Failure is an option

In the past two years as I've continued the transition from senior executive leader to executive coach/consultant I've been struck by how many of my colleagues have commented on their perception of my successful reinvention.  On many occasions I've been asked for the secret formula to help others achieve their goals and objectives.  In truth, it's hard to imagine that over two years have passed since I first left behind my 25-year career in health care.  A lot has happened since then and while there has been success there has also been failure - and fear of failure - along the way.  In fact, I believe I have learned more about myself as a result of my setbacks then I have from my moments of achievement.

Sitting down to pen this blog entry, I actually decided to focus in on an initiative that I have been actively engaged in for about a year now.  Taking stock of my current status and efforts to date in this year-long process could readily bring me to the conclusion that I am actively failing in this particular aspect of my practice.  Truth be told, it may only be a matter of time before I or someone else determines that the investment of time and effort is no longer worth it.

So what have I learned from this laborious journey?  In no particular order, here are my lessons that I hope resonate with you and that may help you appreciate that failure can be an option in establishing the basis for ultimate success:

One:  Anything worth doing will take effort, time, and sacrifice.  If it were easy then everybody would be doing it.  If I've picked up anything from the time and effort I've invested in this particular venture it is that success is by no means guaranteed and just when you think that you've turned the corner or have the commitment of others to your cause...well, don't count your chickens before they are hatched.  These setbacks have to be used to your advantage - take a hard look at whether you evaluated the situation correctly, hone your tactics, and try again.

Two:  Act Fast and Act Smart.  Somewhat contradictory, but the fear of failure and rejection held me back when I first started down the path for this particular initiative.  It pushed me out of my comfort zone where by nature I'm quite the introvert.  Templates did exist to support action and my take away from the past year is to simply face one's fears and fail faster.  By failing I've been able to adjust my methods to better suit me and my clients.

Three:  Don't become paralyzed.  As a corollary to point Two above, I've come to the conclusion that is better to move and fail then to sit in fear of movement and potential failure.  From an executive coach standpoint its interesting for me to note that this is often the perspective that I'm working with my clients on.  If you don't apply for the job you are guaranteed not to get it.  If you don't take the risk you are guaranteed not to succeed.   What is the true risk of failure versus the true risk of not trying at all?

Four:  It's not all about you.  Or your product. Just because you have something to offer which you really believe in, see as meeting a major need in your market, or simply believe can't miss still doesn't mean that you don't have a whole lot of leg work to do.  In may case, it probably took me several months at the beginning of this particular initiative to "buy-in" so why did I expect it would be any different for my prospective clients?

Five:  Be prepared to change.  Being stubborn and failing to adjust your methods or tactics in the face of setbacks is nonsensical.    As Albert Einstein is quoted as saying, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  If the end goal is important - and it is to me - be open to advice and your own learning to try something different that will change the quality and speed of our your outcome.

Six:  No isn't the end.  Perhaps too many of us - and certainly myself - strive to be perfectly successful all of the time.  A "NO" is often accorded weight out of all proportion to the "YES" we get.  No can mean any number of things from "not right now" to "it's the wrong fit".  And sometimes getting those No's can be quite beneficial to the quality of our initiative in the long-term.  Put your NO's in proper context.

Seven:  Work with the right supports.  In the past year I can clearly identify those that have been hugely positive and constructive supports on my journey.  These individuals have not just been cheerleaders.  On the contrary.  In many circumstances they have been a necessary catalyst to positive and forceful action on my part.  To put it less euphemistically they have kicked my ass when I needed it.  In contrast, I can just as easily identify those that have either been actively working against me or have been providing less than constructive ideas along the way.  In some cases, this is despite us ostensibly being on the same "team".  Nothing worth doing can be done alone or in the absence of the right team in your corner.

Eight:  Doing everything perfectly may not yield your desired result.  I love the Captain Picard quote in this image.  It brings us back to reality and helps us appreciate that a variety of circumstances - and even luck - may confound our best efforts and a perfectly executed plan.  Your choice at this point is to assess, analyze, learn and apply the lessons to the next opportunity.

