The Maze of Motivation?

Originally published on January 20, 2025.

By definition, leadership means that one has followers. Ideally, what you are experiencing is work with a highly engaged team that works well together and moves from success to success, right? Or is this perspective overly optimistic and grossly naive? Perhaps your experience is one where you feel that you are more constantly cajoling, prodding, and pushing your team to perform at even at a basic level of effort and achievement. You lament that you just can't seem to get individual team members working effectively and efficiently. You find that the 80/20 rule is working against you because you spend 80% of your leadership time trying to performance manage the 20% of your team that is problematic, trying to repair mistakes, and trying to manage the next conflict within your team.

If you are like many leaders - whether a business owner or employed decision-maker - you have likely tried a variety of techniques and approaches to getting better results from those you have contracted, employed, or otherwise worked with. This might include creating sophisticated models for recruiting and selecting staff because hiring the right people at the outset that will be more than half the battle won, right? Unfortunately, even the best of efforts doesn't guarantee success in this regard. Next you start playing with compensation/benefits plans and look to solidify performance management processes in your company. The bottom line is you have goals you want to achieve and you want to MOTIVATE your team to help you succeed in your plans.  

The problem is that carrots (e.g., money) and sticks (e.g., traditional performance management) don't create true engagement, motivation, or sustained (positive) impact on performance. My own experience is that any compensation model, pay for performance, bonus system, and so on, might have a short-term impact for an individual, but all too often they diminish the teamwork that is necessary for bigger and sustained differences in performance. These approaches are also problematic because there is rarely agreement between organization and individuals as to what constitutes good, better, and best performance; there can be large discrepancies in how one leader/manager assesses performance relative to their peers; and it sets up comparison and unhealthy competition between team members.

Another challenge in trying to motivate staff through a carrot and stick approach is what to do in times of restraint that every organization and business inevitably goes through. In some cases, this might not just mean eliminating bonuses in a given year (or years). There could also be efforts on the part of a company to rein in costs, ensure alignment with industry best practices, or even to ensure alignment with legislative standards. I have seen this latter reality take shape when companies had to move away from long-standing practices and "traditions" that then impacted things like vacation banks, ensuring staff take vacations in the years they have earned time off, and setting limits on how/when sick time can be utilized. The consequence of formalizing and maturing these HR policies and procedures? Disgruntlement and demotivation as employees view these changes as a unilateral change in the implicit contract/relationship they thought they had with their employer.  

Does all of this mean that motivating others is a fool's errand? Not at all. But it does require us to accept another perspective on motivation and then adopt a different approach to motivating others.  First, we have to accept that everyone is motivated! They are just not by the same things that you are.  If I consider either my role as a public health care leader or as a business owner/entrepreneur, I was very clear about why I did. There was clarity of purpose that made me a self-starter, highly conscientious, and a person focused on achievement. What I clearly had was a strongly held passion for the work I was doing. Did others share that passion? In some cases, almost completely so. But in the vast majority of cases, other people and staff would not or could not put in the time or effort that I was prepared to exert in pursuit of success.  They had other aspirations and goals. No amount of sloganeering, pulpit pounding, or bonus would dramatically impact that reality. 

Is there a solution for getting more out of your team? To be successful in motivating them? The answer is YES. However, it requires to understand motivation differently, do differently, and put energy into our leadership and teams in a more positive and assertive way. The answer was recently and most articulately brought to my attention through the work of author Susan Fowler in her book "Why Motivating People Doesn't Work...And What Does". She suggests that everyone has an innate desire to thrive, to grow, to develop, and to be part of a team/positive collective. A leader's task, then, is to create the condition in which these innate desires can be supported. And if the leader fails to create that environment, then an individual will focus on other areas of their lives that will deliver those benefits to them. They will be motivated by something else.

What do people need and what can you tap into as a leader to enhance motivation for your organization's goals? 

First, you have to empower those who work with you. You have to give them choice and a sense of control in their work. Now this doesn't mean unbridled anarchy. There are always boundaries in place for everyone, including the boss. However, all of us want to have a semblance of control over all aspects of our lives, set direction, and feel like we are using our skills and abilities. In this way we are tapping into internal drivers of success rather than being driven or constrained by external forces. I can speak to this reality even at the pinnacle of my leadership journey when I was a senior vice president. While I was making the most money I had ever made in my career, was afforded the chance to earn bonuses when they were available, and enjoyed a great benefits package, I was not only unmotivated but also disillusioned by feeling that I had limited latitude to exercise my skills and abilities. Bureaucracy was stifling or eliminating my decision-making power.  

Second, a leader needs to cultivate an opportunity for individuals to be connected with the leader, the team and the broader organization. Humans are social creatures. We need to experience genuine connection to others, to feel that our values align with the values of our team or organization, and that we are all working towards something greater than ourselves. This means personal, interpersonal, and social connection. If people don't feel this level of connection with you, their team, or their organization, they will fulfill that need in other places - professionally, with family and friends, anywhere but within the organization. As I consider this insight, I am reminded of Lencioni's 5 Dysfunctions of a Team and the first element of that model being Trust/Absence of Trust. A bonus system as a motivating tool, unfortunately, feels like a nice way to tell us what to do but won't foster relationships or support a belief in your staff that you care about them.

Finally, a leader needs to support their team in experiencing growth and development. Does the work environment promote confidence, does it support learning, does it build confidence, and does it learn and manage through "mistakes" (or punish those transgressions? It has always struck me as extraordinarily short-sighted that so many organizations - public and private sector in equal measure - so easily cut back or eliminate training and development budgets as one of their first go to means of managing through adversity. In reality, training and development, including leadership and team development, are never more important or required than in challenging times. Instead of constantly focusing on short-term productivity metrics (What did you achieve today?), you might start by appreciating the growth and development of an organization's greatest asset - its people - and find out what your people are learning and how they are growing.

I had always believed that all people were motivated by different things. However, I could never necessarily translate that understanding into tools that could support motivation of others. In reality, I just had to think about those times where I felt most motivated in my work (and life) and can easily see the parallels to having choice/empowerment in what I was doing, how cohesive and supportive my team environment was, and the degree to which I felt I was able to learn and grow in my skill sets, my leadership capacity, and in myself as a person.

Motivation doesn't have to be a maze. There is another way forward if we change our leadership mindset.  It's all about leadership!

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Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
President & Founder, BreakPoint Solutions
gregh@breakpoint.solutions 
www.breakpoint.solutions 
780-918-0009

Stockholm Syndrome at Work?

Originally published on January 6, 2025.

In the past year, I have been pondering the concept/reality of Stockholm Syndrome and how it applies to the workplace. However, as I considered writing about this notion, it struck me that many might not even know what Stockholm Syndrome is and where the term originated. So, a brief history lesson first before we consider how this applies to the workplace. 

In 1973, Jan-Erik Olsson, a convict on parole, took four employees of Kreditbanken (one of the largest banks in Sweden at the time, based out of Stockholm) hostage during a failed bank robbery. Olsson was soon joined by a co-conspirator and so began a six-day ordeal for the captives. For much of this time, the hostages were held in one of the bank vaults under conditions that most of us can only imagine - cramped quarters, no comforts, negotiations for food and water, unsanitary conditions, and constant threat to life either from the hostage takers or police action. When the hostages were finally released, they not only choose NOT to testify against their captors, but they also actually went so far as to raise money for their legal defense!

In the time after these events, police and mental health experts tried to dissect and understand why the hostages would be supportive and even identify with their captors. Long story short, the hostages started to build a relationship with their captors.  While the captors were certainly the immediate cause of the loss of freedom and risk to life that the hostages experienced, there was also growing appreciation for the power that the captors wielded over them. The hostages were, after all, kept alive by their captors for six days. They were provided with food and water and what limited amenities were possible. The captors and hostages developed a shared experience. And, as related by the hostages themselves, they increasingly saw outside forces (e.g., police) as being a greater risk to their health than their captors. The captors and the hostages came to believe they shared a similar threat from outside the bank. 

What similarities do I see (or have experienced) in the workplace? I can neither begin to describe all of the instances of workplace harassment, abuse, and trauma I have experienced, nor those that I have seen or have had relayed to me by others over the past many years. In all of these cases, it is clear that the organization or "boss" controls all manner of punishment and rewards that can be provided to their staff (e.g., good/bad performance reviews, salary increases/bonuses or not, public praise or ridicule, private encouragements or disparagement).  

While societal norms and values may be changing, with particular impetus to this trend being given by our COVID-19 pandemic experience, much of our self-worth is still tied to our work, our positions/titles, and the sense of belonging we crave in working within a team/organization. Humans are social beings and need connection and belonging. Most, if not all, of us are usually excited and hopeful when we begin a new job. We are anxious to prove ourselves to our new organization, our new colleagues, and even to ourselves. With few exceptions, we are probably somewhat vulnerable in these circumstances and assess any short-term "failures" as part of our learning curve. Over time, as each successive day passes and each paycheck is received, we become more enmeshed with an organization's culture. Most of our day-to-day relationships are those we experience at work.  

I know from my own personal experience that as time goes on (months and years of working together), there is an increasing desire to hope for positive feedback and rewards while at the same time taking on a great degree of ownership (and even guilt) when performance is not recognized or even diminished. We have been trained to believe that the boss or organization might be infallible and that any punishment we might receive is warranted.  We double down on our efforts to be worthy - accept negative feedback, work longer hours, sacrifice personal time for the good of the next big project, even lie to advance an organizational priority. Unaddressed or unchallenged, I have seen some of the most downtrodden staff members remain fiercely loyal to their boss/organization at the expense of themselves. At times, these abused staff can even become allies in the abuse and harassment of other colleagues.

An employee experiencing Stockholm Syndrome in their workplace becomes emotionally and psychologically attached to the organization/boss to the detriment of their own emotional health.  And this is not just some mask worn in some form of perverse self-preservation. In many respects, the employee comes to BELIEVE that the environment being created is right/correct and is in the best interests of the organization as a whole. This spirt of self-sacrifice, doing everything that needs to be done, swallowing one's pride, can often be seen as the epitome of professionalism. We can become vigorous and passionate deniers of what seems obvious as unhealthy by any outside or objective perspective. 

How do we know we are living in or seeing Stockholm Syndrome in our places of work? All too often a key casualty in these environments is a breakdown in real, honest, and authentic teamwork. Each individual becomes primarily focused on self. They work to be rewarded, actively look to avoid any form of punishment, and are grateful that others might be the focus of negative attention. Keep my head down, please the boss, put in my time. To the extent that rewards are still available to employees, these will be powerfully used to maintain control over staff behavior with loyalty being the expectation regardless of personal cost. 

A rather bleak picture! Breaking this cycle is hard and usually requires a major (or many major) inflexion points within a team or organization. In rare instances, a particular leader overreaches their bounds and is found out. The "hostages" are released, but still experience long-term negative impact that takes significant time and effort to overcome. Some have to unlearn the coping mechanisms they developed and rebuild trust in the organization, their colleagues, and even themselves. For others, the journey forward means a departure to another organization and, depending on their personal resilience and strength of a broader support network, can either mean upward mobility or downward spiral.

As with everything within an organization, the type of culture created and maintained comes directly back to the quality of leadership provided, our view of what it means to be part of a team, and even to our confidence in ourselves. Professionalism is great, but not at the expense of ourselves and our values. 

It's all about leadership for self which sometimes means we have to recognize that the emperor has no clothes, our hostage takers don't have our best interests at heart, and that as painful as it might seem in the moment, moving on can often be the best thing we can do for ourselves.

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Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
President & Founder, BreakPoint Solutions
gregh@breakpoint.solutions 
www.breakpoint.solutions 
780-918-0009

Leadership Physics

Originally published on October 4, 2024.

One doesn't necessarily think or talk about physics and leadership in the same sentence, but the events of the past several weeks - including a variety of political machinations and challenges in Alberta, Canada, North America and throughout the world - engaged my imagination (delusions) and came to rest on a couple of physics concepts that seem to resonate for me and leadership.

Now I'm not going to profess to being an expert in the field of physics. I successfully avoided the subject through high school and university! I have just enough awareness of the concepts to be dangerous and think I can draw some comparisons to leadership and work challenges.

Being very much a wanna be science geek, as attested to by my love of astronomy, Star Trek and the Big Bang Theory, I start to see a relationship between leadership and physics. No more so than as it relates to events that have driven changes in my work and that of my clients through such things as COVID, but also by seemingly distant events like wars and dislocation taking place throughout the world. Add into this mix challenges to supply chains, labour disruptions, and the ever-increasing speed of AI applications and we have a recipe for large scale change and disruption.

The first physics concept that strikes me at present is the relationship between work, time, and power, which brings my own time management and prioritization into focus. When I started my entrepreneurial and business venture over seven years ago, there was the challenge of striking the balance between clear opportunities in the moment versus the need to continuously invest in planting seeds and developing new or better service offerings. The challenge of important versus urgent that we all face. Now add in the new dynamics I have mentioned above and time management and prioritization take on a whole new significance.

As I write this, I continue to make changes in my practice that have both been challenging and beneficial.  Almost all of my work has taken on a strong virtual flavour rather than in-person connection. This has also opened up a new landscape of international work with connections now being made and sustained in countries like Germany, Zimbabwe, Brazil, Mexico, and Finland. Time zone management in individual and team/group coaching has added a new dimension to my daily juggling efforts. 

My translation of the concept of Power as it relates to leadership and business is that power represents our ability to achieve and to get things done. Power is certainly a time-based concept and quantity as all of us know too well. The level of Power we are able to achieve directly relates to two key factors: the amount of Work effort we bring to bear on any one task, and the amount of Time it takes to complete a task (or that we are prepared to give to it). Simple enough on the face of it..

