An Excerpt From Our CEO Interviews
By Rob Linn
Dennis Lee, the Retired CEO from Methodist Hospital of Southern California in Arcadia, California tells a story of his experience as an orderly early in his hospital management career:
My CEO was a nun and she said, “You will never be an effective hospital administrator unless you have some exposure to the clinical side – the bedside,” and I have never, ever forgotten that experience. It was more important to me than I think my master’s degree. Being able to work alongside nurses and doctors and see what happens at the bedside and see how hard it is to be a nurse, to be an orderly, to be a doctor. It gave me an appreciation for patient care and the difficulties of taking care of patients.
Patient care is very emotional. Certainly, it’s intellectually challenging, obviously, and it has gotten more intellectually challenging over the years because of just how sophisticated you have to be to be a nurse today. But, it is also very emotionally and psychologically draining on you because you can’t make a mistake.
As a result, I am convinced that a command-and-control style of leadership is not an effective way of leading in a hospital environment because you rely on other people to get all of these thousands of moving parts to work together in some fashion to get the service provided.
So you have to rely upon influence and inspiration and teamwork and communication. Those have to be the hallmarks of your style as opposed to making decisions and directing people to do things. I think as it relates to nurses and other caregivers, therapists, etcetera, they’re much more highly educated, much more sophisticated in terms of their knowledge, and they wouldn’t tolerate somebody who is a command-and-control type of person. Or at least they would not be able to work as effectively under that type of leadership.
Why Strong Leaders Dare To Be “Average”
By Dr. Michael O'Brien
When’s the last time you used the word “average” or “moderate” to describe yourself? If you’re like me, probably never. That might have been a bit of a trick question. (Who would actually call themselves “moderate?” Probably no one.) But even still, think about it for a moment. Try it on for size. The way you approach your job, your relationships, your hobbies – would it be fair to call you moderate?
If that felt weird, there’s a reason for it. When’s the last time you called anything moderate? The truth is, the middle of the road is pretty hard to remember. Passion, on the other hand, elicits emotion, so polarizing voices cut through the noise, and are far more memorable than moderation.
Key point: So when the idea of moderation feels foreign, that’s because it quite simply is. Even still, it’s one of the most useful and important concepts for leaders to master.
But don’t take my word for it, you’ve heard it before. Did your parents ever tell your young self, “everything in moderation,” when you asked why you couldn’t upgrade to the extra-large sundae? OK, at that point in time you had no choice but to take their word for it either. But the fact of the matter is, there’s actually science that backs them up.
MORE THAN A MINDSET
Moderation is actually an essential component of our biological well-being. Think about what it takes to run a great meeting. It’s a special cocktail of hormones that allow you to be alert, assertive, and think critically about the group’s ideas. Without those chemicals, you’d appear sluggish and nonchalant. At the same time, too many of those hormones would make you fidgety and belligerent. Without biological moderation, we wouldn’t be able to accomplish anything.
Moderation is at work behind the scenes when regulating our behavior as well. While we can enjoy a little bit of a good thing (eating just one cheeseburger, or hearing a bad pun), we eventually hit a point where that is no longer enjoyable. Psychology Today aptly describes this phenomenon as the “inverted ‘U’ effect.”
“We have a ‘more is better’ algorithm built in,” Glenn Geher, a psychologist at SUNY New Paltz, told Psychology today. “Many substances or stimuli are beneficial in certain amounts, but then reach a tipping point after which they become harmful.”
Not only is moderation’s role in our healthy biology and behavior impossible to overstate, but it is actually a critical characteristic of well-led organizations.
The most important leadership traits lie in a state of moderation, not excess.
MODERATION IN LEADERSHIP
The reason moderation is so difficult to achieve is precisely why it’s so important. Moderation means prioritizing long-term success over short-term gratification — actually refusing an immediate gain in favor of a potential future benefit. That’s a sticky trap for organizations, especially those undergoing change.
