Resolve to do Better

It's at this time of year that many of us set new goals or, just as likely, resurrect old goals for the year ahead.  Unfortunately the success rate of these resolutions or sustaining the motivation or effort to have success is alarmingly low for most of us.  So what might make 2016 any different than previous years?  What does it take to be successful then?  A quick and not unbiased view would be to engage an external, unbiased and objective support in the form of a coach, mentor or similar sounding board.  I will reinforce that perspective again but put it within the context of a broader set of tools and techniques that can help you be the better leader you want to be.

Fundamentally, I believe that to be successful you need to treat your leadership development plan or resolutions no different than you would any major project or change management initiative.  Any successful organizational initiative adheres to a certain core set of steps to move from vision to successful conclusion.  Success in reaching your leadership development goals can be achieved from taking a page or two from this experience.

First, how have you arrived at your particular conclusions that the leadership goals that you have set for yourself in the coming year are in fact the correct or best ones?  What process or assessment have you utilized to evaluate your leadership success and opportunities for growth on a go-forward basis?  How objective and comprehensive has this evaluation been?  As with any large-scale organizational initiative, it is to be hoped and expected that the plans for the coming year have been based on some concrete evidence that the efforts planned are the best use of your available resources.  Just as with an organization-wide effort, your time and money are limited resources and you want to leverage them to best effect. 

Second, how compelling are your leadership development goals?  How compelling is your vision for change?  Without having a compelling vision for your personal development, for how you want to be different as a leader, you are unlikely to make the kind of commitment it will take to succeed.  This of course presumes that your goals are a bit more ambitious than merely getting into work 30 minutes earlier than past practice.  If you are setting ambitious or stretch goals for yourself what are you prepared to sacrifice to be successful?  What kind of personal change are prepared to endure to take your leadership to the next level?  If your leadership vision is not compelling enough you are likely to falter upon hitting that first significant barrier.

Next you need to document your plan of attack, break down your goals into smaller objectives, set milestones, and start working the plan.  You have to move from evaluation and vision to action.  Like any good strategic or project plan, you have to move your personal leadership plan out of your head and off the shelf to be of any true value.  It's at this point that you move from the grand vision to SMART statements - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-limited.  This can be a challenging piece of personal work and perhaps more so in the realm of leadership behaviors and skills.  This is why I also caution leaders not to get caught up in trying to create the perfect plan before they take action.  This is tantamount to paralysis by analysis.  Your plan should continue to evolve and be flexible enough to respond to changing circumstances while keeping your grand vision in mind.

In this plan key milestones, short-term objectives and evaluation measures must also be identified and adhered to.  It is for this reason that a well-developed written plan as identified above should be created AND POSTED IN YOUR LINE OF SIGHT to review on a regular basis.  Again, like any organizational plan, what gets measured/evaluated gets managed.  You need to provide yourself with dedicated time on a periodic basis to check in with your plan.  What goals or objectives need to be adjusted based on circumstances?  What additional effort or compensating strategies do you need to put in place to continue on track with hitting your targets?  Without setting aside dedicated time to do this you will find yourself off track - and demoralized - in no time.

Put in place the necessary supports to ensure your success.  Too often individuals (and organizations) fail to leverage all the potential resources they have at their disposal to ensure the success of their development effort.  We often - and mistakenly - assume that achieving our personal goals is merely or solely an act of will.  Conversely, we then often identify failure in achieving our goals as a reflection on our personal strength or character.  In reality, what we have failed to do is to take all the necessary steps to ensure success.  As noted above, one of they key supports you can put in place for yourself is a written plan.  The very act of committing your goals and strategies to paper increases your chances of success.  Sharing your plan with others - publicly declaring your intentions - further cements your commitments to yourself and may enlist others in supporting your efforts.

At any and all points in this process you may choose to get the support of a confidential, objective resource like an executive coach, peer advisory group or similar individuals or entities.  Such a resource can help you objectively evaluate your leadership development opportunities, support development of a robust plan, and help hold you accountable to your plan. 

Finally, make sure you build in the ability and opportunity to celebrate your achievements along the way.  This is where establishing a series of incremental steps towards your ultimate goal becomes an essential element of your leadership development plan.  You can't eat the elephant whole!  Make sure that you can experience success one small step at a time.  Otherwise you can be daunted by the enormity of the task you have set for yourself or be discouraged if you are unable to see tangible results for the efforts or sacrifices you are making.  Don't be shy about rewarding yourself in some tangible way.

