In this episode of the Human Capital Lab podcast, hosted by Rich Douglas, we delve into the transformative journey of Anna Cramer, the Chief People Officer and Chief Legal & Compliance Officer at Nebraska Medicine. Anna shares her unique path to her current role, the mission and impact of Nebraska Medicine, and the innovative strategies they employ in talent development, culture building, and workforce retention. Learn how Nebraska Medicine navigates the challenges of healthcare post-COVID, embraces remote work, and remains a frontrunner in the industry by fostering a supportive, inclusive, and progressive work environment. Tune in for an engaging discussion on leadership, innovation, and the future of talent management in healthcare.
00:00 Introduction to the Human Capital Lab Podcast
00:23 Meet Anna Kramer: A Unique Journey in Talent Development
01:00 Nebraska Medicine: An Overview
03:05 Anna Cramer's Role and Responsibilities
05:52 The Importance of Culture at Nebraska Medicine
07:36 Challenges in Talent Development and Retention
[00:00:17] Rich: Hey folks, welcome to another episode of the human capital labs podcast brought to you by Bellevue university. Today we have as our guest Anna Kramer and Anna Kramer is a talent professional, but she kind of came about it in a little bit of an unusual way. So we're very interested in hearing about her personal journey.
She's the chief people officer and chief legal and compliance officer of Nebraska medicine. And so we'd also like to hear more about what Nebraska Medicine is up to. She's located uh, I I believe in, in the Omaha area and is in the same neighborhood as Bellevue University, all of the surrounding area of Omaha.
Welcome, Anna. Nice to see you this morning.
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[00:00:58] Rich: It's our pleasure. Thanks. What we'd like to find out is could you kind of tell us what Nebraska Medicine does, what you do and your journey to this role?
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So, a lot here to be really proud of. We, I mentioned that we're an academic. health system. We are affiliated with the University of Nebraska Medical Center, which folks who may not be familiar with Omaha or Nebraska have probably still heard of UNMC or Nebraska Medicine. We have a great reach as far as some of the really innovative work that we do here in the healthcare space and very proud to, be part of the team.
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What is Nebraska Medicine do?
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And so we are really focused on teaching the next generation of doctors, nurses, pharmacists you name it. We probably have a program here to get folks into healthcare. And we're really focused too on bringing people in and getting them interested in healthcare out of the gate. So when they are still young, still in school.
You know, sharing with them all the different professions we have in health care, all the different opportunities. And then once people are with Nebraska Medicine, helping them to grow their careers. Ideally, we want people to stay here and to make Nebraska Medicine and UNMC their home.
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[00:03:08] anna-cramer_1_02-18-2025_110611 (1): Sure. So as you mentioned, it's a little bit unique. You don't probably see these titles out there too often, but I'm the chief legal and compliance officer for Nebraska medicine. I've been in that role for about seven years. And I have the privilege of overseeing everything from legal and compliance to risk government affairs internal audit and regulatory and accreditation.
So that's kind of my bread and butter. I am an attorney been. Practicing as an attorney for a number of years now, and then a little over a year ago, I also took on the role of chief people officer. And so, that's been a new experience for me, but very rewarding and fulfilling. I've been with Nebraska Medicine for over a decade, and I love the culture here.
I love the people here. So to be able to have more of an impact as chief people officer has been just incredibly rewarding.
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[00:04:05] anna-cramer_1_02-18-2025_110611 (1): Good question. Sometimes I ask that you know, we are and actually our people team is kind of an unusual mix. We have a lot of the traditional, I guess, people or HR operations that you would typically expect. So talent and recruitment compensation. Those kind of areas also HR advisory services.
So helping our leaders to do whatever it is that they need to be successful with their teams. And then we also have our culture department, which is a really really wonderful team and a function that I'm really proud of within the people team but our culture and development work. So working to develop folks into our next.
leaders. love nothing more than seeing the service anniversaries coming out every month. And we almost always have folks who've been here for 30 35 40 sometimes even more than 40 years, which I think is a real testament to that team. The people development team really working to get folks through, Through their career journey.