Overall, even if I finally and officially "fail" in my particular endeavor I know that I have come away with a lot more tools at my disposal than when I started.  The experience, abilities, insights and skills obtained have already benefited me personally and professionally.  I have built up new networks, pushed myself out of my comfort zone (with more work to do), and ultimately I bring greater value to my colleagues and clients into the future.  When approached with maturity and patience with self, our failures can be far more instructive than our successes ever can be.

Failure is an option if you can learn, adapt, persist and grow.  Leadership isn't just about an unending string of successes.  Leadership is about breaking new ground.  Failing at the endeavour might be overwhelming and a bit frightening but that's what leadership is all about.
______________________________

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.

Resilient Leader - Resilient Organization

In recent months I seem to be talking to a lot of people about change, how to manage change and how to keep sane while doing so.  Moreover, leaders have expressed to me the challenge of staying optimistic in the face of daunting or seemingly never-ending change in service of those they lead.  How can they "provide lift" to their staff as opposed to being one more "source of drift" in a sea of turmoil?

We are all challenged by change - even changes that we make voluntarily (e.g, marriage, becoming a parent, taking a promotion, doing an Ironman!). And there is good reason to by anxious about change.  We don't really know what the future will bring.  We don't know for certain if the skills, experiences and abilities we have acquired will be sufficient to succeed in the face of new challenges.  In many circumstances, we have invested so much time, energy and emotion into our current roles that our positions and titles have become our identities.  Having to change means abandoning who I perceive or believe that I am.

It's not just big change that brings us down either.  Even small changes - added together - can ultimately wear us down and lead to despair.  The final poke becomes the straw that breaks the camel's back - a sleepless night; a computer glitch; a client, boss or co-worker changing a work deadline.  Any one thing in and of itself may not be too daunting.  Keep adding it up and we start to fatigue.  We are no longer resilient.  No longer able to respond - and lead - effectively.

But yet there are those around us that seem to bounce back with greater vigor from truly catastrophic personal and professional setbacks.  We find ourselves amazed by these stories of triumph over tragedy.  In most cases, we also attribute success to the miraculous and singular capacity of these individuals to overcome these challenges.  We discount our own ability to be just as resilient in the face of the odds.  We diminish our ability to develop and grow our capacity to be resilient.  But there are ways and means to become more resilient as individuals and as leaders.

Ironically enough, one of the best things you can do to maintain and build your resiliency, your energy and capacity to manage change, is to first take care of yourself.  While there is some sort of perverse culture that too many of us subscribe to that turns leadership into a test of stamina, the reality is that without proper self-care our leadership capability is diminished with fatigue.  As a leader consider yourself an elite athlete.  An elite athlete may train extensively, but they also match that regimen to proper nutrition and rest.  Moreover, they prepare for their major competitive events by reducing the volume of training in advance of a big race - and also take time for recovery after a major effort.  To be an effective leader you need to follow a similar pattern.

No person is an island.  Being an effective leader also requires recognition that it can indeed be lonely "at the top" of whatever work unit you are in - from CEO to front-line manager.  You will need support on an ongoing basis to work through the various issues coming at you, a sounding board to vent or think out loud, and even somebody to celebrate your successes with.  Ensure that you stay connected with key supports in and beyond your work environment.  Maybe this takes the form of a confidential peer advisory forum (e.g., TEC Canada) or a mentor but there is no upside - and a lot of downside - in being the lone wolf leader.

Remind yourself of your strengths, capabilities and past successes.  None of us who have reached a leadership position have done so by accident.  We have successfully overcome barriers, challenges and dark times before.  There is every reason to expect that we will be similarly successful now and into the future.  We may be somewhat miffed that we have to climb another hill but we do have a track record of success that should give us confidence that we can do it again.  But we have to take the time to reflect on this history of success and build on it to address the new challenge.

Take control.  I truly believe that each of us does have the ability to prioritize our work, control the pace of what is coming at us, and even say no to various demands being placed on us.  The best way and maybe the only truly effective way to gain this kind of control is to again take the time to understand what is of greatest importance to us.  Understanding, articulating and writing down the values we want to live and work by gives us the power to prioritize.  We have the power to choose.  We need only exercise it.

