So, you think you can grow your business without HR?

As a business owner, have you ever stopped to consider how many hats you might be wearing on your entrepreneurial adventure? Many business owners have their fingerprint on everything in the early days to ensure quality control and consistent messaging. Understandably so, it is their invention. But as businesses grow, owners need to evaluate where their time is best spent and where it makes the most positive impact to their business.

If I look at my own HR start-up, I am not only supporting clients with HR solutions, but I am also the strategist, the visionary, the marketer, and face of my brand. I have quickly learned that – unfortunately – I am not Wonder Woman and I cannot do it all. Although sometimes the thought of having an eighth day in the work week sounds like a good idea. Instead, I leverage my time with a Creativity Consultant who collaborates with me to format and edit documents, proposals, and surveys. She also takes care of webpage management and supports my social media presence. And I work with an accountant who handles my bookkeeping. It takes a village to bring my vision to life and by partnering with SMEs (subject matter experts) or professionals in their field, I feel freer and stronger to focus on the things that matter most to me.   

This reminds me of the evolution of one of my childhood passions. Growing up, I loved to sew, and I started to learn how when I was nine years old. You should have seen my first sewing project! It was a short skirt with strawberry-printed fabric. I was thrilled in my choice of fabric and it was just fabulous! As a child, I had lots of time to dedicate to sewing, so I completed many projects for friends and family. Over time, I saw how sewing, like other leisurely pursuits, takes time. Fast forward to today, and even though I know how to sew and alter clothing, I choose not to do it. My time is a valuable commodity and I want to invest it in areas that bring me the greatest value. As a result, I outsource this work to a skilled seamstress who provides high quality service to me. It truly is a win/win partnership. 

So, when do you start to leverage SMEs to maximize your time and continue to add life to your business? Most business owners readily hand over their receipts to a bookkeeper but will only occasionally look to an HR professional for support. 

When I have connected with business owners and other leaders, they have said, “When I reach threshold XYZ, I will engage HR into the business”.  There is a point in time, and it is not as far down the road as you think, when adding an HR professional can be especially valuable. You only need basic minimum requirements to involve HR. For example, when you have more than two employees on staff, you need to start to think about team dynamics and if employees are working well together, if they understand their roles, if they know how their work contributes to the overall vision, if they know what is expected of them, and if they know they matter.  Like when going out to sea, you need to have some basic equipment, like an anchor and compass because without it, you are placing your safety at great risk. The same applies to the success of your business: HR could be considered basic equipment and helps to keep your business afloat.

Now, I get it, when wearing the HR hat, you may not see any issues. So, you may be wondering why you need HR and when the right time is to leverage it. Is it when you have all your systems in place? Think you may get sued? Have concerns your talented staff will leave? Rely on Google to find your answers? Are spending hours dealing with people matters which you may not be passionate about?

Have you weighed the risks of continuing to manage HR on your own? If you are spending a lot of your time on HR functions, what tasks get dropped? What are you not doing that you should be doing? Another way to look at the risks of taking on HR tasks is to analyze where you spend most of your time. Is it on business development, client relations, running day-to-day operations, marketing, or employee relations matters? Where would you rather be spending your time?  If you could make a shift, what would you see as the positive and tangible impact to your business?  At the end of the day, by trying to do it all, there are no savings; in fact, it is actually costing you.   

HR is an organization’s human resources multiplier. HR increases team effectiveness of teams and of the workplace, they leverage employee performance, and help shape human potential. People are the heart of the organization and HR is the glue that connects people and performance. HR professionals are natural champions to cultivate a rich employee experience. 

Why not make your business better and leverage HR to manage your employee relations and maintain compliance, to set up or update your HR infrastructure, to explore HR solutions that fit your unique needs, to tap into subject matter expertise, and to evaluate and elevate your employee experience? Whether it is fractional HR support or interim HR leadership, you will gain time to focus on advancing your vision and increasing overall performance in your business. Let HR be your organization’s HR multiplier that will positively enable your business to make improved decisions around what matters most: PEOPLE. 

Driven by connection,
Rita

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Rita Filice, BCOMM, CPHR
Partner, BreakPoint Solutions
ritaf@breakpoint.solutions 
www.breakpoint.solutions 
780-250-2544

Diversity and Inclusion Part 2: Creating a Culture of Inclusion and Learning

“Leaders are stewards of an organization’s culture; their behaviors and mindsets reverberate throughout the organization. Hence to dismantle systems of discrimination and subordination, leaders must undergo the same shifts of heart, mind, and behavior that they want for the organization as a whole and then translate those personal shifts into real, lasting change in their companies.”

Robin J. Ely and David A. Thomas, Harvard Business Review

Inclusive Leadership - How should leaders show up?

Leaders have a crucial role to play because of their ability to influence systemic change in an organization’s D&I journey. Whether organizations are just starting their journey, or their work is already underway, leaders must fully commit to the hard work of listening well, demonstrating empathy, self-reflection, and giving underrepresented people a voice by inviting them to share their lived experiences and realities.

Leaders, because of their ability to impact change, must hold employees accountable and be held accountable to D&I objectives. They must model positive behavior that supports the organization’s D&I efforts. They must be intentional, consistent, vulnerable, and prepared to get uncomfortable with their teams. When leaders do these things, this is where growth happens.  

What are the keys to successfully build a diverse and inclusive workplace?

1. Trust. It all starts with trust. Trust is developed by respecting one another. Trust is the glue that builds strong teams. Employees need to feel safe to share openly, make mistakes, ask questions, and raise concerns without consequence. This is also the foundation for psychological safety. Organizations that cultivate psychological safety in the workplace build inclusive cultures.

2. Transparency. Organizations need to share openly and continually communicate wins and setbacks on the organization’s D&I efforts. This will contribute to maintaining high levels of employee engagement throughout the journey.

3. Curiosity and Learning Mindset. Curiosity is about asking questions, exploring, and digging deeper to learn and grow. The landscape of D&I is all about being in this state of always wondering. Imagine going on an expedition to climb Mount Everest. There are a lot of unknowns, fears, and doubts; however, you will never reach the summit by sitting at base camp. Curiosity and learning go hand in hand.

“Being curious provides the motivation to learn other skills; curiosity fuels learning.”
Paul Ashcroft, Simon Brown, Garrick Jones, The Curious Advantage

5. Cultural Humility. As lifelong learners, organizations and leaders need to embrace cultural humility. By engaging in self-reflection to start to understand personal and systemic biases, and by developing and maintaining respectful processes and relationships, mutual trust can be built (www.fnha.ca). This helps break down barriers to understanding the experiences of others and welcomes deeper understanding of others’ cultures and experiences.    

Final Thoughts

As I continue to deepen my knowledge in D&I, I am drawn to the self-discovery and reflection that comes with this work and the opportunities to share my lived experiences and discover my own blind spots. As research professor and author Brené Brown stated in her podcast with Emmanuel Acho (author of "Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man"), this work is about “learning, un-learning, and re-learning".

Nobody is perfect in this space.  I believe the secret sauce to developing a healthy D&I culture involves consistency, community, continuous learning, openness, and dialogue. Remember to show up and be vulnerable, even if you do not have all the answers. 

Driven by connection,
Rita

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Rita Filice, BCOMM, CPHR
Partner, BreakPoint Solutions
ritaf@breakpoint.solutions 
www.breakpoint.solutions 
780-250-2544

Diversity and Inclusion Part 1: Beyond the Checkbox

It is only the second month of 2021, and although I am grateful that 2020 is behind us, I have reflected many times on the lessons learned, on the pandemic, and on the tragic events (e.g., the Black Lives Matter protests and the Capitol Hill riots to name a few) that have taken place in the last year. It is hard to forget how our world has been turned upside down.  

In the aftermath of the events of 2020 and with increased media exposure, discussions around diversity and inclusion (D&I) are going strong. The heartbreaking events and protests in 2020 are advancing dialogue on systemic discrimination and bias like never before. People are hurting. I feel angst on so many levels – professionally as an HR leader and personally through my lived experiences – because diversity, fairness, and equity are at the center of my life and work.  

What has changed? Why do these discussions feel different today? This is not the first time there have been riots or powerful events around racial injustice and systemic discrimination. Is it because these events are hitting prime time news and media?

From a corporate perspective, historically, organizations have made efforts to incorporate diversity and inclusion into the workplace. Resolving D&I incidents were limited to the HR department that was charged to rectify the scenario, ensure employees were treated fairly and given equal opportunities, and subsequently, offer training. The difference today is the world is talking about the realities of diversity, equity, inclusion, and more time and energy are being invested on educating people on anti-racism and interrupting bias.

These ongoing discussions have inspired action. More organizations are becoming aware of how systemic discrimination and bias are subtly and overtly part of their organization, and leaders are becoming actively engaged to start to break the cycle to build more diverse and inclusive workplaces. Leaders are having conversations within their organizations to evaluate what has been done, if it is enough, or how they can get started. There is momentum to get involved, to act, to contribute to something bigger that gives purpose and meaning for humanity. This drive to act has inspired me to get involved; to give back; and to participate in networks that openly share, embrace differences, and encourage learning. I wholeheartedly believe it is in each one of us to act. 

How should organizations approach D&I?

In my experience, the best way to approach D&I is as a leader-led culture change management initiative that is interwoven into the organization’s strategic plan. It is not an HR initiative. For successful outcomes, D&I requires an organization’s living commitment to lifelong learning as part of a never-ending journey.

With the ongoing discussions around D&I, some of the companies, that had not done work in this space, have rushed to create a D&I policy or post a company-wide statement about its stance on diversity and inclusion – check; or offer awareness training to its employees – check. They have completed the D&I requirement, right? Other organizations did not have an urgency to respond because they do not see themselves as having any issues with diversity and inclusion. Is it because when they look around the room, the majority of employees look like them? Or when they look at the people at the leadership table there is at least one person who looks different in an executive role, so they are good, right?

Don’t get me wrong, developing a D&I policy is a start, and training is a part of the puzzle, but it is not THE solution. Training on its own does not actually change the behaviors and systems that contribute to systemic discrimination and bias. The work around D&I needs to go deeper. The work needs to go beyond the checkbox to challenge values, beliefs, behaviors, and systems. Furthermore, the deep work requires being intentional to understand, appreciate, and acknowledge people’s unique attributes and the differences that make up who they are. D&I work requires an organization to define their why and what outcomes are desired as part of the overall strategic plan. This is the deep work required to ingrain D&I into the fabric of an organization. With deep work comes deep learning and it is in learning where progress is made. Are organizations prepared to invest in doing this work?

If you are wondering if there is a business case for diversity and inclusion, the jury is no longer out. The decision to invest in D&I with a learning mindset is well worth it and organizations will reap many benefits. Most notably, it leads to higher employee engagement and team satisfaction, stronger employee skillsets, higher quality of work, improved decision making, better staff retention, and increased overall company performance.

Final Thoughts

From my experience, it is not enough for organizations to simply create a D&I policy and conduct awareness training. D&I goes beyond the checkbox to include deep work to change behaviors and systems. It requires organizations to dig deep into understanding, appreciating, and acknowledging its people’s differences. Human beings have had a lifetime to build attributes, beliefs, and experiences that have shaped who they are today. This work takes time and a living commitment by organizations to learn and grow.  And most of all, always remember why you started.

Check back on Friday for part 2 of this two-part series.

Driven by connection,
Rita

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Rita Filice, BCOMM, CPHR
Partner, BreakPoint Solutions
ritaf@breakpoint.solutions 
www.breakpoint.solutions 
780-250-2544

What's Your Ocean?

I have often found myself using a variety of metaphors in my personal and business life, trying to make a point, trying to confirm or cement my own understanding of a concept, or to do something similar for someone I'm working with.  I think we have all done something like this at one point in time or another. The ability to provide people with some point of comparison or even a visual representation of a thought or an idea can often allow us to reach agreement, advance a perspective, or otherwise make a change.

So what is my reference to an ocean meant to convey?  From an early point in my career (and life) I found myself strongly influenced by the writings of Stephen Covey.  His book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, inspired me to articulate and document my first mission, vision, and values.  As I look back on those initial efforts, I see a significant degree of naivety and lack of depth in the efforts!  No small wonder, as I might have been 21 years old when I took my first stab at this kind of work, had limited life experience (relatively speaking) and wouldn't say I had much benefit of mentorship at that early stage of my career.  That being said, the effort was the right thing to be doing and some of the same values I identified then are still important watchwords for me now - not least of which is the value of integrity.

