We recently spoke with Jon Lipsky, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of J Michael Consulting, a recent Elev8 GovCon honoree, to talk about where to find culture; screening of employees, partners and clients; and the challenge, and opportunity, behind leading leaders.
Culture Exemplified
If you want to understand the culture at J Michael Consulting (JMC), don’t look for a plaque, look at its people. Across the board these individuals buy into the company values, live those values and hold each other, including senior leaders, accountable to that.
Diverse in the classical definition but also in personality, background, beliefs and politics, spread geographically from coast to coast, the team is focused on working hard, having fun and getting behind each other. “The word family comes up a lot when this team talks about each other. That was very evident at our annual 2-day event this year that brought together employees, their partners, spouses, kids, and even my dog. Whether it is a work issue or something personal, the group will rally together to ensure no one feels alone.”
Prescreening Employees and Partners
Understanding people are unique, there is never a right or wrong answer to personality, but JMC is focused on ensuring new hires will be a fit with the internal culture. Not a numbers driven company and interested more in long-term relationships than short-term profit, not everyone will be happy in or a fit for such a culture. “We’re about becoming trusted advisors to clients and that isn’t a goal that aligns for everyone, so we want to know that from the start.”
A similar culture match view is applied to partners, subcontractors and clients, based on the understanding that when a project is being viewed from different lenses, it can be challenging to work together. “Partners and clients who come to us with an attitude of partnership and collaboration are teams we want to work with, are where respect is present, and are projects that will be successful. “
Focus on the Mission
As a company focused on public health, new employees and partners must buy into that mission. “People who are a good fit appreciate they can have a great career while trying to do good.”
Evidence of the focus and commitment, of the level of interest across the team is a bi-weekly business development call at which 90 percent of the team, regardless of time zone, attends to hear the latest news and updates. “Whether they take part verbally or not, people across the team are interested in hearing about what we are working on, on knowing where we are making a difference.”
Cash where it Counts
One place JMC puts its money where its mouth is relates to employee training. Through a formal annual training allowance people have the opportunity to take training and career development across a breadth of areas. “One of our epidemiologists has a heart for teaching so she took courses on instructional design. She is now leading our training practice area, something she was interested in, and it has turned into new area of business for the company.”
Building Expertise
Beyond this new expertise, driven by an employee’s personal interest, JMC focuses on collaboration across the team, on connecting people’s expertise for the benefit of all. Of note is an internal program through which people can ask questions and get answers from their peers and internal experts. During COVID, questions about vaccine progress were addressed by someone on the epidemiology team, and then later questions about lab testing were managed by someone from the lab side.
Having just hired its 43rd employee, that is a lot of expertise across a wide range of fields to draw from.
Within the JMC team, focused practice areas bring people together more regularly, ensuring close connections as the team grows. “It can be hard to move as an entire herd so these focused groups help with more organic and frequent touchpoints for things like coaching, sharing of ideas, and life events.”
Leading Leaders
As JMC has grown, its leaders have had to figure out how to stop managing and how to lead leaders. “Hiring people with good intent and a good work ethic who do not need to be managed or followed, we are now engaging more people with more ownership at more granular levels.”
Pointing to the concepts of people, process and technique, and understanding that a focus on people means hiring the right people to whom you can allocate trust and then delegate, builds an amazing team and allows for sustained and successful growth.
Community and Connection
Quarterly events, planned and facilitated by each practice area, bring people together focused on some type of volunteer or giving back initiative. Ideas also drive opportunities for those who are remote to take part. “With these driven and planned by the practice areas we get to see what people have a heart for and it is up to them to advocate within their area for what they want to engage in.”
Special interest Skype threads focused on things like pets, photography, and wellness allow people to get to know each other wherever they are and to develop those shared interests.
Acknowledging the whole person, and the diversity of the team, a recent wellness challenge allowed people to take part in and capture whatever interested them, involved subcontractors and spouses and through shared photos of the various activities, and created greater touchpoints and connections.
About JMC
Since our founding in August 2011, J Michael Consulting (JMC) has made a mark on public health informatics, working with APHL, CDC, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and public health laboratories and agencies, and partnering with many of the leading health information technology firms on a variety of projects and initiatives. We provide health informatics consulting and support in four main areas: 1) Laboratory Informatics, 2) Data Standards & Interoperability, 3) Project and Program Management and 4) Surveillance Informatics. Our goal is to bring science and technology together to impact patient and population health.
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