Our Leadership Choices

I last posted to this blog over a month ago (April 2020). At that time we were relatively early in our COVID response in Alberta/Canada.  Around the world we have witnessed a multitude of varied responses to this pandemic, its health and economic impacts, and hoped for relaunch.  Many of us - myself included - were wondering what the short-term and medium-term future held for our employment and business prospects, how we might make ends meet, how we could still deliver on the educational requirements of our children (hello home schooling!) and protect vulnerable family members from a premature death. 

How the world has changed in a month - and not in a good way!  As I write this we are seeing continued massive economic dislocation throughout the world, the first faltering steps towards (perhaps premature) relaunch, documented deaths from COVID nearing or over 400,000 globally (and more than likely an underestimate), no ability to say when normal - whatever that means - returns, and now the greatest civil strife in the USA that I have witnessed in my lifetime. 

Leadership has never been more in question and never more required than now.  But, I dare say, we are found wanting for courageous and selfless leadership like never before.  And I recognize as I say this that not everyone's definition might include a reference to selfless and others might well define courageous as draconian and iron-fisted, not conciliatory, considered and collaborative.  I lament the political posturing and bravado that somehow seems to be more the norm than ever before.  And this situation prevails not just in the USA - the easy target with a reality TV persona focused on dominating the streets and bible-holding photo-ops - but also in large parts of the world from Brazil to the UK. 

How have we come to this crossroads in leadership and life?

I come to back to elements of a post I first wrote back in August 2014.  At that time I had just completed a book by Sebastian Haffner, written in 1978 and translated from its original German in 1979.  This analysis of a prominent historical figure of our time was entitled "The Meaning of Hitler."

Right off the mark you might now question how I could reasonably tie an assessment of Hitler's reign to our current state of affairs.  And sadly others would not question this comparison at all. What possible insight could I have gleaned from a book analyzing the actions of a genocidal megalomaniac?  Simply this: Haffner analyzed both Hitler's successes and achievements and contrasted that against his failures and defeat.  What he concluded from both was that the rise and fall in Hitler's fortune was not a result of any physical, mental, emotional, intellectual or other change in Hitler himself.  He suggests that Hitler was quite dogmatic and unwavering in pursuit of his ends and the means to achieve those ends.  Rather, Haffner states, "[The] key lies not in any changes in Hitler.  It lies in the change and alternation of the opponents with whom Hitler had to deal."  He goes on to say, "Successes always involve two [people] - and the success of one is the failure of the other.  Given constant strength one can be successful against a weaker opponent and unsuccessful against a stronger one...Hitler's successes and failures become instantly explicable if one turns one's attention away from Hitler and towards his opponents at the times in question." (Underline is my emphasis.)

Haffner specifically suggested that Hitler only succeeded as a leader when he faced weak opposition, when he faced weak leaders - Chamberlain, Daladier, and others within and outside of Germany - in the years leading up to World War II.  After the invasion and subjugation of Poland, and most definitively after 1941 and declarations of war on the Soviet Union and the United States, Hitler faced a decidedly different calibre of leaders in the form of Churchill, De Gaulle, Stalin and Roosevelt.  He ultimately was defeated even though his character and tactics had not changed at all from those that had led to his early, spectacular successes.

When I first wrote this blog, I focused only on the external opponents of Hitler and how that changed the fortunes and outcomes in World War II.  What was clearly missing from my analysis, and became even more important in the eventual devastation of Germany, was either the active participation of others in the pursuit of Nazi utopia or the acquiescence of greater portions of the population in this march of doom.  Hitler not only rose to power and achieved his earliest successes because of weak or naïve external leaders.  First and foremost, Hitler had the active support of those that believed as he did, saw their advancement in his actions, or were simply complicit in allowing events to unfold as they did.  Hitler had willing and willfully blind accomplices.  Some believed as he did.  Others turned a blind eye to what was happening before them so long as they could gain or not be adversely impacted.  If it wasn't happening to them (e.g., constraint/ elimination of rights, persecution, execution), they kept whistling in the dark, convincing themselves there was a greater good at play, bad things were not really happening, or otherwise pretending life was normal or better than it had been or otherwise could be.

That's where I fear we have come to now.  Collectively, if we lament the state of our society and the calibre of leadership that is with us or has led us to this point, we have only to look in the mirror for the answer as to "why?".  If we have looked in the mirror, we have seen the enemy and it is us.  It is with this line that I understand, if not fully comprehend, the protests and riots taking place in the streets of US cities - many of which I have walked in ignorance and bliss on countless trips before now.  Columbus, Denver, Chicago, Philadelphia, to name but a few.  I also must appreciate that we in Canada are not so distant from this level of discord and polarity.  We also tolerate, incubate and ignore leaders who would divide us from each other, create enemies of others, all in the belief that we are somehow above the ideological chasms that exist elsewhere.  We remain blind, naïve and complacent at our peril.

This may seem like a somewhat belaboured point, but the insight I gained from this unlikely source is that mediocre leaders, poor leaders or destructive leaders succeed not so much by what they do but by what we ourselves fail to do.  If we desire different leadership, we must have the courage to look for it, to ask for it, to demand it, and to support leaders that will inspire us to some more noble goals and achievements.

If the collective WE fails to exert our own expectations and standards for the type of leadership we desire, than we likely deserve the hand we are dealt.  As well, look at the experience of other nations and societies we may find that while misery loves company it's no recipe for success.

It's about the choices WE make and 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

Grace and Compassion through Crisis

The concepts of grace and compassion - for self and for those you work and live with - have increasingly come to the fore over the last several weeks.   I apply that assessment and reality to myself as well as to my clients and their organizations.  Working with a variety of leaders and organizations, I have had a bit of a ring side seat to see how the COVID-19 - and related/unrelated economic impacts - have played out for their teams.  Some seem to have strengthened and managed well.  Others have been characterized by various levels of discord and sometimes outright conflict. 

Make no mistake.  The impacts we are experiencing are highly variable.  Some organizations and businesses are running on the treadmill like never before.  If you are in the business of personal protective equipment, supply chain management, trucking, digital technology, or foodstuffs, the bottom line may be looking quite robust and well beyond normal projections.  If your business is any way related to providing personalized services like massage therapy and hairstyling or needs/has to operate with a requirement for large volume attendance, like movie theatres, the bottom has likely dropped out with concerns about short- to medium-term viability.  In between all of that we have some businesses and organizations whose teams are being impacted differentially.  In this case I think of the healthcare sector. Those working on direct care patient care = all hands on deck.  Those with more distant affiliation to that current focus = potentially having their priorities put on ice.  In other circumstances = hiring as many direct care staff as possible and/or increasing their hours.  For others, it means even going so far as layoffs.

And this just relates to the varied work-related impacts.  This doesn't begin to take into account the myriad home-based and personal realities that we are dealing with.  And those realities are very different.  We have seen negative reaction and push-back to celebrities endorsing physical distancing - as they send their video messages from their palatial homes with every amenity possible to them and grand spaces that provide opportunities to both engage with and find distance from other family members as required.  We see increasing number of (hopefully isolated) protests in some urban centres seeking to end the lockdowns.  We've seen the rush on toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and weapons all based on fear of "what if".  The impacts for individuals are as varied as their circumstances - young or old, single or married, with kids or no kids, being in the same city as extended family or not, remaining employed or not, having a financial cushion or not, having somebody in a care facility or not, having access to technology (e.g., FaceTime) or not. 

Then there are your own personal resilience reserves.  Like it or not, those reserves are pretty much what we had when we entered this particular fray.  They are a function of our life experience prior to all of this, how much adversity we have previously experienced, how centred we are (e.g., understanding our own values and life purpose), how connected we have been to others (e.g., did we/do we have a support network), our self-care practices, and our perspective on the world and ourselves (e.g., do we see ourselves as victims of fate or creators of our own destiny).  I certainly believe there are things we can do in this time to support our resilience, but it’s a bit more challenging to enhance resilience if we feel under duress than in other less stressful times.

What does this all have to do with Grace and Compassion?  Clearly these are not normal times.  As a leader you are going to have to find a way to navigate these times for yourself AND for your team.  First, understand and OWN this reality.  Maybe you believe you are navigating these rough waters quite well.  I would encourage you to challenge that belief or assumption.  Objectively evaluate your current capacity.  These are not normal times.  Even this honest exercise may demonstrate a degree of courage, honesty, and vulnerability that might be beneficial to the teams you lead.

What can you do for your teams right now to provide them with the necessary grace and compassion through this crisis and help them have grace and compassion for each other?  Several opportunities come to mind:

• Recognize the differential impact that may be playing out for your team members.  This may be a function of their life circumstances (e.g., married, kids, caring for elderly parents, etc.), a function of other personal capacities and experiences, or even their ability/capacity to work virtually or not as now being required.  A one-size approach to leading them is not appropriate, nor would a "buck-up" mentality be helpful.  Situational leadership writ large!

• Reinforce that everyone is trying to do their best under trying circumstances.  Under stress, we all do things that are not necessarily our normal or best behavior. We might be physically, emotionally, or mentally exhausted.  We may have a "straw that broke the camel's back" moment.  Help your team to give each other the benefit of the doubt and provide space to calm the waters.  Be present with each other at this time.

• Confirm and clarify priorities.  Right now there is an increased chance for confusion as information mixes with rumor about what the next phase of the crisis response may have to look like.  Focus, clarity and succinct communication has never been more important.  Don't overwhelm your team with data and speculation.  Keep it simple Simon (KISS).  Less is likely more right now, particularly if people on your team are feeling overwhelmed or not quite on their game.

• Provide an appropriate forum for them to share their challenges AND their potential solutions. Even this simple opportunity to connect and share experiences can be a powerful tool to support connection and instill some sense of control for each of them.  While our mind can be a dangerous neighborhood to go into alone, the opportunity to know that they need not be isolated can perhaps shed some cobwebs for all.

• Maintain presence and connection.  This is important at all times but perhaps even more so with physical distancing requirements and being in crisis mode.  The greatest value in this will be in using virtual opportunities to not just conduct business, but also demonstrate sincere empathy and recognition for the work being done by your team.  If you can model that leadership, empathy and recognition, you can set the tone for how your team shows up for each other.

• Demonstrate confidence in your team, empower them, and enable them.  There may be an increased temptation to micro-manage every detail of crisis management right now.  However, if you have been clear on priorities and engaged in good communication, the need to take over should be mitigated.  Allow your team to be meaningfully engaged and even appropriately distracted by their work right now.  That simple act alone may help them manage through.

• Manage the pace.  In many cases right now you might be feeling you need to run at a sprint pace.  Unfortunately, you are engaged in a marathon distance (or ultra-marathon).  The sprint pace is not sustainable.  You will have to find the courage to slow yourself down, and slow your team down, if you want to remain effective and functional over the next number of weeks or months.  

We are going to get through this.  The question is how much stronger or weaker we will arrive on the other side.  How many of our people will still be with us in body or spirit once the current crisis passes?  The answer to that question will likely relate to how much grace and compassion we have shown for each other and ourselves.  

And that IS 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

Time for a BreakPoint

BreakPoint Solutions as a the name for our leadership development and consultancy firm was a very deliberate and purposeful decision.  Not that the naming of any company or venture is ever random.  But as it was launched, there was a realization that there was an opportunity to capture the essence of what we were going to be about, who we wanted to be, and what we hoped to achieve.  The definition is intended to convey the power of coaching, leadership, self-awareness, and strategic intent that encompasses our work here at BreakPoint:

"an intentional stopping point or place to pause, an opportunity to derive new knowledge, establish commitment to a new direction in one's career or life...allowing one to evaluate a current path, effort and results, inspect one's environment, and reset for future success."

The reality of COVID-19 has put us all into a definitive - if involuntary - pause and, at the very least, a short-term enforced resetting of priorities.  There has been a vast amount of speculation as to what the future holds or what it should hold while we ride out a storm with no definitive end date.  We keep speculating as to when life will return to "normal" - end of April, mid-May, end of June... never?  We have reasonable belief that a vaccine is still at least a year out and that it is reasonable to expect another wave, or more, of COVID-19 will haunt us into the fall and perhaps beyond.  Vigilance and reinforcement of new health and social norms will be asked and required of us.

So beyond managing and/or leading through this, how can we, as leaders and individuals, effectively and constructively use this pause.  One of the requirements of leaders in particular is to not just get caught up in the crisis of the moment.  We are singularly called to think strategically, keep our "eyes up", and chart a course across the stormy waters to the murky future.  As leaders, we also have to act to calm the waters for those who we purport to lead - not add gas to the proverbial fire.  Easier said than done I know.  I also realize that for some businesses, the long-term is currently being measured in just months, weeks, or even days - all as we keep an eye on the cash reserves and bills that still keep coming in.  

As an executive coach, entrepreneur, and small business owner, I have always tried to practice what I preach.  Not to simply throw tools, templates and resources at my clients without actually putting those same tools to use in developing and guiding my business and personal development.  