As I have transitioned through my leadership career and into executive coaching and consulting, my ability to frame my personal mission and vision has dramatically evolved - or at least I think so!  I believe I have been able to solidify both elements with the benefit of all kinds of experiences - life, business, relationships, formal learning, and so on.  My points of reference and foundations for creating visualizations that help me make sense of things for myself - and with others for themselves in my coaching practice - have grown, expanded, and become more fulsome. One of the most relevant, consistently useful and powerful I have found to be a reference to the Ocean and to the River.

One thing that many of my clients so often struggle to deal with or overcome is the notion, or the even the utility, of having a vision.  Common challenges in this regard revolve around an inability to be specific or detailed enough about a desired future state, intimidation around not having the crystal ball to predict the future, being overwhelmed by the potential immensity or power of a desired vision that causes some to not even start on the journey, or - perhaps hardest of all - feeling like one has no power to overcome barriers and challenges that will inevitably arise and get in our way.  Taken to extremes, this latter perspective suggests we are truly victims of circumstance, destined to a pre-determined fate, mere flotsam and jetsam to be tossed about by far more powerful forces.

So to the Ocean and the River and the potential power of metaphor.  The Ocean for me is that stand-in for our sense of direction and where we want to get to.  Sometimes that Ocean is something we see in close proximity to us - perhaps no more than a few months or a year out.  Other times, it truly could be years in the making, up to and including retirement.  Many of us might be accustomed to thinking of a traditional retirement age of somewhere between 55 and 65.  Regardless, for all of our individual protestations, assumptions, and limiting beliefs, we have a vision, or dreams, about how we hope life might turn out for us.  

Now to the River.  That is our path. These are the steps we take on the journey to that far-off shore.  At points in time in the River's journey to the Ocean, the clouds or a fog bank might clear enough for us to see the destination more clearly, or there may be a parting in the forest and perhaps a height from which the river flows that allows us to glimpse the future.  We get some brief moments of clarity before the riverbend puts its head downward again, carving out its effort against the rocks and the soil that we must cover and push against to succeed and achieve.  

But aside from any conformity imposed by man on the course of any individual River, none flow in a straight line.  The River encounters a multitude of different geographical and environmental realities that alter its flow, that change its speed, maybe at times seeming to stagnate, and even seemingly turn back on itself.  The journey of the River is meandering, changing, worked through cataracts and rapids, and can even change paths from season to season.  Ultimately and unerringly, it does, eventually, reach the Ocean.

As a metaphor then, I suggest you can describe your vision - your Ocean - in sufficient detail to keep you moving forward.  You can find and describe your version of this Ocean view, its shoreline, the sounds and the smells you might expect to experience.  Warm or cool breeze, sounds of birds, crashing of waves, sandy or rocky beach.  We've heard about similar destinations from others.  We know some of what to expect when we get there.  You CAN create this vision, your Ocean.

In similar fashion, we know some of the first steps we can take along the way to the Ocean.  We can prepare for the journey, but at some point, if the Ocean means enough to us, we must begin, we must start.  And even when (not if) we encounter some harder terrain, some boulders, or a diversion, keeping the Ocean in mind allows our River to adjust, to change course, to slow down or speed up, with the idea that the Ocean is still there, still waiting for us and still worth working for.  

What's your practical application of this metaphor?  How can this metaphor even apply within the context of world-altering events like COVID-19?  For me, I still have an image of my Ocean as it relates to my obligations and commitments to my family, hopes, and expectations for my career, and even something as small (perhaps) as the next Ironman in August 2021 and $100,000 in a fundraising goal reached for Kids with Cancer Society and in honour of Ronan Smyth.  

Find your Ocean.  Begin and sustain your journey as the River.  The path will be winding.  There will be both scenic and desolate landscapes along the way.  Keep your vision and sustain your efforts.  The River will get there. 

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

Disruptor - In Service of What?

In previous blogs I have called for disruption as a necessary and required force for change. This has been particularly true for me given my long experience in healthcare. We have a very expensive system that doesn't deliver on what it should given the resources expended, we have imbalances in how we spend our dollars in light of our changing population demographics (e.g., a need to continue a shift from cure to prevention, mental health, palliative and care of seniors), and there is a need to appropriately leverage technological advances (the right tool, at the right time, for the right reasons). In those past blogs, I have suggested that healthcare needs some form of Uber-like development or something akin to how Apple disrupted how we communicate and interact with each other.

This is not, however, a post about disruption in that sense.  Rather, it will speak to a perspective of leaders as disruptors within their own companies or organizations.  By definition - or at least by my reasoning - leaders are not brought in or hold a pinnacle position to manage to the status quo.  They are uniquely positioned and tasked with scanning the environment for the organization, identifying both threats and opportunities, and required to position the business for future success.  Disruption can and often is the name of the game for a leader.  This is why there is a constant need on the part of the leader for continuous learning and development.  The strengths or knowledge that got you to a position of leadership must remain as evolving and dynamic as the organization's environment.

The same holds true for leaders at all levels of the organization, even if to a lessor extent.  Even at a front-line supervisory level, the leader must be in a constant state of learning, evolution, and anticipation of what is before them.  They are required, at their level, to challenge their teams to grow and avoid stagnation and complacency.  Their teams must be made change ready and resilient if they are to maintain effectiveness and engagement.  

Let's be clear here as well that I am not talking about change for the sake of change.  There are just as many leaders - in both the private and public sector - who go for the appearance of disruption without actually changing anything of substance.  Nor do they intend to or are they capable of leading real change in these circumstances. The most common forms of this in my estimation are things like mergers and acquisitions and organizational restructuring.  

Turning back to healthcare for the moment, how many restructuring efforts have our systems been through in the past decade or two?  Can we say that the benefits of such have outstripped the cost of the disruption that was caused?  I am in the cynical group that would say we have put on the modern day equivalent of Roman bread and circuses without addressing core fundamentals.  Similarly, I have worked with several organizations that are in a constant state of acquisitions, driven to enhance (short-term) shareholder value or image, but oblivious to or uncaring of the systems and cultural integration work required in such endeavors.  There is much bluff and bluster built on shaky foundations.

This is where the question of Disruptor - In Service of What? comes into play.  And it applies no less at a front-line level as it does for a CEO.  In fact, just recently, I had a newly-minted leader recount how he had been questioned and even goaded by a subordinate to be more disruptive, to challenge the culture of the organization, to take on senior leaders all in order to make a leadership mark.  In the view of this subordinate, disruption was required in order to make one's mark as a leader.  The further implication was that failure to be disruptive was tantamount to mediocrity and career stagnation. What I believe I heard in this was that disruption was seen as a means to advance a personal agenda. Disruption and challenging behavior were seen as necessary for career advancement, to get noticed and to otherwise standout.  The reality was the organization is saddled with a challenging employee who scorns the use of influence versus power in leadership, engages lightly, if at all with others, and is not an icon of collaboration.  At this point, disruption is most often destructive, conflict-ridden, and a sport for one.  There is much promise accompanied by little hope that this potential can be harnessed.

It's at this point that I am reminded of Jim Collins's concept of Level 5 Leadership.  Whereas our examples above seem motivated by personal gain and short-term thinking, Collins notes the success and longevity of other leaders who are as equally ambitious, disruptive and creative with a focus on team and organizational success.  The difference between the hard-driving individual in the little vignette above, and the executives in restructuring and acquisitions noted earlier, is one of motivation.  Disruption that acts only to challenge and destroy, or change for change's sake, are all too often about personal ambition and glory.  They don't necessarily create something new and better, and even if they do create something, these edifices are built on shaky foundations that inevitably fall in the next strong wind.  They get changed and disrupted by the next "great" leader. 

So by all means, disrupt, challenge, seek out, and generate change.  That's what a leader is supposed to do.  But if you really want a legacy and to build something of lasting impact, do it for the purpose of creating something bigger than yourself, of building up the capacity of those you lead, and to realizing a potential for yourself and your organization that you never dreamed of when you started.  I further suggest that being the lone wolf, railing against all around you, calling out the failings of others, may feel vindicating and cathartic.  However, in order to be truly called a leader, you have to have more than a few people follow you down a new path of change.  Leaders need willing and committed followers.

In my view, disruption is necessary, inevitable, and should be used to create rather than simply tear down.  Be a disruptor.  Be a creator.  Be a leader. 

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

What Leadership Isn't

We live in interesting and challenging times.  The pressures, frustrations, anxieties and everything else you might want to use to describe 2020 and the first weeks of 2021 are there in spades.  People are trying to cope with extraordinary events and circumstances unlike anything they have ever experienced.  As a consequence, our personal reserves are being tapped, stretched and even shattered like never before.  The consequence of this is we may have found ourselves wanting, perhaps not quite up to the challenges, and acting in ways, that in better times, we would never imagine.  I say this in part as a hope that some of what we have seen of late can be chalked up to stress reactions.  

That being said, a phrase that comes to mind in times like these: adversity does not so much build character as it reveals it.

So what does it say about us as individuals and collectives that in these times "we" have rushed the Capitol in Washington, vilified and threatened each other in online forums, made death threats against public health officials throughout Canada and the U.S. (and perhaps more) and, as of January 23, saw fit to rally in the front yard of Saskatchewan's Chief Medical Officer of Health.  There are, it seems, no bounds to what we believe is acceptable behavior or discourse, nor do we see anything wrong in attacking - perhaps even killing - those who have given themselves over to serving the public.

What does this have to do with leadership?  

This type of behavior doesn't exist in a vacuum.  Too many of us and most often, and disturbingly, our political leaders have been creating the environment that not only permits but encourages this type of behavior.  And the seeds of this reality were not just sown in the past year nor with the advent of someone like Donald J. Trump in the U.S. four years ago.  Too many politicians have determined that their path to power is abetted by attacks on our public servants.  And the collective "we" have become accustomed to attacking government waste and inefficiency, turning the word bureaucrat into a bad name, and even suggesting our public sector is this nefarious deep state intent on subverting the will of elected officials.  We have turned expertise, experience, and education into qualities to be questioned and dismissed, recommendations coming from such quarters to be held under suspicion and thrown away if they don't accord with what some leaders wish to believe.  Shoot the messenger for suggesting that the emperor has no clothes, their draft policies have no legs, and that plans are not grounded in reality. 

We have normalized a narrative that sees public servants as the other, as alien, and not worthy of the same respect we would demand for ourselves. 

As noted, this is not a new phenomenon.  I have personally experienced several examples of this perspective dating back decades.  As an administrator, vice-president, and CEO in Canada's public health care system, I have been subject to more than my fair share of eye-popping attacks.  

Example 1, individual members of my own Board of Directors deciding that their best course of action in voicing their displeasure with a Board-approved operational/budget initiative was to attack my credentials and my motivations in our local media.  Let's be clear - those attacks came from a couple of  my bosses, roasting their own employee, likely to protect themselves from potential community backlash.  It was convenient, easy and wrong. 

Example 2, straight out of the "I pay your salary through my taxes, you work for me" category (e.g., this is my desk Nancy Pelosi), getting calls literally at all hours of the day or night - and mostly night, at my house.  I was rapidly disabused of the notion that I could have my name and number in a phone book.  When I suggested that I would be more than willing to debate the finer merits of the issue during working hours, it was made clear that my public position meant my open for business sign was on all night.  While I might have signed on for some of those realities, my family clearly had not.  Number became unlisted after that. 

Example 3, after having made the effort to meet with a few community members whose community was about to be impacted by a provincially mandated decision, it was suggested that I ran the risk of being shot between the eyes.  The implication was that I needed to back away from the decision.  No discussion about other alternatives we could have worked through together.  Assassination seemed to be in order.  And this particular insight was not offered by any random member of the community.  It was provided by a manager of a financial institution in that community.

What does this have to do with leadership?  In light of some of the more newsworthy public events of late (e.g., Capitol riot, protest in Saskatchewan), we see political leaders stepping out to express their dismay at such events, to offer condemnation of the perpetrators, and support for public servants.  Too often those words ring hollow or hypocritical when these very same "leaders" have set the stage with their words in actions in the years prior to where we now find ourselves. 

