Conflict is inevitable?

Yesterday I was privileged to host a Taste of TEC event as I continue work to build and launch my CEO Forum here in Edmonton.  One of the perks of this particular event is that we were able to coordinate with other TEC Canada CEO Forums in the area and get access to a guest speaker. 

The subject area for our guest speaker was "Secrets to Successful Conflict Resolution".  Without a doubt conflict - in all its forms - is a common challenge in any business and at any stage of a leader's career.  My intent is not to summarize the speaker's presentation.  Rather, I wanted to identify a few key points that really resonated for me personally.

First, despite our best efforts and intentions, I really do believe that conflict in any organization is inevitable.  Whenever two or more people come together in pursuit of some common goal - marriage included! - there are bound to be friction points, differences of opinion, and misinterpretations of actions or intent.  Ignoring that reality will definitely not make the "situation" go away.  In fact, in almost all cases, ignoring the reality of conflict only makes the situation worse and more difficult to resolve later (with a lot more pain and suffering).  On more than one occasion I have been quite astounded to hear managers and leaders identify for themselves and others that they don't like conflict.  I'm not sure at that point if they really every truly understood what it was to take on their role!  Quite frankly, without conflict there would be a lot less demand for managers and leaders. 

Second, it struck me that so much conflict can start off with seemingly superficial roots and much of that relates back to a failure in basic communication.  In my coaching practice one of the fundamental tenets and beliefs is that everyone yearns to be heard.  Just needs to be heard.  That perspective also builds off of my experience in 25 years of health care management.  I don't have the stats at hand, but in the vast majority of complaints that patients or families had with their experience at my hospitals, long-term care facilities, or with any other health care service most of their presenting issue didn't truly relate to the quality of their care, but rather with the quality of their interaction - communication - with staff.  They didn't feel respected, understood, valued - they didn't feel heard.

Third, when it comes to conflict there is no time like the present.  As I noted before, too many managers and leaders want to avoid conflict.  They don't like it, it causes them grief, and overall they may see it as a waste of time and energy.  However, conflict seems to obey a perverse "pay-it-forward" mentality.  If you don't take the time to deal with me now I'm going to come back in spades to you later.  Rather than thinking of time spent up-front in communicating with and hearing from your stakeholders as a waste of time, think of that time spent as an investment or a point of leverage.  If you don't take the time now it's going to take a whole lot more effort - and time - to recover and repair relationships in service of the results you want later on.

Finally, in conflict, don't rush to judgement.  As leaders we often feel compelled to have all the answers at our fingertips the moment a situation is brought to our attention.  We can sometimes act as every issue and decision was ours to make and that to be true leaders we had better be able to size up and respond with a solution in the next five minutes.  However, unless someone has just pulled the fire alarm or you can see the out-of-control truck about to barrel through your front door, you probably have more time at your disposal to make an informed assessment and decision.  Pause.  Investigate.  Challenge assumptions and perceptions.  Get clarity.  Ask questions.  Ask some more questions.  Don't fall prey to the delusion that every issue is yours to own as a leader or everything requires your immediate attention.  You might just be solving the wrong problem, adding fuel to the fire of an existing conflict, or starting a new fire.

So yes, it is my belief that conflict is inevitable.  As leaders though we have the ability to manage and even constructively use conflict to our benefit if we consciously use the tools at our disposal.  Conflict and conflict management is part of leadership.
______________________________

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.

Are you a possum or a mammoth?

I was recently watching "Ice Age The Meltdown" (for the umpteenth time) with my three daughters and it struck me that one of the lead characters - Ellie the Mammoth - faces a challenge that many of us face in our leadership journey.  Namely understanding and realizing her own strength and reality.  For much of her life, because she was separated from her family and raised as a possum, she functions just as her possum brothers do despite possessing vastly superior size and strength.  Even though it should have been readily apparent in the course of time that she was different she comes to own her possum personality the result of which is she hangs from trees to sleep, tries to travel only at night, and lives in fear of being snatched and carried away by a hawk.

How many of us fail to own our true selves, our strength and our potential?  How many of us have the strength and power of a mammoth but live out our lives as possums? 

So what accounts for this reality?  As in Ellie's case, the strength of our lived experience clearly plays a strong role.  Imagine the pressure on Ellie to conform and fit in to the "corporate culture" that was her possum world.  Brought in young and raised for years to be part of the pack, to do as expected, and probably expected to restrain her true potential.  Don't stand out, adhere to accepted norms of performance, and follow the rules.  Aside from general peer pressure, she was also likely supported by one or two key mentors, those that were there for her and helped her to fit in despite her evident physical differences from the crowd.