So what has this pause meant to me? How am I remaining strategic and even visionary while riding the waves of this storm-tossed sea?  How am using this BreakPoint?

I've gone back to revisit at least two tools.  At the first and simplest level I've gone back to review my own leadership and personality assessments.  This includes emotional intelligence, Total Strengths Deployment Inventory (TSDI), and Myers-Briggs.  Why am I doing this? I recognize that I am - and we all are - operating under new, sustained, and significant stresses in all aspects of life (personal and professional), and likely not operating from the best place.  So the review of these results helps make the unconscious conscious, arms me with a better ability (with some conscious effort) to slow down and reset, and ultimately be in a better place to continue to be relatively sane, productive and present for others. 

The other core tool for me is my own personal business plan.  While I have always approached the concept of this plan - and strategic planning in general - as a dynamically supportive process and document, it is abundantly clear that the assumptions that informed this plan at its annual update in August last year have been radically upended.  The growth curve that has characterized my entrepreneurial venture since 2012 is going to be flattened. That is reality.  

I still, however, have choice in terms of how I respond to that reality.  For some, the current crisis might reinforce the futility of planning at all.  What's the point?  We are merely railing against the wind and creating the delusion of control.  I don't believe that.  I'm not content to believe I am merely subject to the winds of predetermined fate. I don't believe any of us can truly function without a sense of our core self and a desired future state we wish to achieve.  But then I have always remained idealistic despite a number of significant bumps in both my personal and professional lives.  

This is where the value of my personal business plan comes into play.  This is more than just a plan for the business of BreakPoint Solutions or my own individual coaching/consulting practice.  It encompasses concepts of Mission, Vision, Values, short- through long-term objectives, strategies and tactics.  It also encompasses the entirety of planning for the whole of me - personal, family, and professional. 

The need to review the plan has been reinforced by the new environmental reality.  That reality and my review has reinforced the essential soundness of my Mission and Vision.  I am confident that I am pursuing the right things for the right reasons.  

Strategies, tactics and targets for this year are definitely going to be changing - and this also provides opportunity to ensure I am living in accordance to my stated Values.  So while things like family vacations in Florida have been cancelled and Ironman competition in August hangs in the balance, what has been reinforced is the need to spend quality time with my loved ones.  Balance and fun remain essential.  We just need to do it differently right now.

From a business and professional standpoint, my Values and the rest of my plan call me to continue to focus on being of service to my clients.  Coaching has never been more relevant to those being challenged by these circumstances or having to work virtually.  Connection versus isolation.  This pause has also afforded me the opportunity to invest in a range of offerings that have been in my idea bucket for months, if not years.  I've pulled the trigger on getting some of these products trademarked and copyrighted.  I'm still building the legacy for years to come, despite short-term challenges.

Long story short, this pause, while quite unwelcome, can form the basis for resetting, getting further clarity on what is important and what is necessary, and thus set the foundation for greater strength coming out of the storm when it passes.

So use this BreakPoint to your best advantage.  Slow down to go fast.  Establish and confirm your priorities.  Build hope for yourself, your team, and your family.  We can use this enforced pause to advantage.  We can build stronger foundations.  We can continue to live our Mission fully and achieve our long-term Vision. It's About Leadership and It's About Leadership of Self. 

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

Being the Eye of the Storm

The last several days and weeks have been unlike anything we have ever experienced before.  The reality of COVID-19 and our need to respond to its challenge on personal, organizational, community, national and global levels has been compared to the Great Depression, the total war effort of World War II, and even the Black Death.  At this point we don't know the full scope of what will transpire in the short-term (much less the long-term), with such timeline being measured in hours, days and at best weeks.  We have seen models and projections in terms of lives that may be lost, economic havoc to be visited and being visited upon employment and business survival, and time over which COVID-19 may be with us.

The challenge to leadership - your leadership - has likely never been greater than it is now, or may ever be through the rest of your career.  In some cases you are being called on to make decisions - right now - that you believe are going to make the difference to the survival of your business or organization.  You also may be juggling issues of how those short-term survival decisions will impact the long-term viability of your business.  You are walking a delicate tightrope of short-term and long-term decisions and impacts.  For some of you, particularly in healthcare, you are also making decisions which literally have life and death consequences. 

So what truly are you called on to be as leader at this time?  This metaphorical hurricane is upon us and the winds are tearing away at the fabric of our shared reality.  Your role as a leader is not to pull yourself from the storm, nor always dive in amongst the lashing winds and rain, but rather to be the eye in the storm for those you lead and serve.

This is going to call on all your reserves, courage and discipline you can muster.  And you do have tools to make that happen.  But you will need to create a plan, hold to a plan and create some supports to help you execute that plan.  Here are my thoughts on the kernels of a plan to support your personal leadership so you can effectively lead in and through this storm we are in.

Get CRYSTAL CLEAR on the REAL Priorities - In the walls of the storm there is a lot of flotsam and jetsam being thrown about.  It will be easy to get distracted by everything coming at you and being thrown at you by the full range of your stakeholders.  Get focused on what the true critical priorities are at this time and continuously reinforce and uphold those priorities for yourself and your team.  Calm the waters as best you can.  When new requests or initiatives come up, come back to the priorities you all agreed had to guide you to begin with.

Clarify and Hold to Your Values - What is going to guide your personal and organizational actions at this trying time?  Solidify your understanding of your true north.  Understand what tradeoffs you are going to have to make right now.  Get comfortable with the uncomfortable.  Appreciate and own that you and your team are making the best decisions you can with the information available to you right now.  If staff and client/customer safety is #1, your actions need to be so guided.  If economic viability is #1, make it so.

Take Time to Breathe - Despite your belief that your presence and insight is required 24/7 over the next number of days, the reality is that such effort is not sustainable and it will actually become largely counterproductive.  Maintaining or trying to maintain such a high adrenaline pace will progressively diminish your mental, physical and emotional capacity.  As you maintain the sprint effort during the course of this marathon, you will falter.  You will need to exercise the discipline to disengage - even on a daily basis - to maintain your balance so you can maintain the balance the rest of your team is going to need. Go slow to go fast if you wish to finish this race.

Self-Care - Beyond taking time to breathe on a regular basis, you are going to have to ensure the basics of proper sleep, nutrition and mental distraction for the duration of this.  Failure to take these necessary steps will continue to erode your leadership capacity.  If your health erodes, you will be in no position to serve or save anyone else.

Stay Connected - It's lonely at the top.  And these days - with physical distancing - it’s lonely in the bottom and the middle as well.  One of the very real challenges in leadership at the best of times is believing we have to take on the challenges we face alone.  This is a leadership fallacy from the "good times" and is a critical failure waiting to happen if we carry gallantly and alone now.  Find a way to stay connected with your team, with a confidante, with other leaders - or even your executive coach.  Our mind is a dangerous neighborhood to go into alone...

Sustain Hope - As hard as it is to believe now, this too shall pass.  The storm will subside.  One of your critical roles in leadership will be to provide a sense of balance, hope and optimism for those in your charge. You can only do this if you develop and maintain for yourself a positive vision for the future post-storm.  You can only do this if you don't allow yourself to become overwhelmed and exhausted in the current fight.  Give yourself just a bit of space to imagine a world that is calmer, if different, after the storm clouds have broken and the sun shines once again.

I leave you with the poetic verse of Rudyard Kipling.  While the first verse seems to speak most strongly to the calming presence required of leadership right now, I believe there is strength in its entirety.  Stay well, stay well, and stay sane. 

“If you can keep your head when all about you 
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all ... doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools

If you can make one heap of all your winnings 
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with [Royalty] - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all [people] count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a [Leader], my [love]!” 

- Rudyard Kipling...

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

A Post-COVID-19 Future?

The hyperbole - and reality - surrounding the impact and the response of the world to COVID-19 has been profound.  The images that we've seen from around the world - Pope Francis conducting prayers in a vacant St. Peter's Square, coffins filling churches where once devotees gathered, largely empty and desolate streets of major cities across the world - some of which I have only recently visited.  The dire economic impact for so many with mass layoffs, increased debt and personal and business bankruptcy looming.  As I self-isolate at home, while watching my wife fully engage in the health care system as a nurse leader, and watch the daily tally of cases and deaths in my province, country and around the world I wonder how this shared experience will change the life we return to post lockdown.

The answers to this big question - what does the future hold? - is, of course, highly speculative.  To some degree the answers will depend on how long we are in lockdown, how long it takes our "systems" to return to whatever the new normal will be, and also how resilient and creative we can be as individuals, businesses and nations.  And will we learn from this experience or seek to quickly expunge its sting from our individual and collective memories?  I expect that we will see an acceleration of changes that had already been prevalent before COVID-19 added proverbial gas to our ever-changing world - urbanization, on-line shopping, virtual work and education, migration and population dislocation, movement to increased environmental consciousness.

What I note below are a series of questions, largely presented as a set of opposing forces with no definitive answers.  Ying and Yang.  In some circumstances, the approach to the questions betrays my personal bias and hope for the future as well.  So in no particular order here are my observations, questions and perhaps hopes for a new and different future ahead.

Isolation versus Connection - I've seen and experienced an interesting dichotomy during this enforced lockdown.  While we have all been forced to self-isolate or at least constrain our contact with humanity we seemingly have never craved connection more.  Social media has been both a bane of false information and the glue that has kept us connected and sane.  If I reflect upon how life was for me over 50 years ago as a child growing up in a small rural community we had strong familiarity and connection with our neighbours.  Prior to COVID-19, at age 55, I can honestly say that I interacted with my neighbours hardly at all.  We were cordial but insular.  What does the future hold?  In a post-COVID-19 world will we revel in new opportunities for connection or will we be even more cautious and hold to our individual fortresses of solitude?

Individualism versus Collectivism - we have seen and experienced a marked contrast in human response (and even national responses) to the march of COVID-19.  We have all seen - and perhaps contributed to - the run on toilet paper, hand sanitizer and ammunition in the past several weeks.  We have seen narcissistic, self-serving/preserving and mercenary behavior from even our most esteemed leaders while at that same time seeing amazingly selfless acts and commitments from others.  Most notable in this last category have been healthcare professionals across the globe.  Will a post-COVID-19 world lead us to more self-centred and protectionist reality or one in which we aspire to collective support?

Tribalism versus Globalism - in the current reality, and perhaps for the right reasons, we have seen jurisdiction after jurisdiction shut its borders.  This has impacted travel on a domestic, national and international level.  Much like the behavior operative at a personal level in hoarding toilet paper, we have also seen commentary and actions on a national level relating to bans on exports to other countries of essential medical supplies.  This has been supported by social and political commentary from some quarters that can be best paraphrased "Take care of our own first."  What COVID-19 demonstrates, however, is that certain events respect no national or tribal boundaries.  We are only as strong as our weakest link.  So will we become more isolationist, protective (even racist) in a post-COVID-19 world or will we strive to become more unified as a species?

High Touch or High Tech - perhaps this comparison doesn't hold as a set of polar opposites.  In reality we likely need both.  The respirators, haz mat suits for a variety of professions, the monitoring capacity for health and security purposes, the scientific endeavours being urgently pursued to create vaccines and other palliatives all can seemingly act as barriers to the human connection we all need.  Paradoxically, the challenges we are facing now will likely accelerate technological advances no less than battlefield experiences during World War II and other conflicts accelerated advances in the medical field.  The question will continue to be how do we balance the need for human connection as we develop and implement technological advances?

Democracy versus Authoritarianism - prior to COVID-19 Western democracies were already experiencing significant moments of self-doubt and introspection.  From the "yellow-jacket" movement in a number of countries, to Brexit, to the MAGA movement in the US (occasioned, in part, by disillusionment with the "establishment"), to nascent separatist movements in a number of countries.  In contrast, "we" have felt the apparent strength and purpose from a country like China over the years as their economy - and political clout - has grown unencumbered by dissenting opinion.  We have also started to mimic the authoritative approach to COVID-19 that China, Singapore, and South Korea have taken to minimize and control the short-term and long-term impact of COVID-19.  So what impact will this pandemic have on the future of democracy?  We will expect and demand more from our leaders?  We will expect and demand more of ourselves?  Do we continue with multi-party democracy or, as in the current environment, expect more collaborative and consensus-building as opposed to left versus right jockeying for position?

Freedom versus Security - similar to the polar opposites noted above, have been the disparate responses (at least in western democracies) to the requests and then more forceful actions relating to social distancing, isolation and shutdowns.  For some individuals (e.g., spring break participants, some political leaders) the constraints on personal freedoms and the impact to the larger economy are not just unpalatable but unnecessary or even unconscionable.  In the words of some, the cure can't be worse than the disease.  For others, the "temporary" loss of movement, association and general liberty are more than justified under the current circumstances.  The question becomes, will western society continue to value personal freedom to the same degree going forward or will this become more balanced against the type of vulnerability that COVID-19 demonstrates we all share?