I leave you with the following statement, which has a distinctly healthcare flavor to it, but which I believe should act as a call to do better in relation to how we should be treating all of our public sector employees; i.e., doctors, nurses, teachers, police, fire, civil servants.  

"Since the beginning of COVID-19, this worrying phenomenon has escalated. What began as online harassment has evolved into threats and in-person intimidation. We have seen protests at the private residences of #Saskatchewan’s chief medical officer of health and #Quebec’s National Public Health Officer.

We must speak out against such #intimidation, whether online or in-person, and urge those responsible for overseeing social media platforms and law enforcement bodies to put an end to this highly alarming conduct. Peaceful protests are an important feature of our democracy, but these recent demonstrations have crossed a crucial line between free speech and willful intimidation.

Public health officials and #HealthCareWorkers in Canada have been working tirelessly — under stressful and very challenging conditions — since the beginning of the pandemic to keep Canadians healthy and safe. They deserve nothing short of our full appreciation and respect.

These disquieting acts of aggression must not be tolerated."

Dr. Ann Collins, CMA President

Actions matter. Words matter. Do better. It's 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

Leadership Lost...and Complicity

January 20, 2020 marked the end of the Trump presidency, if not the end of Trump, MAGA, and associated realities. The assessment/evaluation of his term will continue for decades to come. The full impact and story will NOT be told or understood until that kind of time has passed. Here in Alberta, the passing of this chapter in the US is being received to mixed reviews. In some quarters, positively, anticipating a return to less vitriolic and chaotic times, a commitment to healing and inclusion, and for environmental protection. In other quarters, dreading the consequences of cancelled energy projects and viewing such changes with anger and dismay.

Politically, for our conservative government in Alberta, the year 2020 and the commencement of 2021 is a time that seems like it can't pass fast enough.  Receiving the news of another blow to Alberta's energy economy, on top of mixed reviews on COVID/healthcare management and Aloha-gate, has led to a sharp rise in unpopularity of our Premier and a similar plunge in trust in his leadership.

In my previous two blogs I have focused on the theme of Leadership Lost. What was not addressed in those two previous posts, however, is the reality that leadership has never been anything but a team sport.  Donald Trump, Jason Kenney, and any other leader have never achieved anything alone - good or bad.  By its very definition, the term leader entails and requires that there are people to be led, that there be followers, and that there be supporters to help achieve and even sometimes help to develop or massage a vision to be pursued. 

Particularly in the US at the present time, we have heard many terms that describe how Donald Trump both came to power and was allowed to ignore, shatter, and blow past so many long-held protocols and norms of Presidential behaviour - incite, collude, collaborate, connive.  Complicity is a word that I choose to use in describing the reality of his leadership.  Usually complicity or being complicit implies, or is taken to mean, negative intent.  It need not necessarily be so.  Positive results could also, conceivably, be supported by positive actions; e.g., I could be complicit in supporting a colleague's success.  But I will be focusing on the more commonly held negative connotation this word invokes.

Complicity, I believe, can come in many forms and can be visualized as a continuum.  At one end there may be those of use who are unconsciously complicit or only want to make ourselves vaguely aware of nefarious things that are going on around us.  We might consider ourselves smaller cogs in the machinery of an organization, business, or public sector entity.  We are content to work our 9-to-5 shift, get our pay cheque, and stay apart from other elements of an organization's life.  We'd rather not know and work on the premise that ignorance is bliss.  Others of us might be more aware of situations and circumstances based on our positions or connections to other individuals in an organization.  One example I can cite here is that of an accounting clerk - seeing expense claims of executives, knowing and perhaps even calling into question dubious submissions from those in positions of power, but ultimately bending to power (willingly or unwillingly).  The expenses claims are no longer questioned as it relates to policy but merely moved along.

Others of us are more knowingly and intentionally collaborators in nefarious deeds.  Not surprisingly, although not a given, individuals like Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump were key supporters of their father through thick and thin.  Blood can be thicker than water.  Others in a leader's inner circle may also actually believe in fundamentally the same causes and similarly believe that ends pursued justify means used.  This may be accompanied by a further belief that all leaders are flawed in one way or another but that, again, the outcomes being pursued are grounds to support overlooking, forgiving, or even actively defending such character defects.  

As we dig deeper into the circle of collaborators, there are also those who are as self-centred and narcissistic as the leader themselves.  These are perhaps the most dangerous and culpable actors in the rise of a dangerous leader.  These individuals are more than competent, skilled, and experienced.  They have vision and foresight enough to understand how the leader can help them to advance their own ends so they become willing accomplices in the leader's actions and agenda.  In some cases, these collaborators become co-opted into the spiderweb they have helped create.  In my executive leadership experience, this has taken on the form of "right-thinking" people being given greater consideration for performance bonuses, increased or accelerated promotional opportunities, more frequent and attractive personal development opportunities, and so forth.  It has even meant beneficial (and mostly largely unscanctioned/hidden) changes to benefits plans and related compensation elements that would not pass moral, ethical, and even legal tests.  

Often, these collaborators, slowly but inevitably, get dragged to a point of no return.  They - we - delude themselves through a variety of mental gymnastics or self-defense mechanisms to come along with the leader, either voluntarily or involuntarily, as strong advocates or as the willfully blind.  Our future defense when consequences arrive - as in most circumstances they inevitably do - is to claim ignorance, no ill intent, or lack of power to alter the destructive path.

Leadership lost through complicity often comes from a corruption of our personal values.  And as with so many other things, it happens gradually and then suddenly.  We find ourselves through a series of compromises, each of them seemingly small and inconsequential at a place we would never have imagined - an attack on the U.S. Capitol for one.

It's About Leadership.  But that leadership includes the team that supports the leader.  At a point we all have to be clear about or rediscover our personal values, be prepared to be judged by our own standards, and hold ourselves accountable to what we have actioned or not actioned.  Eleventh hour confessions and contrition are unlikely to save us from Leadership Lost and its consequences.  We reap what we have helped sow.

It's About Leadership.  What do you want to be remembered for?  How do you want your 15 minutes of fame (media attention, public spotlight) to look?  With whom do you want to be forever associated?

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

Leadership Lost...or Never There?

This year continues to be an eventful year - and as of the writing of this blog, we are still only sitting on January 11! At the time of my last post we we were experiencing Aloha-gate in Alberta and had not yet gotten to the vote certification process in the U.S. Presidential election. What a difference a week has made in the reality we are facing today! The (top!) highlights of the past week include: the second impeachment process has begun for Donald Trump following the Capitol debacle of January 6, coupled with ever-challenging COVID-19 case counts and deaths. We see resignations from Trump's Cabinet (rather late in the day), some Republicans jumping ship, other allies looking to distance themselves from the carnage, Trump suspended from social media platforms, and Trump world losing corporate opportunities.

At a more local level in Alberta, the latest political polls show the governing United Conservative Party (UCP) dropping precipitously as the choice of Albertans, now sitting with a 31% approval rating as compared to the NDP at 48%. In April 2019, the UCP won a majority government with nearly 55% of the vote in their favor. This appears to be a direct outcome of a variety of government missteps and anxieties primarily (though not exclusively) related to handling of COVID-19. Much like what we now see in the US, there are starting to be some cracks in unity within the UCP/conservative ranks and certainly many calls for resignations, reassignment, and consequences for government leaders and staffers who are believed to have not shown the "right stuff" or even followed government policies and directives.

When I last posted (Leadership Lost), I talked about the fundamental sense of betrayal that so many people seemed to feel here in Alberta when government leaders and staffers seemed to go against their own directives and guidelines on managing the COVID-19 response.  Those who had adhered to restrictions, experienced loss of income/job, had to home school, or otherwise had their lives impacted were incensed.  I identified several reasons for this sense of anger and betrayal, the consequences of which for the UCP are currently reflected in the political polling noted earlier.   

One element of that anger I glossed over quite significantly, however, was a sense of foolishness that we might be experiencing during these type of perceived leadership failures.  Let me explain.  Most of us assess our leaders against our own needs and values - ill-defined as they sometimes might be.  Whether this be in politics or work or other group settings, we gravitate towards leaders whom we believe "get us" and believe in the same things we do.  The key question here is how do we make such an assessment and determine fit?  For the vast majority of us - whether in politics or business - we have limited time, access, and ability to vigorously and authentically assess and evaluate our prospective leader's values and capabilities.  And in many cases, our leadership candidates purposefully look to keep their true persona and intentions vague.  In today's social media and sound bite-driven, world we are even more challenged to go past the surface to what might be real versus staged.

We are also confounded by our unconscious filters and biases.  Contrary to what this first statement implies, filters in our minds actually serve a great purpose.  They allow us to deal with the literally thousands of pieces of data our senses take in every hour and every day.  If we had to pause for any length of time to consciously process, evaluate, and make sense of this data, we could literally be frozen into place.  An example?  I suspect very few of us who drive have to place a lot of thought into what to do when we get to an intersection or have to respond to a traffic signal.  We automatically press the brake when we see a red light, maintain or increase speed when coming to a green light, and perhaps press even harder on the gas when we see yellow.  At the same time this is happening, you are listening to the radio, a fellow passenger, or might be processing other to-do's and issues in your brain.

What does this concept of filters and unconscious bias have to do with how we pick and evaluate our leaders?  Whether we realize it or not, and whether we want to own that reality or not, we unconsciously look for qualities, characteristics, and statements that support what we already want to believe.  This is called confirmation bias. Moreover, any contrary information is not only often dismissed, it might not even register on one's radar!  We don't even see the facts when they are staring us in the face.  We see what we want to see, we dismiss what we don't, and we get highly emotional and even more entrenched when our strongly held views are challenged. 

Equating this to gambling, when presented with a losing hand (e.g., our leaders are not what we expected they would be), we often double down.  We become more committed to a cause, a leader, a direction that isn't supported by the facts or reality.  But at some point, in leadership as in gambling, we run out of chips to stay in our particular world.  "Winning", or coming back from the point of no return, is no longer possible.  The result is at least despondency if not outright anger.  If the latter, we blame everyone but ourselves for defeat.  

In reality, however, our sense of anger reflects that we are primarily angry at ourselves.  The leadership we have lost was likely never there in the first place.  It was a mirage of our own making.  We eventually realize that the leaders we came to place our faith in have not changed since we first cast our vote for them.  They are who they have always been, possessed of the same values when first elected or selected, guided by the same ambitions as they once were, and committed to the same objectives as always.  

Our anger is not so much that they fooled us into believing they understood us and cared for the same things we did, or even cared about us.

Our anger might just be based on the fact that we fooled ourselves into seeing what wasn't there to begin with.  We have seen the enemy and it was us.

It's About Leadership.  The challenge just might be to own what we imagined and created. 

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

Leadership Lost

This post comes as the world continues to navigate the scourge of COVID-19 and all of its associated impacts - economic dislocation, social isolation, fear and anxiety, uncertainty about the future, and literally a reset of almost all of what we took for granted just months ago.  What we have also come to experience is there is no common answer to the challenges we have been facing and how to get to the other side of this current reality.  Governments and leaders around the world have opted for everything from extreme lockdowns, to calls for personal responsibility, to abject denial of the significance of COVID.

This past weekend, in the transition from 2020 to 2021, Albertans came to understand a different kind of reality when it became known that multiple elected leaders and political officials ignored their own government's words, advice, and "suggestions", and were found to have travelled not just outside of their own city/town but out-of-province and out-of-country.  In some instances, these actions were further compounded by what seemed to be active attempts to deceive the electorate through social media posts. These same officials were wanting us to believe they were sending Christmas and New Year's greetings from Alberta while in reality what we were viewing were pre-recorded greetings, posted at appropriate times, while vacations continued in places like Hawaii, Mexico, and Arizona.

Judging from my social media feed and news reports, it is clear that much of Alberta feels betrayed - in some cases profoundly so - by its leaders.  While the answer to the question why, might seem self-evident, it's important to dissect this outrage.  From my point of view, this outrage comes down to a number of factors that perhaps we all take for granted or is unsaid about what we collectively believe constitutes good leadership.  