As I work through the current reality it becomes abundantly clear that Work and Time exist in limited quantities! At a certain point there is no more Work to be applied or Time to be had in relation to the quality of Power (or quality of accomplishment) that we expect or can achieve. There are bigger forces at play right now and our priorities are getting reordered almost hourly. Quality and commitment are having to be revisited along the way. Simplification and flexibility are the watchwords of the day.

We often undertake pieces of work, invest in initiatives and in other people and relationships for all the right reasons. We believe we see some current or future value in this investment of our time and energy.  Sometimes we have really done our homework while other times we become enamored with the idea of what has been presented to us or is before us. 

However, in service of Power (or quality of that Power), we need to make appropriate commitments of Work and Time. Nothing good comes for free.

Now if you google "time management" you'll get a host of tips for getting more Work done in a given Time period in service of results/Power. This list often includes delegation, forensic audit of your last week's or last month's calendar, block off time with yourself, schedule time for inevitable interruptions, take the first 30 minutes of your day to plan, and turn off your technology. If you are like me - and most of my clients - you've done most of these and are still feeling challenged.

A breakthrough for me came when I started to think, "How would I coach one of my clients through this type of scenario?" I started to ask myself some hard questions. What was I prepared to continue to do to make this particular task successful? How long was I prepared to continue to make the investment of Time and Work into the venture? How did that investment of Time and Work relate to other things that were giving me more Power?

The light bulb came on when I recognized that rather than trying to find more Time or give more Work, I needed to really think in terms of efficiency in service of my personal Power (or ultimate goals). Once that equation came into sharper focus and I really owned my personal priorities, the decision became clear (although not necessarily easier). The hardest decisions I had to come to terms with were ones of key priorities and personal choice. Ultimately the same struggle that any one of my clients deal with - being clear on priorities and making hard choices. And that's what leadership is often all about, whether it relates to leadership of self or a business.

One additional side note. The achievement of Power (accomplishment) is, for better or worse, a simple matter of your own Work and Time. Rather we have to deal with the concept of Friction and a potential to lose impact from your own Work. There are other forces in the environment that can confound your efforts. I needed to take that into account as well when considering my decision. In my particular circumstance it was clear that there were too many other points of Friction at play that were not allowing me to make the best use of my personal Work and Time to achieve my full Power.

Long story short - Time and Work are bounded for all of us. We have to be wise enough and strong enough to make the right choices in service of our Power.

Leadership is about setting priorities and having the courage to act upon those priorities. Nobody ever said it was going to be easy, but that is leadership.

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Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions
gregh@breakpoint.solutions 
www.breakpoint.solutions 
780-918-0009

The Practice of Gratitude

Originally published on September 19, 2024.

September 21, 2024, is World Gratitude Day. The intent of the event is to help individuals, organizations, and society at large to celebrate the broad meaning of gratitude. More specifically, it has become increasingly apparent that there are significant benefits of setting aside time and otherwise being conscious of all that is good in our lives. In my past leadership roles and in my current role as executive coach, I have often found that the vast majority of us seem to fixate on all the things we believe we have not attended to, have not gotten right, or otherwise ruminate on all that has gone wrong or could go wrong.  From personal experience I can certainly say that this is a highly de-energizing and demotivating place to be.  

In today's world we are also often inundated with all the worst news the world has to offer - conflict in the Middle East, war in Ukraine, polarization of politics in western democracies, natural disasters with significant loss of life and property, crime in our own towns and neighborhoods, and too many other challenges than can be listed.  All of these situations can impose a heavy burden on our mind, body, and soul, not to mention anything that hits us on a more personal level - loss of loved ones, day-to-day work challenges, financial challenges. Where is the room for gratitude? And does gratitude even feel like the right thing to think about given what I have already said?

I hope we can all start to say a resounding "YES" to this last question. I can certainly appreciate - and am living - a whole range of challenges that parallel what has been noted above. Not least of what has transpired for me is the sudden loss of my mother earlier this year. And I certainly would not have found a place to express gratitude for many months of 2023 and through much of 2024. Indeed, it was not until the middle of 2024 that I said, "Physician (or coach) heal thyself".  At the time I started journalling and asking, amongst other questions, "What am I grateful for?"

I try to answer this question on a daily basis. The exercise takes no more than 30 minutes and on some days it feels harder to engage in the practice than others. Events of the previous day often weigh heavily on my mind, but I believe it's on those days that this exercise is the most important to engage with and complete. It's on these days in particular that I gain the greatest benefit from appreciating what I have working for me versus what I might be thinking is working against me. 

How do I answer this gratitude question? For the most part, I would say there are some very consistent entries in my journal. Those answers include gratitude for:

• My daughters. And, in the case of my oldest daughter, her boyfriend. I am grateful for the time and role I can play in their lives and for the appreciation they (sometimes) extend back to me.

• My friends and family. In the past year, these people have had an extraordinarily powerful supporting role through challenging times for me. In fact, in my journal, I document them as my community therapists.

• Key people where I can sometimes get very specific with naming certain people based on what they have done for me in support of me in the previous 24 hours or more.

• The good health I still generally enjoy. There are certainly days that I find myself more fatigued than I would like, suffering from a few more aches and pains as I age, and discovering that I have somehow twisted my back in my sleep! Overall, however, nearing age 60, I am still capable of doing significant physical labour and can still describe myself as reasonably mentally agile :).

• My personal and business reputation. People still reach out to me in a variety of ways because of how I have shown up with them, supported them, and otherwise encouraged them in their own good and bad times. They have reinforced through their words and actions that the qualities I aspire to live to are in fact experienced by them in their interactions with me.

• My parents. Despite my dad passing in 2019 and my mom earlier this year, I have a strong sense that they are still looking out for their son through his trials and tribulations, while also rejoicing in his victories as they happen.

• My power to choose. I am able to do a lot as I choose to. I am not powerless. I am not restricted as so many others may be. I can engage in physical activity. I can travel. I can enjoy experiences.  I can make things happen.

One of the final things that I try to express gratitude for is myself. In truth, this is where I actually start my gratitude entry every time. Is that egotistical? Perhaps. More importantly though, it is a place to ensure that despite whatever challenges I might be facing or attacks I might feel that I am under, I try to ground myself in the reality of who I am and what I have accomplished. I don't often go into a lot of detail here - which might be a mistake - but a simple entry can bring me back to appreciating my core values of integrity, courage, creativity, collaboration, and fun. The simple entry can remind me of the adversity I have overcome. The simple entry can remind me of what I have accomplished as a leader in my past roles and as an entrepreneur/consultant/coach. These FACTS can act as a powerful counterpoint to other PERCEPTIONS rattling around my brain.  As I have said before, our minds are a dangerous neighborhood to go into alone. Reminding myself of the FACTS of my life is like turning on a light in a dark room.  I get to see things for what they really are.

Does this exercise mean that I don't sometimes worry about my business, the expenses, how my retirement fund is shaping up (or not)? Absolutely. But more often than not, I now find myself more worried about the experiences I might be denying myself in the moment and what greatness still awaits me.  

What can you do on September 21, 2024, to live into gratitude? What can you do every day after that to live with more gratitude?

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Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions
gregh@breakpoint.solutions 
www.breakpoint.solutions 
780-918-0009

Bouncing Back: A Personal Recipe

Originally published on August 9, 2024.

My last post focused on the work of Linda Graham and her book Bouncing Back. I reflected on her five elements of resilient coping and how we can build new neural circuity to increase our resilience.

That blog prompted additional questions from readers about what my personal experience has been with a narcissistic boss. Readers/commentators wanted less theory or constructs from professional writers or researchers; they wanted to hear about my lived experience. What personal insights did I have on the topic of surviving (and later thriving?) with a narcissistic boss.  Regrettably, I can say that I have worked with at least two such leaders in my career. The consequences were emotional, mental, and even physical.  In both cases, self-confidence took a hit and directly led to physical ailments like stomach problems, sleep deprivation, and anxiety. But I not only survived, I also learned some valuable lessons along the way about how to cope with challenging leaders/people in the future and how I wanted to be as a leader (and person) going forward. Listed below are my personal insights and, I hope, some guidance for you if you are living through similar circumstances.

One, articulate or affirm your personal strengths, qualities, values, achievements, and essence. One of the most insidious tactics or realities of a narcissistic boss is that your self-confidence takes a hit.  Why?  Because most of us want to do a good job, most of us want feedback on our performance, and most of us are expecting that someone with greater authority and experience wants to help us learn and grow. People with positions of authority are people we should learn from, right? One of my greatest challenges with working with a narcissist was that "good enough" was a benchmark that was often ill-defined and constantly shifting. This was accompanied by feedback that mostly noted (supposed) flaws in my work and was woefully short in terms of clarity of what good should look like.  

In these situations, we are either being told directly that our abilities are not up to standards OR we punish ourselves for falling short. In these circumstances what I have learned to do is remind myself of my values, core strengths, and past achievements. Ideally, this is work that has already been done, allowing you to go back and ground yourself in objective reality rather than allowing yourself to be tossed to and fro by the whims of a challenging boss. I have done this kind of personal reflection and assessment since my early 20's and have continuously refined my understanding of self through the years. It is incredibly helpful and I would encourage you to do this work for yourself.

Two, recognize reality for what it is. What I had to come to realize was that fundamentally, the situation I was living through was not about me. Rather, it was about a less than capable leader. This is not about you. This is about them. In both of the circumstances I can relate to, I started to realize how fundamentally broken the leaders I was working with were. At the core of their personalities was deep seated insecurity and fear of being anything less than perfect. Vulnerability, humility, and the courage to work with others who are/were capable was too big a bridge for them to cross. Their need to criticize and/or withhold positive feedback was not because I was failing or incapable. Rather, they needed to create some sort of reality that allowed them to feel good about themselves even if that meant trying to break down others.  

Third, take time to breathe, pause, and process. Probably the best piece of advice I received from another leader who, like me, reported to the same challenging bosses, was to hold off responding to requests/demands until she had heard it three times. At first hearing this I was shocked at the approach.  How could I not instantly drop everything and respond to what I think my boss was asking for? Well for one thing, in most of those situations my emotions were running high while my thinking capacity was probably at a lower ebb. The result was usually not being clear about what I was being asked to do, I failed to ask enough questions, and I failed to bring my best skills and thinking to bear on a situation. In these cases, speed kills. As hard as it is to implement, the best thing you can do for yourself is slow down, go for a walk, meditate, and settle before responding to a situation.  

Fourth, cultivate your network. Too often when we are under pressure and starting to doubt ourselves, we hunker down and isolate. We do this as a natural protective response. If you think about trying to weather a storm or get away from a physical danger, our tendency is to crouch down, lean into the wind, or find shelter. We fail to take advantage of the connections in our lives that are incredibly useful and necessary to leverage at this time. I have learned this lesson the hard way. Too often I would see this reliance on others as a weakness. Or perhaps I feared that admitting my challenges with a narcissistic boss would only reveal that I was the only one failing and struggling. This has never been the case. Your network - in work and beyond - will help reinforce your positive qualities and attributes, help you see your situation objectively (see Point Two above), will allow you time to think and process (see Point Three above), and help you focus forward (see Point Five below). Cultivate and grow your network always. It takes time, energy, and investment in the good times, but it will pay huge dividends in the challenging times.

Fifth, create or get grounded back to your positive future vision. Don't let the narcissistic boss define you. This is a bump in a road, maybe even a learning opportunity, but use the situation to further enhance where you would like to be rather than seeing this as the best/worst you can achieve. You likely took on your current job with high hopes and expectations of making a difference, learning and growing, and setting the stage for the next great opportunity. You might also have been very excited for the team you thought you were going to be a part of. Again, ideally, this visioning work is something you have been doing for some time before coming up to the current reality. Don't lose sight of your positive, preferred future. If you haven't previously done this work then start to think about where you do want to go, grounded in the objective reality of your strengths and positive qualities (Point One) and further informed and reinforced by your network (Point Four). If you are having trouble visioning positively, start thinking about what you would want to have less of in your preferred future state. 

None of these lessons I have learned makes the path forward pain free or easy for anyone. However, I hope it provides some tools and hope for you to overcome a personal challenge. As you try to implement these steps you will probably do so with some hesitancy and discomfort at first, but I promise you that the effort will lead you to a better place. Own your strengths and potential.  Be courageous and even creative.  

Phoenix Rising! It's within all of us. It's within you.

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Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions
gregh@breakpoint.solutions 
www.breakpoint.solutions 
780-918-0009

Bouncing Back: A Recipe?

Originally published on July 15, 2024

I have pondered the topics of resilience, trauma, and post-traumatic growth for many years now. This focus was sharpened by my learning journey as a coach and a particular learning opportunity that exposed me to the concept of post-traumatic growth. As I read the article, I was struck by the insights and parallels to my own journey starting with the sudden death of my wife in 2007 and the subsequent reinvention of myself from that point over the following few years. Long story short, since that traumatic event I have

• dramatically changed my physical status, losing and keeping off (on average) 35 pounds;

• successfully completed multiple athletic events, including several marathons, a Goofy and a Dopey (ask me about that if you wish), two full Iroman triathlons, and I have even combined marathon experiences with destination travel in Venice and Berlin;

• successfully launched a coaching/consulting business, leaping forward into an entrepreneurial venture after more than 25 years in public sector leadership (that more often rewarded risk aversion vs risk taking); and

• successfully overcome major life and societal events like COVID, economic downturns, and other significant, negative life events.