Capitalism versus Socialism - at this time of major economic dislocation, perhaps particularly in the US (but also in other countries) many have begun to question why the private sector and its political allies who would have railed against socialist policies or tendencies would now expect governments to bail them out.  Likewise, we have also seen a dawning realization or stronger appreciation for the efforts of healthcare professionals, educators and those earning minimum wage as key backbones for what makes our economies and societies function.  And we have seen governments across the world strive to get cash in the pockets of individuals to get them through the next number of months - universal basic income?  With the exception of Alberta, we have also seen the public sector be a safe(r) haven for employment than the private sector despite calls for "social consciousness".   What lessons will we take away and apply to the new world order after this particular crisis passes?  What approach or philosophy will we take forward to how we live and sustain ourselves?
The challenges to leadership have never been more daunting, complex and dynamic than in today's environment.  In some cases, the forces at play have been building for awhile and COVID-19 has merely sharpened the edges and pushed other things to the final tipping point.  COVID-19 may have also helped us focus on true priorities  What remains to be seen is what we will truly learn from this experience, how willing we will be to engage in honest self-reflection and make opportunity from this challenge.

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

Sustaining Resilience

The concept - and need for - personal and organizational resilience has never been more critical than now.  But right now THIS feels very personal.  The reality of COVID-19 has levelled the human playing field.  Without a doubt those with means may have some advantage in isolating and in not having to worry (as much) about financial implications in either the short- or long-term.  Outside of that, however, COVID-19 seems to care less about the size of your wallet and more about who you may have been associating with, your age and other underlying health conditions.  Once you get it, it seems pretty apparent that even if could afford to have your own critical care team, intensive care unit and respirator the outcome is still a roll of the dice.

What have I seen so far?  I've seen friends and family scrambling back from overseas trips, worried that borders might close or flights might disappear before then can get home.  I've seen places we've stayed in Italy on the brink of bankruptcy - honest, hardworking small business owners who may be - have been- devastated by this plague.  I've talked to many of my coaching and consulting clients and heard their anxiety for themselves, their families and their livelihood.  And we've only just begun this journey.

For myself, I've seen a slew of cancellations - even of virtual events - as people look to ensure compliance with public health directives or just get strongly focused on core business and family priorities.  I'm now mostly working from home, partly because both school and daycare for my two youngest children have been cancelled.  I'm a home-based business, entrepreneur and daddy daycare now!  I keep in contact with my 79-year-old mother who lives in another province - making sure she lives safely.  I've seen my oldest daughter "graduate" her latest university course in March - versus April.  And my wife - being a registered nurse and health care leader - has now gone full-in as a leader in a senior's living complex.  I'm all in. There are no bystanders in this thing.

So how can we maintain some sense of balance and resilience at this time? I could give you a very strong "academic" formula for that as could others.  But I believe at this time that we more practical guidance, suggestions and developing lessons on how to make it through right now.  And that's not to say that I have THE answers.  I don't.  I've had plenty of anxiety if not panic attacks and sleepless nights as I contemplate what is around the corner and how long this road is going to be. So what am I doing to sustain my resilience (and save my sanity)?

Batten down the hatches - I've started to anticipate that my business revenue is going to go down.  Do I know that for sure?  No.  But I'm not going to be complacent about it.  So some of the first things that I did was take advantage of the tax holiday declared by our governments.  Stop or slow the pace on those payments.  Second, I stopped salary payments to myself and my wife/co-founder.  We will take a more measured approach to our expenditures - we are not in normal times.  Finally, I assessed the rest of our expenditures.  Overall, I tried to take the pressure off of us right now even if the bank account was fine to make those payments.  I don't know what the future holds so let’s slow the pace.

Plant Seeds I - my view of the world may not be as bleak as I think it is.  Time will tell.  One of the first things I believed was at play in the broader world was that as people self-isolated the need for socialization and connection would be stronger than ever.  So I started a "group-coaching" offering and this week it kicks off with at least a half dozen "clients" coming together to share challenges, options and hope for the future.  And I'm not currently charging for this effort.  However, my offering was heard by at least one organization and they are now asking me to undertake a similar effort for their leaders with some compensation attached.

Plant Seeds II - never let a good crisis go to waste?  As one client reaches out and requests some support for their leadership and staff at this time it begs the question "what about others"?  Additionally, now may be a great opportunity, while business is at a slower pace, to invest the time in your own or other's personal development. So I've come up with a whole series of virtually-delivered options and various iterations of leadership/staff support and development options and put them out "to the world"...In some cases these are very much of the group coaching nature with between 6 and 10 participants.  In other cases it has been a series of lunch-and-learn topics - again focused on limited numbers to promote interaction - being very focused on the reality of the day (e.g., resilience, leading through crisis, building and sustaining teams, etc.).  Not every one of these will land with everybody, but planting seeds.

Sharpen the Ax - idle hands are the devil's playground?  And your mind is a dangerous place to go alone?  I could drive myself crazy if not focused on some task or objective.  I'm a very goal-driven and achievement-oriented individual.  So I need to create meaningful work if I am not otherwise engaged.  Right now this means reading and creating.  There are numerous projects that have been on the back burner that are necessary for the long-term success of BreakPoint Solutions.  So now is a great time to create.  It's happening now.  And the fruits of this may be seen as early as this month and certainly within this year.  Learn.  Develop.  Create.

Stay Healthy - I'm not losing track of my physical health at this time.  With the support of my family I made a commitment last year to return to Ironman Canada.  It's certainly debatable whether the event scheduled for August 30th will take place and lead up events are in even more jeopardy.  Training may be more challenging with gyms and pools closed and team training sessions cancelled.  But I persevere and right now I'm on track to have lost nearly 35 pounds between Christmas and Easter. The bike strength and running strength are growing apace.  Positive path forward!

Future Focused/Non-Catastrophizing - there is a lot that I could worry about.  And I do.  But I'm also trying to keep focused forward and hold on to or create a positive future vision for myself, my family and the business.  What does that mean?  For one thing continuing to invest in my skill set - just came off of a webinar last week and got some new ideas.  In May I start the final course to complete my Graduate Certificate in Advanced Coaching Practices.  I continue to plan and remain hopeful about meeting friends in New Mexico in November of this year.  And I'm planning on a return to Europe next year to check back in with new found friends and experience history.

Stay Distracted - it definitely can't all be work right now.  We need to have some healthy distraction, particularly in these challenging times.  For me that does mean more reading - but not work-related.  It certainly means the Ironman training noted above.  It also means some decidedly geeky pursuits.  May the Force be With You!  Find fun.  Make fun.  Build fun.

Stay Inspired - I have a whole lot of very personal reasons to sustain me and keep me level.  My family.  I need to stay strong and focused for them.  I need to help them be optimistic about the future even if right now we need to keep distance from boyfriends, postpone 7th and 10th birthday parties and/or reconfigure them, and have wedding anniversary dinners done in house with no babysitter.  There is still a strong future ahead and we all have something and someone to work for.  And once we get through this - and we will - we will definitely be the stronger for it.

Those are some of my strategies to maintain personal resilience.  I REALLY would like to hear what some of your strategies are.

Please share your stories with me at gregh@breakpoint.solutions or through our website at www.breakpoint.solutions or look me up on LinkedIn. 

Stay safe.  Stay well.  Stay resilient.

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

LEADING! in - and through - Crisis

Well we are not in Kansas anymore.  

As I write this I am practicing my own social distancing, maintaining a coaching/consulting practice through virtual means and (currently/temporarily) acting as daddy day care to my 6 and 9-year old daughters.  This latter part comes as both their school and daycare have been closed for the foreseeable future.  As a family we are now trying to navigate many of the shoals that all of you are now living - maintaining an income stream for bills that still need to get paid, cancelling vacation plans (slated for late April/early May), keeping the cupboards stocked (while not hoarding!), trying to advise and support elderly parents remotely, setting up education plans for our kids so that they actually do "graduate" and are ready for Grade 2 and Grade 5 in September and re-establishing sustainable child care.

That is "just" the personal/family side of the equation.  Then there is the business side of the equation.  We are well-positioned for long-term viability.  Short-term pain on the other hand is a reality.  From my past leadership experience - leading portfolios of several hundreds of millions of dollars, thousands of staff and many more thousands of client interactions I also appreciate the tremendous strain on leaders at all levels of an organization as they try to the current reality.  I speak from personal experience having been a senior leader if he former Caritas Health Group as the Senior VP and Chief Operating Officer with specific responsibility for all clinical services at the Misericordia and Grey Nuns hospitals.  I was also one of that organization's key liaisons with Alberta Health Services and Alberta Health as we attempted to coordinate our response efforts on a provincial and, sometimes, even on a national scale.

In my time as a manager/leader dating back to 1986, I've had the opportunity to work with and observe many leaders, managers and staff.  They have all helped me grow and develop my own leadership philosophy and style.  Sometimes I've learned great tools and techniques from them as they have navigated normal and not so normal situations.  

One of the areas of greatest learning has been in the experience of seeing how managers and leaders react to "adverse" events.  Those events have covered a spectrum of circumstances - poor (to deadly) service to clients, a staff crisis, or a building or equipment malfunction impacting service delivery.  Or pandemic responses like H1N1.  The set of circumstances is largely irrelevant other than in trying to convey that something bad has happened - is happening - that needs to be addressed.  More importantly for me, is the importance that strong and calm leadership behaviors can make in those circumstances.  

Despite the challenges before us leadership at times of crisis - at times like these - calls upon us to be pillars of stability, strength and vision even when we don't come close to feeling that way!  What we critically need to avoid is becoming part of or creating the crisis that we are supposed to be managing or solving. 

Your role as leader "...keep your head when all about you are losing theirs..."

All too often, there can be a tendency to lose one's head during a real or perceived crisis.  There is no doubt that with COVID-19 that we are experiencing a real and impending crisis.  The worst for us here in Alberta and Canada is likely yet to come.  However, our actions in response - like hoarding foodstuffs and other basic supplies - will only exacerbate an already difficult situation.  Similarly in our leadership roles, we have to resist the leadership equivalent of buying up all the toilet paper we can get our hands on.

So what might allow a leader to respond more appropriately and calmly even in the face of the current crisis.  Ironically, the best advice might come from an Ironman tip that I received long ago - go slow to go fast.  Leaders need to find the courage and discipline to step back for long enough to evaluate whether in fact they are responding to the right issue at the right time.  You are going to get literally hundreds of problems and "solutions" thrown your way in the next number of days and weeks.  And these "solutions" are all motivated by everyone trying to achieve the best possible results and outcomes, not recognizing that none of us are operating from our best thinking place.  We are all under stress and duress particularly in circumstances like COVID-19 when you are juggling every area of one's life right now. 

Ironically, what might be required is less decisive - reactive - decision-making and a lot more patience and deliberation.  It might make a leader antsy but slowing down and being more considered will result in less unproductive expenditure of precious time and energy.  Time and energy that needs to be put to better use right now.  Immediate action or any action does not mean effective action.  While hoping that an immediate/decisive response establishes or maintains a persona of being in control, responsible and competent, the reality is often far different.  More often the sense we end up  conveying to staff and others around us is that we are in panic mode.  We move from "leader" to generating fear, stress and anxiety to everyone unfortunate to be caught up in the vortex of activity.

Aside from the mental distress that the leader is subjecting themselves and their team to, a "decisive" yet hasty reaction is just as likely (or more likely) to lead to the wrong decision as to the right one.  In most situations we rarely have 100% perfect information.  In crisis situations this is even more the case.  Therefore, crisis demands disciplined leadership, an ability to remain calm, and the strength to keep yourself and your team focused in order to solve the problem at hand.  In my experience, panic and performance excellence rarely go together.  A panicked reaction often leads to more problems to solve.

A leader in crisis (versus a leader who manages through crisis) also creates a number of other negative impacts that may not be understood at the time or even later. First, in your haste to make a decision, you many not even be solving the right problem but merely papering over symptoms.  Second, by making a hasty decision you may inadvertently compromise your ability to achieve other more important objectives.  Third, rather than creating an effective and productive team you are more likely creating fear, reduced productivity, risk aversion and indecisiveness amongst your staff.  Ultimately, you are also doing damage to the perception of your leadership capacity - you are not creating an image of a confident and competent leader amongst your team, peers, superiors, or other stakeholders that can be looked to for strength in times of challenge.  You become self-defeating.

So Keep Calm and Carry On!  Easier said than done I know.  It may somewhat paradoxical right now but there will be value in taking a "breakpoint" to truly clarify your thinking.  As a leader there is value - even now - in not being "on" at all times.  Your job is a thinking job, a cerebral job.  Give yourself time to think before acting. 

Your considered reaction will calm others, help them focus on doing the right things, and ensure understanding of all impacts of your actions.  I'm convinced that by taking a more measured and less panicked approach that you will make better decisions and the confidence in your leadership will be enhanced.