Finally, and related to the last point, live and work with your fundamental purpose in mind.  Be clear about why you work.  What are your fundamental goals?  At the same time appreciate that, just like a river meandering inevitably to the sea, that there are going to be boulders, barriers, rough water and other diversions in your path.  Regardless, you will eventually reach your goal and all the more so if you keep your head up and your eyes focused on the distant horizon.  If your purpose and goal is big enough and important enough there is not much that will deter you from reaching your journey's end.  Moreover it will give you the energy to return to your true course when encountering the next barrier.  It will give you the energy, capacity and resilience to lead in the way that you want to lead.

______________________________

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.

The Power to Choose Every Day

In my last post - "What kind of Leaders are we REALLY looking for?" - I posed a few burning questions somewhat in service of getting answers for myself but also to spark some conversation amongst my readers.  To sum up, my questions really boiled down to why we continue to be plagued by less than stellar leaders when we really do see some exemplars out there and collectively yearn for an organizational culture that we could all grow and thrive in.

I got a few interesting comments back, some salient pieces of advice on how to continue my search for answers, and some thoughts that sparked even further internal debate.  At the same time that this dialogue was going on I was also working with a number of my coaching clients who are in the midst of leaving their current organizations behind.  Each has given up hope that their organizations can live up to their publicly stated values and their public organizational persona.  They feel stifled, unrecognized, frustrated and quite frankly abused.  Even if they haven't left just yet it's clear that their particular organizations have already lost their full attention and commitment.  These energetic, dynamic, innovative, creative and inspiring leaders have been lost.

That's a sad commentary on organizational culture all on its own.  What makes these stories even more astounding is that the organizations in question are either blissfully unaware of what they stand to lose or, in fact, have consciously driven out the kind of leadership they so desperately need to succeed.  In some cases they have already been presented with clear warning signs - including previous resignations, higher rates of absenteeism, greater degree of conflict, and more customer complaints.  But rather than dig deep into cause or otherwise heed the warning signs the organization has chosen to ignore reality.  They have chosen to stick with mediocre leaders and maintain a draining culture.

Another comment that came back to me was from somebody who was obviously - and sincerely - struck by the willingness and readiness of some leaders to make some pretty hard decisions in service of their staff.  More particularly, what impressed this individual was the willingness and ability of a President/CEO to voluntarily take unpaid time off, setting an example for an entire company, so that layoffs could be avoided.  My reader lamented about something similar not being in their power to effect in their own organization - that the ability to "share the pain" on a proportionate basis was impaired by structures and systems (e.g., human resources policy, finance department regulation, political directives) that actively prevented more altruistic approaches to business challenges.

The irony of the conversation was that these comments were not made by a front-line manager, or a Director or an Executive Director.  The comments and lamentation came from a C-Suite executive.  A person with senior level experience and with broad accountability and authority.  Somebody in a position of power.  I interpreted their comments to mean that they felt and believe themselves powerless in their organization to do something they felt was right and better for staff - because the "systems of the organization" wouldn't allow it.

Now I'm not going to sit here all high and mighty, feigning near sainthood for myself.  After this conversation I could immediately reflect upon more than a few instances where I shied away from some battles over "doing the right thing" gave way to either expediency or a higher power, where I allowed myself to be steamrolled or intimidated.  However, it doesn't change the reality that other leaders have chosen to use their power to the benefit of a higher good or purpose.  Those leaders could also have rationalized another less optimal choice on the basis of contrary directives or recommendations from their shareholders, board of directors, or other factors.  But they didn't.  They exercised their power of choice.  They exercised their leadership power in congruence with their personal values and perhaps of the values of their organization.

As leaders - at every level of our organizations - I believe we consistently overestimate the power of "systems" and other leaders while consistently underestimating our own ability to make decisions and make a difference.  Still don't believe me?  How often do we see examples of leaders in the news who have clearly taken advantage of systems and their power to advance their own personal well-being?   How often do we see bonuses for senior leaders in the same year that staff layoffs impact hundreds if not thousands of others in the same company?

It is clear that leaders have the power to do what they want in many circumstances.  They have the power to make the hard decisions or take the easy way out.  They can choose to lead for the benefit of themselves or for the benefit of the entire organization.

Leaders have the power to choose every single day.  So do you.  

 Every man builds his world in his own image.  He has the power to choose, but no power to escape the necessity of choice.

Ayn Rand  

______________________________

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.

What kind of Leaders are we REALLY looking for?