At the present time, I find myself navigating a number of dramatic changes in my personal and professional lives that cause me again to reassess and refocus on the next part of my journey. In particular, I have been spending significant time digging into the concepts of trauma, narcissism, resilience, leadership, and recovery.  I will be exploring these topics for many months (maybe years?) yet to come. 

Most recently, I was introduced to the work of Linda Graham and her book Bouncing Back. In her work, Graham, presents the Five C's of Resilient Coping that help to rewire old dysfunctional patterns of behavior that can be attended to and work to help us build new neural circuity to increase our resilience. I expect this will be helpful in my current journey. But why might this be relevant to you within the context of work and leadership? My belief is all of us have been challenged in the course of our working lives with dealing with difficult situations, including relationships with co-workers and leaders. If not, count your blessings while at the same time take something from the discussion that follows to prepare yourself for any future challenge you may face. So, let's dig into Linda Graham's 5 C's.

First learn to remain calm in a crisis. I would say a key distinguishing factor for those leaders who excel and those who do not is this quality of balance and calmness. In far too many circumstances I have seen leaders who not only fail to properly diagnose the root cause of an issue but, in their drive to lead (or manage their own anxiety), they make matters worse by their rapid reaction. Metaphorically speaking, they more often add gas to the fire rather than fix the presenting issue. Our inherited mindset of flight, fight, or freeze doesn't help us in most modern-day circumstances. As a leader, we are particularly tasked with slowing things down long enough to see an issue for what it is, understanding its significance, assessing risk, and potentially even deciding whether the issue is worthy of response. Patience is a virtue to be cultivated! Breathe, pause, and reflect before taking action. 

Second, focus on achieving clarity. It's hard to achieve clarity when you have given into your first instincts and find yourself hip deep in alligators! The benefit of the patience noted above is you can see the situation for what it really is and you can also better appreciate how your past experiences have served or not served you in similar situations. The more clarity you can achieve for yourself, the better positioned you will be to implement a better response…including the option of no response!

Third, get help. I have said before that leadership is a team sport. While there is no shortage of challenge in admitting imperfection or showing vulnerability, a good leader takes full advantage of all of the team’s resources that should be available to them. Now, when I say team, I do so in the broadest sense of that term. These resources need not simply be any direct reports you might have. Rather, there could be a range of people, information, and systems that can help with a given scenario AND help you grow as a leader. Their past/current work and life experience are assets to be leveraged. Don't let pride, ego or fear get in the way of using other assets that could deliver a better decision and result for you.

Fourth, remind yourself of your current skills, competencies, and experiences. I found myself discussing this concept today with two of my existing coaching clients. And this subject often comes up in my coaching practice in general as I debrief leadership assessment results, and in strategic planning engagements. We seem to be wired to think more in terms of our real or perceived weaknesses or gaps in skills instead of truly owning our strengths and abilities. We are not empty vessels and we need to remind ourselves that we have come through adversity before.  Tap into those experiences and existing skills as starting points for managing through the current challenge. 

Finally, we have nothing to fear but fear itself, right? Find your courage. Take the next first/best step forward. I am fond of a couple of phrases that I started using several years ago when I was president of the Edmonton Chapter of the International Coach Federation: "Why Not?" and "What If?". Look for possibilities. Be creative. Objectively evaluate risk. Look back to the third and fourth C for some objectivity and even inspiration. 

As and when you build calmness, clarity, connection, competence, and courage, you will build out your resilience. In this respect, think of resilience and the 5 Cs as muscles. The more you can use these muscles, the stronger you will become.  Moreover, as you use these tools, you will also be modeling resilience for those around you.  

Resilience - It's All About Leadership!

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Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions
gregh@breakpoint.solutions 
www.breakpoint.solutions 
780-918-0009

Leadership is a Creative Process

Originally published on June 25, 2024.

Leadership has been defined and dissected in more ways than we can probably number and from a variety of authoritative sources from which I draw my inspiration - Covey, Collins, Sinek, Kouzes & Posner to name but a few.  Each of these leadership gurus has helped me identify, refine, and grow my leadership philosophy over the years.

None of their musings, mantras, and models mean much, however, unless they are matched against the lived experience of an individual leader. To become truly useful and powerful, the lessons these authors try to impart must also be applied in the real world. As leaders, we must put the various theories to the practical test in our own unique environments.  We must see what could work for us - or not - and then evaluate to what degree our level of success in implementation was the result of quality and intensity of effort, true understanding of the model and principles being applied, or some combination thereof. Tools on their own are not the answer. Tools on their own are not going to turn us into better leaders. What is required is critical and concerted application and adaptation of that tool to our environment and skill level.

This is where I believe a key - and underappreciated - aspect of leadership comes into play: the skill or tool of creativity.

I believe one of the least understood qualities of great leaders is their ability to be creative.  This goes beyond being entrepreneurial or innovative in relation to getting new products or services to market. In my view, creativity in leadership is characterized by a spirit of curiosity; a motivation for making impactful change, for trying something different; and a commitment to exploration with all the attendant risk that comes from trying something new. Creativity in leadership means challenging oneself and the teams that are being led.  Creativity results in conceiving of and realizing dreams never before thought possible. Creativity does, in fact, lead to exponential changes or quantum leaps in thinking and being.

What makes a creative leader? What provides the context for creativity for a leader and thus for their teams and organizations to build, advance, and succeed - perhaps out of all proportion to their perceived limitations? I believe there are a few key factors to consider.

Able to defer judgment: A rush to judgment precludes understanding the real challenges or opportunities before a leader and their team and constrains perspective on possible new opportunities, options, and avenues of exploration.

Passion to seek out novelty: While deferring judgment opens up the mind, the novelty principle requires a leader to actively seek out and explore options that are original, unique, and out-of-the-box. You might even note that such a leader is voracious and compelled to seek out insights from all kinds of sectors and sources.  

Drive for quantity: This quality, building on the previous two, suggests that the quantity of ideas explored is an ally of the quality of ideas ultimately achieved. Creative leaders always seem to have a variety of ideas in their heads. In fact, it can be exhausting keeping up with their restless energy and stream of thought! In this case, though, quantity is intended to leverage the probability of generating several good options.

Make/seek connections and applications: Creative leaders recognize that limiting their field of view to their particular industry or sector is woefully insufficient in terms of pushing the envelope. This is also where the drive for novelty and quantity come into play. Creative leaders look for ideas and synergies from a variety of related and (seemingly) unrelated experiences, sectors, fields of study, stories, and genres.  

Practical: One of the key aspects of useful creativity is the ability to implement something impactful or effective. The ability to translate creative ideas into practical application is one of the key elements that separates the dreamer from the effective leader.

As I noted earlier, creativity in leadership is about more than introducing new products or services to market.  One of the hallmark distinctions between leadership and management, or between being a leader and a doer, is getting things done (bigger things done) through others. In the context of leadership, therefore, and in the tremendously dynamic and ever-changing reality that is today's modern economy and workforce, leadership also demands creative approaches, adaptability, and flexibility in responding to and achieving the potential of one's teams. How does a leader create and apply a creative process to building the capacity and capability of their teams?

In the context of leadership, the elements noted above (and likely more) need to be brought to bear on leveraging the skills and abilities of a team or organization. Moreover, the leader has to have the vision and be actively scanning the environment to understand the challenges or opportunities available to the team. Next the leader has to build a level of awareness on the part of the team as to the importance of these challenges or opportunities and why being successful is so critical. Then the team has to be engaged in an experimentation phase - brainstorming, piloting, trial balloons - that start to put ideas to the test. And finally, and most critically, something has to be implemented. Engaging the team throughout the creative process allows for definitive buy-in and adaptation as environmental circumstances dictate.  

Leadership is an art - you are the conductor, the sculptor, the artist, or perhaps even the chef. You are the creative inspiration and shaper of your team to something beyond what any one of you could achieve.  Commit to your creative aspirations for your leadership and to the benefit of your team.

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Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions
gregh@breakpoint.solutions 
www.breakpoint.solutions 
780-918-0009

Achieving Team Success

Originally published on June 17, 2024.

Teams and teamwork are ubiquitous to almost every aspect of our lives. Unless you have not entered the workforce as yet, the reality is that you will be part of at least one team in any job at any given time. If your career has spanned years and even decades, you have been part of more teams than you might even be able to remember. These team experiences have either given us fond memories of great teams we have been a part of OR they have given us feelings of ongoing regret and nightmares about teams that have drained our souls!

While teams are inevitable, their success is not. Even when we believe ourselves to be in a high-functioning, gold-standard team, that success can be fleeting and should not be taken for granted. Every team will go through change over a period of years, months, or even days, whither it’s a change in operating environment or mandate, a change in team membership, or a change in leadership. Any change - even seemingly small changes - can have a significant impact on the equilibrium of the team with the result being a shift from success to dysfunction. This shift in capacity and capability of the team can be shocking and surprising, but there are steps and preventative maintenance that can help support moving a team from dysfunction to success, or supporting high level performance over a period of years. Bottom line, like any system - organic or mechanical - there needs to be a constant investment of time and energy in building and sustaining a team.

So how do we build and sustain a high-performing team? What are the keys to pay attention to? What might be some red flags (or green flags) to be aware of?  The first and most basic question to answer is whether we do in fact have or are part of a team. This may seem ridiculous to consider, but it is a core issue to address, especially for a leader. All too often we declare a team to be in operation, but we are missing some key qualifiers to justify that claim.  I offer two key criteria that should be addressed to determine whether you have a team or just a group of people in play:

1. Does the collection of people being brought together have any significant, practical, and specific goals they are pursuing in common?

If no common goals exist (other than some vague, large-scale objective) that help to align the work of every team member, then does a team really exist? Can each individual pursue goals or objectives, without positive or negative consequence, that are important or relevant to them alone? Worse, are the goals being pursued by each individual "team member" in conflict with those of other team members with no incentive or need to promote collaboration?

2. Do the individuals need to rely on each other to accomplish their goals or tasks?  

Does any team member need inputs, resources, energy, and commitment from anybody else on the "team" in order to succeed? Or do they just hope that other people stay out of their way while they do their work? If I do not require any support from others and I am not called on to tangibly support others in their work, this certainly gives the appearance and feel of ships passing in the night. No interdependence means no team.

If you have answered “yes” to the above two questions, you can now dig more deeply into setting up a new team for success or helping an existing team to sustain or grow in success. The first foundation to address is to confirm and clarify the team's goals. These can be established by taking into account what the organization or senior leadership expect from the team, what you as the leader identify as key goals or expectations of the team, AND through discussion and debate from your team as a whole. Considering the first two sources of direction for the team, these could be identified as non-negotiables and they might fall into the category of regulatory restrictions or obligations, adherence to organizational values and policies, and your own leadership values and expectations. Be prepared to be clear as to why these parameters are non-negotiable. You and the organization have every right to set out these types of parameters, but be prepared to move beyond a simple "because I said so" if you really want team buy-in.

On the third source of goal confirmation - engaging the team - there is a lot to be said about working through and continuously touching base with and affirming team goals.  This effort implies authentic engagement that promotes understanding of the goals that will ultimately be set, the importance of those goals to each individual team member, appreciation of how individual actions can support (or inhibit) team success, promotes genuine ownership by the team for the goals, and allows each individual team member to dynamically adjust their efforts/tactics as challenges or opportunities arise.  

Beyond confirming these specific goal statements (SMART anyone?), additional work can be done at this time focusing on how the team will make decisions, how the team will balance the concepts of autonomy/empowerment and accountability/collaboration, how and when the team should communicate with each other, and by what values/operating principles the team will guide their actions. All of this can sometimes be captured in things like terms of reference, team charter, or a code of conduct.  

Strong and successful teams vigorously and authentically engage in the work above on a regular basis. This is not a one and done effort. Rather, the team should touch base with their shared commitments on at least an annual basis and, in reality, far more frequently. Through this type of work they continue to reinforce and evolve their shared commitments. This also sets the stage for ongoing trust building that is necessary to keep a team functioning at a high level. One of my past colleagues describes trust as "the residue of promises made and kept." I can't think of a more succinct description and call to action to a team or its individual members. A key element in building trust and a core element of a well-functioning team is honesty, authenticity, and vulnerability among team members. This is where leadership becomes crucial not only in leading the way in vulnerability but also in creating an environment in which all team members are supported in asking questions, posing challenges, making mistakes, and in learning from each other. 

Strong and successful teams - paradoxically perhaps - also welcome and cultivate a culture of challenging each other. Most of us might question this criterion for team success assuming that conflict is destructive.  And it can be if not understood or managed well. High performance teams, however, do not look to promote harmony for the sake of harmony. They appreciate the value of diverse perspectives and believe debate and CONSTRUCTIVE conflict allows them to better interrogate reality and come up with better and best solutions for the challenge or opportunity before them. The key phrase to be taken from what has just been said is "cultivating a culture". Culture for any team will happen naturally and organically.  But it may not evolve in ways that promote effective teamwork. A leader and a team have to consciously decide what type of culture they want, how to promote mutual accountability, how to achieve their goals (including maintaining strong team relationships), and commit to investing in their preferred team culture on a regular and consistent basis. Complacency in the face of team success can, in fact, lead to team failure and dysfunction. Never take a team's success for granted. Keep investing time and energy!

The final aspect or foundation of success for a team that I want to draw your attention to is how to promote social engagement for the team…how to have fun! When you think about our working lives, it is likely that you spend most of your waking time working and engaging with your fellow team members. Given that reality, it is my view that enjoying the work and team cohesion are critical elements for personal satisfaction and team success. The most successful teams enjoy each other's company, establish norms and traditions that allow them to develop strong bonds if not friendships, and promote a commitment to each other's success. This type of bond or cohesion needs to be actively and purposely facilitated and appreciated as a key element of the day-to-day work of the team (e.g., personal check-ins at each team meeting, using simple ice-breakers) through to regular team-building sessions. The purpose is to not only focus on achievement of hard target objectives but also on the health of the team culture.  