Leadership excellence means more patience, poise and discipline than ever before.   

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

Deming's 14 Points Stand the Test of Time

I've been on a personal leadership journey for 30+ years now and I've definitely hit some bumps along the way. And I have much yet to learn as the journey continues! That learning comes more from the bumps than it has from successes I've enjoyed - and I've had the privilege of working with a few great teams in my career. Those teams have taught me a lot about leadership and basic human values over the years and I owe them a great debt of gratitude.

One of the things that I have come to believe is that you cannotdiscover leadership lessons if you lack humility, a commitment to ongoing learning, and a sincerewillingness to always being open to hearing what others have to say about our leadership capabilities. An unwillingness to be that open or honest can at best reflect naivety and at worst pure arrogance. We must be prepared as leaders to objectively and critically assess our areas for personal improvement on an ongoing basis.

I believe that objectivity - and sometimes distance from a leadership experience - is crucial in drawing the right conclusions from our current and past positions. In addition, if we can have the courage to build relationships with some strong confidantes who will help us assess our experience so much the better. I recall now with more than a little trepidation my first leadership role at the outset of my career. That first role was very challenging to my ego as I learned the on-the-job realities of leadership. Most importantly I experienceda key aspect of leadership - the experience of working with people and managing relationships.

The first and most immediate lessons I took away from that experience were the wrong ones. Of course, they were discovered immediately on the heels of leaving the role and were arrived at without benefit of external validation. At the end of this first role, I truly believed that in order to be as successful as I thought my peers were I would have to adopt a tougher, more unyielding leadership style. Maybe that's not what my more experienced peers thought they were modeling to me but that's what I initially took away from my formative experience - be tough, demand performance, get respect through fear, be distant from your staff, be above your staff.

I am very grateful that immediately following this experience that I had an opportunity for reflection in the course of my master's degree, including an internship in another organization. It gave me time, distance and other people to learn from before I set myself down the wrong path of leadership. Through my studies and internship - an opportunity to learn from two organizations implementing total quality management - I became exposed to the work of Dr. W. E. Deming. I further explored his teachings through my master's thesis on total quality management. It was eye-opening and his principles really struck a chord with me at the time. Over the succeeding years I have come back to his basic principles more than once. I have learned from other leadership guru's as well, but Deming's perspective has had continued value for me. I want to touch on only a few of his 14 Points with the belief that these have much to inspire those in leadership positions - or those looking for good leadership.

Point Seven - Institute Leadership.

Dr. Deming calls upon management to lead rather than manage. Simple statement but what does it really mean for us as leaders? Well I'm pretty confident that if you were to talk to many of frontline staff and management personnel outside of the executive suite they would provide you with countless examples of where they felt they were being "managed", not "led". This bias towards "management" is without doubt enhanced by the pressure on businesses to perform and achieve better results. A typical management response is to exercise greater control and oversight to make sure results get better. More often than not efforts of this nature only seem to put more barriers in the way of getting good work done - more reports to generate, more signatures to get, more unreasonable timelines to meet, multiple and conflicting demands, and failure to hear and act upon input and recommendations from staff.

Point Eight - Drive Out Fear.

I've already made my confession in regards to violating this particular principle, at least insofar as thinking that fear might be an effective tool of leadership. And maybe it can be in the short-term but not if you are trying to create a high-performing organization for the long-term. With fear in an organization there cannot be open communication, innovation, and teamwork - and these are allrequired for an organization to achieve the full measure of its potential. Leadership of any organization - and at all levels of the organization - must actively model open communication, encourage appropriate risk taking and innovation, and promote teamwork from the executive suite through to the front lines of operations. With fear in place an organization shall continue to squander the full potential of its people and the organization to the detriment of the people it purports to serve.

Point Ten - Eliminate Slogans, Exhortations and Targets for the Workforce.

Everybody needs to measure performance. Deming did not intend, nor do I suggest, that system performance not be evaluated on an ongoing basis. Rather, what Point Ten addresses is the notion of trying to assess an individual'sperformance without reference to understanding of the system in which that individual works. If an individual is prevented from achieving higher levels of performance by a system (that management has created or allowed to be created) then performance managing an employee, setting new targets for them to achieve, and giving them "motivational" speeches will have little impact on performance. It is far more likely that such efforts will actually cause frustration, demoralization and reduced performance.

Deming's red bead experiment is a great illustration of this principle - given an equal number of red and white beads, an employee is tasked with collecting only white beads with an employer-provided scoop or paddle. Inevitably, the employee collects some red beads in their assigned task. As a result of "failing" in their assigned task, the employee may be given further direction by their supervisor, there may be encouragement to do better, they may be applauded if their red bead count has gone down, or they may be chastised if their red bead count goes up. Regardless, their individual effort and various interventions at the personal level will have no impact on actual outcome. It's like expecting employee engagement scores in an organization to go up simply by saying that the target is 10 out of 10 on the next engagement survey. Only by changing the system and the organizational environment will better, more consistent results be achieved. I see a strong correlation between Point Ten and the need to Drive Out Fear from an organization as noted earlier. In fact, I believe that what leaders often create by exhortations to do better is an environment in which results and information are hidden through fear rather than discovered. And only by discovery can we improve.

Point Twelve - Remove Barriers to Pride of Workmanship.

In this Point, Deming was referring to unclear expectations, lack of timely feedback (or any feedback), lack of training and support, and systems that focused on short-term results rather than long-term goals. Staff and front-line managers are often frustrated by multiple tasks or changing priorities (see Point Seven) as leaders change focus or react to external stimuli without, it seems, due regard to long-term objectives or stated core values. And unfortunately, more than one of us can relate to the fear that the performance evaluation process creates in us - either as provider or receiver of the experience. Too often this is because we establish the evaluation process as a one-time event, not as a continual process of discussion, engagement and opportunity. There is a need too to ensure that the evaluation process becomes an opportunity for leaders and staff alike to identify and invest in skills and intellect. It is also a great opportunity for leaders to model desired behaviours and reinforce common goals. On this latter point, I firmly believe that there must be a high degree of visibility and sincere engagement with internal audiences on par with leadership visibility and engagement with external audiences. Without the kind of internal alignment that comes from such effort the ability to deliver on commitments to external audiences and customers stands on shaky ground.

There certainly is more gold in Deming than I have covered here. In addition, what this hopefully reinforces, is that we don't need to go looking for "new ideas" on leadership. There already exists a lot of knowledge - and common sense - upon which to enhance our leadership. Make it so!

_________________________________________________________

Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC

President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions

gregh@breakpoint.solutions

www.breakpoint.solutions

780-250-2543

Lies, Damn Lies and Assessments?

Despite the title of this post, I believe that assessments can and do play a valuable role in many aspects of organizational life from leadership self-assessment, recruitment and selection decisions, developmental activities, and team-building support to name but a few. However, a couple of recent experiences that I've had an opportunity to be involved with also point out the perils of improper positioning and utilization of these very same assessments. The consequences of such can lead to hiring the wrong candidate for a role, reinforcing poor leadership or team behaviors, demotivating (rather than motivating) performance, and impacting the credibility of organizational effectiveness and development efforts for the organization overall.

There are a number of factors to consider and methods to utilize to get the best out of the vast array of assessments available to you as an individual and as an organization.

One. Understand your organizational context. Nothing exists in a vacuum and you may up against past (poor) history of how assessments have been used before. There may also be current cultural circumstances getting in the way of the validity and credibility of the assessment results. This came home to me recently when I was informed - perhaps from one person's perspective - that many raters might have "fudged" their input to a 360 assessment. This was ostensibly done out of concerns of confidentiality, anonymity and fear of retribution. What organizational leadership - and I - underestimated was the degree to which a culture of fear and distrust was operative in the environment. The clear outcome was far less useful and impactful data for the person receiving feedback. This then directly impacted on the quality of a leadership development plan.

Solution: Honestly evaluate the climate your are introducing an assessment process into. This may even lead you to conclude that an assessment process should not be initiated. Be clear about the limitations you are working under at the beginning of the process. Proceed cautiously.

The bigger solution: In this case, there was clearly more work required to develop a climate of safety, trust and open communication in the organization. In this case, we would have been better off to do some larger and heavier lifting before proceeding with an assessment.

Two. Understand (clearly) what you are trying to get out of an assessment. Too frequently organizations, HR departments, or leaders become enamoured of a particular assessment and fail to understand its limitations. Assessments - and there are a multitude out there - are designed with specific ends (and foundational philosophies) in mind. Be cautious of your own biased experience with them. One size does not fit all. Ensure that all stakeholders are clear about why and how the assessment results will be used. Keep aligned with that agreed upon focus. In the past, I have been particularly disturbed to have seen an assessment instrument initiated within a framework of professional/personal development later used as part of a performance evaluation process!

Solution: Use the right assessment for the right reason, ensure clarity of purpose on the part of all stakeholders, and stay focused.

Three: Recognize the limitations of any particular assessment. However, impactful any one of us may find the insights of an assessment it is only data not answers. It is only one piece of data. For the very same reason that best practice would never suggest an interview panel of one or simply relying on the quality of a cover letter to select the next leader, I would similarly recommend holding up the assessment results up to thorough scrutiny and balancing that data against other information you may have.

Solution: Don't rely on a singular source of data to draw conclusions - about others or yourself. Proceed with caution. Seek corroborating data.

Another solution: Aside from looking at past performance and related data you could consider use of more than one assessment. Depending on your need, you may find that two or more assessments together provide a better complementary mix of information for your purpose. People are complex machines and may need a variety of lens from which appropriate conclusions can be drawn.

Four: Guard against your biases. Much like reading the daily horoscope - if you are into that - we all run the risk of looking at assessment results without understanding our own filters and biases. The result - we look for what we want to see and find it. So as the person being assessed if you already strongly believe something about yourself, whether positive or negative, it will be there. Likewise for HR personnel or leaders critically evaluating potential leadership candidates, new hires or team members.

Solution: Be prepared to challenge yourself and your preconceptions. Whether you like or dislike the results of an assessment consider the opportunity/challenge. Watch your biases. Be aware of your filters.

Five: Get a proper debrief of the assessment results. Far too frequently I see individuals and organizations that fail to get/provide a proper - or sometimes ANY - debrief on an assessment that they have put good time and money into. Sometimes this is driven from a cost perspective. Other times it comes from a misplaced sense of our own intellectual capacity to critically and objectivelyevaluate the assessment results.

Solution: Work with a professional that is both certified and experienced in the particular assessments you are using. Just like any "job interview", critically assess their qualifications and experience. Get references and testimonials. Even test-drive them if you can. Qualified professionals can be a great assist to you in properly using assessments - they can just as easily cause significant damage if not qualified or otherwise suited to your organizational culture.

Six: Be prepared to develop and commit to an action plan. Flipping back to the daily horoscope comparison, and perhaps the shiny-object syndrome, one of the worst things that can come out of an assessment process is NOTHING! The effort that may have been put forward in both in cost and time of participants, which is even higher when considering 360 assessments, should warrant and demand some sort of constructive action plan. If not, then any lessons or insights drawn from the effort run the risk of having to be relearned later or casting aspersions on any future assessment and development activity.

Solution: Commit to a solid purpose and action plan once the assessment(s) are due to be completed. Create supporting structures that will help with action. This may include creating a template for a personal development plan. This may be creating milestone reporting dates for updates to be had with the individual receiving the assessment results. Ideally, you or the organization commit to making the assessment far more than a one-off event. It should fit with the bigger picture of what the organization or you are trying to accomplish. Structure, Structure, Structure. Action, Action, Action.

Seven. Prepare the ground. This could certainly tie into Number One above but as you or the organization prepare to initiate an assessment process do all you can to communicate the purpose and process for the assessment. Address as many questions as you can. Fill any information vacuum that might exist. Make any and all stakeholders true partners in the process. Alleviate fears. Build confidence. Build validity and credibility for your assessment process.

The list above may start to give you a lot of pause as you consider current and future assessments. And maybe that's a good thing. If you become more aware and purposeful in this regard that might in fact be the best outcome. Without that perspective you likely run the risk of fulfilling the fear of the title of this blog post - your results will be far less than they could have been OR they might be far more damaging than you ever imagined.

Creating and sustaining highly functioning leaders and teams is a challenging business. Assessments have their place if used appropriately and effectively. Use them with your eyes and minds wide open

_________________________________________________________

Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC

President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions

gregh@breakpoint.solutions

www.breakpoint.solutions

780-250-2543

Friend...and Leader?

Trust, familiarity and connection between leaders and staff has often been a theme in my coaching and consulting work. How much connection is appropriate or inappropriate? Leadership as a lonely vigil or the belief that leaders need to be apart from staff in order to be effective arises on a regular basis. Is this true or is there a different answer? What better place to look for an answer than Star Trek!