Scan the job adverts in any major newspaper or postings being supported through an executive search firm and you are liable to find one or more President, Chief Executive Officer or senior level roles up for grabs.  Most of the postings describe desirable characteristics of the leaders being sought and the values, culture, and/or history of the firm seeking its next leader.

The posting might look something like:

The Opportunity:  The successful candidate must be able to inspire others to achieve their personal goals, establish an organizational vision that ultimately ensures personal success above all else, and establishes an environment in which the team complies with direction out of fear of their jobs and careers.

  Our next leader will:

• Primarily focus on self and not waste valuable time focused on sustaining others and/or building organizational capacity;
• Not spend time coaching, mentoring or encouraging others when executive time is better spent getting business-related results that directly relate to ability to generate a personal bonus;
• Focus on relationships that will enhance their personal network thus facilitating personal advantage both in the short and long-term;
• Understands that glitzy public relations campaigns, slogans and emotional appeals can often outweigh the effort and cost of more fundamental business efforts;
• Engage with stakeholders primarily to foster an image of inclusion but otherwise manage expectations to the benefit of self;
• Have a proven track record of negotiating best possible salary, benefits, and bonuses package for self while effectively communicating need for fiscal restraint for the rest of the organization; and
• Discourages a culture of openness, inquiry, and debate. 

At this point I'm hoping you are saying "What the heck is this guy talking about?  I've never seen an executive posting like that!!"  And of course you are absolutely correct.  What I have given you is pretty much the mirror opposite of this fictitious posting.  Most of us - and the organizations we work for - would state a desire to have inspiring, visionary, inclusionary, collaborative, selfless leaders.  Yet, to my mind, many organizations, boards, and other executives have a horrible track record of not hiring the kind of leaders they say they are looking for.  I was reminded of this reality when viewing a recent Simon Sinek TED Talk entitled "Why Good Leaders Make You Feel Safe", the link to which is noted here:


http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_why_good_leaders_make_you_feel_safe

If you have not yet seen this talk I suggest that it is 12 minutes of your time well spent.  There we so many aspects of this presentation that hit home for me.  His first point of reference was a military scenario that led him to wonder whether the leaders he had observed had just been born better people.  He rapidly corrects himself though and suggests that it's the environment that permits these leaders to be created - if you get the environment right he suggests that every one of us had the capacity to do remarkable things.  He goes on to state that the basis for this leadership incubator is an environment built on trust and cooperation.  And you can't tell somebody to trust you or to cooperate with you.  There are no valid "directions" or "speech" by which you can enforce or establish that kind of environment in an instant.  Yet over and over again in my experience I have encountered leaders who believe that by position and authority alone that they should expect the trust and cooperation of others.  Do as I say (not as I do) without question.

Sinek contrasts this command and control environment - and the fear that it engenders - with some remarkable examples of what I consider to be extraordinary leaders.  One such company that he talks about is Next Jump who's CEO, Charlie Kim, instituted a policy of LIFETIME EMPLOYMENT.  This is not in the traditional or historical sense that you and I might understand - or perhaps as our parents and grandparents might have experienced it.  Rather, Next Jump makes the commitment to each employee that they will not be fired - even if you are having performance issues!  Further, they will invest in you, with coaching, training and any other support that helps you stay a part of the Next Jump family.  How many leaders and organizations have you experienced that would go to those lengths versus terminating for cause or not and hiring the next employee?

To what lengths as employees or followers would we go - would you go - if you had a LEADER and organization that treated you as such a precious commodity that they stuck with you regardless of circumstances?  Sinek suggests, and provides other examples of, people making significant sacrifices on behalf of the organization's continued good health and the well-being of their colleagues if a trusting and collaborative environment has been built up over time - and where the leaders have walked the talk, shared the sacrifices, and gone first.  In contrast, he also recounts the visceral hatred, anger and lack of commitment to those CEOs who demonstrate their lack of commitment to the health and success of all of their people as they pursue their disproportionate salaries and bonuses, who seem more intent on establishing and maintaining their summer homes in Phoenix, being seen at their private members clubs, or acquiring this year's latest model of sports car.  Those employees know that they have been sacrificed for the leader's gain.  The sacrifices have not been shared.