Taking a page from Kouzes & Posner (Credibility, The Leadership Challenge), a consistent quality of leadership that followers look for is honesty.  Leadership is not (truly) achieved through simply having a position of authority or power.  It is achieved by followers being willing to follow a leader, through an evaluation that the leader(s) is someone worthy of their trust, and who shares their values and goals.  Followers must know they can trust their leaders.  A failure of honesty poisons the environment and the relationship between leader and followers.  Honesty, trust and integrity.  By failing to Model the Way (Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership), by failing to set the example and holding themselves accountable to their professed values and standards, Alberta leaders have significantly betrayed the trust of their constituents, have damaged their leadership credibility, and have diminished their legitimacy to lead through the current health and economic challenges facing this province.  

This government has only made a bad situation worse through failing to take personal and collective responsibility for actions, providing reasons why their actions were acceptable under current (unclear?) guidelines, and making half-hearted and belated apologies for their actions.  

The majority of Albertans believe they have been making significant voluntary and involuntary sacrifices for the past year.  They have lost income or entire jobs/careers, put educational/career plans on hold, become teachers for their young children, socially isolated from family and friends, cancelled vacation plans, and in many other ways put their lives on hold.  Their outrage suggests  they were operating on the belief that these sacrifices were shared by their leaders, only now to have those beliefs proven false, their faith and trust misplaced.  They not only feel betrayed, they feel they have been taken as fools for believing in the common cause. 

This is where I believe the heart of this matter lies.  What I believe accounts for the profound and widespread outrage at the moment is not just the immediate act of ignoring public health recommendations.  We feel not just betrayed but duped.  What the actions of our provincial leadership seem to demonstrate is a distinct lack of respect for their followers, for the electorate, and for fellow citizens.  We now believe we foolishly held the same values and commitments as our leaders.  By the actions of our leaders, this facade has been shattered.  The rules were only ever for us, not leadership or the inner circle.  We are not worthy.  Let us eat cake.

Where to from here?  Can trust and credibility be restored?  Will Albertans forgive and forget?  Only time will tell and, at some level, I'm sure political calculations suggest a two-year window until the next election is an eternity providing ample opportunity for resurrection.

It's About Leadership!  It always has been.  For me and I believe for most Albertans, leadership - exemplary leadership - is defined by integrity, honesty, credibility, shared pain, and shared sacrifice.  So far our provincial leadership has failed the test. 

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

Enabler or Gatekeeper?

When you think of HR, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Compliance officer? Gatekeeper? Controller? Or is it trusted advisor? Enabler? Business partner?

The HR profession has transformed from being a highly administrative function to being a strategic voice in business. Traditionally, HR has been perceived as a gatekeeper. Instead of managers being able to move forward with their ideas or challenges, HR was a roadblock where necessary action stopped.  There was an us vs. them mentality that pushed leaders away and forced them to circumvent processes to still get their job done.  

Gatekeeper: a person or organization that controls whether people can have or use a particular service (www.dictionary.cambridge.org)

When I started my career, I knew one thing for sure: my mandate was to connect with people, develop meaningful relationships, elevate the employee experience, and make things happen for the business. And through my lived experiences, I learned that a command-and-control approach with people and processes (i.e., being a gatekeeper) did not produce results. I also knew that from an HR perspective, well designed guidelines that fit the culture and values of the organization were necessary and added value to the employee experience. So, the trick was to figure out how to produce results, animate the culture and values of the organization, and nurture the employee experience by empowering them in their roles and their decision-making.

The choice for me was always simple on how I would show up and perform. To be an enabler, I had to pave the way to make things happen, influence people’s decisions with knowledge and data, and help leaders bring their ideas to life through collaboration.

Enabler: a person or thing that makes something possible (www.lexico.com)

One of my greatest memories in HR was working at a land development and housing company. Working alongside the Vice President of Housing and other members of the senior leadership team, we clicked and made significant progress on the employee experience. My commitment to being an enabler was an important piece to my success in moving the business forward, as described here by the VP of Housing:

“Rita is the first HR person I have worked with that gets the relationship between operations and HR. She is an enabler of people where others are gatekeepers. Rita consistently earned and built trust on the senior team through outstanding credibility, objectivity, and professionalism. She challenged experienced managers in our construction and sales culture to modernize and be open minded to the benefits of cultural change and modern people policies.”

My goal was to create an open and collaborative space for leaders to feel safe, to be vulnerable, to proactively raise people issues, to evaluate options to solve problems, and to create solutions that fit the situation.

My role as enabler looked like this:

• Trusted advisor: earning trust, respect and credibility by being present, walking the talk, listening well, asking the right questions, and challenging thinking by bringing forward different perspectives.

• Business knowledge: leveraging human resources knowledge and investing time to understand the business, the people, and the drivers for success.

• Open door philosophy: having an open door for employees and leaders to discuss issues, to clarify understandings, and to be a sounding board. My door was always open.

• Delivering candid feedback: being comfortable with the uncomfortable, having difficult conversations, and offering honest feedback with empathy, courage, and respect.

• Being proactive: anticipating what the business required and bringing forward valuable ideas and insight to make informed decisions about people.

• Collaboration: great things happen when people work together. Collaboration is one of my values and it is how I partner with the business to improve people decisions.

How can leaders support HR to be an enabler to the business?

• Be accountable to themselves, their teams and the organization.

• Communicate often. Leaders are a pathway to raise awareness, share knowledge and keep employees informed.

• Leverage human resources. HR is on your team and they want you to succeed!

• Be open, transparent and honest. Share information often and speak up if you cannot meet a company deadline.

• When in doubt, ask for HR’s help before a small people problem becomes a big people problem.

• Put employees first. HR is supportive when they know leaders have done everything in their power to work with their employees and position them to succeed.

• Get social and take a break with your HR partner. We are human too! Go for coffee. Create space for HR to get to know you, your pain points, what keeps you up at night. Developing trusting relationships is hard work but well worth it when you want to accomplish great things together. Trust me, this is a cool thing to do!

HR is no longer an administrative function, but an enabling voice to organizations. And as the future of work evolves, HR will continue to be a center of influence and a strategic voice to organizations.

HR is in a unique position to influence business and people decisions and offer valuable insight. It can connect the dots between people, data, and business, giving organizations a competitive advantage. Organizations that enable HR will improve business performance.

As human beings, we are wired for social connection. This is a year where that wiring has been tested in every aspect of our lives. As I write this blog, it is the last month of 2020, and a time to reflect on what this year has taught us about where we show up as gatekeepers and where we show up as enablers. How have those occurrences impacted your ability and capacity to experience connection?

I believe it is in each one of us to be an enabler. Human beings have the ability to be open minded, to collaborate, to be vulnerable, to empower others, to be empathetic, to communicate often, to be active listeners, to show up with no judgement, and to accept different perspectives. Imagine the possibilities if the enabler lens was expanded from the HR function in a business and applied to a vision for humanity and the world. Just imagine!

Driven by connection,
Rita

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Rita Filice, BCOMM, CPHR
Partner, BreakPoint Solutions
ritaf@breakpoint.solutions 
www.breakpoint.solutions 
780-250-2544

Moral Distress, Residue, and the Price of Leadership

Today - November 25, 2020. As I write this, Alberta is coming off successive days of over 1,000 COVID cases and ICU capacity is reaching pre-determined threshold limits in the province. We have the dubious distinction of leading the country. For days, weeks, and even months, our provincial government has been admonishing citizens to exercise personal responsibility in how they work, play, live, and socialize in order to flatten the COVID curve.

The current conservative government has been loathe to impose (and enforce?) more significant restrictions up to and including a circuit-breaker lockdown of between two to four weeks long.  This would harken back to earlier this year when businesses were shuttered and schools either effectively closed or moved to virtual reality through to the end of June.  Similar efforts have been used to positive affect in other countries like Australia.

In April, daily cases reported numbers in the low hundreds.  Today we are multiples beyond that and likely to hit new highs in the coming days. The Grinch is likely to steal Christmas this year. 

The current choice provincial political leadership seems to believe it is faced with is one between economic disaster that would arise from a lockdown, the potential backlash from some who believe any form of restrictions is a violation of their individual rights, and a continuing - and accelerated - rate of infection, hospitalization, and death of Albertans. Livelihoods or lives.

Leadership is about hard choices.  Compounding that reality is that those hard choices are fraught with imperfect information, particularly around decisions where there are conflicting opinions, motivations, and truly unknown future outcomes.  Leaders rarely get clear and distinct choices between right and wrong, yes or no, black and white.  Leadership is about the courage to function and excel in the shades of gray. 

Those choices can result in pain and anguish when we struggle through what is the right thing to do or we may even be actively prevented from doing the right thing.  There may also be times where we feel we are forced to do the wrong thing.  We experience moral distress.  I can only imagine the moral distress that our Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMOH) faces each day as she watches the cases climb, contact tracing systems collapse under the volume of activity, citizens ignoring recommendations to promote their safety, and having to toe a political line relative to what should be done versus what will be allowed or tolerated. 

Beyond the period of agonizing over that first big choice comes the consequence of having to now live with those choices.  Moral residue follows moral distress - a feeling of having comprised ourselves, our ethics, our values, and ourselves when the anticipated and real consequences of our choices come home to roost.  I believe the CMOH is trying to do the right thing.  The question becomes is she being prevented from doing the right thing or is she even being forced to do the wrong thing.

The answers to whether our government is doing the right thing or the wrong thing will become much more abundantly clear in the next two to three weeks.  In that time we will find out how much of a game of Russian roulette we have been playing.  We will find out how many blanks or live ammo are in our collective gun.  If we have guessed, hoped, or chosen wrong, we will put our healthcare system in another situation of moral distress. In fact, we already have.  Elective and non-urgent surgeries have already been cancelled.  Other appointments and diagnostic tests have been delayed or postponed.  These consequences will pale in comparison to the choices we may be placing before our healthcare professionals in the weeks to come.  We could be asking them to NOT put COVID patients on ventilators because we lack capacity.  We may be asking them to CHOOSE between providing life-saving care for a 55-year-old father of three daughters, or the 80-year-old grandmother of six grandkids, or the 30-year-old just-married wife starting to really launch her career.

Moral distress.  Moral residue.  It's being writ large for all of us.  Send our kids to school or not.  Work from home or not.  See our families or not.  Support a lockdown or not.  

This is the time for strong leadership. This is a time for courage. This is a time of commitment.

It's About Leadership. Period.

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

Exorcising Our Ghosts

Growing up I had my fair share of fears as I suspect most kids do. In particular, I somehow learned to fear the dark and more particularly all the evil creatures that might be lurking under the bed, in my closet or just outside the window. Every noise and small movement of shadow seemed to be amplified, the precursor to my impending doom. Several decades removed from those childish fears I still find myself somewhat anxious at the thought of a night out with my telescope observing the heavens.

The reality is, however, that in my youth those monsters were quite real. And in truth, it was only over time and not through any particular parental logic that they were overcome. I profess to still having some fear of the dark, but more often it is borne out of knowledge of what is really out there - farm dogs that might perceive me as a threat; skunks, coyotes or other wild animals; and other humans who might have less astronomical things on their minds. My fears are more grounded in reality these days (e.g., COVID impacts, US election results??), but they don't hold me back from pursuing one of my personal passions. So what gets me out there in the middle of the night regardless of perceived or real ghosts? In this case, it is the opportunity to gaze upon celestial wonders of far flung galaxies, nebulae, and the rings of Saturn. In some bizarre and metaphorical sense, I am driven to face my fears by a higher purpose.

As an executive coach - and a leader/entrepreneur in my own right - I experience and realize that I can be subject to a number of different fears. Most of these come down to self-doubt and the courage to take on new and different challenges in my career and business. And I see similar behavior in many of the clients I work with. The mythical monsters that have lived in the closets or just outside our windows in our youth now stalk the halls and alleys of our hearts, minds and souls. These monsters and ghosts are some of the most insidious we will ever face. They know us well and play on and magnify our weaknesses, insecurities, and doubts. Left unfaced, they grow in strength and hold us paralyzed with fear striving to ensure we never take that next step forward.

