Recently as part of our Best Practices Interview Series, we had the privilege of interviewing Chris Meeks, the CEO of Legacy of Hope, an organ procurement organization (OPO) based in Birmingham, Alabama. We’ve worked with Chris and his team for many years and have enormous respect for their passion and drive to save lives and benefit others through organ and tissue donation. It was a real privilege to hear from Chris and to have a chance to learn more about his perspectives on leadership, building relationships in hospitals and navigating changes in the medical world!
Here are a few key takeaways from this interview:
Working in the OPO industry instills a passion for saving lives. Chris was an administrator over the department that housed the organ procurement program before deciding he needed and change and taking on an interim executive role so he could be closer to the mission of the OPO. “Most folks who work in the OPO industry know it gets in your blood,” he says. “I couldn’t think of a better position where someone could use their talents and skills to help people, whether it be the donor families that we’re helping through their grieving process by giving them hope or leaving a lasting legacy for our donors.”
“I felt it as a calling, to tell you the truth.”
Connecting actions to the OPO’s mission is hugely important to driving that passion. Chris feels that the key to having an effective team is really in having a sense of shared goals and purpose. “We think one of our core competencies is we can build a workforce committed to our mission and vision,” he says, which is, “to be shepherds of the gift of life. We are trying to end the suffering of those waiting. We try to start everything we can with a mission focus.”
“That’s what keeps me coming to work everyday – we have an opportunity to help other people through our mission. I see people grow and connect with our mission and develop talents and skills they can use to help other people as well.”
Building good relationships means looking for every opportunity to strengthen the bonds between the OPO and donor hospitals. Chris explains that while survey results have been very favorable in showing that his team has built strong relationships with physicians and nurses in donor hospitals, his organization is skeptical that there isn’t more that can be done and is constantly looking for new avenues through which to connect to donation-side hospital partners. “We’ve focused on our donor hospital relationships,” he says, “and we’re trying to reinforce within those hospitals that they are part of the donation process, and getting them to engage in the process and have the same passion we have for that mission.”
“We were probably doing a pretty good job at the unit manager level, but where we’re trying to focus now is on the C-suite. We feel like we have a lot of opportunity there.”
Effective leaders need to keep their eye on the organization’s mission. Chris returned to discussing the mission focus when he offered advice for up-and-coming leaders and explained it’s been fundamental towards building alignment and engagement in his own organization. It’s important to make sure that the mission is forefront in everyone’s mind, he says, “and if you can get that ingrained in your workforce and your leadership team, it seems like everything just falls into place.”
Though this is not an easy thing to do, Chris says, there are major benefits to preserving this focus. “When everybody is connected and engaged with the mission, it makes the celebrations more fun, in my opinion, and the challenges more purposeful.”
We would like to thank Chris Meeks for participating in our interview series and for being willing to share his wisdom and insight with us. If you’d like to learn more about his organization, please visit https://www.legacyofhope.org.
Also, don’t miss our other interviews from this series (which we’ll be posting bi-weekly for the next several months) and feel free to review our other Best Practices videos!