So the burning question that I am left with - and I leave with you - is if we all desire to be led by people like Next Jump's Charlie Kim why do leaders like him seem to be so exceptionally rare?  To paraphrase a common saying, how do we achieve like eagles when we are led by so many turkeys?  How are we allowing less than stellar leaders to continue to rise to the top?  What are we missing?

Today I provide no clear or definitive answer - I'm asking you for your opinion and answers.

______________________________

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.

What Code do you Uphold?

I can often relate sports reality to leadership challenges.  So while it may seem strange to start this blog with reference to the the NHL playoffs bear with me for a moment or two.  I'm going to reflect back in particular to my beloved Habs beating those beastly Bruins this year, but also drawn upon some other sports stories that came to mind relating to unwritten codes that we enforce or hold on to as part of our sporting culture - and how that might relate to our work cultures.

For those of you who don't follow hockey I'll briefly recap.  This year, Montreal defeated Boston - the best team in hockey over this regular season - in the seventh and final game of their series and did so on Boston's home ice.  This was but another chapter in probably the most storied rivalry in hockey.  As is tradition, every series ends with the obligatory handshake between the teams and is supposed to epitomize the highest level of sportsmanship.  Well in this series it didn't quite go according to script.  One of Boston's star players, Milan Lucic, is reported to have told at least one Montreal player that "I'm going to f---king kill you next year."  Story enough to be sure, but what got at least as much play was that Montreal players came under fire for disclosing this gem of a conversation with the media.  Evidently this was against the unwritten code in hockey which is what is said in the handshake line or "between men" on the ice stays on the ice.  The "code" had been broken.

At about the same time we also saw Michael Alan Sam Jr. drafted by the St. Louis Rams of the National Football League.  Nothing too unique about this event - except that he was the first publicly gay player to be drafted in league history and if he takes the field with the Rams this year will also become the first publicly gay athlete in NFL history.  This, of course, was bigger news than Sam's being named Southeastern Conference Defensive Player of the Year in his senior year and consensus All-American.  His coming out and willingness to be bold in doing so - including kissing his companion on national TV - clearly were the bigger story than his athletic accomplishments.  He had clearly broken the code of what type of behavior and lifestyle is expected from NFL-calibre players.   This is despite the fact that there are nearly 1,700 players in the NFL each year and over the course of its history the odds are more than one of them has been gay.  The code was be straight or at the very least be silent and discrete.  Michael Sam broke that code.

I also finally saw the movie "42", a 2013 biographical film about the life of baseball player Jackie Robinson.  In 1946, Jackie Robinson became the first black man to play and star in major league baseball - twenty years in advance of the peak of the civil rights movement in the United States, He endured vicious harassment and abuse, up to an including numerous death threats.  He not only got to experience this abuse in the form of anonymous letters and catcalls from the stands - he also was on the receiving end of countless taunts, physical harm (e.g, fastball to the head), and efforts to ostracize him even from his own white teammates.  He had broken the color line in baseball, he had broken the unwritten code that didn't allow blacks into baseball - or mainstream society.

What does this have to do with leadership?  Clearly, at high level for our society, is has everything to do with leadership.  At an organizational level, however, there are clear examples of unwritten codes that we continue to uphold both by our actions and inaction, by our voluntary commitment, and through our own fear and desire for self-preservation.  I was astounded this year (maybe through my own naivety) to learn about the challenges two of my female colleagues were experiencing in their organizations.  They were still falling victim to an "old boys" mentality and blatant sexism.  Their skills and abilities were being dismissed and going underutilized.  An unwritten code about what makes for good leadership and who can take on senior level roles that continues to play out in many business sectors.

More akin to the first sports analogy I started with, is the notion of upholding a code of silence in our organizations.  This manifests in several different ways.  If we consider some of the recent events in government relating to expense scandals and the like, it is clear that a code of silence had been operative for some time.  Individuals in peer positions decided not to confront their colleagues feeling that it would upset other agendas.  Those in subordinate positions likely stood silent for fear of their jobs and careers.  As leaders and professionals we also often fail to deal with lack of performance or poor performance by our colleagues.  Sometimes we do so out of a fear of conflict and confrontation.  Just as often we adhere to a code of silence that suggests a mentality of rallying around a management colleague.  We "hang together" even if the consequences of doing so in the form of staff turnover, grievances, client complaints, financial mismanagement, and more are there for all to see.  In many cases we tolerate and support this code of silence through our lack of action while others pay the price.