These ghosts don't operate purely or even mostly on horror and shock value. Rather, they are more cunning and possessed of a powerful voice, constantly talking us out of taking that next bold step into the future. They are the voice that suggests we really aren't qualified to apply for a new position. They help us procrastinate and rationalize to the point where even if we were to apply and get an interview we would show up with the belief we don't belong. We display our anxiety to the point that those who would make the selection decision recognize our lack of confidence and make the non-selection decision we have been expecting all along. We become our own self-fulfilling prophecy.

But like conquering our own childhood fears, success in facing our more mature fears is possible. My success and the successes of my coaching clients are proof of that. In my first year away from an executive role and into my new venture, I probably had more sleepless nights - and self-talk - than I'd had in the previous 10 years. What made this the right move? Was my business plan just wishful thinking? What made me think that my marketing efforts were the right ones? And so on and so forth. I could say it was the powerful vision of my ultimate success that kept me going, but that would be too easy a way to rewrite history. Truth be told, I was probably just too proud and stubborn to give in. But I did ultimately face and conquer (most of) my fears. I often did so with the encouragement, support, inspiration, and examples of others.

In similar fashion, I have been inspired by the courage that many of my coaching clients have ultimately demonstrated as they struggled with realizing their potential, seeking out new opportunities, and taking on new challenges. We have helped them face their fears, challenge their self-limiting beliefs and powerfully own their strengths. A quote from one of my coaching colleagues comes to mind in this regard: "Your mind is a dangerous neighborhood to go into alone." So together, we have walked the dark halls and alleys of their mind, challenging assumptions, taking small steps, all in service of a grander vision of what is possible for them, to realize their potential and open up new vistas they had not even imagined.

The fears and doubts never truly go away. I still fear the dark, I still fear swimming in open water, and I still fear that success enjoyed today is fleeting. Even as my clients enjoy their current success (e.g., new job, award, raise, promotion), they still wonder how they will maintain or build on that success. Our fears and doubts won't go quietly into the night, but perhaps rather than paralyzing us, they can serve a more useful function of keeping us sharp and helping us prepare for potential (and reality-based) setbacks.

Keeping a higher purpose and vision in front of us - the celestial heavens, the triathlon finish line, a successful and fulfilling career - is a foundation by which we can keep moving one step ahead, developing our own level of reassurance that our fears are often overblown. We can choose to live in fear or live in purpose. We can look back on our past successes as harbingers of bigger things to come. We can believe in our strengths and in our capacity to become stronger. We can ultimately build the confidence and courage to overcome what is holding us back from our un-imagined potential.

Choose to face your ghosts, get off your (metaphorical) bed, and shine a flashlight into the dark spaces. What you don't find there might amaze you and lighten your load.

Exorcise your ghosts - own the night.

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

Understanding Your PLC

We are now full on into our seventh month (October 2020) of leading life in and through a COVID-19 reality.  If you are like me, this has meant juggling as a leader, business, and family like never before.  What I know and have experienced, and what my clients have expressed to me, is that everything we do seems like it requires a great deal more intentionality than ever before.  Nothing just happens as a matter of course.  And that means we are expending more effort and energy than ever before.  It is testing our PLC - Personal Leadership Capacity.

This post comes courtesy of the intersection of a number of parallel but distinct events and experiences over the past week.  Often times as individual leaders and organizations we feel overwhelmed by the opportunities and challenges before us.  This reality hit me particularly hard this week - in more ways than one.  I heard flavors of it from a couple of my coaching clients, in individual coaching and group planning sessions I facilitated, and from my own personal and business perspective.

From several of my coaching clients this week I heard the lament of too much on my plate, how do I get this all done, how do I prioritize and/or how do I get others to appreciate that my plate is already full. If we flip the coin on this lament we can hear some other common themes that are all too often a part of our work these days - stress and fatigue on the part of our colleagues and staff, even complete absence or disconnection at times, and points of conflict that seem to come out of nowhere or on issues that seem relatively minor. Sometimes these results are being borne out because of or in parallel to the perception or reality of lack of resources. "How do we keep going with this remote working reality? How do I juggle this home office with my kids doing their school work (or not) at that same I'm trying to manage this meeting? Where do I find the time - or the commitment from others - to deliver on our plans?" The examples and the list go on and on. Time, energy, and money - and more - don't seem to be on our side more than ever these days.

Just as challenging it would seem for some leaders or organizations is the willingness to say no or to otherwise prioritize the requests and workloads coming at them. This is further compounded by the fact that our boundaries between work and home are incredibly blurred, if they even exist at all right now. In some of these cases, as described by my clients, there appears to be an organizational willingness and imperative to say "yes" to everything that comes across the table. If we don't say YES, perhaps that is THE decision that puts us over the brink into irrelevance! Conversely, it may be that there is an organizational unwillingness to say "no" to anything that comes across the table. This predicament is probably enhanced in the kind of reality that we are experiencing right now. Saying no to a request might be perceived as tantamount to asking for your own termination notice. Unfortunately, too many organizations have not been willing to truly establish the key guideposts by which they would evaluate any initiative that comes before them. The result is predictable - yes is the answer to every initiative regardless of current workload or resources. The long-term sustainability of such a response is hardly considered. Just don't say no now.

Therefore, for me, it was refreshing to recently hear a CEO of a large organization espouse to his executive team and governing board the need to understand - and respect - their personal and organizational capacities. Rather than demand more and more - as is the wont of many hard-driving executives - he was holding the feet of his people to a different fire. Understand your capacity. Understand that there are limits to the time available to you in a day, week, and month. Understand that there are limits to your ability to handle multiple priorities. Understand that there are limits to your energy reserves. Don't tell me you are going to add another initiative to your plate and keep to every other milestone you have already set. Chose wisely and execute well. It was a powerful message and one that clearly was being understood and accepted, even if slowly, over time.

The message of this forward-thinking CEO, an individual that I would no way characterize as soft, stands in sharp contrast to others I have experienced or worked with during this time. One of the most iconic examples is of a CEO who tried to alter his staff's perspective on prioritization by use of the somewhat infamous "Big Rocks in the Bucket First" exercise. A decent enough exercise, but it presumes that all managers and staff have the ability - or are allowed - to pick their own big rocks. In the case of the forward-thinking CEO already noted, this appeared to be the case (outside of regulated or legislated initiatives). But for other leaders, who most often define what the big rocks are, there is a lack of appreciation of how many big rocks can be rolled down the hill or the potential consequences of ignoring some of the little rocks that others in the organization need to work with.

In fact, perhaps it's time to update the Big Rocks exercise, particularly now. Perhaps there has to be an understanding of what size of bucket we are actually working with. What's our actual Personal Leadership Capacity? Perhaps as leaders we need to undertake a bit more of an internal environmental scan before launching the next big rock down the hill and understand how that fits with - or displaces - other rocks we launched yesterday or the week before.

The final hitting home point for me on capacity has come on my own business and personal side. The past month has been one of the busiest and most challenging for me on a number of fronts. Altered reality has been challenging my capacity and, more particularly, made me feel that I have been less of the quality family man and coach than I should be and aspire to be. Others - most notably my wife - are also in that same boat. Our stress levels are up. Our capacity is down. While potentially manageable in the short-term, the stress tolerances of continually exceeding one's capacity has inevitable and predictable consequences.

The lesson of capacity is one that I'm trying to learn (or learn again) in my personal and business lives and I trust you can be more forward-thinking, insightful and discerning as you contemplate launching your next big rock into your leadership or organizational bucket.

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

Ironman & Leadership Lessons - COVID Reset

The die has been cast yet again (and again?).  After a failed restart of my Ironman or endurance endeavors in 2020 - thanks COVID - I recommitted to Ironman Canada 2021!  Bring on another year of prep, training, weight loss, and two-day workouts. 

I originally penned a post about how THE Ironman experience related to leadership for me in August 2012.  At this point in time (September 2020), I'm updating and reprising my musings on this comparative based on the fact that I'm back for another bite of the pain, suffering, and glory that is the Ironman Canada triathlon.  It will have been 10 years since I last took on the challenge, so we are definitely going to see what I have learned and can apply since the last effort.

It's certainly cliche to identify that many leaders look to and experiment with a variety of initiatives designed to improve the performance of their organizations.  Paradoxically, however, the majority of these efforts often fail and can be traced back to the quality of leadership at their helm.  We squander our potential and the potential of our people from not focusing more strongly on self-awareness and self-development.  So what can the experience of preparing for and competing in an Ironman competition tell us about leadership?  Well here are my thoughts.

I've competed in the big Ironman Canada event in 2010 and 2011 and I'm now going back in August 2021 - 10 years removed between competitions.  I've done other running events since then - the Goofy and Dopey races in Disney World, the Berlin Marathon, the Venice Marathon and a few others - but nothing is going to compare to reprising the event - and the preparation - of Ironman.  And in some respects I begin almost from where I started in 2009 getting ready for the 2010 Ironman, trying to establish a training foundation (e.g., relearning how to bike, swim and maybe run), trying to get into a proper race weight zone (as of Christmas 2019 was at 204 pounds and as of writing at 185 with a goal to get to 160 by December 31, 2020), get re-geared with a bike tune-up and purchashing a new bike computer.  

It's going to be somewhat tougher this year than in the past.  In 2010, my family was smaller and perhaps a bit more manageable.  My wife was coming off of her own history of several years of triathlon experience.  I was employed rather than running my own business which meant paid vacation time and perhaps (ironically?) greater control over time and workout time.  And, of course, I'll be 56 years old by the next event versus 45 when I last entered the fray.

Interestingly enough, from the standpoint of being an executive coach, through much of 2011 and into 2012, I had the privilege of working with an executive coach.  At that time, my coach helped lead me through some challenging times and a major transition in my career.  Aside from all the skills and talents you would expect to see in an executive coach, he also brought another dimension to our conversations - he was and is an accomplished triathlete and has competed at Ironman Canada.  This shared experience allowed us to make many comparisons to my work environment and Ironman.  It allowed me to put into perspective aspects of my work that I did control and those that I did not.  As I prepared for the 2010 and 2011 versions of Ironman Canada, and as I now prepare for 2021, I thought I would share with you some of the analogies I've been able to draw between Ironman and Leadership through my work with that coach and from my life and business experience since then.

First, as in taking on a leadership role, there has to be some motivation or goal in mind to undertake an Ironman event. As "they" say , without a goal, any direction will do! Ironman is a daunting undertaking - a 3.8 km swim, followed by 180 km on the bike, then a 42 km marathon.  As I'm sure most amateur athletes would attest to, there are not a lot of positives that come with doing this event.  You certainly get cheers along the way from family and friends, and sometimes from complete strangers.  You do get a finisher's medal at the end of the race (no podium finish for me!).  

And you get to feel a tremendous sense of accomplishment (and relief) when you cross that finish line.

Otherwise it's a lot of hard slogging through the three disciplines and sometimes a lot of talking to yourself as you try to reach the finish line.  You are in the race, in some cases, just to say you did it, to prove to yourself that you are capable.  And most of us in leadership roles would agree that recognition is outweighed by ongoing challenges.  Like Ironman, it's often a lonely journey we take on.  

Related to this motivation and goal setting, the intervening years in business have also taught me the powerful role that experience and specificity of goals can play in one's success.  In each year of my business, I have updated my goals for the year, on at least an annual basis.  In that process, and as I have coached and worked with my clients, I have come to appreciate how many of the barriers we believe we face are actually self-created.  If we create stretch goals that are specific and challenging, we can often surprise ourselves with our success.  That success then encourages further audacity in setting the next impossible goal.  So in Ironman that has meant that simply achieving a new personal best is not enough.  I want to - and am working towards - trying to better my last best time by 10%.  Perhaps that still seems like a small goal to you.  For me it means ramping up performance in each element of the race.  Same philosophy applies to my business which, since 2012, has grown by nearly 400% as measured by gross revenue.  Success, courage, determination, realism, and purposeful action has continued to lay the foundation for better results.