And then we also have the community engagement and outreach team as part of our people team, which is also a little bit unusual. You don't typically see that, but it works really well for us, given that the talent and the leaders that we have within the people team.
[00:05:31] anna-cramer_1_02-18-2025_110611 (1): Very much. So I think you know, we want to be the first place that people think of when they have health care needs of any kind. And we also want to be the first place people think of when they're looking at changing careers or launching into their first job. We want to be that for our community.
And we view that as our mission and as a very serious responsibility is it's taking care of our community.
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[00:05:59] anna-cramer_1_02-18-2025_110611 (1): Well, I think culture is everything, right? You have to make your place of work somewhere that people want to be every day. They want to show up because they appreciate the culture. They feel like they're a part of creating that culture. Whether it's with colleagues or their interactions with patients or whatever the case may be, you know, You think of our waking hours every day. We spend a lot of it in our professional capacity. And so you want to make sure that you are that you're creating a culture that's can outlive any challenges that an organization might face.
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How does that fit into your cultural perspective?
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And so we want to make sure that this is a really welcoming place where people know that we place an emphasis on dignity and respect and not just for our patients, but also for colleagues. That's so important. Again, it goes back to culture, but. Being a patient. Nobody likes being a patient, right?
Very. I can't think of anybody who likes that.
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[00:07:23] anna-cramer_1_02-18-2025_110611 (1): exactly when you're here, you want to feel as comfortable as you can be given The circumstances. So we place a high value on really offering that and promoting dignity and respect is as part of our foundation.
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And the third area is just kind of the other bucket, the soft skill areas, you know, the, and not only soft skills, but in your case, also things like safety and compliance and things like that. Does any of that fall under your umbrella as the chief people officer?
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And developing ourselves, whether the intention is to stay in the role that you have because you love it. How do you continue to work on and develop those professional skills or the skills that you need to interact with a patient? That's different from a classroom setting. So how do we help teach that and how do we make sure that people are continuing to develop and to be fulfilled?
That's a really important part of what we do.
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[00:09:08] anna-cramer_1_02-18-2025_110611 (1): Oh boy. It's hard to pick yeah, it's hard to pick just one you know, I think For from the people team perspective. We're really focused on the experience That colleagues have here and you know, I came into this role a little over a year ago And I think coming in with a bit of an outside perspective was helpful because I looked at things from the perspective as an employee as somebody who is trying to navigate the different communications that come out from the people team and trying to kind of understand, you know All of those different components.
And so it allowed our leadership team to really take a fresh look at how are we engaging with colleagues, with employees, and what is their experience with the people team we actually rebranded about a year ago as the people's team from HR or human capital. As we were known previously to really make sure that every day we are focusing on the people that we serve, the people that we are, you know, when we're working on benefit programs, it's.
We make the choices we do because we want to do right by our employees and by our people and so really focusing on the people aspect of it has been has been really a great experience and I think also the communication piece that was the other opportunity that we identified that we really have to make more of an impact, you know, because you can have the best programs in the world.
You can have the best systems in the world. But if you're not effectively communicating that and letting people know what it is They have access to it. It's really for naught And that's something that translated actually really well from my legal role. When you think about, you know, we're an organization of about 10, 000 people.
The legal team represents 10 of those people. Give or take. And that's a really small percentage of a really big organization. And so that people team has had to learn and adapt over the years to be able to translate things in a way that are useful for the folks that we are supporting and serving.
And so, You know, we don't use legal speak or we try not to we try not to make things overly complicated because people just don't have time for that. So you can have the best legal memo in the world with the very best advice, but if it's too hard to read or it's way too long, which attorneys are known for it's not going to land, it's not going to resonate.
And so our job as attorneys has been to really translate the advice into actionable, what people need to know in, in their jobs here. And. We're taking that same approach to the people team is the information that we put out, because we put out a ton of information, how do we make it easy to digest and easy to navigate and be transparent and be open and be really.