Team success is not inevitable.  Calling yourself a team does not make it so. High-performing teams are glorious and attainable. Achieving this nirvana of team success requires disciplined thought carried out by disciplined people, with disciplined effort (thank you Jim Collins!). Moreover, this effort is not one and done.  Rather it requires a continued investment of time and energy of the leader and the team. Team success: It's All About Leadership!

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Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions
gregh@breakpoint.solutions 
www.breakpoint.solutions 
780-918-0009

When to NOT use Executive Coaching

Originally published on June 3, 2024.

I'm a strong advocate for the use of executive coaching.  As an executive coach myself you'd probably expect nothing else. But, I'm not just speaking as someone who provides executive coaching services but also as someone who has benefited from - and continues to benefit from - using an executive coach. I've experienced firsthand the power of having an unbiased sounding board and accountability partner work with me.

However, while executive coaching can be one of the most effective ways of accelerating your development as a leader, it's not the panacea for all situations or circumstances. There are times when an individual and an organization should consider other options for addressing leadership or organizational challenges. I identify below some of the circumstances where executive coaching may not be your first choice.

Executive Coaching in lieu of performance management

Good executive coaching should not be substituted for good - or bad - management. There have been a few occasions where I've been approached to undertake a coaching engagement where it's clear that a leader's or an organization’s perspective is that executive coaching will be the last-ditch effort to "salvage" an employee. At this stage, the challenge is often that the employee in question is on their last legs. Unfortunately, they may have arrived at this point because of a poor hiring process at the beginning of their tenure, poor expectation setting and communication on the part of their direct superior, or a combination of related factors. Ideally, executive coaching is more often applied to advancing an organization's high potential people rather than saving those people an organization no longer has any faith in. In these cases, I would usually prefer to coach both the employee and their direct supervisor.

Lack of defined outcomes or objectives

Any good executive coach will seek to establish an understanding of specific goals and objectives for the engagement. Whether the coaching engagement is sought out by an individual or secured through an organizational endeavour, its quality is measurably improved when all parties involved are on the same page when it comes to understanding what success is supposed to look like. If there are no clear outcomes established - whether at the outset or relatively early in the engagement - then there is a risk of "any destination will do" coming into play. As with any initiative, being able to define and measure success is key to achieving desired outcomes.

part I: Client is unprepared to work

An executive coach is there to challenge a client’s thinking and assumptions, to move them to new levels of performance, and to enhance confidence through action. But just as it is incumbent on the client (sometimes in partnership with your organization) to define the outcomes, it is equally essential that the client shows up in the coaching session ready to work. The time spent with a coach should not be akin to pulling teeth - the client is addressing their current challenges and taking charge of their future, and they should be prepared to work at least as hard as their coach. The client should not expect their coach to offer up ready-made solutions. A coach is there to help the client discover and execute on their own self-discovered plan of attack.  If the client expects their coach to do the heavy lifting, they are probably not ready for, nor will they fully benefit from, working with an executive coach. 

part II: Client is unprepared to work

The work in a coaching engagement doesn't just or even mostly happen when the client is face-to-face with their executive coach. The time with the executive coach is designed to develop plans, explore options, test assumptions, and commit to change. While a change in perspective and perception will happen in the executive coaching session, delivery and action happens in between sessions and back at the coal face of the client’s work. All the best laid plans are only as effective what actually happens when the client implements their plans. If the client has no interest in implementing their plans or making time for change in their work, it's best not to engage an executive coach.  

Unprepared to Change

If you are thinking about engaging an executive coach, be prepared to change. Growth only comes from change. Change is usually uncomfortable. If you are looking only for validation or affirmation, there are likely other avenues for you to pursue. Engaging with an executive coach is not about maintenance or just having a great conversation.  You - or your organization - is expecting you to evolve, grow, and change as a result of the investment of time and money made in an executive coach. Expect that when choosing an executive coach there will be new challenges, overcoming anxieties, and assertively progressing forward.  The coaching engagement should evoke discomfort. Be prepared for and embrace change!

Unprepared to drive the agenda

Sometimes it's beneficial to think of the executive coach as a co-pilot: the client is in charge of where they need to go and they define the work for each session. Again, the executive coach will be there as a guide, a thinking partner, and a challenger, but the client is in charge. Just as the client is the leader in their business (and personal life), they are also the leader in their own personal development.  The co-pilot can help to plot the course at each session, but, at the end of the day, it’s up to the client to focus on their path.

Unprepared to be truthful, candid, and honest 

An executive coach is focused on their client’s success. Period. In that regard, if the client has done the best job possible in selecting their coach, they’ve determined there is a fit, they trust the person in front of them and they are confident in the coach’s track record in support of their goals. So don't beat around the bush.  Time is money and if the client is going to move forward assertively, they need to be prepared to be vulnerable. It's in the client’s best interests and the executive coach has no other agenda than what works for their client.

Unprepared to own the coaching relationship

As tough as it might be for some executive coaches, the client is the customer and the customer is always right.  Tell the coach - the vendor - what is working in the coaching engagement, what's not working and how the work can be changed to be more effective. If the client isn’t prepared to do that, they may be disappointed in the results they get or don’t get.

Coaching can be a powerful tool in moving leadership forward in a powerful way, but much of that success depends on using it in the right circumstances, for the right reasons, and with ownership of the effort on behalf of the client and the organization.

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Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions
gregh@breakpoint.solutions 
www.breakpoint.solutions 
780-918-0009

Don't Drink the Sand - Redux!

Originally published on May 27, 2024.

In much of my leadership career - and maybe my life in general - no small part of me hoped and dreamed about achieving formal recognition for the quality of my work. And along the way I did, in fact, achieve awards in my chosen profession. In that regard, I'm probably not that different from many of you. In reality, this desire for recognition is probably a function of our upbringing and our educational system. We were all graded. We all knew where we stood in our class academically or athletically. If we excelled, we were given ribbons, medals, and even money in the form of bursaries and scholarships. And that recognition felt good.

As a society we continue to translate this award function into our leadership and business environments in the form of our nation's or province's top employers, most ethical companies, top leaders in [pick the profession] and almost any other category you can think up. These awards are often pursued with incredible vigor by individual leaders and companies. I've even since seen individual leaders suggest, cajole, and coerce their staff or colleagues for that coveted nomination. If and once achieved, those accolades are then heavily marketed as a competitive advantage or even as a point of pride.  

And because we are busy people, we place heavy emphasis on the validity and credibility of these ratings or rewards and make decisions as potential customers or staff of these organizations. If such and such experts say he/she/they are best in class, that should be good enough for me, should it not?  

Unfortunately, this pursuit of awards and accolades comes with its own problems and opportunities to twist our personal behavior and organizational culture. Based on personal experience, I will suggest that in far too many cases, the emperor is, in fact, wearing no clothes.  

I would encourage all of us to dig a bit deeper into what goes into these "achievements".  I, for one, have had the misfortune of peeking behind the proverbial curtain and have come away more than a bit disillusioned with what I have discovered. In personal scenarios impacting me, I have discovered that competitors in my profession were not necessarily identified as best in class for their professional skill but rather on the quality of their website! Form over substance! In some cases, my so-called competitors were no longer in practice! 

That's one small example, but there are even more egregious examples. This goes as far as something as prestigious as the Order of Canada. Aside from those who have been officially stripped of such recognition (e.g., Alan Eagleson, Steven Fonyo), I have my own impressions of others who have been so honored. I joked in at least one case - facetiously at the time - that I'd have to be rescinding my Canadian citizenship because of who had obtained this honour.

These examples of personal leadership failures also operate at an organizational level and we simply cannot place blind faith in the view of experts and awards achieved. We have seen far too many examples of spectacular corporate failures that followed on years of being media and business darlings. Example? In 2001, an American company achieved $90 billion in market capitalization, making it the seventh largest company in the USA at the time. For six years running, this same company was ranked by Fortune magazine as America's most innovative company.  

On December 3, 2001, this same company - Enron - filed for bankruptcy.  

Of the many reasons cited for Enron's demise, two stand out for me within the context of my blog topic:  (1) stakeholders/watchdogs overlooked bad behavior as long as they were profiting, and (2) looking to others believing that those others had done their due diligence. Clearly, these reasons were abetted by willful fraud, but for me, the long story short is don't believe everything you see or read on the internet, in newspaper clippings or promotional materials.  

Unfortunately, too many award programs are based solely on an application process. There is limited to no on-site visitation or verification in play. There is no deeper dive into evaluating the veracity of claims made. In some cases, an organization or leader can present documentation on the existence of a policy or program, but it is not required to provide information as to the quality of its implementation or effectiveness. In addition, staff, customers, and other key stakeholders may not be part of validating the leader's or organization's claims. The application might only be as good as the paper it is written on.   

And the motivations of the applicant to win are enormous - prestige, business opportunity, ego. Marketing acumen and writing skill, then, become more important to success then fact. Form runs the risk of trumping substance. Many of us are already familiar with this reality in other circumstances, most notably the recruitment and selection process. How many times have you seen others - or yourself - won over by a glorious CV and a charismatic presence in an interview, only to have buyer's remorse later? Presentation and pizzazz can only cover up so many sins for so long.  

As I penned this blog I was reminded of an exchange between two characters from the 1995 movie "The American President", which for me encapsulates the challenges we face in sorting the wheat from the chaff and seeing beyond formal awards and what might actually lie beneath:

People want leadership, Mr. President, and in the absence of genuine leadership, they'll listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone. They want leadership. They're so thirsty for it they'll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there's no water, they'll drink the sand. 

Lewis, we've had presidents who were beloved, who couldn't find a coherent sentence with two hands and a flashlight. People don't drink the sand because they're thirsty. They drink the sand because they don't know the difference. 

My request of you? Dig deeper. Don't be fooled by the pleasant mirage that might be before you. Put in the effort to find out if there really is a glass of water or a glass of sand before you.

Don't drink the sand.

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Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions
gregh@breakpoint.solutions 
www.breakpoint.solutions 
780-250-2543

Governance Matters

Originally published on May 21, 2024.

A board of directors plays a crucial role in the health and success of any organization, whether that be in the not-for-profit, public, or private sector. Outside of being an operating or managing board, where individuals are tasked with setting direction and actually getting their hands dirty carrying out day-to-day operational duties, the role of a board directors can be summarized at a very high level as

• providing/supporting long-term vision for their organization

• ensuring oversight to the actions and health of the organization

• providing perspectives due to diversity of experiences, skill sets, and relationships beyond what any one person would possess. 

These expectations can be summarized in three words: foresight, oversight, and insight. Simply said but often far harder to accomplish in practice.

Over my 25+ year leadership career, followed up by another 12+ years in consulting to organizations and boards, I have experienced first-hand how difficult governance can be and how easily a board can go from high performing to significant dysfunction (and back again). These challenges in governance can lead to a variety of negative outcomes including but not limited to

• board level conflict resulting in lack of effectiveness in decision-making even to the point of paralysis

• board level conflict that negatively impacts board member recruitment and retention

• dysfunctional relationship with CEO and operational leadership

• reputational damage with key stakeholders and public in general

• negative impacts to financial health and sustainability

• legal challenges up to and including lawsuits between board members and dissolution of an organization

This is by no means an exhaustive list of negative consequences that can arise from not identifying, paying attention to, and actively managing core governance issues.  

What, then, are some of the core issues that an organization and Board of Directors needs to attend to?  My suggestions are noted below.

1. Governance Philosophy

An organization has to be clear about what governance means within their own context. Even if recruits to a board have previous governance experience that may not directly or appropriately translate to the next governance role. Moreover, to be truly effective, an understanding and appreciation of governance expectations must go well beyond well-articulated written statements and policies. There must be strong, ongoing efforts to reinforce expectations - and boundaries - of the governance roles for the particular organization. 

If the expectations of a board are to provide foresight, oversight, and insight, what are the appropriate ways in which that is supposed to happen?  When does the board (or board member) start to become too operational and effectively take over or inhibit operational duties? How does the Board make decisions? How does the Board evaluate its performance, either collectively or individually?

2. Recruiting and Selecting Board members

One of the greatest challenges any board faces isrecruijing and selecting new board members. Too often proxies for board member selection can overtake the hard work necessary to identify key attitudes and skill sets necessary to be an effective board director. 

What are some of these proxies? In some cases, it can simply be a willingness to serve on the board! Getting skilled, competent board members is an ever-increasing challenge for many organizations. The desire to serve, sometimes in a voluntary capacity, against a backdrop of not insignificant time commitments and public/legal expectations, can have many qualified people opt out of a governance opportunity. In other cases, an organization looks simply at a resume, reputation, or existing relationships (friendships with other board members) as suitable reasons (excuses) to say yes to a new board member.  

Boards have a duty to ensure they are bringing on the right people

• with the right skills that will adhere to an established governance philosophy

• in support of working at the right level of decision-making

• with the understanding and intention of acting with a duty of care, loyalty and obedience to the board/ organization

• with the attitude and commitment that the existing board believes it demonstrates and expects of a new board member

3. Clarity of Governance Roles

So much to say here and it’s certainly related to the foundations discussed above. The board needs to be clear about how governance philosophy translates into practical governance work. How does the board carry out its role of foresight? How does the board contribute to strategy? Does it build and communicate a set of strategic directions to operational leadership or does it receive and react to what is proposed by operational leadership? Or is there some balance between those options?  