Think back to that inverted “U” for a moment. When it comes to its achievement orientation, a team must sit just at that graph’s peak. Too much focus on near-term recognition and success manifests itself as impulsiveness. Plagued by pivots and lacking the anchor of a long-term vision, these teams bury themselves in tasks. The danger, is with all the focus on achieving short-term goals this kind of frictionless culture can be difficult to diagnose, since everyone feels as if they’re doing the right things.
On the other end of the spectrum are organizations that eschew achievement and recognition altogether. For leaders who have seen team after team get mired in shortsighted achievement orientation, this can be a tempting culture to embrace. However, by ignoring urgent market shifts or technological changes, these teams find themselves unable to shift their focus even when necessary. And again, this style is self-perpetuating. Without any short-term feedback, there’s no way for leadership to recognize its shortcomings and pick up on opportunities that require agile change.
A second key point: Therefore, the most successful organizations are moderate in their achievement orientation. Their leadership understands the needs for an agile feedback system, but does not reward short-term success so heavily that it shrouds the team’s long-term vision. We’ve evolved to see things as “black & white” but nuanced assessments, while mentally taxing, are often far more useful.
As you set out to realize this leadership style, it’s important you remember that it’s not easy. Think back to the beginning of this article: Most things in our lives are not practiced in moderation, so steering an organization to this hallowed middle-ground may not feel natural. But the ‘rare earth’ to which the path of moderation leads you will be well worth the effort.
Your People Are Your Success - Choose Wisely
By Rob Linn
Your organization is unique and so are the job requirements for each position. Most job descriptions end up being relatively generic and lack the very important, specific qualifications a person must have to be successful in that organization. I call these specific qualifications “unique success requirements”. Combined these make up a position’s “Unique Success Profile”.
I begin by asking the big question…what is specifically required here, right now, at this stage of our development, in this role, working for our individual leaders, etc… to be viewed as successful? These requirements are not just the job description, the job specification, nor abstract behavior or personality traits. Let's be honest, it takes hard and disciplined thinking outside your conventional wisdom to come up with these requirements. Once you have these practical requirements, the next step is to rate them (on a scale from 1-5, 1 being desired and 5 being completely mandatory) based on their how critically important they are. The applicants then get rated against these requirements and you’ll be able to see how they line up against the profile.
Your organization is unique and so are the job requirements for each position.
One CFO that I worked with several years ago was looking for a Director of Financial Planning and Analysis and asked for my help in finding the right fit. It was more urgent than usual because the previous two incumbents had been terminated. I started by asking him what the unique requirements were for this particular position that wouldn’t normally show up in a job description. He thought for a moment and then began to tell me about his 100 person Board of Directors who were all heavily involved. So involved, in fact, that the Finance department would get about 15-20 calls per day from Board members. The CFO usually handled these calls, but he was going to be spending half his time away from the office over the next year renegotiating bonds. He thought it critical that the new hire have the capability and good judgment to answer Board questions and give enough information to please Board members without giving away too much or saying the wrong thing. Upon reflection, he also thought that this issue was very heavily involved with the lack of success of the previous incumbents. The CFO then interviewed for that specific quality and found someone who had had experience and skills to deal with a very involved Board.
Unique success profiles are a great instrument not only for hiring, but for making sure you currently have the right people in the right positions. Sometimes we become enamored by people for the wrong reasons. We think they are superstars at some things, but when it comes down to it, those aren’t the things that are most important for that position. When lined up with the unique success profile, people can fall short of the most critical success criteria. Sometimes it is necessary to take a closer look every so often to make sure you have your people in the right place with the best chance of success.
I worked with a large hospital that was going through a merger integration following the acquisition of a major competitor. One of the unfortunate consequences of this combination was that there were 150 current managers for the 75 new leadership positions in the merged company. I suggested and they agreed that they were going to have to conduct interviews for all of them. 75 people were going to have to leave the organization. The senior executives used careful thought in creating the USPs for each position. They then let all applicants know ahead of time what the criteria were and that they would be interviewed for each of the unique success requirements. At the end of the hiring process several people who didn’t get the job they had interviewed for said that it was the fairest process they had ever been through. The Board chairman looked through the USP book and said that the process was unassailable. No lawsuits were brought against the organization.