Honest in our communication. So that's been a huge focus of the people team the last year. And then from an organization perspective, I would say, you know, our big challenges. continue to be recruitment and retention. You know, the workforce of Nebraska itself is not that large, but we have a lot of needs with just as you would expect of any community for World class health care providers.
And so how do we continue to recruit people here and retain them once they're here? That's something we've spent a lot of time focusing on.
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[00:12:17] anna-cramer_1_02-18-2025_110611 (1): Well, I think the, from a retention perspective, this is not unique to Nebraska medicine. Healthcare is really challenging. And I'd say it's only gotten more So, over the last five years.
COVID really changed a lot of things. And even though we're where we are at. We're not all masking up, but at all times anymore and doing those things, it's still there's still a lot of post covid effect, I would say, and it's just changed the nature of the game. What people expect from health care providers, what people expect from their employer.
And so making sure that we're meeting those needs and and providing that to help retain people and make them want to be vaccinated. To stay as part of the health care workforce. You know, we think a lot about burnout and how do we reduce burnout and how do we make the job? How do we make the aspects of the job that people love really shine and give people the opportunity to spend more time there versus the things that are more challenging or or difficult.
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Now a little insider baseball for those of you watching may not know this. My wife is a family nurse practitioner and grew up as an RN, you know, and. 20 years as an RN and 20 years as an MP she can talk to you all day long about burnout. What impact does that have on your organization in trying to retain these folks and keep them?
What, What's the advantage in doing that? And what's the big challenge In retention,
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Because I think that's been such a stigma for a long time and continues to be. So we want to talk about that and we want to help people about it. To be their very best selves here and outside of work. And so I think talking about it providing resources, but also it's on us as health system to to be innovative and to adopt, whether it's technologies or new processes or whatever it may be.
To streamline things or make the job a little bit easier where we can and when we can and we also advocate significantly, you know, with our state and federal elected officials, our delegations to help them understand what is it like to be in healthcare today and how can they help us attract more people to healthcare because we will have We already have a huge need in this country for more healthcare providers.
That's not going away. And so we have to find a way to attract people to the profession and to get them in the door and then to retain them. Because we have so much knowledge that, you know, if you have a nurse who's been here for 30 or 40 years, we don't want to see that just walk out the door. That is invaluable.
And so we've also been working on different programs or different ways to keep people engaged different. Job opportunities if maybe they say, you know what I'm burnt out from the bedside And that's not something I want to do or that I maybe can do anymore What else could they do here, you know at nebraska medicine?
Could they provide virtual care? Could they be one of our virtual nurses? Could they look to a role that's outside of traditional kind of bedside nursing altogether? We have a lot of folks Here who are in administrative roles with a nursing background. It's so incredibly valuable. So how do we keep people here is really, you know, our charge, our mission.
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So, while the, because the physicians, you know, they're very valuable in their technical skills and their expertise. And it was the nurses that had the experience in administration and in running things, and they continue to do that to this day finding alternatives for them. I imagine the environment that you're in Omaha, I mean, people, I don't know if people know this.
I don't live in Omaha, by the way. I mean, I'm in Arizona, but Omaha really is a Mecca. For health care in the United States. I mean, you're just it's a powerful place and I imagine that the environment. The competitive environment to compete for talent to retain. It must be kind of high charged.
You're not the only ones in town, right?
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But yes, to your earlier point, Nebraska and Omaha specifically is kind of a hub for health care within our region, but really across the country. We have patients coming from All 50 states and a number of different countries across the world to get care here at Nebraska Medicine. And that's something that we're very proud of.
It's really, it's a great place to live the state of Nebraska in general, not just Omaha. It's a great place to live. It's a great place to work. And you know, I wouldn't want to get my healthcare anywhere else.
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Another one is leadership skills themselves. What are you doing to groom the leaders of the future of Nebraska?
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And allowed you to practice them and to engage with peers in supporting each other How do we do that? And so we have a number of programs That start with identifying colleagues who are not currently in leadership roles, but may have an interest And so we get them in the door. We help them To see what would that look like at Nebraska Medicine?
