Owens & Minor’s Vicky Lyle has a passion for improving the U.S. healthcare supply chain and investing in tomorrow’s leaders.
Winning the Professional Women in Healthcare’s Jana Quinn Inspirational Award was a tremendous honor for Vicky Lyle, vice president, Industry Associations, Owens & Minor.
“Although I did not know Jana Quinn personally, I’ve learned a great deal about the many challenges she overcame and the incredible level of respect that her colleagues had for her,” Lyle said. “It was a true honor to stand on stage with her daughter to receive the award.”
Lyle said she fell in love with the healthcare supply chain business early on in her career at Owens & Minor, when she was just 19 years old. She started out as a trainer and traveled around the country implementing a warehouse management system.
Over the years, Lyle has had the opportunity to work in many areas of Owens & Minor including technology, corporate operations, third party logistics and our healthcare services business. “Touching so many different parts of our business and working side by side with other Owens & Minor teammates to help our customers has only deepened my appreciation for this industry,” she said. “I’m a lifelong learner and have a passion for improving the supply chain.”
In an interview with Repertoire Magazine, Lyle shared insights into leadership, mentorship, and her hopes for the future of the med/surg industry.
Why did you decide to become a certified coach? How does this help you to lead cross-functional teams?
Becoming chair of the Professional Women in Healthcare (PWH) mentoring committee inspired me to learn more about coaching. My focus as a coach has been on getting hands-on training and mentoring so that I can have a more practical and immediate impact on the people I work with. Coaching and mentoring are very different approaches, and I truly enjoy them both.
As a coach, I ask questions that help customers or teammates find their own answers. To watch a client suddenly make a mind shift or have a lightbulb moment is amazing. As a mentor, I enjoy offering advice to people who might be experiencing challenges in their career. Both approaches are incredibly important when leading a cross-functional team where there tends to be more variation in terms of skill, experience and expertise.
How have you benefited from mentorship during your career?
I’m grateful to have had a lot of wonderful mentors throughout my career, and many of them have been Owens & Minor teammates. For example, I learned a great deal from Gil Minor, the former CEO of Owens & Minor, about how to be a servant leader and how to put teammates first.
Another mentor I had along the way pushed me to go back to school even though I was working full time and simultaneously caring for a child with a serious medical condition. That’s what a great mentor does – they push you to never lose sight of your goals, no matter what life throws at you.
Anne Eiting Klamar, the founder of PWH, was another valuable mentor, along with so many others at PWH. She helped me learn how to think more strategically and how to lead effectively when you’re faced with a challenge.
From a financial perspective, my good friend Arnold Farber has been an invaluable mentor and teacher. He taught me everything I know about the stock market and investing at a young age, and we’re still close today.
But perhaps my most influential mentors are my amazing family, especially my husband and my kids. I am forever learning from them, and they are certainly the truth tellers in my life. I call them my personal board of directors.
What are some keys to leading and developing teams of high performing individuals?
The most important thing to remember is that while we are all a team with a common goal, each individual player is unique and brings something special to the team. It’s important to talk with teammates and understand their personal goals as well as communicate the overall team goals. We each have a purpose for doing what we do and if I can help teammates connect their purpose to the work they do, they will follow their passion and we will be successful.
What do you value most about your organization?
Our culture of caring. We recently rolled out our new Purpose, Life Takes CareTM, which put into words the spirit and passion that have always defined Owens & Minor and made it such a uniquely wonderful place to work. Although organizations often say that caring about others and acting with integrity are an important part of their culture, for Owens & Minor it’s ingrained at every level and sets the standard by which we measure ourselves in everything that we do.
Owens & Minor teammates truly care about each other, our customers and the communities we operate in. I think that’s part of the key to our success and longevity as a company.
Why are you passionate about empowering women and diverse suppliers in the healthcare industry? How have you seen this benefit the industry overall?
I have a passion for helping women find their voice and empowering them to take risks because I have seen how doing that has helped propel my career. You have to be willing to raise your hand for the big projects, ask for the promotion and be open to learning new things. And most of all when there are setbacks, don’t let it stop you. I want to encourage women to keep moving forward and up!
I am the fifth child in a family of six children. I was the first to get a high school diploma and the only one that graduated college. My parents owned a small residential HVAC business that went through a period of financial hardship and had to be rebuilt. I learned that you have to keep going even when times are tough. I also learned the importance of working hard to make things happen for yourself.
Owens & Minor has long recognized that empowering women and bringing more diversity to the supplier pool that we work with is not only beneficial to our company, but an extension of our culture of caring. Ensuring that a variety of perspectives are heard and that we’re mindful about how we do business is just part of who we are, and that includes our teammates as well as our suppliers.
I have watched small businesses grow and be successful, and I’ve seen the opposite happen. Sometimes no matter how hard you work and how much you persevere, success comes down to what opportunities you’ve been offered along the way. Owens & Minor has the ability to provide opportunities for small businesses and through my work on supplier diversity councils, I’m proud to be able to bring education and create networking opportunities that help small businesses.
What are you most hopeful for when it comes to the future of the industry?
Having been an Owens & Minor teammate for over three decades, I’ve been fortunate to have a firsthand view into how much the healthcare supply chain industry has evolved to be more patient focused. Seeing Owens & Minor change and adapt in terms of how we approach helping our customers and their patients makes me look forward to seeing how the rest of the industry strives to meet whatever changes or challenges are on the healthcare horizon. Because at the end of the day, this industry is built on service, so serving our customers and patients is the goal and hope that drives us all.
Speaking and certification
Lyle said she is looking forward to several speaking events this fall. She is moderating a panel and facilitating a workshop at the National Association for Health Care Resource & Materials Management (AHRMM) Conference in September. She is on the board of the Virginia AHRMM Chapter and will be moderating a panel of supply chain executives.
In August, Lyle will complete her Maxwell Leadership certification for speaking, coaching and training. “There’s a lot that I’m excited for this year!”