How many of us can relate this to our lives in various roles where we entered with enthusiasm and naivete about how we could make a difference, apply our energy for a greater cause, and make THE difference?  How many of us lament - or perhaps have even forgotten - these glory days as we withered under a corporate culture that sought status quo or incremental change?  Did we give up our mammoth dreams for something more practical, pedestrian and safe?

But as Ellie's story points out there is hope.  Through crisis (e.g., the threat of flood) she is forced to change her perspective, gains new allies, and is brought to realization of who and what she is.  I'd like to believe that we don't need some sort of personal or professional crisis in our lives to help us regain our true sense of self but I'm inclined to believe that more often than not this is what is required.  Too many of us seem to need some sort of external impetus to shake us from our stupor and get back on the path that holds so much potential.  Likewise, getting some different points of view from others can also help - whether professional colleague, mentor, coach - get us to a different place from which to own our true potential.

Now this misconception of ourselves can just as easily work in reverse.  For much of the movie Ellie can't see herself for the mammoth that she is.  In contrast, for at least part of the movie, Sid the Sloth develops an exaggerated sense of his powers and importance as he accidentally discovers the means to create fire.  As a result he becomes the object of worship as the Fire King for a tribe of mini sloths.  Sid mistakenly attributes his new found status to skill and not luck.  How many of the leaders that we have worked for - or ourselves - have been similarly deluded?

In both cases I see the key elements of understanding our true strengths and weaknesses as leaders as coming from a healthy dose of humility, introspection, continuous learning, openness to new information and perspectives, and the ability to surround ourselves with others that will present a healthy challenge to our view of the world and ourselves.  Maybe you are a mammoth and don't know it and can't see it.  Maybe you think you are a mammoth and really are just a possum.  Either circumstance can be detrimental to you and to others.

Leadership is many things, but above all else is having the courage to own and develop your potential.  You owe that potential to yourself and to those that you are and could be leading.
______________________________

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.

Selecting your Executive Coach

I've seen and been a part of a variety of coach selection processes in the past several years.  I've also been on both sides of the selection process - picking an executive coach for myself and being selected by others to be their executive coach.  What I have experienced is that the processes - and the quality thereof - are as varied as the individuals and organizations involved.

If you are like most leaders I have worked with your understanding of executive coaching is 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 that I experience in individuals looking for a coach is that they are trying to overcome some personal or professional challenges (e.g., it's lonely at the top, barriers to professional advancement) or their organization is 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 a thought that all such other processes in your organization are approached with due vigor and diligence.  In many respects, there should be even more effort and structure to selecting an executive coach as what's at stake is your leadership effectiveness.  And in my opinion without effective leadership all other resources in an organization are vastly underutilized 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 that you choose the right coach for you?  Here are my top  factors and processes - not necessarily listed in order of importance - in making your best executive coach selection decision:

Number One:  get access to some form of 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 Two:  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 tall and incongruous order 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 Three:  following from above, make sure that the executive coaches that present themselves for your consideration are in fact qualified - by education and experience - to provide the requisite level of service that you are looking for.  I'll demonstrate my bias here in that I believe that qualified coaches are graduates of a program that establishes them as Certified Executive Coaches (CEC), are active members of the International Coach Federation, and tangibly demonstrate a commitment to advancing their coaching acumen.  They are well-trained and have an excellent track record.

Number Four:  get references from their current or past coaching clients.  If they have been able to have positive impact on others it's quite likely that these other clients will be more than willing to speak about their experience with you.  If the coach in question is on LinkedIn, look for endorsements and testimonials from their clients.

Number Five:  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 in particular 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 Six:  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 that you are getting the hard sell than it's time to walk away from that engagement. 

Number Seven:  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 Eight:  connection, connection, connection.  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 that 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 with this individual challenging you 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.

This 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.
______________________________

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.

Short-term gain, Long-term pain...

This past week I had the opportunity to take a literal drive down memory lane and return to my home province for business reasons.  Even though I was born in Saskatchewan I have spent the vast majority of my working life in other parts of Western Canada.  However, this drive gave me the chance to go back to one of the places I had worked in the mid 1990s.  A lot has changed since I left that role - including the fact that the organization that I once led no longer exists.  At the same time, I saw clear evidence of how decisions based on short-term considerations can sometimes have repercussions years and even decades removed from the original situation.  I won't delve into the details of the particular decision but its interesting to note that a choice made in 1993 - 3 years before I took on my former role - is still having a ripple effect 20 years later.  And not in a good way.

