Square, which increases awareness of breast cancer early detection and treatment. It speaks to her investment not only in the hospital and its patients, but to establishing a connection with those out in the community. She serves as that connection for the hospital through her presence at many local events.