In the Star Trek The Next Generation episode, titled "The Defector", Commander Data acts out a scene from "The Life of Henry V" on the holodeck of the Enterprise. The notion is that by exploring the works of Shakespeare he will be better able to understand the human condition. Data's director and mentor in this endeavor is Captain Picard. The scene focuses on the King passing himself off as a commoner to be amongst his troops on the eve of a great battle. At the conclusion of this dress rehearsal, Data expresses confusion about the King's behavior - "Captain, why should a king wish to pass as a commoner? If he is the leader, should he not be leading?" In that regard it seems to me that Data expresses a widely-held view amongst followers and those who lead - leaders must stand apart from their staff if they are to be effective. Picard's response is even more compelling, however - "Listen to what Shakespeare is telling you about the man, Data. A king who had a true feeling for his soldiers would wish to share their fears with them on the eve of battle."

From my very first job as a CEO in 1986 I can recall being chided for being overly familiar with my management team and staff. Many in my community, my Board of Directors, and even members of my own management team would often express concern about my engaging manner and style. They took issue with me playing golf with my staff, being part of the hospital slo-pitch team, being part of the hospital hockey team, inviting people over to my house and even the notion of idle chats in the hall or sit downs in the cafeteria. In many if not most cases, we didn't discuss "business" but rather would discuss a whole range of other topics - news stories hitting the front pages, family events, and anything else that might come to mind. Did that make us friends? In some cases yes, in other cases no. Regardless, this type of interaction certainly broke down barriers and reduced or eliminated preconceived notions about "Management" and "Staff". I believe the relationships I developed allowed me to better understand the challenges my staff faced. In some cases it allowed my staff to understand my bigger picture and challenges as well. Ultimately, I even developed some great relationships with previously intractable foes. This effort certainly generated greater trust and credibility in me from those that I led. I believe it allowed all of us to be more on the same page moving forward particularly when times were tough.

Amazingly enough, even though nearly 30 years have passed since my first leadership role (Yikes!) I still hear about and see the same adverse reaction to leaders having anything more than "business-focused" engagements with their staff. Oftentimes this seems to develop into executive isolation in the C-suite or a strict adherence to rules and regulations so as to not have the appearance of favoritism. But as Picard's quote reveals, there is a great deal that a leader can gain from being amongst and with their followers. Moreover, what the quote starts to touch on is the critical role that trust between leader and followers plays in being successful in a leadership role. In my experience, if you can inspire trust as a leader you are in fact going to get better results, increased morale, enhanced creativity, loyalty and retention. In contrast if you can't foster trust - or in fact engender mistrust amongst your staff - you can be assured of a range of negative results.

In case you see the above commentary as the rantings of Star-Trek enamored geek let me first refer you to the 2002 work of Patrick Lencioni, "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team". In this work and in subsequent writings, Lencioni described and expanded upon what holds a team back from achieving high performance. The critical linchpin that Lencioni identified - which was the core and base of poor performance and team dysfunction - was the Absence of Trust. This manifested as an unwillingness of team members to be vulnerable and authentic in their group, unable to genuinely share with their colleagues, and lacking the opportunity and safe environment in which to admit mistakes and weaknesses. Without a strong basis of trust, teams could not hope to engage in constructive conflict, nor establish a shared commitment to common goals, nor hold themselves and team members accountable to expected performance standards, and never achieve the results that they desired. In all respects developing this trust comes from the tone set by the leader.

This concept of trust, however, is not new or a recent invention. Starting in 1983, Kouzes and Posner began a research project in leadership that would ultimately lead them to write several acclaimed books ("The Leadership Challenge", "Credibility") and identifying the five leadership practices of successful leaders. At the heart of their research and conclusions was that a leader must know their followers and speak their language. People must believe that you understand their needs and have their interests at heart. Only through an intimate knowledge of their dreams, their hopes, their aspirations, their visions, their values is the leader able to enlist their support. I don't know about you, but it seems to be a well nigh impossible task to achieve that kind of understanding of your staff and followers if you don't spend significant time with them, earning their trust, building your credibility, and perhaps even becoming a friend to more than one or two of them.

Let me put at least one qualifier out there on this leader and friend concept. You are the leader - whether as supervisor, manager, director, vice-president or CEO. This means you have duties and obligations that may put your friendships in jeopardy at certain points in time. You are obligated to make the tough choices as required. Ultimately, you can't put your friendships ahead of your moral, legal and ethical obligations. Everybody needs to understand the parameters under which you ultimately have to function as a leader. Just as in other parts of your world, some of your friends will be more understanding of the realities that you face than others. Hopefully, however, based on the foundation of trust and credibility you have established by being present, available and truly engaged with your staff you may get cut a bit more slack than if you were the aloof, distant and omnipotent leader that some see as the pinnacle of success.

So, yes being a Leader and a Friend is possible and from my perspective and experience quite logical (as Commander Data and Commander Spock might both say). Build your trust and credibility by being amongst your followers, understand their challenges and let them understand yours. The results might surprise you.

_________________________________________________________

Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC

President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions

gregh@breakpoint.solutions

www.breakpoint.solutions

780-250-2543

Handyman or Professional?

One of my most recent posts focused in on what YOU should EXPECT from your coaching experience. This was driven by some feedback that I had received from various sources about their sometimes not so positive experience of coaching. In fact, some of their stories were more than just disheartening including some extraordinarily basic violations of a professional code of conduct, i.e., confidentiality.

These experiences and a recent webinar I was privileged to attend with Heidi Hadubiak of BreakPoint Solutions (www.breakpoint.solutions) reinforced, for me, the need to continue to raise the bar for coaching as a profession. In the recent webinar, hosted by Ben Croft of WBECS, he not only focused on the specific content of the session (e.g., marketing) but also articulated his passion and mission to raise the bar on the quality of coaching worldwide. I was inspired and energized by his commitment.

It's in this vein that I come back to the topic of engaging with coaches who are in fact credentialed and who have made a commitment to making PROFESSIONAL coaching their profession and vocation - not a sidebar, not a means of padding their consulting or other income. Experience is valuable certainly. Is training and credentials the be all and end all? Certainly not. There is a need for a BALANCE between education/training and experience. But I stress the word balance. I assert that if your coach is not credentialed they are lacking in that balance.

Let me put this in terms that might make more sense by drawing upon my own amateur skills in home repairs! A number of years ago I undertook a rather massive home improvement project with the help of some friends. The project in question was construction of a nearly 500 square foot stone patio in my back yard. Some of my friends had experience in similar projects - but certainly were not qualified tradespeople. The factors that I weighed in the decision to unleash "the amateurs" - myself included - came down to cost and perceived complexity (e.g., puffing out our chests and declaring our manliness we said "We Can Do It!").

Things turned out well enough at the time, I learned a lot - most of it the hard way - had some relatively cheap manual labor at my disposal for a weekend, and impressed my girlfriend with my physical stamina in shoveling load after load of crush and sand, placing stone after stone, and finishing a large project in relatively short time.

Several years later, however, I've found that I've had constant repair work to do on my masterpiece, dealing with some subsidence in key areas of the stone patio and now worrying about at least one retaining wall needing an extensive redo. Perhaps the "cheap and cheerful" way of my amateur handyman approach isn't leaving me with quite the legacy I hoped for?? Maybe an "expert" would have been better engaged despite the up-front cost??

So how does this story relate to coaching? Too often I see some of the same mentality coming into play during evaluation of personal or organizational coaching. Cost definitely comes into play as it should. But rather than evaluating such expenses as an investment and weighing such against the hard outcomes desired there is a decided emphasis on cost-control. A "good-enough" mentality enters the equation and a desire to either do-it-ourselves or hire a "handyman" for truly foundational work.

So can you do it yourself, hire a non-certified coach, or a consultant who sidelines as a coach to support your efforts? Sure, but you might wonder if the investment of time and effort really gave you the return you required or ended up being sustained beyond your initial intense effort. Like my home improvements, you might have been better off engaging an expert at the beginning rather than engaging in constant "repairs" to achieve the product or results you hoped for in the beginning. Or even worse, you end up like some of my contacts who actually feel they not only wasted their money but got taken down a decidedly wrong path, had their trust violated, or were otherwise compromised.

I'm suggesting there is a leadership lesson to be learned from my home handyman approach noted above. Leaving aside the do-it-yourself effort for now - which requires a great deal of personal or in-house skill that most of us don't have - how do you discern the "handyman" from the professional support you might need in coaching? Solid track record and referral base are clearly good indications but I'm also going to recommend that you look for impeccable credentials including certification in national or international regulatory bodies. Holding or pursuing such a credential (e.g., ACC/PCC/MCC with the International Coach Federation) is a sign that the individual professional not only demonstrates knowledge and skill in their chosen field, but also holds themselves to the highest professional standards and are prepared to be judged according to a strong code of professional ethics.

Further, certified members of these professional associations have chosen to contribute to a broader body of knowledge, to regulate themselves and provide accountability to clients and their profession as a whole. Credential-holders complete rigorous education and practice requirements, providing testimony to their commitment to excellence. These professionals look to protect and serve consumers of their services, measure and certify competence of their members, and inspire the pursuit of continuous development.

At the end of the day the choice of how to deal with your coaching and leadership requirements is fully in your court. Credentials are certainly not a 100% guarantee of success but just like in home renovations they are a better bet than just looking for the cheapest bidder. As in my do-it-yourself reno, you can pay now or pay later (or both). Make the time and investment pay off. In this case, It's About Leadership! And there is nothing more worthy of your investment than that which leverages all of the rest of your success - your leadership acumen.
_____________________________
Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCCPresident & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions

gregh@breakpoint.solutions

www.breakpoint.solutions

780-250-2543

What SHOULD You Expect from Your Coach?

In the past I have described factors to be used in selecting your executive coach and how an individual could make the most effective use of their coach. A gap in this information relates to whatYOU SHOULD EXPECT from your coach once selected and engaged. Coaching is a partnership and like all partnerships is only as effective as the quality and commitment of the participants. While I believe a coach can't work harder than their client it is just as clear that a coach should deliver on a number of expectations and obligations in order to support client success.

Why this topic at this present time? Unfortunately, after having been at this work awhile, I have heard several client experiences and circumstances where an acceptable standard of performance has not been achieved - to my way of thinking. This reality might not be that different from a variety of other sectors where individuals/firms offer products/services for sale that really don't deliver on their promises. High price and flashy marketing doesn't equate to quality of offering or results.

Much of the challenge, I believe, comes down to lack of client knowledge and awareness of what "good" or even "great" quality and performance for a coach should look like. While I have talked about how you should go about selecting an executive coach that doesn't address what you should expect - and perhaps demand - from a coach. What I offer below is informed by personal experience as a coach and feedback from my clients about what they have appreciated in our work together.

Clarity of Roles and Expectations. This starts with actual documentation that serves to describe the partnership role between a client and coach. This certainly doesn't have to be a form vetted by respective lawyers - a trust-based relationship, which coaching is, should not have to go down that path! However, there should be enough clarity between you and your coach to understand what each person is expected to bring to the work, the pattern of work, access between formal sessions and an emphasis on confidential nature of the work.

Confidentiality. This should really go without saying...but I'll say it. This is a particularly important consideration when an individual is being sponsored by an organization to utilize coaching, when a coach is involved in group/team coaching, or coaching multiple individuals in an organization. There is no question that there is great value to me as a coach in having a greater understanding of organizational context through working with multiple clients or engaging with a client's executive sponsor. However, it also requires the coach to confirm up-front - and subsequently DEMONSTRATE- how confidentiality between sponsor/client/coach or between team members will be maintained. Just as important, the coach also has to actively guard against any risk of bias or triangulation in their coaching experience with any one individual.

Purposeful Process. As the coaching client you drive the coaching agenda. The coach should help you in confirm and clarify this agenda and then help hold you accountable to your goals. Your coach should be able to balance the need for structure in a coaching engagement (e.g., consistent focus) while at the same time being agile and flexible as client learning and circumstances evolve. Bottom line for me - no canned approach. While I do have coaching agreements, intake forms, leadership and team assessments at my disposal, and other tested methodologies and processes, all of that takes a back seat to strongly understanding individual client challenges and opportunities and the organizational culture from which they arrive. A coach's approach should be tailored to the client - not the other way around.

Challenge. To be truly effective a coach must challenge your beliefs, assumptions, sacred cows and preconceived notions. There is nothing I appreciate more than hearing clients say that our work together has made them uncomfortable (in the good way, not the creepy way...), expanded their frame of reference or possibility, and perhaps even radically altered their entire direction. Paradoxically, if you are finding your coaching sessions to be lovely chats and highly validating you might not actually be getting real value from your coaching partnership. Your coach needs to bring the right balance of compassion and courage to your work in pursuit of your goals.