Many of us are quite familiar with the phrase "Short-term pain for long-term pain" and there are variety of circumstances in which we look to apply that wisdom.  At a personal level I've often tried to draw some sort of inspiration from that phrase as I tried to lose weight, get in shape, train for an Ironman competition, or put in some extra hours in a senior executive, consultant or coach role.  In like fashion, at an organizational level, we commonly send out similar messages and set similar expectations for our staff - if we make these sacrifices now, or make this extra or challenging effort over the next few weeks and months, it will all be worth it by the end of the year or position us well relative to our competitors or in achieving our strategic objectives.  If only we can endure we will reap our just rewards!

Just as often though it seems we fall from this wisdom in both our personal and professional lives.   We can often come up with quite rational and cogent reasons why we made a particular and suboptimal decision.  We took what was possible versus desirable and made compromises along the way.  We worked to balance relationships against outcomes.  We decided to minimize conflict.  Our political arenas seem rife with this type of pragmatism or realism.  Such a view is certainly abetted by a time frame for vision that at its best tops out at four years.  How often do we hear "it was the best we could accomplish under the circumstances" or "we took a balanced approach to the issues at hand" as justifications are rolled out for the less than optimal achievement.  I'd be naive not to understand that a pragmatic or realistic approach may be necessary in some circumstances.  I'm not convinced, though, that what we see or hear represents a pragmatic or realistic line of reasoning.  Rather, it's seems like we are trying to justify taking the easy way out of a tough situation. And sometimes the best decision is not the easiest one.

As leaders we have to not only be conscious of the implications of our tradeoffs in the short-term but in the long-term as well.  Leaders have to take the long view.  They are uniquely positioned by their role to do so and the organization and its clients have a rightful expectation that the leader will in fact act in their long-term interests.  There is a great weight of responsibility placed upon leaders to not only help their organizations succeed in the short-term (e.g., balance budgets, meet market expectations) but to position for them for long-term success.  At the very least, and to the best of their ability, I believe it is incumbent on leaders to not hamstring their successors by taking the path of least resistance in the short term.  This is particularly so when the leader may not be around to deal with the long-term consequences of today's actions.  It seems somewhat unethical to reap the short-term gain without having to deal with the long-term pain of one's actions. 

This latter statement - taking the short-term gain without having to deal with the long-term pain - was what hit me this past week.  Decisions made by leaders no longer on the scene, for short-term gain, that compromises the ability of a successor organization to deliver on its mandate.  I dealt with those consequences three years after I took on my leadership role, and the leaders of today are continuing to work with the bad hand they have been dealt 20 years later.

It's incumbent on leaders to be practical AND visionary.  To be compassionate AND yet make the hard choices.  It's incumbent on leaders - at every level of an organization - to not only make short-term sacrifices for the future benefit of the organization but also to sometimes forgo some short-term benefits as well.  Don't take the easy way out in lieu of the right way forward.  It's one thing to deal with the consequences of your own decisions.  Its another to leave a future generation of leaders compromised in their ability to lead in the wake you have created.

Short-term pain for long-term gain sure.  Short-term gain leading to long-term pain not so much.

______________________________

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.

Breaking Down the Silos

When we work in large organizations - and maybe even ones that are not so large - it seems inevitable that we will bump up against and be frustrated by a variety of internal barriers.  Perhaps most challenging is a silo mentality that builds up within an organization that causes departments and leaders to focus only on their individual goals and objectives often at the expense of the success of the larger enterprise.  To me it seems that this mentality breeds it's own self-fulfilling prophecy - in order for me/my department to "get ahead" I have to look out for number one first and foremost.  Over time, this behavior engenders more of the same from other parts of the organization.  Gradually, but inexorably, we become less trusting and less collaborative with each other working unconsciously (one would hope) to reduce the overall efficiency and effectiveness of our business enterprise.  We also collectively become more and more frustrated and disengaged.

A silo mentality does not just happen.  There is a leadership choice that plays out that gets an organization, its staff and its culture to this point.  Sometimes there can be a very deliberate and Machiavellian rationale to actively establishing such a perspective - competition amongst subordinates or between departments may actually be perceived as positive.  This type of calculation may suggest that competition encourages the cream to rise to the top.  Alternatively, there may be a perspective that if one's subordinates are so busy competing with each other they won't have time to position themselves for the next step up.  In these circumstances a silo mentality is created out of conscious intent.