What would leadership look like? In what level in what type of department? Because obviously there's a lot of different areas here that we have. And then also we focus on folks who are already in roles, already in leadership roles and say, how do we help you be the very best director that you can be today and to serve your colleagues?
How do we help you with that? And then again, for folks who want to continue Developing their career into, you know, different roles within the organization. How do we do that? We do find that folks, there's a lot of great opportunity to try out different things at Nebraska?
Medicine. And so if you talk to most folks who've been here for at least 10 years, they've held a number of different jobs because they like to see, okay, I know enough about this.
What about this over here? How do I learn about this? And so most of us have had different jobs and gotten to try out different things. And I think that just makes us a better, well rounded leader. And that's really helpful, especially for folks who are like myself, who are not clinical in nature.
That's not our background. I think it's really great. The more exposure we can get to the health system and to people who are providing that frontline care, it just really helps us to make sure that we're doing our jobs and serving them.
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You know, it's one thing to be whatever it is that you do in your case, you came up as an attorney. It's a whole nother thing to be a member of the tribe, if you will, to really appreciate what the business is all about, what you're trying to accomplish as an entire entity, as opposed to one's narrow technical lane or what one's narrow specialty is.
How do you bring about that? For example. Again, I mentioned being in the military 90 something percent of Air Force people never get inside an Air Force plane yet. We're all airmen there. You can't avoid joining the culture. And so what do you do to make people feel like, yeah, I'm part of something I'm part of this mission and this culture I'm connected to it.
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We host forums. We actually maybe one of the silver linings of COVID was the adoption of zoom and the ability to stay connected with folks who are not, you know, physically maybe in your building. And I think that's been a great tool for Nebraska medicine that we continue to deploy because we've talked a bit about Omaha.
We're based here, but the reality is we have locations all across Nebraska and even outside and beyond. And so how do we make sure that our colleagues in Grand Island or Kearney who maybe that's a several hours. Car ride from Omaha. How do we make sure that they're part of Nebraska medicine and that and that they know that we value them because they're incredibly important to the work that we do here.
And so I think that the biggest thing is being accessible and being open to feedback. That can be tough sometimes when you come up with what you think is The greatest idea. And you think it's just going to transform things and you take it.
out to the group and you say, Hey, What do you think? And you get a lot of compete, you know, a lot of constructive feedback and you have to go back and say, okay, you know, in my mind, this is great, but it's now much better as a result of this this collaborative and innovative process.
And so we embrace a lot of that here. Our values are, we call them our, I teach. values. And I teach is an acronym, as you would expect. And the I stands for innovation. We take that really seriously here at Nebraska Medicine. And so continuing to innovate, continuing to be open to change into different perspectives and different ideas is probably the best way to stay connected and to make sure that we are doing what people need.
And we're providing the support and the resources that they need.
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[00:22:58] anna-cramer_1_02-18-2025_110611 (1): there's a lot, I think with, you know, Nebraska medicine. I would say our engagement scores are incredible here at Nebraska medicine. People want to be here at Nebraska medicine. They want to work here. There are, I mentioned earlier, there are every single month we have coming up service anniversaries of, you know, 30 beyond years.
And I think that's a testament to our culture. That's people want to be here. They want to stay here. They want to grow here. And I think focusing on our I teach values and again, the innovation, we're constantly looking for change. We're constantly pushing to be better. And I think that's a really exciting way to work for a lot of folks.
We want to challenge the status quo. And so for folks who are looking for that, I think this is the best place. The best place you can be.
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[00:23:47] anna-cramer_1_02-18-2025_110611 (1): I do. I do. I hope they do too.
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There's been a huge move across the country to they even have a name for it. Now. Return to the office or RTO. Is that having any impact on your organization? And if so, What is it? And what are you guys doing?
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And that meant that their leaders had to work to adapt to that and to make to embrace a whole new way of thinking about team dynamics. And we really left it up to the individual leaders to say what's gonna work best for your team. You can be fully remote. You can be hybrid or you can be fully here present every day in the work environment and we left it up to them to choose what worked best for their teams And we've continued to embrace that philosophy of what works best for your team What works best for your colleagues?
