Leadership - It's About YOUR Choice

Just over two weeks ago I marked the second anniversary of my departure from my last senior leadership role.  The experience of February 17, 2012, and the events leading up to this milestone event, were life changing in many respects.  Up to and after that date I had a great deal of time to reflect and contemplate the impact of that event on my career and my life.  At the time, I certainly would not have described this change as one of personal choice.  Looking back, however, it is clear that I had, in fact, certainly set the stage for this change in direction.  In reality, by a series of choices and a commitment to my leadership values and philosophy the die had been cast well before the arrival of my personal D-Day.

It has been my hope that my particular leadership values, philosophy and style have been evident in my blog entries over the past couple of years.  I have taken much from the writings of Dr. Deming, Jim Collins, Kouzes and Posner, Senge, Lencioni, and Covey to name but a few.  I have had the privilege to learn "in the field" from both good and bad leaders.  I have had the opportunity to apply all of this knowledge - sometimes to good effect and sometimes not.  At the end of the day, however, the power to choose how I lead and behave has always been available to me.

In recent weeks I've also had the time to reflect on a couple of different scenarios that reinforced for me the power of choice that we all have in terms of how we lead in our business roles and how we live our personal lives.  First, I reflect on the number of conversations I have had with my staff in general and some managers in particular.  In many of my leadership roles, I often led the development or re-commitment to our organization's mission, vision and values.  Even in smaller groups this could have been in the form of a team charter.  Regardless, it was intended to signal our overarching or mutual commitment to our organization and to each other.  In the process, I would emphasize the binding nature of what the team had created and our obligations to adhere to the standard that WE had set.  As a senior executive and or even CEO in these situations, this put me in the position of having to release people from their management duties when they didn't hold true to their obligations.  By the nature of my role, and my choice to be in that role, I became the final arbitrator of the team charter and values.

What do I recall from these scenarios?  First, I always tried to be clear with the team that we had all had a hand in setting our team vision, goals and values.  Therefore, once established we were all accountable to them.  Second, if we personally could not make or sustain those commitments we had a choice to make - stay in and recommit or move on to another role or organization that suited our personal temperament and objectives.  Finally, in the group setting, I also identified that as leader I might be placed in the position of having to "help someone choose" their new path.  Regrettably, over my 25+ year career in leadership I did have to help more than one person with that choice.  This last act was always a challenging conversation, never relished, but always necessary.

In making these tough personnel choices, I always considered it at least partially an organizational and personal failure.  How did "we" get to the stage where a split - regardless of how amicable it was - was the best option?  What role did the organization or my leadership play in making a situation beyond salvation?  Was the person hired into the wrong role?  Were the expectations for the role unclear?  Were mixed messages sent about what expected performance should look like?  Was there any performance feedback provided at all?  Was there sufficient investment in the individual leader to allow them to be successful or help them adjust to changing expectations?

There may also be times where your leadership style and values just don't fit into the organization.  Maybe they once did but something has changed.  The question becomes for you how important are those personal leadership values for you?  How much are you willing to compromise - if at all - to continue in your current organization?  Whatever answer there is to that question has to come from you and your own sense of self.  Hopefully you do that in the most conscious fashion possible.  The worst outcome may not necessarily be staying in or leaving a leadership role, but rather waking up in a circumstance without any real insight as to how you got there.

So I charge all of you in a leadership role to critically evaluate your leadership, to explicitly identify your core leadership values, and ultimately take a stand for your leadership beliefs when the time comes.  In today's often politically correct world my advice may seem somewhat nonsensical (and even career-limiting) but I would ask you to hold on to your ideals.  It seems to me that we need more idealistic - and perhaps fewer pragmatic - leaders than at any other time.   

I end this particular entry with a poem by Dylan Thomas that was referenced in a movie I watched last night (Dangerous Minds).  The context may be completely different, but it spoke to me about being true to self, holding true to one's ideals, all in an effort to make a real difference in this world of ours.  For me, it was also a call to leadership.  Choose to leader by your values and your terms.  There is a place and an organization calling for your leadership. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

______________________________

Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
TEC Canada Chair/Executive Coach/Senior Consultant
hadubiak@wmc.ca

Helping leaders realize their strengths and enabling organizations to achieve their potential through the application of my leadership experience and coaching skills. I act as a point of leverage for my clients. I AM their Force Multiplier.