Consider how different their experience was from conventional practice. Usually the managers of the acquiring organization are the ‘winners’ and the managers of the acquired organization are the ‘losers’. Usually selections are made based on comfort and relationship rather than necessary skills against a well thought out requirements list. Usually it is every man for himself rather than a process that put the good of the organization first and treated each candidate as fairly and as honestly as possible. In the end everyone agreed they had done the right things the right way for the right reasons. Most importantly, the process almost ensured that the participants would accept the outcome.
The value of this approach and tool are in direct proportion to the quality of the USP and your willingness and discipline to apply it. Considering how challenging it can be to remove a person from their job for being the wrong fit, it is worth putting in the time beforehand to make sure that your organization and your people have the highest probability of success.
Expand Your Executive Capacity By Increasing Your Emotional Authenticity
By Dr. Michael O'Brien
Be the authentic leader you already are – not the one you are pretending to be.
We live and work in a culture obsessed with controlling "the narrative" and building a personal brand. Much of our lives are spent carefully cultivating an image of ourselves that we project to the outside world, whether it's through disseminating our deepest thoughts on Facebook or Twitter or by positioning or inflating our accomplishments on professional websites like LinkedIn. Because of this, it can be easy to fall into the trap of seeing ourselves as self-made creations.
This "fake it 'till you make it" drive has some advantages: Fortune does often favor the brave, and sometimes we need to puff ourselves up a little before we make that first big step into the unknown. But along with this act of self-creation comes drawbacks – namely, you obscure emotional truths from others and yourself. Looking at these truths head-on is key to expanding your capacity to be a quality executive leader.
Be the authentic leader you already are – not the one you are pretending to be.
ARE YOU WHO YOU SAY YOU ARE?
In our experience as leadership coaches, we've seen leaders attempt to direct and control their organizations and teams via shows of strength. These leaders want to be seen by teams, customers and shareholders as strong and authoritative. To be seen this way, leaders try and act according to the "role" they find themselves in. I'm in charge, so I must present an air of always being in control!
However, this attitude can be toxic when facing down organizational problems. Rather than admit limitations in the current approach – or even admit trepidation and concern within yourself – leaders feel pressure to up the bluster and put up a steely front to quash possible dissent. Leaders who otherwise may have doubts about a certain protocol or agree that there is an issue in need of addressing may find themselves barking orders. I'm the boss, and what I say goes!
Are you the person you say you are? Or are you just pretending?
BEING THE LEADER YOU ALREADY ARE
This sort of leadership often does the opposite of what it intends. Beyond the danger of missing potentially useful ideas, this person you are projecting is inauthentic. You know it, and your team likely senses it. They see that you don't trust them with your true feelings – so they are unlikely to trust you with theirs. And without emotional honesty, intellectual performance falters.
When the leader you want to be eclipses the leader you already are, then you will find yourself in the weeds trying to manage your organization. This is why, as part of our executive coaching, we encourage leaders to see themselves and their emotional responses with clarity. By being true to your authentic self, you can more effectively motivate your team to look at the real operational issues everyone faces – turning breakdowns into breakthroughs.
Mindset vs. Toolkit
By Rob Linn
I've witnessed many debates between executives on the relative merits of LEAN, Six Sigma, PDCA and scores of other codified problem solving processes. The people are always arguing about which set of problem solving tools is the best. I think they are all missing the point.
What is the point you ask? There is a great story about a Toyota executive attending a LEAN conference as a keynote speaker. After his speech he was asked why no one inside Toyota had ever written a book about LEAN considering that Toyota had pioneered the concept.
He looked a little bemused and said, “Because there is nothing to write about.” His audience asked what he meant by that. “Well, all the book would say is ask the people doing the work if they know what they are supposed to do, do they know how to do it and what stops them from doing it right every time…then ask them the same questions again and again and so forth.”
His point was that the value of any process, whether LEAN, Six Sigma, PDCA, etc. is not the tools advocated by that process. The value is in the mindset that develops in the people over time. A mindset, a culture that is always focused on how to do a better job.