Capacity Building. Akin to Challenge noted above, your coach should be actively working to build your skills to the point of helping to dissolve the coaching partnership at some point in time. The goal is not to create dependency but rather capacity for the individual leader to soar on their own. In this regard, I often work with my clients in the scheduled last month of our time together to confirm a decision to continue - if value from the client's standpoint is still being delivered - or to strongly transition out of coaching by using skills learned/developed/enhanced during coaching. This can often mean creating structure on a go-forward basis (e.g., continued pattern of thinking time replacing coaching time) that replicates the successful elements of the coaching partnership. It's why I share freely any and all of my coaching tools with my clients post-engagement.

Preparation, Continuity, Accessibility, Responsiveness. I recently had the opportunity to interview a number of my current and former coaching clients for a developing video production. Key elements of benefit identified by a number of them was their appreciation for how prepared I seemed to be for each coaching engagement, how I seemed to be able to retain the narrative string between formal coaching sessions and throughout the entirety of the coaching engagement, and the level of accessibility and responsiveness afforded to them between formal meetings. None of this occurs by chance. I have created processes for myself - and my clients - that strives to prepare us both for upcoming coaching sessions. By the very nature of my work I am constantly scanning my environment for resources and tools relevant to my work and the success of my clients. Despite being busy, my clients are my priority and quality and speed of response are foundational for me. What would you expect from your thinking partner, your sounding board, your coach?

Coaching Presence and Trust. Like confidentiality this seems to me to be an area that should not have to be emphasized. How engaged and attentive do you find your coach? Are they fully focused on you and your work - whether in-person or virtually? Do they practice active listening? Do they provide you all the space you need to think and work? Are they talking more than you!? Are they providing you a safe space to be vulnerable? Do their (powerful) questions relate to the issues you are actually grappling with? Coaching - it is all about you!

Holds to Coaching. Your coach is supposed to coach you. Not advise and certainly not direct you. Your coach is not there as mentor or consultant - these roles imply some level of superiority versus partnership. The coach must continuously demonstrate a belief in your personal ability to tackle your challenges and opportunities. The coach must understand their own boundaries and the boundaries of their profession - unless otherwise trained, we are not counsellors or therapists. At times you may expect that your coach, acting in YOUR best interest, would connect you with other professionals or resources even if it meant personal financial loss to the coach. The coach needs to be able to demonstrate an ability to act in your best interest, not theirs.

Drives Action - and Results. At the end of day coaching has to be much more than active listening, powerful questioning, being a sounding board, a place of safety/vulnerability - something active and positive has to come out of the partnership. Demonstrating a compassionate edge, your coach should help you design actions and deliver results. You or your company are investing time, money and energy into this endeavor - there must be purpose to the endeavor. Get pushed and get results.
I believe these are some of the qualities and experiences you should be looking for as you experience coaching. Lofty goals perhaps and I admit to feeling some misgivings as I document these expectations - can I live up to these requirements in all circumstances? I am constantly striving to do so! It's About Leadership! And in the case of coaching - It's All About You!
_____________________________

Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC

President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions

gregh@breakpoint.solutions

www.breakpoint.solutions

780-250-2543

Drive to Why

I have been doing a lot of work of late with organizations and individual leaders as it relates to their "why". This has can manifest as questions related to "what is our mission?", "what does it mean to do what we do?" and even "what does it matter if we deliver this or that program or service?" In all of this there is a craving for clarity, direction and ultimately a hope that, on an individual or organizational level, we are in fact making a difference. For some, this conversation becomes even more powerful when it starts to address the concept of what legacy we might leave behind. Heady stuff.

There is no doubt that this is and should be considered a critical question to address. I tend to ascribe dysfunction at an organizational level to several different factors - lack of clarity or alignment on values, lack of clarity or alignment on strategies and tactics. Lack of commitment to or understanding of Mission/Purpose is high on this list of explaining organizational dysfunction and even conflict. The same holds true at an individual level. If we start to consider some of those difficult people we have worked with - or even ourselves - we can recount many instances of individuals who seemed perpetually ornery, out-of-sorts, grumpy and otherwise unpleasant. I consider these to be potential circumstances where people are disconnected from their fundamental purpose for being - they are not doing the work they were meant to do. They are in the wrong place to make the impact they were born to make.

One of the key challenges in addressing this gap is in fact understanding what the "Why" and Mission is. All too often the approach and answer to this question is confused with What and How we do things - we start describing our purpose within the context of the programs/services our organizations currently deliver or expect to deliver. We describe our Why by our title or position and things we currently do. This is certainly easier to wrap our heads around. It takes less effort to describe what we do and how we do. And we can start to address value we believe we are delivering by the number of people served or products delivered. Another reason there may be default to this way of trying to define Mission is that it is far less challenging to organizational and personal identity. Defining Mission by describing current activities rationalizes our current work. It affirms our identity and makes us feel good. It is an exercise also fraught with risk if our environment significantly changes or some other external force changes our mandate. Suddenly our activity-based Mission hits the proverbial - and literal - brick wall. Change at the stage engenders significant conflict and resistance.

So where to better start this organizational or individual search for Mission and Purpose - the more fundamental Why? I suggest divorcing yourself entirely from the programs/services you provide or the position/title you hold Engage in the thought process that eliminates the types of things you currently do that would yet allow you to adjust, change and do something different to allow you to fell fulfilled and purposeful. Sound a bit too pie in the sky?? Let me give you my personal example.

For the longest time I fundamentally confused Mission and Vision for myself. For much of my healthcare leadership career I would have defined success and Mission with the type of role I aspired to take on - CEO of a large urban hospital. The challenge to this dream were successive rounds of reform efforts that have characterized our reality since at least the mid 1990's. The positions and realities I aspired to increasingly ceased to exist. It truly wasn't until such time that I left my leadership career behind - involuntarily - that I came to define my new personal (and organizational) mission in ways that transcended any particular role, occupation, title or even location. The result for me became:

Helping Leaders Discover, Realize and Unleash Their Potential

For me, this new sense of purpose - perhaps driven out of necessity - allowed me and allows me to live to a sense of purpose that can be realized in a multitude of ways, robust enough to respond as changing circumstances dictate. Far from being "flighty" in my work or approach to life it allows me to remain centred and be who I want to be regardless of changing context. I can live this Mission by being a Leader in the formal sense with position, title and authority - I can take on a job as I desire. I can live this Mission by being an individual or team/group coach. I can live this Mission as a consultant. I can live this Mission through presentations, teaching and speaking engagements. This Mission, This Why is not dependent on any one type of work, client or even location. It becomes THE constant guidepost for continuous learning, professional development, networking and a range of other activities. It speaks to my Passion first and any desirable outcome (e.g., earnings) second.

So that's my advice and challenge to you. Be fundamentally clear on your purpose - for yourself or your organization (or both). Be fundamentally clear on a Mission that can be independent of what you do or how you do today. If you don't know why you do what you do don't be surprised to end of up in a place you don't want to be.

Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC

President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions

gregh@breakpoint.solutions

www.breakpoint.solutions

780-250-2543

Choose Your Battlefield

I'm a bit of a history buff.  Others might consider that comment an understatement as they peruse the inventory of books sitting on shelves at home and at work.  E-readers and audio books?  Not for me - I need the physicality of history in my hands.  Old fashioned?  No doubt. 

One reason for this fascination with history comes from the lessons learned - and not learned - from others.  With variations on a theme, the quote "Those who cannot remember (or learn) from the past, are doomed to repeat it" resonates with me.  One of those lessons that has been the subject of explicit and implicit discussion with many of my clients is that of choosing or changing the field of battle on which you compete.  We can probably all understand and appreciate this at some bigger picture level with companies and technologies that have changed their landscape - Apple, Uber, Airbnb.  These companies and technologies did not take as given the landscape they faced and at points in time made a conscious decision to NOT compete against well-established competitors.  They radically changed the field of battle. In some cases, so radically that major competitors were put out of business.

This is not a new a concept.  For centuries, ranging back to Greek city states, the Persian empire and other dynasties, commanders and armies would maneuver for days or stare across at each other for weeks from their respective camps looking for the best place or opportunity to engage in battle.  They sought out high ground, access to water, linkage to the coast or supplies, or waiting for the sun to be in their enemy's eyes before engaging.  These ancient leaders went to great lengths to try and set the table to their best advantage, to leverage a strength or mitigate a weakness.  Alternatively, they might seek similar opportunities to diminish an opponent's strength or take advantage of their perceived weakness.  Don't have sufficient or good enough cavalry?  Choose a battleground that constrains the field of movement.  Fighting against great odds?  Choose a place where only part of your enemy's strengths can be brought to bear at one time.

So how does this relate to leadership/team coaching, organizational effectiveness, business development, consulting or other things that you might be doing?  It relates in nearly every circumstance that I work with.  Which one of these scenarios might you have experienced or otherwise be familiar with:

"I looked at the job posting and I'm missing a couple of the qualifications they are looking for so I'm not going to apply."

"He/she/they stopped me in the hallway and were looking for my input on his/her/their initiative.  I felt compelled to answer them on the spot but I don't think I gave the best answer."

"I'd like to pursue the CEO role but I'm not sure I'm what they are looking for.  I'm not anything like the current CEO."

"The client/RFP is looking for something pretty particular as far as a solution/technique.  It's not something we have do so maybe the fix is already in?"

I could go on with other samples but at the heart of these comments is a belief (or fear) that the terms and conditions of the "battle" are already set and our choice is to compete on those terms or not at all.  My suggestion is that perhaps the battle conditions are not set in stone.  You may and can have a choice as to where, how and when to engage.  How can you alter your own reality and that of your "adversary" to change the tide in your favor.  For example, if applying for a new role, how can you paint a picture that despite not having a couple of the qualities or attributes laid out that you have something different or more important to offer that the hiring committee has not taken into account?  Rather than feeling compelled to respond on the spot to a question or proposal how can you set yourself up to better respond perhaps by asking for a more considered, focused and structured discussion - one that allows you to be as prepared as your counterpart?  What makes you think that you have to lead like the last CEO?  Or that you can?  Or that you should  We are all different leaders, no clones, and certainly all imperfect.  What do you bring to a leadership role that your successor did not and that is perhaps better suited to current and future reality?

All of these scenarios - and the historical analogies of success - speak to and require several foundational realities being in place.  First, an understanding of your personal, team or organizational strengths and values.  Those (successful) generals and commanders noted earlier were completely aware of the strengths and weaknesses of themselves and their armies and those of their foes as well. You likewise need to understand your own strengths and limitations and how to make best use of those in your chosen field of endeavor.  Second, is the ability to exercise restraint and patience to seek out the right opportunity to apply your skills and abilities.  Wrong time, wrong place?  Might mean the wrong opportunity?  Third, having the courage to be bold or patient as circumstances dictate.  When pushed can you hold your ground to create the right circumstances for victory?  When opportunity presents, can you demonstrate and apply your strengths at the right time and place?  Time and tide may wait for no one.  Be clear about your objectives, your vision for success, and apply your strengths, abilities and values with confidence. 

It's About Leadership and sometimes leadership means actively understanding and creating the conditions for success - your success.

Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC

President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions

gregh@breakpoint.solutions

www.breakpoint.solutions

780-250-2543

Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained?

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.  How does that phrase resonate with you on a personal, leadership and business level?  Over the last 20 years, and the last 10 in particular, this phrase has held resonance for me.  While I make a distinction between personal, leadership and business worlds above, those of you in leadership roles and certainly those of you who have launched and are leading your own business know that this distinction is highly artificial.  Everything we do as a leader/owner is very much about US - it is difficult if not impossible to separate our realities.

In my coaching and consulting work, I have often marvelled at the conniptions that my clients put themselves through - or are put through - in the name of "risk management".  Certainly part of that is a function of the broader society we work within and the degree of regulation that has become so much a part of our lives.  When I reflect back on my leadership career and how that world has evolved since my first leadership role in 1986 it is amazing and distressing to see the degree of oversight that has now been imposed on our systems.  Now don't get me wrong.  The increase in regulation in many parts of our lives - healthcare protocols, environmental protection, financial reporting requirements - have all been done with positive intent and, in many cases, because leaders and systems have failed us.  We have met the enemy and they are us.

A significant consequence of this evolving reality, I believe, is that it has sapped our courage and diminished our ability and willingness to experiment and be bold on the promise of greater, future success and benefit.  Rather than being motivated by possibility we seek and actively enlarge the risks, barriers and challenges that MAY be in our way.  We often give up before we start.

Whether you believe you can or can't, you are right. 

So what explains this phenomena?  Why is it that at a personal and even organizational level we can start out with such enthusiasm and passion for a project or a cause and slowly have our fears grow and our confidence diminish?  I believe at least two interrelated factors come into play and they are our emotional intelligence and organizational culture.