Second, for best results in an Ironman, you spend a significant amount of time training and preparing for the race.  No different than getting ready to take on a leadership role.  For Ironman, you can find yourself starting to prep for the next race as early as a few weeks after the last race!  Granted your training isn't as intense at this point. Rather, you are now trying to maintain your level of fitness, work on improving or sustaining technique, improving core strength, and (if you are like me) looking to shed a few more pounds.  Entering race day - or starting a leadership position - without any form of preparation is a high risk proposition to say the least.  For most of us - including the professionals - success does not come without months of preparation.  Others may spend years getting ready for the ultimate event, building up confidence to take up the challenge by doing shorter distance triathlons.  In much the same way, successful leaders prepare themselves academically, take on smaller challenges, and ultimately work up to larger leadership roles.

Triathlon is a multi-discipline sport.  So is leadership.  However, if we think of triathlon as just swimming, cycling and running, we would miss out on other equally important components.  A critical part of training and race day preparation is making sure your nutrition and hydration are race ready.  Throughout the year leading up to Ironman, you use training days and smaller events to figure out what works for you and what will keep you fuelled for the race. What will your body tolerate? How much fuel do you need to sustain race pace? What kind of electrolyte replacement do you need? Do you need to use salt replacement? How will that change depending on weather conditions? 

So what's the leadership analogy for nutrition?  My take on that is all leaders need to continue to fuel their minds through continuous education and learning.  You can't continue to make positive impact if you don't continue to hone and advance your skillset.  There is too much change too fast in our work world - labour force dynamics, regulations, government direction, world events and upheaval - to stand pat with existing learning.  Leaders must continue to fuel their minds. AND, just like nutrition and hydration, the form of your learning and development has to be customized to your needs and appetite.  What works for one athlete/leader may not work at all for the next.  Know yourself first and best.  Take advice, information and learning from others.  Create your own best solution within the context of your own personal goals and expectations.

Success in Ironman also requires that your equipment - wetsuit, bike, shoes, watch - is race ready.  This means making decisions early on as to whether you want to take on the race with a road bike or a tri-bike, whether you want to go with base components or invest in top-of-the line products, what type of running shoes work for you, and so on.  You'll also find that your training and smaller races will take their toll on your equipment.  At different points in time you will have to replace your shoes as you put on the miles, replace your tires and otherwise tune your equipment in the hopes of not having a breakdown on race day.  In much the same way, as a leader, you have to make the appropriate investments in equipment and tools to undertake your leadership task - do you have the right measurement systems in place, the right tools to effectively communicate with your stakeholders, the right mechanisms to ensure your work group or organization is aligned towards achieving a common goal.  Your experience will cause you to change/upgrade your tools as you work towards your goal.

I can't do justice to the comparison between Ironman and Leadership if I don't discuss mental preparation and hardening.  You can have everything in place mentioned above - training in several disciplines, fuelling plan nailed, equipment ready - but if you are not mentally prepared for race day, all of the prep work will likely be for nought.  In this way, "failure" during training or in a shorter race may become the best guarantee of future success at Ironman.  If you don't face adversity prior to Ironman - flat tire, slipped bike chain, bad weather - you likely won't know how to react when something like that happens on race day.  And you don't want to be doing all your learning on race day!  It's no different with leadership.  The best leaders have faced their share of adversity on their way up to their current roles: they've experienced conflict, they've had to make tough choices, they've had to balance multiple priorities and tasks, and they have sometimes failed.  However, that's what has (hopefully) helped them to become better leaders.

Then it's race day.  All your preparation has led to this moment.  In 2011, that meant nearly 3,000 people entering the water at the same time, each one with their own anxieties, skill levels, and goals.  Some were rookies.  Some had done this more than a dozen times.  Regardless, for the next nine, 10, 12 or even 17 hours, you effectively begin to race on your own, trying to beat the clock.  At this point there is no guarantee as to how the day will go.  You may have expectations but once you start the race you surrender yourself to the events of the day.  Weather can be a factor. In 2010, I got hailed on part way through the bike ride and the temperature dipped to 10 degrees Celsius.  In 2011, the temperature hit a peak of around 40 degrees Celsius.  Same course, different conditions.  In 2011, I got slugged in the face and developed a cramp in my leg half-way through the swim.  Early in the bike course somebody had thrown tacks on the road.  I got through while others had to deal with replacing a punctured tube.  I saw someone else with a broken bike chain.  You can't predict what will happen.  No different in our leadership roles.  Your day can be exquisitely planned out and then you get that one call and your day is radically altered.  As a leader you must be prepared to respond and adjust to the events of the day.

At some point the day does end!  While I did better in 2011 than I did in 2010, I still believe I have more in me.  I have a desire to achieve what I believe my body is capable of.  As in leadership, there is a need for a post-event evaluation.  What worked?  What didn't?  What would I change?  In Ironman you have a small number of well-established metrics that help you to objectively evaluate your performance - heart rate, pace, swim time, bike time, run time, transition times, and finish time.  There are also subjective evaluations at play and most of them relate to how I felt during different parts of the race and after the race.  Was my stomach working ok?  How well did my body hold up to the pounding?  What does all of that mean in preparation for next year?  In the same way, leaders have to conduct ongoing evaluation of their efforts by whatever means available to ensure a greater degree of success in future endeavours.

While I have described Ironman as a solo event, it is anything but.  Most competitors have been introduced to triathlon through other people.  We don't just miraculously decide to take on triathlon without having someone initiate us, inspire us, or mentor us to take on the challenge.  Many of us are also part of teams that we train with and learn from.  Good leadership is also a function of working with and learning from a team.  This includes subordinates, peers and mentors.  We shorten our learning curve and mitigate the risk of failure by learning from others and leaning on their experience and knowledge. 

Finally, as I hope all leaders and triathletes would attest to, none of us truly succeeds or reaches our full potential without the support of our families.  Training for an Ironman can often take up to and over 20 hours each week.  This means many early mornings, evenings or weekends away from family.  It means adjusting family plans to allow for participation in lead-up races and Ironman itself.  It means financial investment in equipment.  And the same holds true for most leadership positions with early morning and late evening meetings, planning forums that take place out of town, conferences, and crisis events that all take time away from family.  In addition, as leaders, we all experience varying levels of stress, trials and tribulations in the course of our careers.  We have to make decisions about when to upgrade our education.  We have to make decisions on when to make a career change.  Are we prepared to move to another city or province to pursue a career opportunity?  None of this can be a solo decision and our success is in no small measure attributable to our families.  

Ironman and Leadership - more than a few lessons to be learned.  Keep training, learning, growing, experimenting and enjoy the race!

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

On What's Important

Once in a while we all need a reminder of what is truly important in our lives.  COVID-19 and its related impacts have helped me - and I hope have helped many - to understand and appreciate our humanity, the need to stay in touch with the reality and challenges facing others, and how we can and should stop and smell the roses, not just on occasion, but as frequently as we can.

Since the middle of March of this year a lot of things have changed and been called into question.  I have been provided with more than one reminder of the toll taken on myself and on others as we have tried to navigate very challenging times.  A small sample of the challenges include:

• How do we make choices with imperfect information and imperfect solutions to continue to advance the educational and social development of our school-age children?

• How can we successfully juggle or maintain some semblance of balance in our lives as we socially isolate, work from home, and sustain a distinction between work and home?

• How do we reman connected with our loved ones who may have health and financial challenges of their own?

• How do we stay connected, period?

The challenges of these times have been brought home for me in many different and powerful ways.  A client of mine who is trying to help a loved one navigate a terminal cancer diagnosis that is now measured in weeks of life left at most.  The recent passing of a mentor of mine. The suicide of two of my fellow travellers within the past couple of months and days apart from each other.  A reminder from a colleague of mine in the banking sector that others continue to struggle and fear for what comes next when loan deferments and nest eggs are potentially exhausted in the next several months.  Others left wondering what happens to their career choices or options they have been working towards for the past number of years.  

For me, this all points to having compassion and grace for ourselves and each other as we navigate some of the most challenging times we are likely ever to face.  It is also a reminder that we still have the choice to be present in much stronger ways than ever before.  And it reminds me that we have choice to show up differently - in big and small ways - if we remain present to opportunity.  

"Be the change you wish to see in the world."
Gandhi

At this point, I am reminded of a turn in life that happened for my wife and I over two years ago.  Despite the passage of time, I believe it is important to remind myself of that reality and I hope it will also illustrate my points on compassion grace and the importance of presence to self and others.

In January 2018, my wife and I set out to complete a personal challenge.  The anticipated conclusion to that effort was supposed to read something like we came, we ran, we finished.  The direction the journey took, however, was markedly different than planned.  Aside from the typical things we might have expected from this marathon + adventure (e.g., cold weather, thousands of people crowding a course, falls, cuts, and bruises), the journey to and through the Dopey Challenge reinforced the critical importance of knowing and living to one's values and priorities.

Our adjusted adventure began early on our flight from Toronto to Orlando.  Within the first 30 minutes, a medical emergency was announced by the frantic calls of the wife of a stricken passenger.  My wife, aside from being a coach/consultant, jumped into care mode as the registered nurse that she remains. Working in partnership with a couple of other nurses, she proceeded to work under less than ideal circumstances to support and maintain the distressed male passenger.  This went on for at least two hours.  At the same time, I had the opportunity to take care of - or entertain - the couple's five-year-old daughter.  I quickly learned the family of three was on their way to experience their first trip to Disney World. 

Not quite the start envisioned for a memory-making vacation. 

Upon arriving in Orlando, my wife engaged with emergency medical personnel on the ground to facilitate handover.  We also offered assistance to the wife and daughter to get to the hospital or in providing other supports as they required.  What was interesting to me at this point was how, at the conclusion of the flight, the dynamic of support we had seen on the plane had changed.  Of the myriad of people who had been around the stricken passenger, precious few now seemed prepared to extend their efforts and compassion beyond the arrivals lounge.  To my cynical and jaded eyes it appeared that not many were prepared to sacrifice even a small part of their vacations for a stranger they had just met, no matter how compelling the story.

"The future depends on what you do today."
Gandhi

We made an effort to remain in touch with the family over the next 24 hours.  We had made plans to visit various theme parks in and around our races and offered to act as chaperone to the five-year-old girl.  Having young children of our own, we felt comfortable in the belief that we would have been in our element.  The offer was acknowledged but not taken up immediately.  No surprise.  We were, after all, strangers to the family, and updates at the time indicated the father might be discharged from the hospital within a couple of days. 

Within less than 48 hours of arrival, however, things took a turn for the worse.  We had completed our first Disney run of 5k early on Thursday and had been visiting Universal Studios when we got a text midday to see if we could, in fact, take care of the five-year-old daughter.  The father had been admitted to ICU and was struggling.  We didn't hesitate.  For the rest of the day we proceeded to entertain, as best we could, our new found charge.  We were overwhelmed by the courtesy, manners, lightness of spirit, and overall capacity emanating from this beautiful little girl.  In a very short period of time, she won over our hearts.  

At this time we also started to have serious discussions about whether we would shelve the rest of our races to support the family as they dealt with this unexpected challenge.  Our conclusion - despite months of training and anticipation - was a resounding and unhesitating "YES".  Our values directed a rewrite of our priorities.  As the day progressed, however, we learned that other family support was arriving and we could expect to relinquish our "parental" duties that evening. 

Upon the arrival of this additional family support to our rental, we learned from these family members that the father had in fact passed away.

We were left to say goodbye to our new found little friend, trying to hold our emotions in check, trying not to give away our dark secret, knowing that in a few short minutes she would be seeing her mother and getting the news that her world had irrevocably and tragically been altered.  The experience was more than surreal.  Later than night, and in the days to come, both my wife and I found ourselves breaking down in tears, truly unable to come to terms with what had transpired.  Too often, I was brought back to the loss of my first wife in similar circumstances, left to raise a six-year-old daughter on my own. 

For the next few days we likely operated on autopilot.  We ran our races, followed our routine as best we could, but truly found ourselves feeling unfocused and off centre.  As we read Facebook posts from friends and family of the deceased, we found ourselves lamenting this loss even more.  The father and husband seemed to have cut a wide and positive swath in the lives of others despite his relatively young age of 42.  His interests spanned many of my own, including a love of astronomy.  He was a musician.  Some called him a renaissance man.

So why this long, convoluted story and what does any of this have to do with my opening remarks?  First, I believe this is a story that had to be told, and life that had to be remembered, if only to honor a fellow human being.  Second, I believe we must acknowledge the profound impact that can come to any of us who are prepared to be open and vulnerable to others.  This man clearly had impact on those around him - and not just his family.  In many respects he acted as a role model, cheerleader and even leader.  One could see all of this in the messages that followed his passing and the memories that are still discussed to this day. 