Treat the achievement of your leadership goals as you would any other large scale project.  Give it the same care and attention.  You are worthy of the effort and you will benefit yourself and those you work with as a result. 
______________________________

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.

It's the Thought that Counts - In Tough Times Too

This year has been tougher than most for many in Alberta with the recent slump in oil prices and the impact to our provincial economy.  Of course this has led many companies to reconsider their Christmas party plans and individuals to reevaluate how much they will spend on presents and where they might travel.

Just as interesting to me has been how variable the impact of the current downturn has been.  Edmonton's landscape continues to be transformed by a number of construction projects and other larger infrastructure projects have already been committed to throughout Alberta that are softening the blow for some.  

Regardless of circumstance, a leader can still - and should - find a way to express sincere appreciation for our staff, our team, our co-workers and our fellow human beings.  And perhaps that from this spirit of giving we could hold ourselves in that spirit for the year to come. 

So Yes, the Christmas season is upon us once again!  If you are like me that usually means the typical scramble to get those last minute gifts, prepare for family visits, or send off Christmas cards.  As I write this a week before Christmas I find myself still trying to find the time to get some gifts for my support staff and one more present for my wife.  Typical male?? 

It is also the time of year for work-based Christmas parties and events.   In my experience these have taken on many forms from unit-based social events, to Board/senior executive formal functions, to larger team-based gatherings at a local restaurant, and even holiday-themed meals provided for free to all staff during the Christmas season.  What some may fail to realize is that these events say a lot about the organization's or the individual leader's commitment to staff and can send strong messages about the reality of employee engagement in the organization. 

I recall from painful experience a year in which budget and optics caused my organization to cancel what had been a long-standing event - the annual tradition of offering a free meal to staff in the week leading up to Christmas.  Given the nature of trying to serve hundreds of people at 3 or 4 points in the day the food provided was delivered in buffet, industrial style production - hot food dished out cafeteria-style, with cake or squares for dessert, and your choice of juice or coffee.  There certainly was cost, but not extravagance.  Staff social committees put forward their best effort to provide entertainment for these functions as well so there was music, caroling, and contests to encourage socialization and camaraderie.  What I believe staff also enjoyed was the fact that very many of their managers took turns serving out meals at the event.  This included senior executives as well.  A colleague of mine and I made a particular tradition of taking on the night shift - which if memory served was 1 or 2 in the morning.  Staff were generally impressed that we made the effort to come in at night to put in a couple of hours of work and engage in conversation with them.  And we both thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Modest cost but an investment that paid off many times over in connecting with staff.

Needless to say the cancellation was not well received by most.  It was a challenging decision to make.  Some believed that public perception as much as cost supported the decision to cancel.  If there were budget challenges for the organization how could we justify spending dollars on a staff Christmas meal?  Others believed that if competitors were making similar decisions we had no choice but to follow.  However, for most management and staff it was not a warmly received decision.  Many felt it diminished the hard work and sacrifices of all staff.  Many felt that this was the one true reward and recognition that they received in a year and now it was gone.  Others may have taken the tradition for granted and it simply became an entitlement.  Nevertheless the cost to the organization in terms of goodwill was not insignificant.  We definitely came across as Scrooge-like.

What also went by the way that year was any formal lunch time gathering of management teams.  All of my managers would have gotten together at a restaurant or some other venue to have a buffet style meal, socialize, and listen to me give greetings of the season and thanks for a year's hard work.  Other senior executives would have done similar things with their direct reports.  That was no longer on the table.  I could have chosen then to forgo any annual Christmas gathering of my team.  However, it's not that easy to just give up these types of events if you really believe in rewarding and recognizing your team.  With the support of my direct reports and my family we decided to take a different approach to celebrating Christmas - we opened up my house over two days to a potluck style celebration.  What did this mean?  Well mostly it meant parking challenges for my neighborhood and space challenges in my house with upwards of 100 people attending each day enjoying each others company and culinary creations.  It was a house full to the brim of Christmas spirit!  Adversity turned to celebration!  What could have been a season of discontent was turned into a huge positive team-building event.  The comments that my wife and I received from my management staff were overwhelmingly positive.  Many even suggested that this home-based event become the new Christmas tradition.  The team was strengthened that day and the Christmas spirit was alive and well.

