Davenport stays true to herself through crisis

Polly Davenport stops to consider the main reason she has become a successful CEO.

"I had to discover my 'true north,' and once you discover your 'true north,' never waver from it," Davenport, CEO of St. Alexius Hospital in Hoffman Estates and regional operations officer for Amita's northwest region, says after some consideration. "It's sort of my mindset. And what I mean by that is I had to define my personal values and my core principals because it makes leading and makes decision making easier."

Knowing herself and her values helped Davenport rise through the corporate ranks over the years. It helped her make difficult decisions in tough times and helped her become a leader.

It also helped Davenport be named one of the Daily Herald Business Ledger's Influential Women in Business for 2020.

"It is very humbling because I don't really think about myself in that way often," Davenport says of the award. "I was nominated by someone I work with (Roxanne Parikh), so that makes it even more special."

Being 'a stronger leader'

The award only reinforced Davenport's need to find her core values and stay true to them.

"When I think about women and nurses and people trying to ascend to be CEO, it's just working that," she says. "Reflecting upon your own personal values. I think that's how you become a stronger leader."

Davenport leads a large staff at St. Alexius, more than 1,000 people, plus overseeing the other four hospitals in Amita's northwest region, for which she also is regional operations officer: Alexian Brothers (Alexian Brothers), Adventist Glen Oaks Hospital (Glendale Heights), St. Joseph Hospital (Elgin) and Mercy Medical Center (Aurora).

Within St. Alexius, Davenport works closely with hospital executives such as the chief nurse, chief medical officer, vice president of operations. She oversees all aspects of operations and strategy, making sure the hospital continues to grow and meet the needs of the community.

"It does keep me busy, but it is very rewarding," she says.

Trained as a nurse, Davenport advanced gradually into management. Seeing this as the direction she wanted her career to grow, Davenport earned her MBA in 2000 and moved to the business side of health care more than 10 years ago. She finished her doctorate in 2014.

"I felt it was important if you're going to be a CEO to have the business aspect as well, and so that was a good path for me to take," she says of her advanced degrees, adding she likes to consider herself a lifelong learner.

Her background in nursing is meaningful to her. It helps her understand the problems hospital employees face, and she makes rounds at the hospital almost daily to stay in touch with the issues cropping up throughout the hospital.

"I want the associates to know that we are in tune to what they are experiencing and that we're here to remove any barriers to them being safe and giving high quality care," she says.

She'd love to see more clinicians in upper management. And she credits her background as well as her advanced education for helping with the decision making that is such an important part of her job.

"When I was a staff nurse, I often questioned administration's decisions," Davenport says, "so I try to keep that in perspective when I make decisions."

Solving problems

Being a decision-maker is a big part of her job and something she enjoys. It's a responsibility she does in concert with other members of the St. Alexius hierarchy, but ultimately the responsibility falls to the CEO.

"I've had to learn to adapt to being responsible for those decisions, good or bad, and taking accountability for them and helping to convey to people the why those decisions are made," she says.

The COVID-19 pandemic has added to Davenport's decision-making duties, as any health care crisis would. It's also enhanced the sense of team around the hospital and Amita's northwest region.

She calls it the "silver lining" of the pandemic, or at least as close to a silver lining as a pandemic can have.

That teamwork has become so much more important because of the crisis.

"We are often exchanging best practices. We're sharing ideas. We are always putting our patients and our patient care as a top priority," Davenport says.

"I think we've more rapidly become this very strong team in the region because we've had to problem solve together very quickly on some very significant issues."

It's all about day-to-day problem solving, such as how to keep hospital staff safe and making sure testing is available, as is the right PPE. And then there are preparations for the various COVID-19 vaccines, which will come soon with different storage and delivery requirements.

"We're working," Davenport says, "to make sure our community is well cared for."