I've always seen myself as highly goal-oriented and planful.  However, this experience and the events that I recounted that have happened in the heart of COVID, continue to teach me the power and necessity of being flexible.  They also remind me of what I say my values are and how I believe I should live. Our values were put to the test through this experience and are continuing to be tested now.  I believe we chose wisely and in accordance with our values then, and I hope we can live up to those same values through this latest test. By living to those values we opened up ourselves to the gifts we received from a five-year-old within a microscopic slice of time.  She and her mother helped reinforce the power and value of compassion and vulnerability. 

Words truly seem inadequate to convey this story and the evolving story we are all going through today.  I come back to the need to make sure you know your personal values and assess your actions - in a conscious way - against those values. 

Be prepared to be flexible, compassionate, and even vulnerable right now.  I have seen and felt the power of being in service to others.  Appreciate the impact you could have for others, but even more so the impact on you and who you can become from that courageous step. 

I continue to lament the loss of a friend I never got to make back in early 2018.  I lament the loss of those who have since passed and have been challenged by our current reality  I remain connected to a wife and daughter I might never have known if we had not been prepared to be present and to show up with grace and compassion in light of the pain and suffering of others.

Sometimes its NOT just about leadership.  Sometimes its just about being human. 

"Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it."
Gandhi

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

Not All Coaches are Created Equal

Coaching continues to grow in its application and importance for many leaders, aspiring leaders, organizations and individuals. As is the case for any growth industry, the challenge for those looking to select a coach is how to sort the wheat from the chaff. How do we know or identify quality coaches from the myriad of people presenting themselves as such? I have seen this challenge play out both at an organizational level, where Human Resources or Organizational Development departments are tasked with vetting coaching resources, and at an individual level, where leaders and aspiring leaders are tasked with wading through a multitude of bios of potential coaches for themselves. I've been on both sides of this selection process - picking an executive coach for myself and being selected by others to be their executive coach. What I have experienced is the processes - and the quality thereof - is as varied as the individuals and organizations involved.

If you are like most leaders I have worked with, your understanding of executive coaching can be pretty basic. You are not quite sure what coaching is and sometimes you are not quite clear on what you want to achieve by engaging an executive coach. Some of the most common reasons individuals look for a coach is they are trying to overcome some personal or professional challenges (e.g., it's lonely at the top, barriers to professional advancement), or even as simple as their organization supporting coaching for their leaders.

Regardless of motivation or understanding, the next crucial step is trying to figure out how to select an executive coach that is right for you.  In my opinion, this is an effort that requires as much time, thought and process as we put into hiring any staff member, contractor, architect, or other professional resource. I say that with the thought that all such other processes in your organization are approached with due vigour and diligence. In many respects, there should be even more effort and structure to selecting an executive coach because what's at stake is your leadership and personal effectiveness. In my opinion, without effective leadership, all other resources in an organization are vastly under-utilized or even squandered.

So how can you maximize the opportunity available to you by getting access to and support of an executive coach? How can you ensure you choose the right coach for you? Here are my top factors and processes in making your best executive coach selection decision:

NUMBER ONE: This is the first and most important barrier to entry to working with you!  Make sure the executive coaches that present themselves for your consideration are in fact qualified - by education and experience - to provide the requisite level of service you are looking for. I'll demonstrate my bias here in that I believe qualified coaches must meet a minimum threshold which I define as a graduate of a program that establishes the coach as Certified Executive Coach(CEC), they are members in good standing with a professional coaching association (in my case the International Coach Federation [ICF]), and tangibly demonstrate a commitment to advancing their coaching acumen. This latter part relates to continuing education and certifications relevant to coaching. In short, the only candidates that are worthy of your consideration are those that are well-trained and have an excellent track record of ongoing professional development.

Number Two: Get access to a bio or resume for a variety of coaches. Get a sense of who they are and their track record. Approach this just as you would any other recruitment process. You are hoping to have a number of options to select from and to do that you need more than a few examples to choose from. Your decision may even be informed by the multitude of samples and approaches you see coaches taking in responding to your requirements.

Number Three: Relevant and complementary experience. While it is true that one does not have to be an expert in a given sector to coach someone in that sector (e.g., I don't have to be an engineer to coach an engineer), there is no doubt that some sort of relevant and lived experience that allows your coach to relate to your challenges and opportunities is going to benefit the quality of the coaching engagement. My coaching career has been pre-dated by 25+ years as senior leader of large complex organizations (e.g., $$$ million in accountability, thousands of staff, highly political environments).  This, coupled with years of coaching senior leaders, probably allows me to more effectively work with leaders with similar scope of responsibility. 

Number Four: Just like in any other recruiting process, try to gain some clarity for yourself in what you want an executive coach to do with and for you. By way of analogy, it's a pretty daunting task to go looking for a Chief Financial Officer or IT Director if you have no idea what tasks you want them to focus on or what education and skills you need them to have. The same holds true when selecting your executive coach.

Number Five: Get references from their current or past coaching clients. If they've had positive impact on others, it's quite likely that these other clients will be more than willing to speak with you about their experience.  If they have negative experience with the coach, they might be even more willing to be frank with you about shortcomings or challenges. If the coach in question is on LinkedIn, look for endorsements and testimonials from their clients. Get the evidence. Verify the claims of success or skill of your potential coach. 

Number Six: Take the time to interview at least two to three prospective coaches. Ask them your key questions. Ask them to describe in detail their coaching process. Ask them to describe in detail their successes and their failures (e.g., toughest assignment, learnings, whether they have been fired from a coaching engagement). Ask them how they stay current in their coaching practice. This is a critical selection decision for you - take the time to get this decision right! Make this a true and effective interview.  Don't speed-date your way to a decision.

While selecting your executive coach is a very personal decision, one tactic that I have seen work well is some form of panel interview or input. I remember one client who involved a number of his direct reports in the selection process. We do this in any other number of recruiting and selection processes so why not with an executive coach?  

Number Seven: Be wary of coaches who over-promise or offer to solve your problems. While you are definitely looking for confident and competent coaches with a track record of helping clients to identify, clarify and address your challenges, be clear for yourself that it is YOU who sets the agenda for the engagement, you are the one true agent of change, and you have the power and expertise to set your future direction. In my opinion, if you are feeling you are getting the hard sell, then it's time to walk away from that engagement.  

Number Eight: Consider this an investment in your personal and professional leadership. What is that worth to you? What is it worth to your organization? It may appear more than a bit self-serving on my part, but be wary of coaches who offer bargain-basement coaching rates. While price is never a guarantee of quality (see other points in this list), it should give you pause to consider what you might be signing up for. There may be a reason you can get coaching for less than the going rate.

Number Nine: Connection, connection, connection. Beyond ensuring your coach is actually a qualified coach (see Point #1), despite whatever skills, qualifications, and references any coach might have, if you don't feel a connection to a particular coach, I'd suggest not contracting their services.  This is an individual you are going to have to feel completely comfortable in revealing all of your fears, anxieties and challenges. You are going to have to be ready to be challenged by this indiviudal in each session and during the term of your coaching engagement. If you don't feel a connection, move on to other options. This is about YOU and no one else.

Choosing a coach is a critical decision for your leadership. You want the best resource available to you. Don't settle. Your executive coach can be one of your best resources in advancing your personal leadership, so put in the time and effort into the selection process. After all, it's about YOUR leadership.

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

My Why: Why Human Resources?

When I started my post-secondary education over 25 years ago, faced with choosing a major in a field such as Finance or Marketing or Human Resources Management, I didn’t know why I was drawn to HR Management. All I knew was it was the clear choice.

So why have I continued to dedicate my career to the HR profession? I have asked myself this question many times over the years. And what it comes down to is how the principles of successful HR Management deeply parallel who I am, my values, and how I show up in life.

HR and Me

I am driven by connection. Humans require connection to thrive and to feel like they belong. Through life experiences, I have recognized that being connected to individuals, clients, a worthy cause, or a value-add project feeds my soul.   Organizations must strive to have connection with their employees to motivate them to work towards business goals, and to help them see they’re also connected to working towards something bigger.  

My DNA is rooted in collaboration.  I am a firm believer that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Great things happen when people nurture synergies and work together instead of working in silos.  Organizations that collaborate with HR know the value of being a partner in business and, as a result, can leverage effective human resources to meet common goals.    

I am grounded by the belief of doing the right thing, and by acting with integrity, we set the stage for people’s success. Organizations must act with integrity and stand by aCode of Conduct to cultivate a healthy and productive workforce.  

Trust is the foundation for every relationship and crucial to my purpose. I have learned that without trust, it is difficult to build healthy relationships, move ahead, accomplish tasks or achieve goals – both personally and professionally. Organizations need to create a culture of trust with and among employees to drive results. At its best, with trusted advisors at the centre of HR, employees can feel empowered and valued to make a difference.

I am genuinely interested in people – their stories, their journeys (as everyone has their own path), their goals and progression in life, why they made specific decisions, their mistakes and their successes. With that passion, I have dedicated my career to bringing out the best in people. One area that has helped me to successfully elevate people is putting people first, which is a sign of humility. Humility, or being humble, helps build strong employee relationships and breaks down barriers and egos to reach business goals.  And I believe organizations need humble employees and leaders for people and the business to be successful.

What have I observed in HR over the last 25 years?

I have seen business practices that work and others that do not work.  Here is what works:

• Putting people first. Successful organizations know what matters most to employees. This, in turn, produces business results.  Putting people first means organizations focus on building strong relationships with employees and invest time in actively involving employees in business decisions.  It also means employees believe they have a voice and organizations value their feedback. They believe leaders listen and act on their valued ideas and input. 

• Giving employees opportunities to grow.  Incredible human potential is realized when organizations allow people to soar! Leaders who empower employees to make decisions, who offer support and mentorship to reach their goals, who are empathetic and provide flexibility to balance life, who are present and listen to their needs, and who go beyond building on strengths, enable employees to believe the sky is the limit and anything is possible. 

• Organizations embrace performance excellence.  People crave feedback! It truly matters to employees when leaders have ongoing, meaningful dialogue and provide them with feedback. Performance excellence exists when employees know how they’re doing, where they fit, and where their potential may lead.

Here is what does not work:

• When HR does not sit at the leadership table as a valued business partner.  HR is an organization's human resources multiplier. If HR is not viewed as a valued business partner, it will not contribute to increasing human potential and company performance.  

• When employees do not have a clear line of sight on their role to reach business goals and outcomes. If this happens, organizations will observe low employee performance and productivity, and low employee morale and engagement.  

• When organizations choose to be “teddy bears” instead of “lions”.  Organizations that do not have the strength and courage to deal with employee issues (teddy bears) run the risk of negatively impacting the company culture, employee morale and potentially losing great talent. Organizations who are prepared to deal with employee issues and make difficult decisions (lions) will reap the benefits in increased employee loyalty, team performance and a more productive workforce. It is essential to leverage HR to navigate sensitive employee issues. 

Why is HR essential to the business?

HR is, first and foremost, a partner to the business. It is a business-critical function that prioritizes people, productivity and performance. It is a trusted advisor, compliance partner, employee advocate and change agent. Collaborating with HR allows organizations to focus on people, which is what matters most to successfully meet business goals.  

What have I learned?

Employees need to:      

• Feel connected to their roles and to the company;

• Be valued and rewarded for their contributions;

• Receive ongoing performance feedback to reach their fullest potential.  

Leaders need to:

• Be present and 100% accessible to their teams;

• Involve employees in company decisions and promote two-way feedback;

• Be transparent and set relevant employee expectations to achieve company goals.

Organizations that know the value of HR, with employees who live by a clear set of values and beliefs, will reach company goals successfully. 

My Why

It is 100% clear to me today why I chose HR as a career path. Every day, with each of my clients, I get to live my values of connection, collaboration, integrity, trust and humility. I get to live my purpose to connect people, leverage human resources and deliver performance. And with the marriage of these parts of who I am to their importance and impact in HR Management, HR and I are a perfect match. 