If you go to Amazon.com you will find over 270,000 books on LEAN process. Yet the founders of the concept have not written a single one of them. These experts know that the tools are easy to learn how to use. The important work is establishing the right mindset in an organization.
Many of my clients think I have a codified process with a set of tools that I always use. I really don’t. I make up new tools all of the time. Sometimes in the middle of a problem solving session! What I have is a mindset that calls me to drive teams to see their circumstances as clearly as possible from as many different angles as possible. I will use any means I can dream up, borrow or steal to make that happen!
That is my recommendation to you. Hold everyone on your management team accountable for continually improving the processes and results in their areas. Do not get hung up on what specific process they use to accomplish this. Let them create the way that will work best with their people. Establish the mindset for continual improvement by relentlessly following up with them to track their progress.
This three-pronged approach of requiring managers to continually work to improve, allowing them the flexibility to do it their own way, and regularly following up to make sure what they are doing is working will establish a mindset for improvement that will be far more valuable than any tool kit you can buy.
Putting Your Leadership Team on the Path to Success
By Dr. Michael O'Brien
By breaking down the barriers separating departments and empowering your team to think and act according to their own initiative, you can place your leadership team – and therefore your entire organization – on the path to success.
An important aspect of being a successful executive is surrounding yourself with the best team possible. Your leadership skills will guide your team through successes and setbacks, and it is up to these individuals to carry out your vision and rely upon your direction. Because of this, it’s crucial that your team understands your goals and how to achieve them. In addition, they need to feel empowered enough to excel in their roles.
While a quarterback might be the main person orchestrating a drive down the field, he’s only successful if every member of the team is doing their part to block, run, catch and evade the defense. Similarly, although you are ultimately responsible for which direction your company takes, it’s up to your entire team to execute the game plan and work in concert to reach the metaphorical end zone.
“Your team must execute your game plan and work in concert to reach the end zone.”
BREAK DOWN THE SILOS
Bringing together a competent group of team members will only take your enterprise so far if these individuals are compartmentalized and siloed off from each other. A team needs to have open communication along with the space and time required to exchange ideas and bounce suggestions off of each other.
Further, while you need to carve out specific time to focus on strategic development and important decision making, you must arrange for moments when you’re accessible and open with your team as well. Just as you should set aside time in your “Fortress of Solitude,” you should also schedule a sort of “Castle of Camaraderie” that includes either regular open-office periods or a weekly sit-down with team members where anyone can ask questions or suggest solutions.
Not only does this allow your team to contribute to the success of your company, it also reaffirms their integral role within the organization. Top talent wants to be respected and challenged, and by bringing these individuals into your circle you demonstrate your trust and acknowledge their potential to succeed.
It’s important for teams to have open and clear lines of communication with each other and with you.
A team needs to have open communication along with the space and time required to exchange ideas and bounce suggestions off of each other.
EMPOWER YOUR TEAM
Along with breaking down the silos compartmentalizing your team members, you need to ensure these individuals feel empowered to make decisions and contribute to the company’s success. Empowering your team members requires faith in their skills and abilities, which ultimately stems from trusting your instinct that you hired the best people for the job. Provide these individuals with responsibilities that have clear-cut objectives and let them independently develop solutions.
If you micromanage every last detail and step of a task delegated to a team member, you are illustrating to the individual that you do not trust their judgment or decision-making ability. This can sow the seeds of doubt, and even potentially lead to insubordination if the team member thinks their role or input is insubstantial or even meaningless.
As Fortune noted, an empowered and autonomous team boosts productivity, innovation and a sense of project ownership. This is because the sense of empowerment makes individuals feel a greater sense of responsibility for the company and their job. When your team members are invested in the success of their responsibilities as opposed to merely doing their job simply because it’s their job, they are more likely to go above and beyond their baseline obligations and truly put their best feet forward.
By breaking down the barriers separating departments and empowering individuals to think and act according to their own initiative, you can place your leadership team – and therefore your entire organization – on the path to success.