How does the board exercise oversight? Does it engage in deep, even supervisory tactics, on a regular basis? Does it set expectations on remedial actions? Does it direct operational leadership via board membership on a range of committees?  Does it expect and rely solely on what operational leadership provides as updates on progress on strategic directions?  

As board members are usually (hopefully) recruited based on their past experiences and/or current skills sets (e.g., accountant, lawyer) what are the expectations for how those skill sets are used? There is always a risk - and even a danger - that an individual or the organization confuse technical skills and competence with how those skills should be used in a way that supports the role of governance. All involved need to remind themselves that a board member should provide insight and perspectives, and ask salient questions that support governance excellence first and foremost. Board members have not been recruited to fulfill an operational requirement.  

4. CEO Relationship

More than a few paragraphs are needed to address the board's relationship with its CEO and this could easily be a topic for its own blog or book! Suffice it to say that the topics already discussed set context for what a board needs in a CEO, how they should go about recruiting for this position, and how they manage this relationship going forward. Clarity of responsibilities, mandate, and expectations for the CEO are critical topics for the board to align on in order to provide appropriate direction and support for their most important employee.  

Like any relationship - personal or professional - it needs to be recognized that clarity, communication, and mutual commitment are key to success in this partnership. It is unlikely that every aspect of the relationship can be pre-defined or that every possible scenario the organization encounters can be anticipated with complete certainty. The board must be very clear about the nature of the relationship they want and need with their CEO. How does the board manage or create trust with their CEO? What can the board do to support effective and transparent communication with their CEO? How will the board effectively and appropriately monitor and evaluate CEO performance? What role will the board take in supporting and developing their CEO?

5. Board Development

The cliche phrase of "the strengths that got you here won't get you there" applies directly to governance excellence. A board should be as vigilant about its own performance and development as it should be about the performance and development of its CEO and the organization as a whole. Unfortunately, all too often, little attention is paid to supporting board and board member development. This begins with the quality of orientation and onboarding. Efforts here can range from one extreme to another, from "welcome aboard" and "learn on the job" to days of being overwhelmed by written policy manuals and strategic plans.  

Beyond this initial phase of learning, well-developed boards should look to integrate learning about the organization's environment aligned with annual and longer-term objectives being pursued. In addition, the board should regularly touch base on their agreed governance framework. This is not just work for new board members but can act as reinforcement for all directors. This can include clarifying and reinforcing roles and responsibilities of a board member, the role of the Chair and other officers, and the code of conduct by which the board manages itself.

Finally, there is also some reason for the board to focus on how to enhance its teamwork. In reality, the board is, in fact, a team like any other in the organization. Like any other team, there is space and need to understand and leverage the diversity of the team, attend to development and improvement of team skills, and otherwise enhance team capacity in support of board and organizational effectiveness. This targeted development effort also suggests some reasonable and honest effort at evaluation of board effectiveness.  

In Summary

Governance can be a rewarding endeavor for many if expectations are understood and if necessary diligence and energy are invested on an ongoing basis. Given the importance of good governance to the success of the organization as a whole, the responsibility for doing it well cannot be underestimated. If done well, the effort need not be overly burdensome either. The cost of not taking governance seriously?  Let's just say that the annals of business magazines and documentaries are filled with many case studies of lessons that should be learned with 20/20 hindsight.

It's all about leadership and in this case it is about leadership at the governance level. 

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Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions
gregh@breakpoint.solutions 
www.breakpoint.solutions 
780-250-2543

The Power of Belief

Originally published on May 17, 2024.

In the history of this blog, I have often touched on the concept of how our beliefs about ourselves create or limit our actions and path forward.  While I probably have never explicitly focused on the topic, I have touched on a range of related issues:

• creating a vision of our preferred future state

• understanding our "why" or purpose for doing what we want to do

• documenting and OWNING our strengths and achievements (to at least the same degree that we own our perceived gaps and weaknesses)

• documenting and LIVING to our personal and professional values

• the power of YOUR choices

There is probably more to note but, in every case, I have implied that we can all live more powerfully forward if we believe in ourselves and our potential. Too often my encounters with leaders, aspiring leaders, teams, and even organizations are characterized by a sense of powerlessness to influence and change reality for ourselves. It seems so much easier - and some would say realistic - to operate from a place of being mere flotsam and jetsam in a world of forces more powerful than us. We have come to BELIEVE that we are bit players in a world beset by change, both rapid and unpredictable, that leaves us in positions of only being able to react, cope, and survive versus driving and thriving DESPITE the capricious nature of the world and people around us. 

I am certain we have all read or heard about the power of positive thinking, about what and how you manifest a preferred future state will set the stage for what you can next achieve. And there are a number of quotes that bear repeating here to reinforce this power of how our beliefs can launch us or lose us on our path:

“To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.”

— Anatole France

“Men often become what they believe themselves to be. If I believe I cannot do something, it makes me incapable of doing it. But when I believe I can, then I acquire the ability to do it even if I didn’t have it in the beginning.”

— Mahatma Gandhi

“Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.”

— Henry Ford

How do we come to these beliefs and how do we shift a mind frame that would limit our potential? Certainly, our lived experience is part of this. More importantly, however, are the lessons we take away from that lived experience. The key here though, is are we taking away and learning the right lessons from these past experiences? If I reflect on my very first leadership role (some 40 years ago!), I am absolutely grateful that my first foray into leadership was immediately followed up by a period of further education and an opportunity to work in a different, much larger organization. This is where I was exposed to a whole new range of leaders, philosophies, and styles. Without that next experience I know I would have embedded within me a much harsher set of beliefs around people and what it is to be a successful leader. I would have also limited my own potential around what I could achieve as a leader.  

One of the other core lessons for me in this leadership journey, and what I see playing out for others is what we hear and own from those around us. Everyone needs feedback on their performance and their development as a leader. As a leader and potential coach and mentor to those around us, we can have tremendous and outsize impact on the development of those in our circle of influence. No greater example of this can be found than in the challenge of working with those who would break us down versus building us up.

This experience was recently reinforced to me in a discussion with a leader I had worked with in the past and who has been in a leadership role for many years. I had always believed she was an accomplished and confident leader. I would also say that this individual never presented as a shrinking violet! However, she recently shared with me her experience of working with a leader she described as narcissistic.  The reality she faced over a period of months (and years?) of working with this leader led her to question her competence and ability to do her job. Her beliefs were shaped by a powerful external force. Her belief in the views others had about her caused her to doubt and downplay her own previous assumptions about her competence and capabilities. What ultimately saved her was the intervention of other supportive people who recognized the destruction that was being wrought. The intervention of these others allowed her to move on from a toxic environment to a place in which she could reset, re-establish her sense of self, and continue to grow in support of herself and others.

What lessons can we take from this story and other similar stories, my own included? Here are some key lessons I believe are reinforced for me and that I often work on with many of my coaching clients:

• Don't let others define you/limit your potential. There will always be others who wish to diminish you for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it is just to enjoy the exercise of power they have. For others, it is only through breaking down others that they find an ability to feel good about themselves. Others are merely channeling their past experiences of being poorly treated and then determine that "if I have suffered, then others should as well." Leadership - and even humanity - is not about breaking down, but about building up. Don't allow yourself to buy into a narrative that is more about them then it is about you. 

• Document and vigorously own your personal values. Without this understanding of self, we can often find ourselves pushed out of alignment with our core beliefs, failing to truly appreciate when the actions of others are toxic to our sense of self. Owning our personal values will allow us to stay strong and in a position of choice. This may not make navigating through to a positive end easier, but we will have a greater chance of not only surviving challenging times, but also thriving as we retain the power of choice to remain or move on to our next and better opportunity.

• Document and vigorously own your strengths and achievements. While we often hear that what got you here may not be as useful in your next role, it is also important to recognize that you have moved, changed, and experienced growth over time. You have taken on past challenges, you have had (positive) impact, and all of those experiences should be a foundation on which you can build. Don't let anyone else take that away from your or diminish your capabilities.

• Maintain and invest in a strong network of support. In past blogs I have said that leadership is a team sport. The same holds true for life in general.  All of us - regardless of age and experience - need a strong and committed network of friends, family, peers, and colleagues to support us on our personal and professional journeys. None of us can be as successful or fulfilled as we want or can be living life as the lone ranger. Coaches and mentors can be part of this solution for you as well. These external voices - people who are committed to your success - can be sounding boards and thinking partners to help you right size the issues you are facing, help you to better evaluate reality and circumstances, and position you to learn the right lessons AND make better decisions that are in alignment with your values and purpose.

Long story short, ground your beliefs in a strong foundation of who you are, touch base with your strengths and achievements on a regular basis, appreciate the growth you have achieved over time, understand that you have overcome challenges in the past and that those successes position you for overcoming the next challenge, dream big (or bigger), and build a team that supports realization of a potential that lies before you.

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Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions
gregh@breakpoint.solutions 
www.breakpoint.solutions 
780-250-2543

Reminders on Resilience

Originally published on February 20, 2024.

I have written about resilience and related topics of trauma and post-traumatic growth before. And I'm back for another crack at the topic due to significantly trying circumstances. In the notes that follow, I will talk about lessons in resilience that have been reinforced for me over the past year and more. It's not my intent to give you a blow-by-blow account of the challenges I have been facing. In reality, the specifics don't matter as much as how I have been working to place adversity - and even trauma - in perspective, and use some tools I already had at my disposal to move forward. What I will disclose is that in January, I lost my mother and the last of my parents to a stroke/complications of the stroke. Mercifully, her journey in ill health lasted a very short time and was preceded by decades of good health. She lived a good life. Within the context of my own life, her passing has not been, however, the most significant negative reality I have been having to manage in the past year.

The events of the past many months have caused me to question a whole series of foundational elements that I had taken for granted in my life. I suspect - and can probably say that I even know - that all of you have been in similar places at least once, if not more often, in your own lives. All too often in these circumstances, our approach to these adverse events is to spin, overthink, isolate and catastrophize. As humans, we are driven to respond to perceived threats, seek to contain or mitigate against these threats, go into some form of fight or flight mode (and perhaps both at different points in time) and try to get back to a preferred path forward of our own choosing. The challenge is the preferred path is the one we were on and now is no longer feasible to maintain. Too much has changed. Too much was and is beyond our control. And perhaps the path we were on was never as concrete as we thought it was.  

Given all of that, what have I learned, or rather, what have I relearned that has helped me persevere through my own personal challenges? What has provided me a sense of direction and hope for a new - if different - future? Listed below are some of the lessons and tools I believe I have rediscovered and have been using to move forward.

Accept Reality. For far too long in the past year, I worked to recapture or reinvigorate a life I thought I had. Call this resistance to change. Call it denying reality. Resistance or denial didn't serve me well at all.  It wasn't helping me see things for what they were. It wasn't helping me recover, learn, grow, or feel better.  Paradoxically, the more I tried to invest in a reality or state that wasn't going to be possible, the more these efforts actually prolonged my pain and difficulties. There is real truth to the adage that what we resist persists.  

The path forward for me then - which took several months to arrive at - came from accepting the environment in which I was actually living. To be clear, acceptance does not equate to resignation or giving up.  But it does suggest that the tactics I was using to manage through my reality were often not the right tools for the job in front of me. Once I was able to change - and accept - what I was seeing, I was able to move forward more productively. Again, this change in perspective hasn't meant that the path since then has been easy, without pain, or not been characterized by grieving. All of this is operative, but at least I have a better chance at doing more of the right things at the right time in the right way than I did before.

Accept What You Control - And Don't Control.  Working with my Core Strengths© assessment results, I noted key strengths as a person/leader as being Supportive, Loyal, and Persevering. These strengths are operative when things are going well in my world.  When I am challenged or when things are not going so well, I unfortunately double down on those very same strengths and become Self-Sacrificing, Gullible, and Stubborn (or masochistically persevering). That latter set of skills did not serve me well as I tried to navigate my trials and tribulations. Working back to the challenge of Accepting Reality, I kept trying to double down on solutions that were no longer appropriate to circumstances. By remaining so committed to a "cause", I merely heightened and extended my pain.

The realization for me eventually was I had to stop trying so hard to maintain a past state of (artificial?) equilibrium. As I would seek to work with my coaching clients, I also had to follow some of my own coaching process and questioning. Metaphorically speaking, I had to accept that I couldn't control the weather. All I could do was wear the proper clothing to manage in and through things I couldn't control. 

Establish and Rediscover Your Network. In trying times, too many of us get too much inside our own heads and don't work with or create a network of people - friends, confidantes, coaches, even therapists - that can help us process the issues before us. As I have said before, when working with others, our mind is a dangerous neighborhood to go into alone. A natural threat response is to hunker down and go into our caves as it were. Aside from this typical deep-seated threat response, at various points we may find ourselves confused by what is happening around and to us. Therefore, it may be difficult to even determine how or what to respond to and how to communicate this with others.

However, as in a typical coaching engagement, the out loud processing of our reality is a critical step forward in understanding what we are actually dealing with. As we engage in this processing conversation, we have an ability to better understand what is real, what is imagined, and what the next logical steps forward might be for us.  What we might also come to appreciate is that we were never really as alone as we thought.

I honestly can't emphasize this need for developing or reengaging with a supportive network strongly enough. The ability to process my thoughts with others, getting help to "right size" my reality, evaluate next steps, and just have one or more people present with me through pain has provided me with immeasurable benefits. I recently told two of my friends that their willingness to walk with me in this journey is a debt that I don't believe I'll ever be able to repay.