This action or inaction also comes despite our many professional codes of conduct that would seemingly direct us to more positive effort for the benefit of our clients/customers, our organizations and our professions.

So what code or codes do you uphold?  How clear are you about the actions you take - or not - that foster and support organizational and leadership excellence?  Are you helping maintain an unhealthy status quo or are you prepared to step up and leave a legacy of 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.

 

Personal Reinvention

Earlier this week I received notice that I had successfully obtained Professional Certified Coach (PCC) status with the International Coach Federation (ICF).  Needless to say I was quite enthused at my accomplishment and dutifully updated my LinkedIn status and credentials, took to my twitter account to trumpet the news, and celebrated with my Facebook friends.  I also took time to thank ALL of those I had coached over the past two years and others in positions of authority who had vouched for me as part of the ICF credentialing process. 

One of the first responses back to me on Facebook also sparked this blog entry.  My past coach remarked "Congrats Greg!  That's a huge milestone to celebrate.  Consider yourself officially transitioned."  Officially transitioned.  It was an interesting assessment of where I now stand in my career.  Over the past two years I have had several offers to return to an executive role in healthcare.  I'd also been approached with leadership opportunities in other sectors.  The offers were intriguing and would have represented an easier path than the one I've been on.  While I didn't dismiss these offers out-of-hand, there were some very tangible reasons for leaving my former role and sector in the first place and very specific and rewarding reasons for continuing my commitment to my (re) discovered passion for leadership coaching.

I've learned a lot along this path of reinvention and found continued expression for my desire to lead and be of service to others - and perhaps there a few gems for others as they consider a change in role, sector, or career.  Even if you expect to stay in the same leadership role for the long-term its wise to consider how you might need to reinvent yourself to take account of the changing business environment that surrounds you.  Evolve or perish!  So here are some of my takeaways from two years of reinvention.

First, any truly successful or meaningful reinvention has to start with the realization that whatever you have done before, the positions you held, and the titles you "owned" don't carry much weight in your new venture.  In my case being the Senior Vice President of a large organization with responsibility for hundreds of millions of dollars in budget and several thousand staff didn't carry as much weight as I had hoped or vainly expected when trying to contract with coaching or consulting clients.  As you transition, your clients or staff in your new venture are going to be less interested in what YOU HAVE DONE versus what they believe YOU CAN DO for them into the future.  It can be a harsh reality check.  You can very much feel that you are starting from scratch.  Taking nothing for granted as you start your new journey.    

Second, and perhaps an evident no-brainer, is the particular value of reinventing yourself on the basis of what excites you and gets your motor running.  Commit to following your passion and the rest will fall into place.  It was at least six months into my personal reinvention before I made the tentative yet powerful decision to commit to becoming a certified executive coach.  There were a few bumps along this path as I juggled a need to invest in self versus the desire to pursue lucrative consulting engagements.  Short-term pain for long-term gain and easier said than done.  However, once you truly commit I expect you to be rewarded with a strong feeling of "being in the right place" and intent on overcoming obstacles in pursuit of your driving passion.

As the Nike slogan says "Just do it!"  Just because I had discovered or rediscovered what got my motor running didn't mean that I had the process of coaching nailed on day one nor that I had the confidence to boldly own a new future.  It took a lot of small, sometimes tentative steps along the way, a great deal of peer support, family encouragement, support of mentors, and willing clients to help me move from passion, to action, to the beginning realization of the true potential before me.  You too will need to constantly remind yourself of your vision, goals, objectives and milestones along the way.  Take time to celebrate your very real successes and hold true to the path you have set for yourself despite the inevitable setbacks or stumbles.  Reinventing oneself is a constant state of trying and practice.

Successfully reinventing oneself is also about time and metrics.  As noted, it's taken me two years to achieve PCC status.  While I'd like to say that I've been patient with that process those who have walked this path with me - including my wife - will quickly remind me how much that has not been the case.  The reality is if you expect to radically - and successfully - change paths you have to be patient with the process.  In my case I had spent the previous 25 years in healthcare leadership roles.  Expecting to seamlessly transition into another career at the same level of performance was certainly not a realistic expectation.  That didn't stop me from punishing myself for not excelling in the same way that I believed I had in my former roles.  What was comforting - to some degree - were the metrics and milestones I had established at the beginning of my transition.  Take time to step back and assess your progress against your plan.  You will more realistically evaluate your progress and success and not get discouraged in the day-to-day effort.  You will see that your effort is paying off and your vision slowly translating into reality.