Driven by connection,
Rita

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Rita Filice, BCOMM, CPHR
Partner, BreakPoint Solutions
ritaf@breakpoint.solutions 
www.breakpoint.solutions 
780-250-2544

Phoenix Rising - The Possibility of Post-Traumatic Growth

We live in interesting times.  This statement of the incredibly obvious encompasses a range of experiences for many of us right now, including the real or potential loss of job/career, a dramatic shift in how teaching and education is delivered to our children, how we shop, how we work, how we live, and how we interact with each other.  The ripple effect of these seismic changes is certainly not fully understood by any of us now and we face immense uncertainty as to how decisions today may play out for our future.  At points in time, I can't help but think we are entering into and living through a new dark age. Those are the moments of despair talking!

But there is light at the end of the tunnel.  Just like the dark ages of history were followed by a renaissance, I believe each of us has the possiblity to establish a new and stronger future for ourselves.  And by a new and stronger future, I mean something that is greater than a return to the status quo as we have come to know it.  So this blog is intended to convey to you the possibility of better things to come out of your current trials and tribulations.

The concept of post-traumatic growth is something I was only exposed to in the last few years. I was taking a course that delved into the relationship between coaching and psychology.  One of the readings was from Richard G. Tedeschi (Psychologist at University of North Carolina).  Upon reading the article on post-traumatic growth, I had an immediate epiphany.  Tedeschi was talking to my lived experience!  This enlightenment, however, raised as many questions as it provided answers.

The concept of post-traumatic growth first begins with the trauma.  And by trauma I don't mean a minor injury or wound.  Much like what many of you may be experiencing through the current time, the trauma I refer to is one of paradigm-shattering reality.  The two personal examples I can provide includes (1) the sudden and unexpected death of my first wife in 2007 and, (2) the involuntary termination of a leadership career of 25+ years in 2012.  In respect of the former, my life changed in minutes as I learned of the death of my wife while seated in the Denver airport on my way back to Edmonton.  In respect of the second, my personal identity as a leader shocked me into a new reality upon being reintroduced to the marketplace.

In both circumstances, the foundations on which I had established my life and my identity changed.  In one instance, I instantly became a single parent to a six-year old daughter.  Now having to nagivate life - seemingly - on my own.  In the second instance, my personal identity as a leader was challenged.  I could no longer call myself CEO, or Vice-President, or similar such moniker.  In both cases, my sense of self and my world view were radically upended.

From this darkness, however, ultimately came not just recovery, but far greater success and fulfilment than I would have envisaged or imagined possible prior to either of these traumas.  Following on the tragedy of 2007, I can directly trace my journey to the finish line of Ironman Canada 2010.  In those three years I had remarried, had two more daughters, lost 40 pounds and became an athlete.  My priorities had been reordered.  Possibilities had been realized and pursued.  My values were rediscovered and reinforced.  I had become a new man physicially, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. 

A similar experience took place with the loss of my senior leadership role in 2012.  Many sleepless nights preceded and followed that eventful day.  But from that point, I can say I have established a thriving coaching and consulting practice that has allowed me to step even more fully into my power and potential.  I have more fully owned my purpose and values, which has allowed me to far exceed what I thought was the pinnacle of my leadership career in 2012.  From loss came far greater success and enjoyment.

What accounts for that exponential change in fortune?  What explains not just recovery or a return to status quo, but a leap beyond?  That was what perplexed and intrigued me.  I've come to a few conclusions about what allowed that post-traumatic growth for me and what has also allowed it for others.  This experience also sets the stage for what I am experiencing now through COVID.  In assessing my past (and current?) experience, I can now look at that through the lens of Stephen Joseph's THRIVE model.  I wasn't aware of that model in 2007 and 2012, but I can attest to its reality then and now.

Taking Stock.  In the context of post-traumatic growth (PTG), this means assessing my own reality - mentally, emotionally, physically, and financially.  What's real?  What's happening?  What can I control?  What can I do?  Basically, what is the true state of my affairs. Each of us is likely to do this differently.  Unfortunately for me (likely) in each of my traumatic events, I took the masochistic approach of evaluating and re-setting on my own.  It doesn't have to be that way and, for many of us, this process could be helped by reaching out for support, including the help of counsellors, therapists, family, and others.

Harvesting Hope.  This can relate to seeing a positive future, seeing possibilities, and re-engaging with one's own strengths and abilities.  What can be done versus what might no longer be possible.  With the death of my wife, I refused to believe my life also ended at age 42.  What else could I do?  What future yet lay before me?  Similar process for losing my job.  What could I yet be?  How could I not let this setback define me, but rather motivate me?

Re-Author My Story.  Leading from and supported by a sense of hope, I took steps to challenge beliefs about myself and my world.  While it took time, I did in fact change my narrative about who I was.  By 2008, I came to believe I wasn't also dead and that I had more to live and achieve.  By 2014, I had largely successfully re-centred myself around my commitment to supporting great leadership.  In the midst of COVID, I used the gift of time to finally formalize a proprietary leadership and coaching model.  I changed my narrative from despair to possibility.

Identifying Change.  Taking the time to actually notice where small, positive changes are starting to take place.  And more than just a passing notice - documenting and rewarding the positives that are starting to happen.  Losing weight, getting healthier, seeing an uptick in monthly billings, more engagements on LinkedIn or on my blog, getting positive feedback on drafts of the leadership and coaching model.

Valuing Change.  Understanding the significance of the changes being made and starting to derive some meaning from the adversity that has been experienced and will continue to be felt even once the initial trauma has passed.  For me, this included providing a fulfilling life for my daughter (and myself), continuing to be impactful for leaders, aspiring leaders and their followers, and now thinking about how to take my impact on leadership and coaching to another level.

Expressing Change in Action.  Everything - including good coaching - comes down to action.  We must move from seeing things differently and thinking differently to acting and being different.  It takes courage to change.  It takes courage to move beyond the pain we are feeling to create something new and possibly even better than before.  Just do it.  Even if it feels awkward and imperfect.  Keep moving forward.

To be clear, the readiness to THRIVE and the ability to move through the phases of the model was, and is, highly dependent on a range of circumstances.  I can honestly say I wasn't ready to THRIVE until a year after my wife's passing.  It probably took me at least that long to come to terms with a change in career path - and identify - after leaving my last executive role.  COVID-19 THRIVE?  That's a story that is still being written, but I believe I'm in that process now based on the the actions I have already taken.  And everyone is going to go through this at their own pace.

So I offer this model and this personal disclosure to help you navigate your own path forward and to hopefully show you there is a light at the end of the tunnel - that is not a train.  Leadership through these times starts with self.  Part of that self-leadership comes in recognizing the challenge and your own strengths, abilities, and potential. 

Take stock, harvest hope, take action.

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

Leadership: What's Your POV?

I think about leadership a lot. This week maybe more than usual as my BreakPoint SoultionsTM partners and I introduce AscensionTM, our in-house leadership model. The model moves through Animation, Articulation, Amplification, and Action,  with Assessment integrated into every element of the model. We believe the model provides a dynamic approach to identifying, expanding and realizing goals that can be used by individuals and organizations.  More information is available from me, any of my partners, and at  www.breakpoint.solutions.

BreakPointTM Solutions AscensionTM Model

It’s not my intention to sell the model here, rather I’ve been reflecting on what I believe about leadership and how it’s changed over the years.

Like many people, my initial understanding of leadership was as a verb. The act of leading others. Getting others to do what you want or need them to do. Outward focused and the responsibility of someone in a position of authority. The more I read and think about it, the more I realize that before you can impact or influence others, you need to look inward. As a result I’ve identified some steps toward becoming a leader:

1. Recognizing where you have opportunities to be a leader

2. Be willing to lead

3. Getting clear about the purpose (the Why)

4. Communicating from that position of clarity

5. Honing your skills

6. Have the courage to take action to make things better

Today I’ll tackle 1, 2, and 6. The rest I’ll leave for another day.

A Leadership Point of View

A few years ago I was introduced to Level Three Leadership-Getting Below the Surface by James G. Clawson. If you’ve heard me speak about leadership, you have heard me refer to a key concept in Clawson’s book that resonates with me:

Being a Leader depends on point of view, not title or status.

Clawson’s leadership point of view consists of three elements:

• Seeing what needs to be done

• Understanding all the underlying forces at play in a situation

• Having the courage to initiate action to make things better

Anyone can adopt a leadership point of view. No position or authority is required. Instead, many of us adopt other points of view – by choice or by habit. You will all recognize the others:

• The follower – who waits to be told what to do;

• The bureaucrat – who waits for permission or simply passes things up the chain;

• The administrator – who is constrained by what has been done before and can’t handle anything new or out of the ordinary; and,

• The contrarian – we all know the contrarian. At one time or another we may have been the contrarian uttering phrases like “that won’t work”, “we’ve tried that before”, “yes but…” and on and on.

I invite you to ask yourself a few questions:

• What point of view am I operating from? 

• Is this where I typically operate – my habitual way of seeing the world?

• If not, why is my point of view different now?

• Where do I have opportunities to apply a leadership point of view?  

Did you see yourself in any of the other points of view? If so, don’t be too hard on yourself. We’ve all been there at one time or another and sometimes with good reason. A follower POV, for example, is fine when you are new in a career or position, but if you find yourself here after a while, it’s great to step back and ask why. Is it as simple as changing your view or do you need to ask for help or additional training? 

The bureaucrat and the administrator may be tougher. Let’s face it, some jobs are bureaucratic or administrative. I think the trick is to not settle for any of these points of view. Even in the most bureaucratic or administrative position you can be on the look out for what needs to be done and the underlying forces in the situation and when your situation prevents you from taking action the courageous thing to do might be to ask someone who is in a position to act to do so.

Of all the others, I think the contrarian is the most dangerous. Dangerous to the team because the negativity can get in the way of success – and dangerous because it is contagious. If Dale doesn’t care, why should I? If Dale says we’ve tried that before and it didn’t work, why bother trying? But, perhaps the most dangerous thing about the contrarian POV is that it’s sticky! Once you are there, it’s hard to get away. It takes a conscious effort to make a switch. In her book Change Your Questions Change Your Life, Marilee Adams identifies mindsets and pathways and suggests we can use switching questions to change from one mindset to another. Adams suggests that questions like Why are they so stupid? or What’s wrong with me (or them)? will move you further down a negative path. On the other hand, questions like What do I want for myself and others? What assumptions am I making? or Am I being responsible? can move us to a more positive mindset.

What questions can you ask yourself when you need to adjust your point of view?

Questions will also help if you find yourself occupying a point of view that is different than your typical world view. What is it about this situation that has shifted you from where you normally are to one of the others? Can you use shifting questions or the leadership POV to readjust? It may require the courage to take action!

I hope by now you agree that being a leader is a choice. It’s about recognizing when we have the opportunity to lead, being willing, and taking action. Many of us see what needs to be done and understand - at least - most of the underlying forces at play, but having the courage to initiate action to make things better is, for me, what differentiates a leader. You know these people. We all do. People in our lives, in the public eye or historical figures who provided leadership regardless of, and sometimes in spite of, their title or authority. Could you be one of these people?

So the most important question to ask yourself might be:

Am I willing to adopt a leadership point of view?

Willingness to do so, especially having the courage to take action, is a giant step toward leadership for those who are starting out and a giant step in the right direction for those who already see themselves as leaders.

Keep your eye open for opportunities!

My hope is that sharing what I’ve been thinking gets you thinking.  As always, I invite your comments or questions.  Agree, disagree, and share your own tips and tools.  Thanks.

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Dale Cooney, BSP, MBA, CEC, ACC
Partner - BreakPoint Solutions
dalec@breakpoint.solutions 
www.breakpoint.solutions 
780-250-2546

Leadership is a Creative Process!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As I noted earlier, creativity in leadership is not simply about introducing new products or services to market.  One of the hallmark distinctions between leadership and management, or between being a leader and a doer, is getting things done (bigger things done) through others.  In the context of leadership, therefore, and in the tremendously dynamic and ever-changing reality that is today's modern economy and workforce, leadership also demands creative approaches, adaptability and flexibility in responding to and achieving the potential of one's teams. How does a leader create and apply a creative process to building the capacity and capability of their teams? 

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

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

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