Considering emotional intelligence (EQ), areas such as Self-Regard (which might be equated to confidence), Independence (ability to stand alone as necessary), and Stress Tolerance are subsets of EQ that come to the fore when I consider how we might "talk ourselves out of" a course of action.  Many of us are familiar with the "imposter syndrome" and wondering what gives us the authority or audacity to advance a position or initiative.  Might not there be other better qualified or informed people out there to lead forward?  In addition, when more and more voices present challenges (rather than solutions) who am I to question their perspective?  Self-doubt creeps in and grows.  Maybe they are more right than I am.  Beyond this sense of self-confidence and ability to stand alone for something we believe in, we are all also social beings - we value inclusion, not exclusion or isolation.  Our desire to be part of the "tribe" can sometimes hold us back from leading the tribe.

And what about organizational culture?  Culture can be defined as "...the total of the inherited ideas, beliefs, values and knowledge which constitute the shared bases of...action.." and "...the total range of activities and ideas of a group of people with shared traditions, which are transmitted and reinforced by members of the group."  I've highlighted what I think are some key elements of the definition to help illustrate my current train of thought.  In particular, the longer an organization has been around the more likely that it will have well-established, formal and informal, beliefs and expectations that guide, motivate and constrain its actions.  Some of that same perspective holds true for sectors (e.g., government, public sector) and professions.  Over time, the motivating or constraining elements of these cultures are given voice - and authority - through policies, procedures, protocols and all the other trappings of well-established organizational bureaucracies.  And over time, even if we look to change those parameters (e.g., to support creativity, innovation), we now have to contend with a culture that has become imprinted and embedded into our collective consciousness.  The tribe and our own desire to belong and maintain status within the tribe diminishes our willingness to push boundaries.  

So our own EQ "levels" combined with strong organizational culture can effectively partner to hold us back from a preferred future in deference to a "safer" status quo option.  We can be left to lament a lack of excitement, engagement and fulfillment on a personal level.  We can be left jaded, cynical and disappointed about what our organization can or can't do.  We have met the enemy and they are us.

So how to sustain drive, energy and hope in the face of all these real and perceived obstacles?  How can we sustain the venture and the promise of success in the face of "reality".  I suggest a number of ways that I have worked with and that I have seen my clients demonstrate:

One - Be crystal clear about your own vision of success.  It's much easier to get pushed away from your personal and organizational success when you yourself are not clear about the benefits of persevering in a course of action.  

Two - Ground yourself in your values, personal and organizational.  What's really important to you both in thought and action?  Again, if these are not well articulated you may inadvertently find yourself making decisions of convenience (e.g., risk aversion) rather than of conviction.

Three - Get out of your head and test reality.  One of my favorite coaching questions is "What is the worst that can happen?"  This is usually followed up with questions around how likely is this circumstance and what is our ability to develop mitigating strategies.  

Four - Get out of your head and test reality Part II.  Discuss your vision and strategy with others.  As I was creating BreakPoint Solutions, this meant getting coached by two separate coaches on two separate occasions.  Yes, there were potential barriers and unknowns, but by working them through I determined that my future developing vision was more compelling and engaging than just "making something else work..."

Five - Prepare for resistance and setbacks.  No great thing every came without effort, work and tribulation.  You will always have naysayers, those who want to play it safe and a range of other barriers.  Circle back to your Vision to sustain you.  Measure progress, appreciate success, recognize anomalies for what they are, and press on to the next milestone. 

Making a difference at a personal and organizational level takes courage, determination and hard work.  As a famous tag line says - "Is it in you?"
_____________________________

Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC

President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions

gregh@breakpoint.solutions

www.breakpoint.solutions

780-250-2543

Live Life - Lessons to be Learned

Life and time are immensely precious commodities and ones that we need to manage wisely and with purpose.  Hugely cliché start to this post but the (reinforced) realization comes with the passing of a former colleague's 13-year old son just this week.  This young man was certainly taken far too early from this earth and comes less than year after his diagnosis with DIPG which is an aggressive, cancerous brain tumor that afflicts children.  Through the immense dedication of his parents and a tremendous community of family and friends, this boy was provided with a host of wish list opportunities (e.g., skydiving, epic nerf war, NFL game at Wembley Stadium) that could make any of us green with envy - save for the foundational and challenging reason for doing so.

And perhaps if this were the only reminder of the need to stay focused on the truly important things in life one might be tempted to lament fate, bless God for one's own reasonably good health and that of my family, and move on.  Alas that has not been the case.  Add the sad story above to the loss of a 38-year old mother of two young children to lung cancer back in February of this year.  Add the sad story of the loss of an otherwise fit 42-year old to cardiac complications arising from contracting the flu just over a year ago.  Add the sad story of 40+ year old single mother of one just recently diagnosed with breast cancer in the past month. The list, unfortunately does go on and does not include the challenges being faced by aging parents.  Nor does it include individual health "alerts" that have been experienced in my own household of late.

Many of you may also know more of my own personal story of loss dating back to 2007 when I also lost my first wife suddenly and unexpectedly at the age of 42 leaving me a single parent of a beautiful 6-year old daughter.

Why bring these stories out within what is supposed to be a leadership blog?  Because leadership has to be framed within the context of the big picture of LIFE.  Because leadership has to be focused on more than just the next 5-year strategic plan.  Because from my view there cannot be and is not any artificial separation between work and home, business and life.  Hopefully most of us do work to live versus living to work.  That we take time out NOW, even in the midst of all of our responsibilities (e.g., car payments, mortgage, tuition, business meetings, hectic business travel, etc.) to enjoy those around us, to have them enjoy our company and experience what the world has to offer.  And hopefully it doesn't take the pressure of a terminal diagnosis or the sudden loss of a loved one to focus on our attention on the truly important things in life.

At various points since 2007 I have tried to keep this admonition in mind.  I was extraordinarily blessed to find a new best friend, remarry and experience the wedding of the century (yes I said that), go on a first class honeymoon cruise in the Mediterranean, complete two Ironman Canada triathlons, bring two more daughters into this world, take my now 18-year old daughter to Paris/Europe for her high school graduation gift, run the Berlin Marathon with my wife in 2018 and now plan to run the Venice Marathon in October 2019.

Do I 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 and my loved ones by not living life to its fullest - and that too is a legacy of those who have passed from our earthly sight far too quickly.

It is all about leadership - and how we choose to lead our whole life.
_____________________________

Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC

President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions

gregh@breakpoint.solutions

https://breakpointsolutions.blogspot.com

Things that make you go hmmm...Part I?

I'm certainly beginning to date myself with the title of this post with a song reference dating back 28 years - and the last century - but it seemed to resonate with the topic of conflict that I am about to explore.  Now there are whole classes and texts focused on the subject of conflict - sources and how to address or resolve.  What I hope to add to the topic are some of my own personal observations and experiences relating to my coaching and consulting practice - and my personal challenges as well.

As a starting point I'm going to come back to two related and foundational elements that potentially start to explain sources of conflict - self-awareness and personal values.  In my coaching and consulting work there are many occasions where I find myself trying to help my clients work through issues of anger, frustration, anxiety and even depression.  First let me be clear - none of what I describe borders on areas of clinical diagnosis or treatment - those are well beyond my bounds!  No, what I speak of is the garden variety set of negative emotions that all of us have experienced on a regular basis.  As these emotions are brought to the fore with my clients we can often use these experiences to help them better understand who they are and what they stand for.  These negative experiences (and even the positive polar opposites) can act as an opportunity for reflection, self-understanding, and personal clarity.  

Working from my own personal examples, I will admit that I might be a bit on the geeky side of this equation in having had some version of my own personal mission, vision and values statements since my mid-20's.  Focusing in on personal values, I have been pleased to see a lot of stability in them over the years.  Some of the most important to me are:  Integrity, Commitment and Learning.

Working on the premise that "feeling out of sorts" in work and in life can be a signal that our values are being challenged or under assault what types of circumstances help(ed) me understand my own values.  The first critical step is being prepared to step back from a set of circumstances and understand what is happening for me?  Why am I reacting in any given situation?  Presuming I hadn't already identified values of Integrity, Commitment and Learning, I have to have the capacity, courage and discipline to use my higher order reasoning to figure out what's going on and what makes this particular "issue" or circumstance important to me in one way or another.  I have to be ready to pause, think, learn and apply this learning.  

As it relates to Integrity, I have come to define this with a variety of other words including authenticity, transparency and honesty.  There is the further reality of after having declared a set of values and principles that I ACTUALLY live by them.  There is an explicit expectation that I will act in accordance with those values even in difficult times and treat people by the same standards regardless of "station" in life.  As I reflect upon times where I have been made to feel uncomfortable in my skin it can be related directly back to times I did not live up to my own expectations.  In other circumstances it has been where other (avowed) leaders have not lived up to their stated personal or organizational values - the emperor has had no clothes - or treated others as less or more depending on title or role.  In many organizations - private sector, public sector, religious, political - a significant challenge for me (and disenchantment on the part of the pubic) are leaders who don't walk their talk or hold themselves above others. 

As it relates to Commitment, I pride myself on quality of effort, quality of product or service delivered, and trying to bring my best to bear at all times.  That level of perfection can certainly cause one to pay a price!  Hard to attain perfection in every aspect of one's life.  But as I have learned and matured, I have tried to be very conscious of what taking on a commitment will mean.  A recent and ongoing example of this is in the area of mentorship.  I've been a mentor in one or more of my professions for at least a decade, maybe two.  A commitment to mentor really means something to me - be prepared to give of yourself, take a mentee as seriously as your highest paying client, being available for them as they require.  It's not just an excuse to round out your resume.  So when I start to feel that I can't deliver on that equation it literally starts to make me twitchy.  In like manner, I am highly offended by mentees and other mentors who can't seem to take this relationship seriously.  Taking this even further and deeper I will have to be completely honest that I have a hard time taking feedback on my performance from others if I don't see them as highly committed to a cause or effort as I believe myself to be.

Finally as it relates to Learning, or rather continuous learning, I am motivated by a desire to explore, learn, and experience.  Where that value is challenged has often come from being prevented from being the kind of explorer or creator I strive to be or being blocked by the resistance of others to learn, adapt and change.  In these latter circumstances, it is well beyond rational to expect excitment at the prospect of learning new ways of doing things. Learning and change can often be two sides of the same coin.  Too often too many of us can experience change as a threat rather than as an opportunity.  Too often we see our identity tied to a certain skill set or sense of competence in how we have done things for a long period of time.  So for me, the inability to learn, to read, to explore - and see that willingess in others - can often be source of conflict.

So what's my conclusion and request to you?  First, when you start to feel yourself feeling unsettled pay attention to the circumstances of your situation and the type of conflict reaction you are having.  Evaluate those feelings as an indicator of what actually might be at stake for you.  Second, as you evaluate those feelings start to evaluate and define those feelings.  Boil them down to the hot buttons and important principles that could be under challenge for you.  Define them in your terms, e.g., what does Integrity, Authenticity, Balance, Humility, Quality, etc., mean to you.  We each have our own unique definition.  Finally, once you have solidified those values in your own mind keep working with them, refining them and using them to positive effect.

Knowing your own values will allow you to more consciously make the right choices for you and allow you to anticipate and manage conflict situations when they arise.  Stop - Think - Act - Review.

There is no true leadership other than conscious leadership.  Know thyself or continue on a path of frustration and unproductive conflict.

_________________________

Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC

President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions

gregh@breakpoint.solutions

https://breakpointsolutions.blogspot.com

Healthcare - Back to the Future??

Over two years ago I posted on the challenges that are healthcare reform.  The specific impetus at that time was a January 10, 2017 article by Andre Picard (Globe and Mail) who provided his assessment of the real challenge facing our healthcare system across Canada - leadership.  His article came on the heels of the decision of Saskatchewan to abolish its (latest) current regional structure in favor of a single administrative structure.  Quoting directly from his article he concluded:

"Complex health systems do not run themselves, and our current loosey-goosey collection of leaderless, milquetoast administrative bodies is not doing the job.

If you want a well-managed, efficient health system that provides value for money, you need to hire good managers, pay them decently, empower them and hold them accountable.

Until we do so, the number of health regions won't matter, and the quality of health care will not improve appreciably."

Since then nothing much has changed and yet the same - tired - winds of change are blowing across the country.  We see that Ontario is considering joining the fray of healthcare structural reform with abolishment of Local Health Integration Networks that have been part of its system since 2007.  Rumors continue to swirl around potential for consolidation of British Columbia's current regional health authorities into one central authority akin to what exists in Alberta and Saskatchewan.  Saskatchewan's restructuring has continued apace with what I would view as the normal challenges that come with such major system change.  And next week in Alberta, with the conclusion of its provincial election, we are have the potential to see a number of 180 degree changes in that system including highly touted cuts to administration, reversal of plans for delivering laboratory services (again) and the potential to abolish Alberta Health Services in favor of a return to regional health authority structure. 