Focus on Your Health. I've been all over the map on this one in the past many months. At times, I have been able to get into a routine of physical exercise while at other times, most notably at the time of my mother's stroke and through to her passing, that ability to maintain a schedule has fallen by the wayside. Where I have been able to focus on myself, the ability to maintain a fitness routine has had direct benefit to sleep patterns along with supporting mental and emotional benefit.  

The network noted above is also key here as well. In this case, you might be able to get support from others to maintain physical, mental, and emotional interactions so necessary to your sense of balance in a topsy turvy world. Even the simple act of a walk in the woods, while socializing with another compassionate human being, can reap benefits from being in the fresh air, exercising, and finding normal in a time of chaos.  

Beyond what I have already mentioned, I have been trying to re-engage in hobbies, support diversion and focus through meaningful work, and even resurrecting the act of writing this blog. All of those approaches are helpful. Others that have been suggested to me are meditation and journalling - things I have yet to try but I know work for others.  

Bottom line, there is no more important time to strengthen yourself, remind yourself of your positive qualities, and engage in positive activity than in a time of adversity. The alternative is a slow cycle downward where less energy and enthusiasm begets even less energy and enthusiasm. 

Vision of a New Future. As hard as it often is, I also believe that what has helped me through adversity in the past and builds my resilience is crafting and imagining a new, positive future. Even if I start with the death of my mother - and how having the dubious distinction of being the oldest in my immediate family - it is clear that what was can no longer be. There will be no more daily calls between us. There will be no more care packages of handcrafted baking and foodstuffs lovingly made. There will be a new future ahead and I have a choice to create something that best suits the new facts as they are.  

This future will be built one step at a time. It won't be easy or clear on some days. It can be helped and nurtured along but not rushed into existence overnight. I suggest being patiently impatient in this regard.  Hope is not a strategy, but it is critical to helping us move forward beyond current circumstances. There will be forces trying to hold us back. Some of these forces will be external naysayers.  Other forces will be the voices in your own head. But create a vision, foster hope, dare to dream even if your dreams start small from those tiny seeds will a new glorious future sprout.

Resilience is a critical part of being a successful leader and a well-adjusted human-being. Reflect on past adversity. Draw lessons and strength from your past. Rely on your team. The storm will pass. See you on the other side.

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Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions
gregh@breakpoint.solutions 
www.breakpoint.solutions 
780-250-2543

What's Your Funhouse Mirror?

Originally published on February 12, 2024.

Executive coaches are often called on to support leaders and teams achieve a better understanding of themselves as individuals and/or support some form of appreciative inquiry on team performance and team dynamics. Often, we are called to be or hold up a mirror to our clients. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways: standard coaching session focused on goals and information presented by the coachee/team supported by insights obtained by the coaching process; a range of individual and/or team-based assessments, some of which have a 360 degree focus to them; and possibly traditional evaluative processes that fall into the realm of human resource tools and performance development initiatives that we are all familiar with.  

One of the most challenging aspects of this type of work is the degree of courage and honesty that any one individual or team approaches this introspective work with. In reality, all of us have a hard time getting a true image of ourselves by looking into the proverbial mirror - either through our own self-reflection, through an assessment tool, through feedback and even through coaching. What comes to mind for me as an executive coach, therefore, is the range of mirrors and the various distortions that are possible as we pass from one location to another in a funhouse.

The work that I do can see individuals being overly critical of themselves in their self-assessments, particularly when compared to any 360 feedback they may receive.  More challenging, I can also see  circumstances when one's own self-assessment presents an overinflated positive assessment of leadership skills and potential as compared to far less rosy results obtained from others. 

The risk in individuals having a more negative view of themselves is they may not be fully stepping into their strengths thereby diminishing their potential positive impact to their benefit and that of their teams. There is so much more that can be achieved with a bit more self-appreciation and courage. 

In the latter circumstance, when one's self-assessment is overinflated and doesn't match reality and results experienced by others, the challenge and risk can present in a number of ways. Will the potential blow to ego be too much for the individual to handle? Will the results be completely dismissed resulting in a lost opportunity to learn and grow? Will the results lead to a deterioration in relationships in the workplace or even beyond?

Leadership requires humility to be open to what reality is, but it takes courage to unleash the true power that comes from owning what is and what can be.

As with the funhouse mirror analogy noted, we can all make choices about what mirror we want to stand in front of and what reality we prefer.  

In either circumstance above, the assessments or evaluations are never THE answer, nor do they provide direction as to next steps to take.  This is where courage and honesty - supported by the coaching process - become instrumental in determining degree of action taken or success achieved.  

One of the more interesting opportunities I believe a point-in-time assessment provides is to open a door to deeper discussion with an individual client or team. The harsh reality we might be exposed to might become the catalyst for needed change if we can summon the humility and courage to change. How do the current results compare to other feedback and patterns that may be informative or supportive to past information received (but perhaps previously dismissed)? Is this really the first time we are getting "bad news" about how we are perceived and/or are actually showing up?

Aside from the potentially distorted image we have to work through, and perhaps expanding on the mirror metaphor, what windows into the past might we need to look through? How can we learn from, but not repeat the patterns of the past that are getting in the way of our personal or team success? This is a tremendously hard task for many, particularly if, from an individual perspective, we are operating from a belief system that holds us back from owning our "facts". Do we believe a leader must always and only show strength? Do we believe a leader must never own up to opportunities for growth?  Are we constantly plagued by self-doubt and, as a protection mechanism, must always blame others for our lack of advancement or success in our careers?  

As a coach, consultant, and leader I have seen the reality of - negative - repeating patterns often. Leaders who have moved from role to role (and even from personal relationship to personal relationship), never having accepted that the reason they have been moved on (involuntarily in many cases) or have always remain frustrated in their "status" in their careers, is they have never been truly prepared to change and grow. They almost inevitably deny the information they are receiving on how they could be the authors of their own challenges. Other people just don't get them. They may even go so far as always and consistently blaming everyone else for the lack of progress, success, and recognition in their careers.

Coaches, mentors, and even friends can only do so much in holding up the proverbial mirror for these leaders or teams.  As a coach, the adage that you can't work harder than your client parallels the well worn phrase that you can bring a horse to water but you can't make them drink. Experience also tells me that some leaders will never want to face their past and current reality as objectively or as courageously as they need to.

All we can do as coaches - if we are truly to be in service to others - is to continue to be courageous ourselves, hold up a mirror that is as distortion free as possible, help our clients use assessments or data as windows into their past patterns and current situation, and even be prepared to be discarded as coaches when humility and courage to change are not present in our clients.  

Objectivity, humility and courage. It's All About Leadership!

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Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions
gregh@breakpoint.solutions 
www.breakpoint.solutions 
780-250-2543

The Challenge - and Paradox - of Expectations

Originally published on September 25, 2023.

One of the key drivers of effective leadership revolves around the notion of expectations. What do I mean by expectations? within a leadership frame of reference?

First of all, you have expectations about being a leader, what that means in general terms, and what you believe or expect about yourself as a leader. Perhaps you have aspired to be in a leadership role since before you entered the formal workforce. Perhaps your expectations of what it means to be a leader come from formative experiences in school or sports. No doubt, you have also likely had your share of good and bad leaders, and those experiences have helped shape what you now expect of yourself as a leader.

Our formative experiences can lead us to believe that becoming a leader should result in a tremendous increase in power and privilege. Alternatively, we may enter into leadership roles with a great deal more humility and anxiety if we recognize that increased scope of responsibility comes with new obligations and challenges. 

Our expectations of ourselves can be sources of motivation and inspiration, AND a source of frustration and disappointment. To succeed, progress, and move forward, there is value in setting aspirational and stretch goals. In this case, we are setting the bar high with the belief that with strong commitment, effort, learning, and development, we can meet the standard we have set for ourselves. We seek to inspire ourselves to a new level of performance.

The caution around these expectations is to ensure they are grounded in reality and don’t – due to any source of setback – become a source of punishment and demotivation. “Failure” in this case must be objectively assessed for the learning it might impart to us, allowing us to either right size expectations of ourselves or re-invest in the original goals.

Second, as you were placed into one or more leadership roles throughout your career, you also know that you and your organization or boss had some expectations of each other. If you are fortunate, these expectations were made crystal clear. However, if you are like most of us, it is more likely the case that you and your boss discovered – perhaps painfully – that there were unclear or even unstated expectations around performance, commitments, and obligations of your leadership position.

A final aspect of expectations in play comes from the team you are placed in charge of and the peers in leadership you will be working with. Each of these individuals has expectations of what you and your leadership should look like, what they expect you to deliver for them, and how they expect you to treat them. The greater the level of leadership responsibility you take on, the greater the number of eyes will be on you, and the greater number of expectations there will be to juggle.

With those people external to you, the diversity of their expectations will, in fact, be as different and as complex as the number of individuals you interact with. What each of your followers, stakeholders, and constituents deems of value or importance to them can range widely. For example, some will expect you to

• place greatest emphasis on doing what is right for the people of the organization (e.g., how can we grow and support their success and development?);

• focus on bottom line results (however that might be defined), seek to drive performance, and recognize those individuals who meet and exceed targets;

• set up best-in-class systems, processes and structures that ensure the right thing gets done, in the right way, on a consistent basis; and

• be an incredibly inclusive leader, driven to get input from all, believing that the best solutions are created through consensus.

I have only touched the surface of these externally driven expectations. Depending on how front-facing you are to your customers, clients, or stakeholders, a whole range of other perspectives come into play.

And let’s add one more variable into the mix. Expectations are never static; they are constantly changing and evolving. Just when you have think you have everything crystal clear and your engine is humming in perfect efficiency, a wrench is thrown into the system. For example:

• your external business environment changes leading to a need for change in priorities for your organization.

• your boss changes. Now you have to adjust to a new style of leadership and new goals to decipher and deliver on.

• your team changes over time – they grow and develop, perhaps move on to new roles, or the team expands and contracts. That means your team’s expectations about how they are led and what you need to do for them shifts.

• you yourself also grow and develop and look to have different personal and professional needs met. You might be looking for more or new challenges. Even your personal life circumstances might change and cause you to reconsider what your leadership path should now be.

Regardless of the reason for change, expectations will continuously shift over time. As a leader, you will have to evaluate and be attentive to the shifting sands of expectations from a variety of sources. 

Expectations can be motivating.  Expectations can be challenging.  Expectations are never static.  

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Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions
gregh@breakpoint.solutions 
www.breakpoint.solutions 
780-250-2543

It's All About You - Self-leadership

Originally published on June 12, 2023.

In past posts I have talked about quiet quitting and the great resignation. The perspective I've taken has focused on what organizations could do/might do to address the realities of the evolving job market and labor force. What I haven't done is look to advise individuals - leaders or staff - in why they might choose to leave an organization. Nor have I actively encouraged resignation or a change of scenery. Why change tactics now? Well, the topic resonates more in the past few weeks as several of my acquaintances have realized that their commitment to a current employer is not being reciprocated OR, in some cases, they have been shown the door after years of dedicated and quality service. While many organizations often tout a perspective that human resources are the organization's greatest asset, their actions often drown out stated commitments.

These recent experiences have also caused me to reflect back on my own re-introduction to the labour force back in 2012 (and the start of my coaching/consulting career). I've gained a lot of experience and perspective over the past dozen years, not the least of which is informed by my own Core Strengths Assessment results. What particularly resonates for me are my Overdone Strengths - things I do when things are not going well for me, perhaps when anxious or in some form of conflict, but efforts I engage in with the hope/expectation of still producing a positive outcome.  My top three Overdone Strengths seem to particularly resonate:

Self-Sacrificing: being so supportive that you give up your own interests and wishes for others

Blind: being so loyal that you overlook or ignore problems with plans or people

Stubborn: being so persevering that you justify your course of action despite others' views or preferences

I could go on, but the listing of the top three Overdone Strengths suggest to me (in retrospect) that I continued to invest far too much into a job and an organization when all objective evidence was suggesting that my efforts were in support of a losing battle. I failed to appreciate that my priorities were no longer (if they ever were) the organization's priorities.  

In the past I have suggested that - as individuals and leaders - we have to engage in appropriately selfish behaviour. The context for those previous posts related to the need to continuously invest in oneself and take time to recharge one's batteries. My advice in this post is perhaps more bold and assertive on YOUR BEHALF. Don't make the same mistakes that I did in assuming that your organization or your leader is as committed to your personal success or the same goals/values as you are. Be vigorously objective in always assessing whether your needs and priorities are really being met or stand a chance of being met. My specific advice - and thoughts to continuously review for yourself on a regular basis - is as follows:

One: Make Yourself and Your Needs a Priority. This first presumes that you have actually thought about and articulated/documented what is important to you and what your life/career priorities are. By doing this you can continually evaluate current and future fit with an employer. You may also find by this articulation that you draw new opportunities to yourself.

Two: Recognize When You Are Being Used (Rather than Valued). Objectively assess how often your needs and expectations are balanced against your leader's needs and expectations. If there is a decided imbalance at play and you continue to defer to the "big picture" at your expense, I suspect you will increasingly feel disengaged and de-energized.  

Three: Document Your Value. In many of my coaching engagements, one of the key approaches that helps an individual take on new challenges is owning their strengths and accomplishments. While we easily identify our perceived weaknesses, we rarely put as much emphasis on what we are skilled at. We might be tackling imposter syndrome here or just simply helping you own the possibilities beyond your current state of affairs.  If you don't see your strengths and possibilities being leveraged in the current state, it might be time to move on.