In contrast, I have worked with leaders who just didn't want to devote the time and energy necessary to preventing or breaking down internal barriers.  In some cases they have take a defeatist attitude to this situation reasoning that in large organizations and by human nature there is must be some inevitable friction and inability to work entirely effectively together - people will be people.  Some leaders take this to an extreme suggesting that use of their time in refereeing disputes, managing conflicts and "babysitting" their leadership team is really beneath their station.  Quite frankly, I'm not sure what they think they are leading when they adopt this attitude.



There are a number of ways to either prevent or actively break down the silos and barriers that hinder organizational effectiveness.  They all require personal time, energy and leadership of the leader and his senior team.  While some leaders might downplay the utility of creating a unified vision for the organization and gaining consensus on key organizational values, I have always believed that The Vision and The Values of the organization were a necessary tool for setting common direction and holding true to that direction.  This helped to set clear guideposts by which performance, decisions and behaviors could be measured and evaluated on an ongoing basis.  To be effective in this regard it's not just a create them and put them on the shelf exercise.  It's effectively, consistently and continuously using the Vision and Values in decision-making.

Once the Vision and the Values are solidly established and understood, it's now time to reconfigure other elements of the organization in that light.  In particular, it's time to reconfigure how department performance is measured and evaluated and how individual performance is rewarded and recognized.  The old adage certainly holds true - both at a departmental and personal level - what gets measured gets managed.  Too often organizations can energetically engage in a comprehensive process to establish the Vision and establish its core Values but then fail to take the specific and concrete steps necessary to reinforce that commitment.  Changing up how departments, teams and individuals are evaluated and rewarded is one of the best - if not the best - way of signalling a need for change, including an emphasis on cross functional work.  Ultimately, there must also be a willingness to take the harshest of steps - termination of employment - if performance and behavior is not to the inherent or explicit standard established in the Vision and Values.

A silo mentality can be prevented and broken down.  Staff and leaders at various levels can have some impact on this by their own individual efforts.  However, there is no substitute for establishing and sustaining a collaborative organizational culture than the engagement of its senior leadership.  A silo mentality is not inevitable.  Leaders who understand and own their role will actively engage in and allow their organizations to reach their full potential.  It's not about about babysitting or refereeing.  It's about leadership. 
______________________________

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.

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.

Anti-Bullying Day - What does it mean for your Workplace and your Leadership?

Today is anti-bullying day and to honor that effort we have been tasked with wearing pink.  I did what I could fashion-wise in wearing a pink-like dress shirt.  More importantly as I reflected on the real meaning and effort behind the day I considered my own experience of bullying - both as a child and in the workforce.  I suspect in more ways than one bullying has in a perverse way helped me define my concepts of right and wrong.  In addition, I believe it has helped establish for me this somewhat quixotic predilection to champion the cause of the underdog and honorable causes. 

Many months ago I had penned a blog entry around bullying in the workplace.  Given today's date it seemed opportune to resurrect the entry and pose a question to you - what does today mean in the context of your workplace and for your leadership?

No doubt we are all aware of a multitude of tragic scenarios that have played out with increasing regularity in our local communities and across our respective nations - children and youth subjected to intense and sustained harassment that only gains attention or action after they have taken their own lives in a desperate attempt at escape.  Invariably as a community, as parents, as human beings we individually and collectively express shock and dismay that such a tragedy could take place.  Invariably we ask how and why could this happen, what should have been done to identify and stop the bullying, and what we should do now.  We seem particularly shocked that children could perpetrate such abuse. 

I'm not sure why we are so surprised.  Judging by my own experience and that of others an undercurrent of bullying exists within our broader society and in our workplaces.  Our youth are unfortunately just modeling our own "adult" and "professional" behaviors.

I want to first point out that by starting this entry in the way I have that I in no way intend to diminish the very real tragedies that have taken place.  I do, however, believe it is useful as a starting point in highlighting the fact that we unfortunately do not leave that reality behind once we move on from elementary school.  Inadvertently or not, our leadership styles and our work cultures also tolerate, sustain, and even foster bullying.  Just as there are not, and should not be, bystanders in dealing with bullying of our youth a similar sentiment must hold true in our organizations.