Mr. Picard puts forward some strong words and a conclusion I have no difficulty agreeing with.  My perspective is established out of a 25-year career in healthcare administration spanning roles in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta and a stint within a provincial Ministry of Health.  Since departing the formal healthcare system over 7 years ago I have remained a keen observer of the system, hearing the concerns and complaints of those who try to navigate the system and receive less than optimal results, observe the macro results we achieve (or don't achieve) for the resources invested, see how Canada compares to other jurisdictions across the world, and continue to connect with those who still labor valiantly to try to make a difference in service of patients, clients and residents.  Despite the best efforts of very many committed individuals - those who are good leaders and those who see healthcare not just as a job but as a vocation - we continue to perform at far less than desired or optimal levels.

So what accounts for this challenge in performance and lack of change over the last 20+ years?  Andre Picard touches the surface of the issue and proposes a small sampling of potential solutions.  I'd like to build upon his recommendations.

The issues we face in healthcare are large, complex and not amenable to half-hearted, politically-motivated solutions.  If we - the collective we - are serious about reform in the pursuit of a system that is effective, efficient and sustainable than we must face, discuss and deal with the hard realities before us.  With healthcare typically being the largest expenditure of any provincial government - on average 40% of total expenditures - there must be concerted, sustained and integrated efforts to manage this accountability responsibly.  In my humble opinion, grand and repeated efforts at achieving positive change through restructuring - changing deck chairs on the Titanic - have been the cause of far more disruption and regression than positive change and progression.

Likewise, the challenges facing our healthcare system will not be resolved by the continued bureaucratization and centralization of decision-making and cost-control.  When I left healthcare leadership it was as an increasingly frustrated senior vice-president.  In my final years as a so-called decision-maker, with budgetary accountability of some $300 million, I found myself prevented from making the simplest decisions on my assigned accountability.  Inevitably it felt as though any decision that required an expenditure or reallocation of even $5,000 required input and consensus of an entire senior executive team.  

If anything it appears that the current reality has only gotten worse.  Cost management has taken on extreme proportions with many provincial health systems mandating, restricting and banning many expenditures.  I wish I could say I was making some of these stories up - but I'm not.  In efforts to deal with projected deficits in the area of hundreds of millions of dollars front-line managers and staff are often told to not order paper, pens or other non-patient care supplies.  Salary and position freezes are the norm as well.  Many systems are also banning any form of travel outside their province.   So at a time when we might need to be less insular we are becoming more limited in our ability to exchange information and ideas.  Efforts at staff recognition and engagement (e.g., bring in a pizza for lunch) are frowned upon.  The system now requires multiple approvals, moving up the chain of command, for even the simplest decisions.  In effect, our systems and our "leaders" are spending dollars in an effort to save pennies.  

This lament comes with a set of recommendations that is not so simplistic as restructuring or penny-pinching.  They do however require a significant change in how we collectively think and act.  But as Einstein once said, the very definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.  Time to try something different, perhaps unique, and requiring more than a bit of courage and commitment.  And a style of leadership, at all levels, that we have not had for some time.

First, given that healthcare is so important to our collective experience of our lives and now takes such a huge proportion of our total expenditures it is beyond time that our political leaders and parties approached long-term planning of programs and expenditures in a non-partisan manner.  In this I take a page out of how I understand Australia sets defense policy and manages associated expenditures.  In this case an all party committee debates and sets joint direction on a multi-year plan that transcends normal political cycles (e.g., 4 to 5 years).  Recognizing that defense decisions and requisite systems (e.g,. aircraft, ships, tanks) require long development cycles, consistent and reliable levels of expenditure, and overall sustained vision to be effective, Australia's political parties have committed to maintaining direction regardless of which party is in power. 

A simplistic and naive recommendation?  In my view not any more than the multiple and misguided restructuring efforts that have plagued healthcare since the mid 90's.  A challenge to be sure in the increasingly polarized reality of our political systems.  Within the Alberta context for example I grant that it is indeed more than a stretch to imagine Rachel Notley and Jason Kenney coming together, overcoming their sizable political differences, and developing and holding to a long-term vision and plan for healthcare.  But that IS the political maturity and leadership I believe Alberta (and every province) requires - and has been sorely missing - if we are to move beyond the empty rhetoric and expensive misfires of healthcare reform that has characterized the last 20 years.

Second, presuming the political solution and will identified above, we must craft a true long-term vision for what our healthcare system should be and what it should deliver.  Again, in my opinion, our systems have been operating without a true, empowering, action-oriented and well-understood vision for some time.  We've had platitudes to be sure - patient-centred, commitment to quality, accountability, [fill in the blank] - but all too often I believe a healthcare vision has been subsumed, subverted and overridden by short-term financial and political agendas.  The first step in this process?  Broad-based and transparent engagement of the public and our service providers.  The effective creation - and implementation - of a meaningful and sustained vision and plan for health will not come if we can't achieve broad-based understanding and commitment of a majority of our stakeholders in making it happen.  This is fundamental to the success of any venture.  However, for a variety of reasons (e.g., fear? arrogance?) the formal system and our political masters have shied away from anything but cursory, perfunctory, and even deceitful "consultation" processes.  The intent more often than not has been to manage noise rather than create true engagement and constructive action.

Third we need to ramp up the collective courage to make the hard decisions and choices that are before us.  The changes we need to achieve the outcomes we say we want (e.g,. quality health care, cost-effective, patient-centred, sustainable) will not come without courage.  We do not lack for knowledge, data and research.  Much of what we know about what contributes to healthier populations has been reinforced in multiple studies dating back to the 1970's.  I suggest to you that another study - on mental health reform, rural health services, manpower planning, [fill in the blank] - will not fundamentally alter our understanding of what our issues are, where are systems are failing, and what we must do.  Do we have 100% perfect information?  No.  But if we believe we need that before taking action I suggest you prepare yourself to accept less than optimal performance in perpetuity.  We need courage and leadership to address the hard changes before us. 

So how do we incent the type of leadership we require within our systems?  When I've posed this type of question to others one of the common responses I've received is that we need to move away from our publicly funded health care system and allow the private sector to drive needed change.  Again I may be naive, idealistic or blinded to the possibilities, but I do not believe the profit motive is one that is required - or desirable - within our healthcare systems.  I still believe that a publicly funded and managed system can deliver on its commitments if it is allowed to.  I do believe that we have the leadership talent in the system to work for better change if we empower staff, managers and leaders to do the right things, to make courageous decisions, and be supported for doing so.  The reality for the past many years however is that caution, risk aversion, and even indecision have been rewarded over any form of action.  Too often those who have been prepared to take action have been chastised, demoted, isolated, or even dismissed.  Other potential leaders have left of their own accord, having become discouraged by their inability to make the difference they believe necessary.  Others have simply quit in place, now being content to defer to others higher up in the chain of command, or to participate in innumerable and never-ending committee work - our proverbial bridge to nowhere.

Finally, and just as critically, we need to overcome the challenge of the type of leadership culture we have created over the past 20+ years.  While we often hear assertions, particularly from politicians, that our system is overburdened with overpaid administrators I believe the issue is more profound than that.  In my view, due in large part to the actions and behaviours of our politicians, the healthcare system is over managed and under led.  We have raised several cadres of healthcare administrators within a culture that has valued "noise management", risk management, and decisions and accountability (or lack thereof) by committee.  Accountability has become diffuse by design.  For those wishing to push forward with strength and vision they often encounter policies, procedures, and processes to confound Solomon.  

Aside from the challenge of the maturity of our political process noted at the outset of this post, I believe this latter point may be one of the most challenging to overcome.  Changing the culture of leadership - which sets the stage for all other required change in the system - is daunting.  How does one change a leadership mindset when more often than there is a predilection in succession planning in choosing those who act, behave, and look most like us?  Wholesale change is certainly not desirable.  We need the benefit of corporate memory to inform us, guide our actions, and prevent us from repeating past missteps.  But we also need more innovation, creativity and courage than ever before.  I fear that our current leaders may not overcome their own unconscious bias to make that happen.  I fear too that there may not be many of those potential leaders remaining in the system to choose from and develop to make the necessary difference.

The challenges healthcare faces are immense and they will require political maturity, vision, courage, the right incentives, appropriate accountability mechanisms and a new style of leadership to overcome.  A tall order.  Can it happen?  Only if we have the strength to do the hard work and not simply engage in what seems expedient in the moment.  Only if we have the courage to risk and hold true to the values that I believe informed most of us to enter into the healthcare field in the first place.

In this case it truly is all about leadership.

Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC

President & Founder
BreakPoint Solutions
gregh@breakpoint.solutions

https://breakpointsolutions.blogspot.com

Stand for Something or Fall for Anything

In my coaching and consulting practice, I often find that I am working with individual leaders, teams or organizations to develop, re-frame, redefine or otherwise establish their core values.  This exercise can be motivated from a number of sources:

• Personally - to gain clarity on work challenges, desired advancement or changes in career, making choices about current/future fit ian organization, and exploring challenges related to work/life balance and similar choices. 

• Teams - trying to strengthen teamwork, manage conflict, get clarity of where the team is going, how they are going to get there, and what is permissible/non-permissible behaviors/actions.

• Organizationally - usually as part of an organizational reset and often tied to redevelopment/ reestablishment of a strategic plan or trying to figure out why desired results are not being achieved.

I love this kind of work - regardless of level at which it happens - as I do believe it is critical and crucial work.  Other leaders that I have worked with over the past 30 years plus would tell you different.  In fact, they would consider "values" work to be a lot of fluff and really only good for those ubiquitous annual reports and strategic plans that are mandated to them by an external agency, a board of directors, or by a variety of other stakeholders.  They engage in this work and produce such only because it is mandated, not because they see benefit in the exercise or expect to adhere to these values after the glossy publication is put on the shelf.  And, for me, the results of this lack of commitment are clear.

Having worked for these kinds of leaders and organizations I can attest to the personal impact on me and can certainly relate to the toxic effects it has on the broader workforce and for employee engagement.  Values matter on a number of fronts.  Many of us make employment and career choices - sometimes implicitly rather than explicitly - on the basis of whether a leader's or organization's values resonate with our own.  As I'm sure many of you have heard or read, the #1 reason that people leave organizations relates to their relationship, or lack thereof, with their direct supervisor. I would venture that a strong parallel conclusion would be that people also leave organizational cultures that don't resonate with their core values.

And let's remember that "leaving" an organization may not just come in the form of physical departure.  Many organizations, striving for higher levels of productivity, are fighting significant forms of both presenteeism and absenteeism based on a lack of true and authentic engagement of their workforce - on the basis of shared values.

Just as problematic, however, and more distressing to me are leaders that do have a strong sense of core values but consistently fail to strongly articulate those values and/or strongly and consistently put them into action.  The reality then becomes that a team or an organization fails to see a consistent presence or application of core values - whether that of the individual leader or of the organization.  Too often the result of this is other leaders, staff and stakeholders are either left to guess or interpret what values should guide actions OR, more worrisome, live and lead to a set of values that actually contrary to what the leader or organization is intending or hoping for.  The clear result of this "organic" and evolutionary model of leadership is an organizational free-for-all that lacks cohesion, alignment and as often as not results in unproductive and destructive conflict.

Clear personal values, clear team values and clear organizational values that are fully defined and effectively and courageously utilized to animate other structures and processes (e.g., recruitment, retention, performance management, strategic planning, communication) can be powerful in moving individuals, teams and organizations forward.  Certainly a great reference for me in this regard is Simon Sinek's "Start With Why".  Understand and lead self before you can effectively understand, lead and attract others that believe what you believe.

This also means having the courage to articulate - in some level of detail - what you believe in and stand for and then having the courage to act on those stated convictions.  This is why I push my individual coaching clients or consulting clients so hard on moving beyond one-word statements of their values.  Stating that we hold values of integrity, respect, transparency and so on needs to move beyond those basic and potentially powerful words to longer definitions and clear examples of what those values will mean in action, what is permissible and what actions and behaviors are out of bounds. Once those definitions are affirmed the proof really is in the pudding - is a leader or organization prepared to make a stand in service of those values?  To make the courageous and hard choices that demonstrate that these values mean something?

In the absence of committed leadership, founded on one's or an organization's well-developed values, the next wind will blow you in the next easiest direction.  You are no better off than those leaders who never believed in an exploration or declaration of powerful values.  Your glossy publication will gather just as much dust.

Leadership is a lonely venture, but in the end it IS all about leadership.

I end this particular post with a poem by Dylan Thomas which I have referenced before.  It speaks to me about being true to self, holding true to one's ideals, all in an effort to make a real difference in this world of ours.  For me, it is also a call to courageous leadership.  Choose to lead by your values and your terms.  There is a place and an organization calling for your talent and your leadership. 

Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. 

Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Because their words had forked no lightning they Do not go gentle into that good night. 

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light. 

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way, Do not go gentle into that good night. 

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light. 

And you, my father, there on the sad height, Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray. Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
Executive Coach/Leadership Consultant
President & Co-Founder
BreakPoint Solutions
gregh@breakpoint.solutions

https://breakpointsolutions.blogspot.com/