Four: Invest Energy to Get Energy. Exhaustion at the end of the day should also be evaluated as a sign of the need to move on. If your exhaustion seems to arise out of feelings of being frustrated, disrespected, or defeated, then it's time to consider a move. If energy invested leaves you feeling exhausted from the effort but fulfilled and inspired, then hope remains. Pay attention to what your heart, mind, body, and soul are telling you. 

Five: Manage Nostalgia. It can be tough to move on, especially if there have been some good times and major accomplishments in your past. This experience directly relates to the feelings of loyalty and blindness that I noted for myself earlier. Our past experiences can cloud our judgement about the current and expected state of affairs. Challenge yourself to objectively test current reality. 

Six: Envision a Positive Future. The phrase "better the devil you know" comes to mind here as you consider a new future and possibilities. Paradoxically, I believe I was lucky in being involuntarily introduced to the marketplace. While my choice to move into consulting and then coaching was not certain, I'm pretty confident that I would have been far more hesitant to chart a dramatically different path if not pushed forward. Looking back it was clear that I lived in a lot of pain for several years and that my hesitancy to shift was based on lack of clarity of future success.  Upon reflection I can honestly say - Trust Yourself and Own your Strengths. You are capable of more and deserve the best. 

Seven: Remain Flexible and Seek Out Allies. Keep a vision in front of you and trust in better.  However, be prepared that its actual form and timing may not proceed in as linear a fashion as you might hope. In similar fashion, don't expect that yours can be or should be a solo journey. Be prepared to learn from others and be prepared to be helped by others - practice vulnerability and humility in the same way that you likely started your career so many years ago. 

Eight: Be Clear About What You Want. This tactic might be informed by previous suggestions, but I want to remind you that as you consider the next opportunities, don't be shy about being clear about what your are looking for or need from the next role. Don't settle. You don't have to. Look for the next thing that is truly your next best thing. Your prospective boss or organization certainly wants the best fit - you should apply the same lens to them.

Nine: Be Patiently Impatient. Success and change may take time. Prepare for that. Try to find a way to persevere through change. Develop and foster new networks and new opportunities. Don't be afraid to experiment. Keep moving forward while you evaluate. I have often noted that it took me at least a couple of years to find my stride in my new career and not a small amount of success came from dogged determination (and perhaps not a little masochistic behaviour!). Keep putting yourself out there on the foundations of your strengths, vision, and value. 

Ten: Be High Maintenance. What do I mean by that!? This might in fact be a summary of all that I have said before. Be clear about what you are looking for and keep holding others (leaders, organizations) to that standard. As already noted, you deserve the best. Don't settle. Be bold and be confident. Look for an opportunity that resonates with your strengths and values. Recognize that the contract you have entered into may change over time. If that becomes the case, make sure you rinse and repeat these 10 tactics.  

I recognize that these "10 commandments" may seem like a tall order. However, at the end of the day, I believe that application of this advice will support not just your career success, but also your level of fulfillment with your life as a whole.  

It's all about you.  It's About Leadership.  In this case, it's about self-leadership.

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Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions
gregh@breakpoint.solutions 
www.breakpoint.solutions 
780-250-2543

The Addictive Power of Work

Originally published on March 10, 2023.

For much of my leadership career (1986 to 2012), I devoted a significant amount of time, energy, and effort to being a good leader and on trying to go from being a good leader to a great leader.  The consequence of that commitment was there were far too many work days that started early and ended late, and far too many weekends where downtime equated to a bit of sleeping in (potentially) before getting back to work at home.  If I am honest with myself, the real consequences of that work addiction were poor physical and mental health along with not insignificant damage done to family's well-being. 

Why start to discuss this concept of work addiction when so much of the public discourse has been on quiet quitting and the great resignation?  I do believe, in fact, that these polar opposite responses stem from a similar desire to achieve some form of meaning in our lives.  Some people double down on work at the expense of all else, believing it will help them attain their brass ring.  Others choose a different path and a complete reset of life's priorities.  More recently, what brought this topic back to my attention was the news story of the Twitter executive (Esther Crawford) who was previously seen in a viral photo sleeping on the floor at headquarters as Elon Musk took over the company.  Ultimately, that commitment and loyalty (delusion?) was not enough to maintain her status in the company.  She was recently fired.  

Interestingly enough, Crawford's take on her termination wasn't cause for regret or immediate self-reflection on what had been sacrificed for this total commitment to career.  Rather she took to social media days after her termination to do battle with critics who had noted that she got the axe despite her loyalty to her boss and her job.  "The worst take you could have from watching me go all-in on Twitter 2.0 is that my optimism or hard work was a mistake," Crawford tweeted.  "Those who jeer & mock are necessarily on the sidelines and not in the arena," she said, referencing a famous quote by Theodore Roosevelt.

Time will tell whether Crawford has any change of heart.  She might not.  She could soon jump into the next business or entrepreneurial venture that feeds her.  For as many people that are looking for work-life balance, we still have a significant number that drive themselves forward relentlessly in business or career. I'm coaching some of those people now!  People who don't believe that "no" or "not now" is an appropriate answer.  People who believe that the current situation of overwork is temporary and with one more push, the work boulder can be pushed over the hill.  People who look around them and believe leadership and business success equals more time and more time and more time invested at the coal face of work (even at the expense of self and family).

What I have also observed over the past few years as well - not incidentally related to our COVID-19 reality and the hybrid work environment -  is technology (Zoom-based meetings, office technology readily available in the home) has significantly blurred the lines between work and private life.  We get up and we can immediately start work.  No need to commute.  We can "manage" back-to-back meetings without having to worry about walking from office space to meeting room.  We can extend our hours deep into the evenings... well... just because we can.  

However, what my clients are discovering, much like I discovered many years ago, is work is a relentless machine.  It will take all you give to it and it will still leave you feeling like there is so much more yet to be done.  You are never finished and never can finish.  

But there are many like Esther Crawford who will not or cannot slow the pace.  They may actually be suffering from an addiction to work.  Workaholics is a term that has been around forever, but in days past we might not even have called it that.  Excess work was just seen as the normal part of career advancement. But what drives this behavior?  What makes this type of pace an addiction?  I offer a few thoughts below.

Expectations of Self/Others.  Some of us are very goal driven.  I include myself in this category.  Whether as part of our upbringing or based on our earliest experiences of work, we have developed an expectation of self that success requires drive and sacrifice to get ahead.  We have a goal in mind, an end to be achieved.  We also often wrap up achievement of career or business goals with our worth or value as a human being.  How joyous and rewarding to call myself CEO, or COO or VP.  We crave to introduce ourselves to others with these titles.  I know I took great pride in those titles.  In some cases this drive for self-worth is wrapped up in what we see others achieving, assessing ourselves against them (e.g., "hey at age 35 they are here, I'm falling behind, better get moving"), and looking to catch up or speed ahead.  We strive on the competition and the win.

Don't Let the Team Down.  In other cases, and certainly something I have heard recently from more than one of my coaching clients, is an intense desire to not let one's team down.  This can operate when an individual is a member of a team or as a team lead.  My clients often express a desire to protect their teams from overwork, they look to shelter them from challenging situations, and so forth.  But this all comes at a personal cost.  The spirit of altruism results in the individual team member or leader carrying a load that is not sustainable long term.

I've Got Something to Prove!  At first blush this might seem to be directly related back to the expectations noted up above.  And to some extent it is.  However, whereas the former examples are driven a bit more from a positive intent (e.g., I believe I can make it if I work hard enough), what I am talking about here is a drive to diminish or eliminate any sense of inadequacy one might feel about work or leadership capabilities.  This is the chip on the shoulder mentality.  If you believe others have counted you out or have considered you unworthy, your work drive is intended - come hell or high water - to prove the bastards wrong! I too have had some of this as my motivating force for overwork. 

Being Part of the Inner Circle.  What could be more enticing than to "arrive" and get an opportunity to socialize and partner with a variety of other prestigious leaders and business people!  Each of us, in our own way, wants to be part of a tribe, and wouldn't it be great to be in the biggest and best tribe in whatever way we define it.  We can then further justify our work addiction, attendance at more functions, attendance at more meetings and networking functions from a standpoint that networks build career and business opportunities, advance the interests of our teams, and help build up prestige for our organization.  We are altruistic leaders, working on behalf of the masses, coupled with a healthy (or unhealthy?) dose of self-advancement. 

Pure Adrenaline. The final thought I will put to this is work addiction is like any other addiction.  Tolerance is a reality.  When our careers first start, we have youthful energy and enthusiasm.  We are learning the ropes.  We take on more responsibility and workload.  And if you do well at your tasks, your reward is to typically get more responsibility and more workload.  And the cycle continues.  Over time, like a drug addiction, our brain and body grow accustomed to a certain level of stimulation and we find we can do more and - more importantly - we need more of that stimulation to remain engaged and alive.  The biggest flag in this regard is we have a hard time disconnecting from work.  We feel much guilt if we knock off from work at a normal time or feel more than a bit twitchy when going on vacation.

How do you know if you have a work addiction?  You could look at some of the notes above to conduct some form of self-diagnosis.  Am I actually working more than a regular workday/week on a regular basis?  Am I often doing work or responding to emails at all hours of the day or evening?  Do I believe that one more hour, or one more day, or one more week at a relentless pace will get me over the hump - only to see the next mountain rise up before me?  

More recently I discovered an interesting assessment tool that directly focuses on work addiction.  The Bergen Work Addiction Scale uses seven basic criteria to identify work addiction, where all items are scored on the following scale: (1) Never, (2) Rarely, (3) Sometimes, (4) Often, (5) Always:

• You think of how you can free up more time to work

• You spend much more time working than initially intended

• You work in order reduce feelings of guilt, anxiety, helplessness or depression

• You have been told by others to cut down on work without listening to them

• You become stressed if you are prohibited from working

• You place less emphasis or priority on hobbies, leisure activities, exercise and family/relationships because of your work

• You work so much that it has negatively influenced your health. 

Scoring "often" or "always" on at least four of the seven items may suggest you have a work addiction.  The additional trick as it relates to the self-assessment is the degree of honesty you can muster to complete the evaluation.  You might also find it interesting to compare and contrast your self-assessment results with others as part of a 360 process. 

A weighty topic to be sure and likely not one with any easy answers for many of us.  We can choose different paths.  We can be different leaders.  I just ask you to choose wisely and consciously.  Every path has risks and rewards.  It's all about leadership!  And it might also be about your personal well-being. 

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Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions
gregh@breakpoint.solutions 
www.breakpoint.solutions 
780-250-2543

The Power of Appreciation

Originally published on March 6, 2023.

In the past several years, as COVID-19 has cut its swath through our lives, as technological advances have made jobs and tasks redundant, and as expectations for performance have increased (in terms of expectations from customers and employers), the phenomena of quiet quitting and the great resignation have gained momentum.  In many ways, however, the challenge of building up, maintaining, and sustaining employee commitment and engagement has been with us since well before 2020.  Individuals like Simon Sinek have made their mark for over 10 years talking about leadership and how to engage followers. The concept of employee engagement is now big business, but it has been so for many years, if not decades.  Companies like Gallup charge big fees for helping organizations evaluate employee engagement.  Ideally, these same companies help translate this data into strategies to change the lived experience of staff.

Why, with all this background, knowledge, and effort, are we still failing so miserably, in not only growing engagement with our people but, in very many circumstances, continuing to lose ground on employee loyalty and commitment?  Why do we continue to see so much movement and searching on the part of employees for something more and better?  What are people looking for?

Let's start by looking at the Gallup 12 questions that form the heart of their engagement assessment.  A variety of other tools and questions could serve just as well as a starting point, but the Gallup questions have some degree of familiarity in the marketplace and are simple to understand and apply:

1. Do you know what is expected of you at work? 

2. Do you have the materials and equipment to do your work right? 

3. At work, do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day? 

4. In the last seven days, have you received recognition or praise for doing good work? 

5. Does your supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about you as a person? 

6. Is there someone at work who encourages your development? 

7. At work, do your opinions seem to count? 

8. Does the mission/purpose of your company make you feel your job is important? 

9. Are your associates (fellow employees) committed to doing quality work? 

10. Do you have a best friend at work? 

11. In the last six months, has someone at work talked to you about your progress? 

12. In the last year, have you had opportunities to learn and grow?

I have purposely highlighted a few of the questions, particularly since they have resonance with my work and how I have been impacted by the power of appreciation.  Most relevant in this case are questions 4, 5 and 7.  Now, certainly the type of work I do - executive coach and management consultant - is very different than working within an intact team or large organization.  Often, by the very nature of the work, I am a team of one acting both as boss and staff.  But in other ways, as I seek to bring value to those I work with, I often develop a level of attachment and commitment to their goals that starts to mimic being a member of a team. 

In the past few weeks, several events had significant - and unexpected - impact on me to the extent that I had strong, and sometimes an uncontrollable, emotional response.  

Situation 1: As I was facilitating a workshop on governance, one of the participants marveled at my "...phenomenal ability to synthesize diverse perspectives and set foundations for teams to deliver maximum impact."  This was from a very accomplished and experienced leader in their own right who I had essentially just met.  They had no reason to artificially inflate my ego.  They had seen good and bad consultants and facilitators throughout their careers.

Situation 2: In this very same session, and out of the blue, one of my consultant colleagues texted me this simple message, "Have a good day.  Thank you for all your support and guidance." This was a message that came early on a Saturday morning, without context and completely unsolicited. 

Situation 3: Over the past number of weeks I have been acting as practicum lead coach to a team of five coaches as they explored the concept of team coaching.  At the end of each learning session, individual team members had a chance to lead a team coaching scenario.  My role was to support them in their learning and give them feedback in the moment and post-session.  At the end of the last session, the team engaged in an appreciation shower (as they called it).  Again, not something I was expecting but what I heard moved me to tears - generous, no-nonsense, highly observant, role model, brought ease to the work, constructive not critical.  There was even reflection back to one individual's experience with me from my leadership career which ended in February 2012!