There may be more than a few questions rattling around your head at this point, not least of which may be "Does bullying really exist in my organization?"  and "What does bullying even look like?"  Or perhaps like me, and others who have reached out to me, you know all too well the face of bullying from your past or current work.  My personal experiences have run the gamut - leaders abusing their secretaries and subordinates, physicians intimidating their colleagues/nursing staff/ managers, union presidents running roughshod over their members, peers targeting peers, and on and on.  The list is endless.  Perhaps we have become a little bit less tolerant of such behavior and a bit more sophisticated in our response than when I first started my career but such behavior is still far too frequent for my liking.

What does this have to do with leadership?  Everything.  First, as leaders we have to be conscious of our own potential (or reality) for being the bully.  In our roles we yield great power and with great power comes great responsibility and accountability.  By the very nature of our roles we can intimidate and by using our positional authority - throwing our weight around - we can cow others into doing what we want them to do.  As leaders we can feel fully justified in doing so - we have been given the authority, we have earned the leadership role, we have been given a mandate, my staff don't/can't see the reality like I do, I have a professional designation (e.g., MBA, MD) that gives me even more credibility, and so on and so forth.  But is this roughshod approach real leadership?  It's not many subordinates who have the courage or temerity to hold fast in a point of view that is counter to what their boss is proposing.  Even less so if the track record for being contrary includes personal criticism, opinions being denigrated, being undermined on other projects or opportunities at a later date (i.e., payback), being overlooked for promotions or raises, or even being threatened with - or experiencing - job loss.  Even less so if the bullying behavior has proceeded with impunity before. 

If we are not the bullying leader we have a role in supporting and creating a culture that doesn't tolerate such behavior.  Leaving aside the moral obligation we have as leaders to prevent and eliminate bullying in the workplace, there are some very practical and self-serving reasons to deal with bullies.  The implications to individual and organizational performance are not to be underestimated.  Many authors and researchers approach this subject matter as a workplace health and safety issue.  As it should be.  And as with a variety of workplace health and safety issues the ripple effect of a bully's actions - especially if in a leadership role - equates to any or all of lower staff productivity and effectiveness, poor customer service, increased absenteeism, lower morale, poor team work, higher employee turnover, and very real (and costly) health issues. 

Morally and ethically we are also called to act as leaders and deal with bullying behavior.  Vested with our own positional and moral authority we are called to stand up for those who can't stand up for themselves and uphold the stated values of our organizations or professions.  I'm fairly confident that no organization on record nor any professional association has as one of its tenets a commitment to fostering a culture of bullying. 

All this being said we could still likely describe recent and ongoing examples of bullying in our organizations.  So what needs to happen to really make a change? As already noted, I'm not aware of any organization or professional association that promotes bullying or abuse or harassment in any form.  Quite the contrary.  So I don't believe that we need more written codes of conduct, regulations, policies, procedures or similar written statements on the matter.  What we need is more courage and action, not more paper.  We need to be leaders and carry through with the obligations we have signed on to.  We need to not dismiss bullying behavior as an aberration or one-time event.  We need to not condone such behavior because our boss, or peer, or subordinate or member of our staff "gets results".  And our response has to be far more than providing counseling to those experiencing workplace bullying, or shifting them to other duties, or giving them paid leave to recover.  Most of these types of actions really do nothing more than blame the victim - whether that is intended or not. 

Harken back to your days in elementary school.  Think about the kids being harassed and bullied today.  The options for response can seem limited.  Often a bully will threaten further - and harsher - retribution if the victim rats them out.  Amazingly enough the victim can experience more isolation from coming forward - they will appear weak and a whiner in the eyes of the rest of their peers.  If somehow the victim does find the courage to bring the issue to an authority figure there is no guarantee that the cycle of abuse will stop. 

From what I've seen in organizations, the behaviors we adopted in school to get through are the same ones that many use to get through similar situations at work - silence, tolerance, gritting of our teeth, turn the other cheek, just trying to make it through another day of work, hoping that we won't have to encounter that leader, that peer, that professional who seems to go out of their way to bully and intimidate.  If they do get the courage to stand up to the bully, the processes we use seem to further draw out the pain and the opportunity for further abuse and retribution.  The bully gets to continue their work, they may have more "behind closed doors" opportunities to threaten, they have polished responses that amount to "he said/she said", and they may even pull out their own claims to now being themselves abused/harassed by these allegations.  The victims often despair of having raised their voice.  Their experience seems to send them a message - don't speak up, lay low, the cost is too high.  And that message is brought home not only to them but to all staff.