Not everything is can be done remotely again, even for an administrative type role. So We've tried to be flexible there, and it's working for us, so we're going to continue going with it.
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It's too easy. To fall behind the technology and just go, well, you know, out of sight, out of mind. It's convenient when people walk by you in the hallway and you go, Hey, Fred, let me talk to you for a second. But when you don't have those, Oh, by the ways, then it's really vital that the leadership takes the responsibility for saying, you know what, I'm going to stay engaged with people.
I'm going to stay engaged in their lives, even if it's done remotely. And so I just felt the need to kind of grandstand. And I wanted to get your reaction on that.
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And so how do they navigate that and also make sure that there's a sense of community within each team that.
can be a challenge just depending on how you use zoom or other tools and how large your team is right if your team is. 40 people, it's going to be a little bit harder
than maybe if your team is a really small group, who's very used to, to engaging one on one and we do.
You know, a lot of our teams who are remote, we do bring them in or their leaders bring them in periodically to connect in person and just have that face to face. But we've also embraced remote working outside of Nebraska in some cases. And so we have to, those leaders have to give that even more thought of how do they do this?
How do they make sure that their team members feel connected even when they can't be here in person?
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And I think that translates over to leadership as well. I have a question for you about the future. In the next period of time, pick it in five years, 10 years, whatever, how will your workforce change? What do you, what are you looking at? What are you planning on in the future for how it's going to be different than it is now?
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Then somebody who maybe was a nurse for 20 years before COVID hit and sort of changed the nature of the game. And so we're constantly looking to our colleagues to help inform what do they need by way of benefits, right? What people are asking for in benefits today is different than in some cases what we've seen historically.
They're looking at really experience. What is the community that they would build here? What is their purpose? How do they feel really connected to our mission and to our culture and to the work that we do every day? And so we're constantly trying to evaluate and hear from colleagues and staff what is it that you want?
What is it that you need? And we're. We work, I think, because we are an academic teaching site, you know, we're working with folks who are learning the healthcare profession before they even step foot here. So we have that added benefit of being able to tap into that pool and say, tell us what to expect.
Tell us what you're going to be looking for. How do we shape our benefits, but also how do we shape our communication with you? What are you looking for from your leader? And we try to solicit feedback from our frontline leaders as well to say, what are you hearing? Clue us in, what do you need to help you lead for the next five years differently than maybe you did before.
So we're always trying kind of different ways of adapting to technology and the needs that that we hear from colleagues. You still won't see me on TikTok though. I don't think I can do that.
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[00:30:35] anna-cramer_1_02-18-2025_110611 (1): I'd say make sure you love your work. I'd say that for anybody. It's not really just unique to the people side of things. And you know, when you're part of the people team, something I see, I've got a team of about 100 folks who are on the people team and something that excites me.
Every day when I come into work is working with them because they are constantly thinking about how do we improve? How do we make things better for our colleagues? How do we make a better experience? How do we communicate with them better? How do we better support? And so I think you have to have that drive and that desire to really want to make things better for others.
And I'm just so blessed with the people team that I have. I would wish this for anybody getting into the people team game. You really want to have folks who are excited to come in every day because they know that you want them to innovate. You want them to think outside the box and you want them to constantly be thinking about what can I do that's going to improve the lives of the folks that I am charged with supporting.
Um, So I'd say having that mission focus is, it's always a good thing when you're part of the people team.
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I think that's just, you know, the way you talked about support and the way you talked about, you know, getting really beneath them and carrying and lifting them up is key. And if you want to be a vaulted leader in the people business someday, emulate the people who do those things. And so it sounds to me like like, like you're role modeling the kind of people that you want to have around you, which is.
Vital. One last question. And that is, let's turn the tables. Is there anything that you want to make sure our audience of human capital practitioners people and talent developers ought to hear from you?