Why do I highlight these experiences?  Because it had powerful impact.  It highlighted how important non-monetary factors were in encouraging ongoing effort, loyalty and commitment.  Would I come back and work with these people again?  Most assuredly.  

What made these comments so impactful?  What can we glean from my experience that you might copy in your leadership roles?  How could you practice effective appreciation, reward and recognition to promote employee retention?  Here is what I think mattered to me and might matter to others.

Don't script your appreciation.  Don't look to fulfill a quota of thank yous, appreciation or reward, and recognition. Don't make appreciation a check-box exercise.  Without a doubt, the appreciation and validation shown to me from the examples above was made more powerful because it was so unexpected.  

Make it genuine and authentic.  As I alluded to above, all of the comments and praise given to me came across as highly genuine and authentic.  I can't capture the tone of what I heard from people through their verbalization of what it was like to work with me.  All I can say was the appreciation for the work I had done with them oozed throughout the conversation. 

Make it specific.  The comments and feedback given to me were very specific.  There were no generalized thank yous.  There were no clichéd statements you might typically get in other circumstances. The comments received were very specific and directly related to the work I was doing.

Make it timely.  The compliments I received were very immediate.  In my role as coach for several organizations, I may not get feedback on my coaching engagements until months after a coaching engagement has concluded.  In the consulting world, some of the only ways you know you have hit the mark is if a client organization decides to invite you back for a repeat performance - but that may only come several months later. 

Understand your recipient.  This is probably a harder one to capture and translate into other circumstances.  What I can say is the comments from my clients and colleagues left me feeling validated and that my opinions, perspectives and guidance were valued.  What I was trying to do with my clients was actually seen in action by my clients and valued!  They saw me and they appreciated me.

Those are my takeaways for how you might approach employee reward and recognition efforts in your leadership and in your organization.  None of what I note above is about compensation.  In fact, in two of the three examples, there was little to no compensation involved.  The third circumstance was from work with a not-for profit entity (so no private jets, concierge service, or purple M&M's for my turn down service). 

I hope you will find value from these personal insights and reflections and I hope you can tailor your future work with your staff guided by some of these perspectives.  Without a team there is no leadership and part of leadership has to be about genuine appreciation and recognition.

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Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions
gregh@breakpoint.solutions 
www.breakpoint.solutions 
780-250-2543

Cultivating a Strategic Mindset - Part 2

Originally published on February 28, 2023.

In part three of this blog series (which I never intended to become a series!), we will continue to explore, at a high level, a variety of tools that you can begin to apply immediately in the pursuit of a strategic mindset skillset. You will find some of the tools relatively easy to apply while others may present a greater challenge.  Like everything else in leadership, you are encouraged to step out of your comfort zone, be compassionate with yourself as you learn, and try, try again. 

Give Yourself Some Tools and Models

One of the challenges that we may be facing when we try to develop our strategic mindset is that we could be working with a blank slate – where do we start?  This is where having awareness of one or more models or frames for strategic thinking might be helpful to you. 

A variety of models and tools do exist to kickstart your thinking.  The idea behind introducing these models is not as some of endorsement or to indicate that any of them are best-in-class or without their own limitations.  Rather, we want to start to expand you frame of reference and push your thinking to a new level. Some of these models include:

• The Iceberg Model

• Six Thinking Hats

• SWOT model

• PESTLE/PESTEL analysis

• ADKAR or other Change Management model

• Stakeholder Analysis

• Porter’s Five Forces that looks at an organization’s environment through five forces of Competitors, Buyers, Suppliers, New Entrants and Substitutes

• The BCG Model, a matrix model that looked at the world through two lenses of (current) market share and (potential) market growth to assess whether given products were dogs, cash cows, problem children or stars

• The Good to Great Model from Jim Collins, which is comprised of six elements of (1) Level 5 Leadership, (2) First Who/Then What, (3) Confront the Brutal Facts, (4) Hedgehog Concept, (5) Culture of Discipline, and (6) Technology Accelerators.

• Mind Mapping - a diagram used to visually organize information into a hierarchy, showing relationships among pieces of the whole.

• Decision Tree - a decision support tool that uses a tree-like model of decisions and their possible consequences (if àthen), including chance event outcomes, resource costs, and utility. 

There are many more models and tools that are available to you.  Use those that are easiest for you to apply or make most sense to you.  Alternatively, research what your own organization might be using to support development of its strategic thinking.  Your informational interview and mentors (mentioned in the previous blog post) might be other sources of information as well.

Think in Scenarios & Contingencies

When we discussed the core elements of a strategic mindset, we identified the concepts of hypothesis testing and intelligent opportunism.  How can we put that into practice, even in a small way, in our day-to-day work? The answer is to consciously try to develop scenarios and contingencies.

This is a proven method of expanding one’s perspective and testing assumptions/ options when applied to issues both tactical and strategic. The process sees an individual or team develop plausible options about what could happen in a changing environment for an organization. 

Depending on the opportunity or issue in play for you, the variables you might change to test the impact on your plans could be informed by any of the tools or models that we have already described:

• What would the impact be on my initiative should a key stakeholder in my organization change?  What level of support could I expect going forward?

• What happens if my budget projections change by 5%, positive or negative?  10%?  What corrective actions might I need to take to get back to balanced budget?

• What would happen if anticipated volumes of service delivery didn’t materialize?  What if my projections were off by 5%, 10% or higher (positive or negative)?

The intent through this work is not to come up impossible scenarios (although something like COVID-19 seemed implausible until it happened) but to help you anticipate changes and be prepared to pivot to new plans as required.  Through this process you not only start to understand and explore the factors at play, thus enhancing your ability to think strategically, but you also position yourself proactively and confidently to make changes in a moment of potential crisis. 

Create Your Own Tools & Supports

This tactic for developing your strategic mindset may at first seem nonsensical – how can I develop a tool to help me become strategic when I might be starting from a point of not knowing what a strategic mindset means? There is method to this proposed madness!

In this case, we suggest two very basic – but powerful – things that you can do for yourself.  First, if nothing similar currently exists in your organization, create a decision-making template or checklist that allows you to apply a strategic lens to any of your key operational decisions.  This checklist or framework need not be pages and pages in length but would allow you to deliberately evaluate a decision against the “bigger picture” for yourself and the organization. 

The types of questions you might consider as part of your decision framework could include:

• Is this action or initiative aligned with and supportive to my/our mission?

• Is this action or initiative aligned with my/our organizational values?

• Which one of our current strategic directions or priorities does this action/ initiative currently support?

• Is this action/initiative a good use of my time/resources or that of my team based on my other assigned priorities?

• What stakeholders – internal or external – would be impacted by what I am about to do?

• What do my stakeholders expect of me prior to me taking action?  Do they wish to be consulted with, partnered with, or simply informed?

• If I make adjustments in my assumptions will that make my decision easier or harder to implement (back to scenario building and contingency planning)?

Ideally, the power of this checklist approach comes in the form of its simplicity, its ease of use, and its immediate availability for use in your workspace.  Create and post this in your line of sight so that you may readily ask yourself, “Is this an opportunity to further develop my strategic thinking skills?”

The second tool that you can give yourself is the space and time to focus on being strategic.  Everything we have discussed comes with an investment of time, energy and intellectual capacity.  Again, as with any new skill or habit, we have to determine that this time, energy and effort is worthwhile and will in fact deliver a return on investment.  It is equally true that we will get back in return from the effort exactly or in direct proportion to what we put into developing our new skill.  

While there might be those times where we can try to be strategically mindful at a moment in time, it is more beneficial to consider setting aside some dedicated in our calendars on a regular basis to support thoughtful consideration and debrief.  This structured debrief time can allow us to reflect on what has been working or not working, what we can anticipate in the future, and how we might do things differently with the benefit of hindsight. 

I hope I have given you much food for thought.  Cultivating a Strategic Mindset - It's All About Leadership!

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Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions
gregh@breakpoint.solutions 
www.breakpoint.solutions 
780-250-2543

Cultivating a Strategic Mindset - Part 1

Originally published on February 21, 2023.

In the last blog post we dissected the components of what made up a strategic mindset.  Great! Theoretically, you now have an understanding of what the concept is and what the elements of such are.  But, what can you do to actively cultivate what we have described as an essential leadership skill?

In part one of this two part blog series, we will explore, at a high level, a variety of tools that you can begin to apply immediately in this development quest. You will find some of the tools relatively easy to apply while others may present a greater challenge.  Like everything else in leadership, you are encouraged to step out of your comfort zone, be compassionate with yourself as you learn, and try, try again. 

Reading? Yes, Reading!

Developing (and sustaining) a strategic mindset is hard work.  You probably have already felt some of that through your existing or initial developmental efforts in this regard. However, if you want to continue to progress in the development of this skillset then some targeted, self-directed research is in order.  This area of exploration takes on a few different forms. [note: in the modern era reading can also stand in for podcasts, vlogs, videos, and other similar forms of learning].

1.     Information about/from your own organization.

As a leader there is no easier and no more accessible way to start developing a bigger picture view for yourself than reading your own organization’s strategic plans, annual reports or other publications.  Reading through them may help direct you to other documents that the organization has produced in the past or otherwise have informed their assessment of the organization and the environment in which it operates. 

2.     Information more specifically relevant to your profession or career.

Some of us have professional bodies or associations that we belong to.  These organizations can be another source of information as to what is important for them, how they see the profession or sectors developing over time, and deliver this information through magazines, white papers, websites and similar sources. 

3.     Information about your sector and/or your competitors as relevant.

Depending on the sector you are in, you may also be able to access resources and materials that are put out by other organizations similar to or in competition to you. This is certainly sector dependent.  For companies or organizations that are publicly-traded or highly regulated there can be a significant reporting requirements that are readily available to anyone interested in reading them. For those companies or enterprises that are privately held or who might be less sophisticated or resourced to produce informative material the challenge might be more daunting. 

4.     Information about the broader environment in which you and your organization lives and operates.

Likely the biggest and most challenging task in developing one’s strategic mindset is looking out to the broader environment in which you or your organization operates.  This starts to delve into areas that many of us might be less interested in or versed in – political, economic, and social trends for example.  While this takes greater time and effort, it affords an individual leader with the opportunity to truly expand your frame of reference.  This effort truly bears fruit if we can start to question how issues and trends in other sectors might end up impacting us and our work.

Informational Interviews

The self-directed learning noted above can only go so far in expanding your perspective on strategy and strategic thinking.  In the absence of other learning or experience that learning may be somewhat random or misdirected.  This is where the concept of informational interviews comes into play.

An informational interview is a targeted, face-to-face or virtual meeting that is intended to gather information about your sector, another sector, the broader environment in which your organization operates, or any element that advances your knowledge or skill in strategic thinking.

When you are curious about a particular industry, role, or approach to work, an informational interview can be a valuable tool for gaining insights that cannot be found in everyday research. Put simply, it is a conversation that can help inform your strategic mindset.

Informational interviews can be a gateway to information and someone else’s lived experience that you would not usually have access to. Identifying the people you want to talk to can be as simple as asking someone else for a warm introduction or reaching out through business sites such as LinkedIn.

Most of have a fear of seeking out these kinds of opportunities.  However, people are usually willing to respond to such requests when they are asked in a professional manner and are identified for the purpose of learning and development. All you have to do is approach these conversations in a spirit of humility, genuine curiosity and a desire to learn.

Mentorship

A mentor can be transformational for the development of your strategic insights and thinking.  Accessing one or more mentors (yes, you can have more than one mentor) allows you to tap into the learning and experience of someone who is more senior in their role or profession or who is in a position to offer unique insights otherwise unavailable to you.

In contrast to the informational interview noted above, it would be expected that a mentoring relationship would continue beyond a single conversation.  It should be noted, however, that an informational interview could be the gateway to identifying a mentor for yourself.

Mentoring relationships can be both formal and informal and vary in intensity of effort.  Some mentoring relationships can last as little as a year, while others can become life-long professional partnerships.  

Your mentor(s) can come from a variety of sources both internal and external to your organization.  Internal mentors benefit from understanding your organization but may lack in new and different perspectives.  The reverse can be true from those external to your organization – less versed in your particular business issues, but more able to give you new and different perspectives on strategic thinking.

Questions, Questions, Questions!

Closely tied to the techniques of informational interviews and mentorship is the need to continue to develop and ask questions.  This may come across as a highly simplistic tool to offer up in terms of developing your strategic mindset, but we suggest that far too often we don’t develop a variety of skills because we fail to ask questions. 

This happens for a variety of reasons not the least of which is our own fear of coming across as somehow inferior (e.g., I don’t want to look dumb, or everyone probably already knows that so why shouldn’t I?).  In many ways, we make up a variety of scenarios in our own minds as to how our question might be perceived or what we think others might think of us for asking such a question.  This mirrors the concept of “imposter syndrome” where we have somehow convinced ourselves that we are not as qualified or skilled as others and we don’t want to formally confirm that assumption with others.

What we often fail to realize is others are far more likely to treat our question with the same level of compassion and empathy as would if the tables were turned.  This is particularly true when we position the question as a learning and development opportunity for us.

More to come!  While we have covered some decent ground here, there is more to offer in a sequel to this post.  And best practice in learning might also be don't overwhelm the learner through a firehose approach!  Part II coming soon…

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Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions
gregh@breakpoint.solutions 
www.breakpoint.solutions 
780-250-2543