As leaders we must be the ones to stand up to the bullies just as we may have once done in school - head on.  There must be zero tolerance for such unprofessional behaviors.  There must be the courage to take action on the code of conducts that we have all either helped create or signed on to.  Are such efforts easy or pleasant?  Decidedly not!  But that is what our role as leaders entails.  And I speak from experience - I have been threatened by and stood up to so-called leaders, to members of my own Board of Directors, and to abusive physicians.  In too many of those cases I often stood alone.  In many of those cases I too became a subject of abuse and harassment - late night calls at home, threats of legal action, public vilification, and in-your-face "discussions".  My role as leader called me to protect those who couldn't protect themselves, who often just wanted to come to work do a good job and to have the opportunity to enjoy that work. 

Leadership is hard work and it takes courage.  As a leader you set the tone by your every action (or inaction) each day.  Do you have the courage to stand up and call out the bully that is in your work unit, that is your professional colleague, that is your peer - that is your boss?  Or are you content to let someone else pay the price for your inaction?

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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.

When a leader falls...

Earlier this month I took a hit between the eyes when I learned about the fall from grace of a (former) leader colleague of mine.  To say that I was saddened and taken aback would be more than a bit of an understatement.  I had developed a good working relationship with this individual even though we had really not worked in the same organization.  So perhaps my perspective was not as founded in "hard fact" as it should have been.  Maybe I became too enamored by a connection based on personality and shared life experiences. 

Unfortunately, in one way or another, this is not the first time that I have had some personal experience of a leadership fall from grace.  A variety of circumstances have surrounded the fall of my leaders or colleagues and the particular cause is not key to the reality and impact that such an event has - both for the individual and their teams.  As leaders we are often placed - or place ourselves - on a lofty pedestal.  In such a place our actions and behaviors are subject to a great deal of public scrutiny.  In our modern world we seem to see so many examples of this play out in politics, the business world and even in the not-for-profit sector.  Sometimes that scrutiny is warranted and sometimes it can be a bit over the top.  Regardless, in many respects we accept that reality for the material benefits it accords or because we are driven to achieve some higher purpose.

In more than a few cases the culminating event which precipitates the fall of a leader seemingly comes out of left field.  The event seems tragically out of character with other aspects of the leader's personality.  That's usually what makes the fall so much more difficult to comprehend.  As team members and colleagues we have placed faith and trust in our leader.  They have served as our beacon, our guide and our source of energy towards a shared goal and purpose.  Often it is because we have developed such an intense investment in the cause that our leader has espoused that the fall from grace results in such strong feelings of shock, dismay, and even betrayal.  Beyond the feelings we may now have about our fallen leader we also start to question the validity of the path we have been on.  We may even start to question our own judgment - how could we have been fooled, how could we have been so naïve, how could we have let ourselves be led down this path?  We start to question what this says about us as well as our leader.

So after the fall where to next?  For the leader and the team both there will be time for processing and reflection.  For the leader, rehabilitation (if that is not too harsh a term) is possible to achieve and there are real life examples of such in the public domain and in our personal experiences.  What's critical in moving positively forward, however, is sincerely accepting ownership for the circumstances leading to the fall.  The leader's response to their past or present actions will in fact determine their future.  I happen to believe that this can't be some staged public relations effort aimed at feigning remorse.  Rather, there must be tangible and heartfelt recognition of the line crossed and similar and sustained action to reestablish personal credibility within and beyond the organization.

For those who have followed, there needs to be some real effort as well to distinguish between the fall of the one and the cause that was espoused.  The latter may in fact still be worthy of our personal effort and investment even if our leader's actions may have compromised our ability to move towards the goal in the short-term.  There is also a fine line to walk at this time between disowning the actions of the leader and the leader themselves.  None of us is perfect.  Each of us have our personal weaknesses and may have made some of the same mistakes as our leaders given the right circumstances.  Beyond the fall, we each have to make our own personal decisions as to how we will move forward, what we will learn from any given situation, and ultimately find the courage and strength to continue making a difference in the world around us.

There is a constant need to remind ourselves of the standard of behavior now expected of us, how we set the tone for all around us, and how easy it can be to cross the line between "right"and "wrong".  With great power comes great responsibility.  The judgements for failed leadership can be both quick and harsh and can be informed by both reality and perception.  In fact, there may be times when we don't even recognize when we have "crossed the line" until the consequences are there for all to see.  Achieving a leadership position is often far easier than sustaining a position as a respected leader.  As leaders we have to be constantly assessing our environment and our own behaviors in that shifting context.  This is both the burden and honor of leadership.
______________________________

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.