Finally, whether it is reinvention of oneself in career terms, redefinition or reconfiguration of one's leadership role and capacity, or investment in one's skills and abilities, it should be recognized that the process must be constant.  If there is anything that the past two years has taught me - whether as a coach or a consultant - it is that you are only as good as your last successful engagement.  I am constantly evaluating and reevaluating what worked or didn't work.  How could I have had greater impact for my clients?  What can I learn and apply to the next encounter or next engagement?  This effort takes a great deal of discipline, self-motivation and a passion for learning in its own right.  But I believe that the energy expended in the effort of continual and constant reinvention will rebound to you manifold.  While I pride myself on being a force multiplier for my clients they have also been a force multiplier for me.

Good luck on your continued reinvention.  My personal reinvention continues to be a work in progress - as all good leadership should be.
______________________________

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.

Get off your treadmill

For those who know me well, the title of this blog entry might seem at odds with the lifestyle I've tried to fashion for myself over the past five years or so - two Ironman Canada finishes, variety of other smaller distance triathlons, and up to 2 workouts a day.  But sometimes, there is a real need to re-evaluate progress, goals, and the processes you are using to achieve results.  Sometimes, you have to get off the treadmill, dismount from your bike, and step back from the pool to objectively assess status in order to reach your desired level of performance.

The same is true in your leadership journey.  In my one-to-one coaching sessions and team development engagements, I often find myself working with my clients to help them carve out time for them to step back and critically evaluate and reengage with the fundamental core of their roles, vocations and business.  Almost without exception they lament their lack of time as they face the impossible task of juggling all the "priorities" being thrown at them, all the urgent issues requiring their attention, and all the stillborn and "critical" initiatives they believe they must tackle.

In most cases, individual leaders try to address this by simply extending their work week.  In essence, however, this extended effort typically does not leave us any more satisfied with our workload then when we started.  Rather, we find ourselves on "the treadmill" and rather than effectively using our creative talents and ingenuity as leaders - utilizing the brainpower and capabilities for which we were selected - we are far more often engaged in a pure test of our stamina.  At this point, as leaders, we have to question whether we are truly leading.  Are we running an organization or is our organization running us?

The same dynamic plays out for leadership teams as well.  The frustration that exists for individual leaders may look different for a team - competing priorities, lack of collaboration, competition for resources, and conflict - but in reality it comes from some of the same sources.  Teams have not taken the time to step back to critically reevaluate the nature of the work they are doing, how that fits in with a bigger picture of organizational success, and what truly is a critical priority for success in the coming month, quarter and year.

So what's the solution to this time press?  Ironically enough it's having the courage to step back from the coal face of work long enough to gain some perspective.  As I described at the beginning of this entry, I often engage with my clients to establish a structured approach to setting aside protected time on a regular basis to simply evaluate and take stock of their work.  This time has to be established as sacred and critical to the leader (or a team as the case may be).  It has to be focused and uninterrupted time.  Consider this time as important as any non-negotiable event in your calendar - meeting with your Board of Directors, meeting with your boss, a major presentation to your professional peers.  You can't defer or neglect these kinds of events.  You wouldn't be asking your Board Chair/Boss to be excused from your once per month meeting while you take a series of phone calls.  You need to make the same kind of commitment to yourself as a leader or a team to effectively evaluate your current status and future effort.

Your future success as a leader is NOT going to be predicated on your stamina or ability to endure.  You have been selected to lead your organization for the quality of your decision-making, for your ability to discern key factors and information in a chaotic environment, and for your ability to focus organizational effort on common goals.  You can't do this if you don't exercise personal leadership and discipline.  Be deliberate and strong with yourself to stay in charge of your business - don't let your business run you.  Be decisive and courageous enough to take time for yourself and to truly discern where your leadership is going to make the biggest difference.  Taking that time is going to be one of biggest tests of your leadership.

Do you have the courage to step off the treadmill if even only for a little while?   
______________________________

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.

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.