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So I would say give yourself and your teams the space to innovate and the permission to get it wrong sometimes. Right. We have to try things out and give them permission and as a people leader, make sure that people know you will support them. You support mistakes. You support things as long as we're growing and we're learning and we're developing that's necessary as innovators.
And so I would say, just continue to do that. And again, as you?
said, Support your people. I really view whether you're in a chief people officer role, chief legal, chief financial, whatever it is, that is our job. We're here to support the people that are doing the frontline care that are doing the behind the scenes work to make that care possible.
That's our job. So, you know, take that seriously as leaders. And I think you'll do just fine.
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So we try to do things that won't sink the whole mission. But, you know, we try things out. Be innovative. Take chances. It doesn't mean you have to bet the house on every single chance. It's okay to make small You know, experiments and to try things that might succeed and might lead to further successes.
Whether we're talking about things that are on our jobs or they're talking about our own development, you know, go out there and pick up a different book or read a magazine that you hadn't read before, or talk to somebody that you had never really sat down with before and get a different perspective.
It's those things. It's to me as a talent developer, the number one. Key to success is awareness. The fact that there is something to know. It's not necessarily to know it. That'll come later. But just to know that it's there. And to say, Oh, I should go explore that. Is vital.
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I did not. I did not.
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[00:35:21] anna-cramer_1_02-18-2025_110611 (1): It slipped my mind. Yes, I didn't. And so, what I did was I spent a lot of time discovering what I like to do and what I don't like to do. And that second part, I think sometimes people forget about that's equally as important, you know, figuring out what it is you don't like to do, what you're not good at.
Because if you don't know that, it's really hard to hone in on the areas Where you excel and that the thing in finding the things that you love. And so it's okay to try out different you know, different majors, different professions, different jobs. That's okay. As long as you're learning and you're figuring out what it is that you like or don't like and continuing to adjust.
Very few people know at a really young age, exactly where they're going to be when they're much further along in their careers and that's Okay.
That's a good thing because that means you're open minded and you're willing to to think about what best suits you in terms of work and what do you love to do?
If you had asked me in kindergarten what I was going to be, it was not a lawyer. I'll tell you that.
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He said, I didn't end up where I headed out, but I think I ended up where I was supposed to. And that's the intent. You know, of progressing on. And I do want to say one other thing about what you said. And I really want to underline this one too. You know, play to your strengths. Manage your weaknesses. Make sure your weaknesses aren't a problem.
But that's not where the money's going to be made. That's not where the bread's going to be made. That's not where the successes are going to be found. Manage those so they're not a problem. But the farther you go in your career, the more you need to leverage your strengths. You need to be where you are.
good and where you're energized, where you're excited to be and just make sure that other stuff doesn't become a problem. And that one person's, you know, strength is another person's weakness. And so sometimes in a team environment, we can shift things around a little bit, you know, watch somebody tear into something that's amazing that, you know, maybe I could never do or not do well, I would just get by.
So it's really important, especially as we move along, because I can bet you. I can bet you that you're in the position you're in because of the unique talents and abilities. You have the strengths of the interest that you have that you bring to the table every day and not for being well rounded.
Not at this point. Well rounded early is good. You know, you got to kind of make sure you don't have any horrible flaws. But later on, it really does become, you know what you're good at what you love to do. That's why I asked you in the very beginning of this interview about your route, because unlike a lot of people in this field, you really took a different tack, and yet here you are.
And I hope that you're finding it a good place to be.
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[00:38:22] Rich: And if she finds a job she really loves, she never works a day in her life.
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[00:38:28] Rich: I want to thank you for coming on the podcast today, Anna. It's been really cool. And thanks for the contributions that you make, not only to your community, but also to the human capital or people business writ large by coming on today.
I really do appreciate your generosity.
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[00:38:47] Jason: Thank you for joining us on the Human Capital Lab podcast, a Growth Network podcast production in collaboration with Bellevue University. For more info, visit humancapitallab. org. If you were inspired today, pass the link on to a colleague or friend. Stay tuned for our next episode, and until then, keep learning to unlock the long term potential of human capital.