I also kept my own more intimate work-based Christmas celebration going.  For probably the last 10 or 15 years, I have invited my immediate direct reports and their spouses over to my house some time in the Christmas season.  Again all the food is home-cooked with contributions from all.  More importantly for me, I have always used the occasion to individually recognize each of my team members with a gift - paid for by myself - that I believe spoke to their individual achievements or reality in the past year.  I put hours of thought into each person's gift.  Sometimes this related to a singular event, sometimes to their particular personality or character, or perhaps some key accomplishment - personal or work-related - that was noteworthy.  In all cases, the gift giving was preceded by a mostly humorous, and always heart-felt, presentation on my part.  I believe this was warmly received by my colleagues precisely because it demonstrated that I paid attention to their efforts throughout the year and thought enough about each one of them to put in this individualized effort.  Our success was made possible by their individual and combined efforts.  It certainly would have been easier and less time-consuming to give them all a gift card to Chapter's, or give them some corporate swag, or something equally as generic.  I also could have assigned the task of getting these gifts to my support staff or similarly had them make arrangements for the party.  After all, I was a senior executive and could have pulled out the "I'm too busy or important" excuse to support the delegation of work.  But I don't see that it would have had the same meaning for any of us.  And the reward I got for the effort was the laughter, the tears and team building that came from this Christmas tradition.  I enjoyed it and got energy from the effort!

Ultimately, regardless of organizational circumstances, I believe that any leader can demonstrate an ongoing commitment to staff, to engaging their team, and building a strong culture.  It does take effort, it does take creativity, but ultimately it really is all about sincerity of commitment to others.  As the leader you set the tone for the culture you work in.  You build the culture by all of your actions, both large and small.  You build the culture by how you treat and work with your colleagues on a day-to-day basis.  You build the culture of your organization by your level of engagement and interest in your staff.  You demonstrate by the level of your effort how much your team really means to you.

There is no better time to demonstrate your commitment to your team than at Christmas. 

After all, it's the thought that counts.
______________________________

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.

Alberta's healthcare at a crossroads (again)...

Alberta's healthcare system is at a crossroads.  Again.  This past Friday the current CEO of Alberta Health Services announced her resignation from a post she's held since May 2014.  In doing so, she placed the newly installed Board of AHS in the position of commencing a search for the 8th CEO in the 7 years of the existence of AHS.  Regardless of what opinions you might hold of the calibre of leadership provided to Alberta's health system in the past number of years I'm fairly certain that NO leadership text or framework would suggest that nearly annual turnover in the key leadership position in any organization would constitute best practice.

While there have been strides made in the functioning of Alberta's health system since 2008 you could be excused for not hearing much about progress given the machinations, political gamesmanship, and media coverage over the past number of years.  There is no doubt much to overcome and deal with given that Alberta is now touted to have one of the most expensive healthcare delivery systems in the country while at the same time seemingly delivering less than what is being achieved in other provinces.

What is equally disconcerting is that as the merry-go-round of healthcare leaders in Alberta has continued the import of those leadership changes through the lens of front-line staff and managers has become less and less evident.  The reality has become - and perhaps it always was - that those at the frontline just continue to do their jobs, attempt to provide service to their individual patients despite changes higher up the corporate food chain, and have generally become numb to a host of changes that are seemingly disconnected with their day-to-day challenges.

All that being said there are very real issues in Alberta's healthcare system as alluded to above.  Not the least of the solutions to these challenges will be the recruitment of a leader that can drive real, fundamental, inclusive and long overdue change in Alberta's healthcare delivery system.  I do not envy the challenge facing the new Board of AHS.  A number of worthy candidates may be out there but they may also be more than justifiably gun-shy given the shelf life and authority experienced by their predecessors.  A good leader - a great leader - required by Alberta's healthcare system will first have to be supported by the quality of governance that the AHS Board will have to bring to bear to this first and most critical decision of its tenure.

The AHS Board will have to take into account the impact of all that the healthcare system has been subjected to over the past 7 years of Alberta Health Services' existence - and appreciate that the challenges now in front of the organization also speak to what was gifted to it from previous "health reforms."  We have a system that has become increasingly bureaucratic and controlling, seeking to deal with past issues of lack of accountability through more comprehensive paperwork.  We have a system where creativity, innovation and risk-taking have never been more required, but yet are stifled by caution, fear and regulation.  "Rules" are multiplying ensuring that those who are motivated to make a difference can't while providing cover for those who are interested in preserving the status quo or their own positions.

Many healthcare providers - and perhaps patients and communities - would claim to be exhausted and cynical given all the change already experienced in the past decade.  Yet what is required given the circumstances of system performance (current and anticipated) is even more change.

How seriously this need for change is understood by the new AHS Board will be tellingly demonstrated by the process of recruitment and selection of the next AHS CEO.  Healthcare in Alberta needs a transformational leader, a leader in the spirit of Jim Collin's Level 5 Leader.  A leader who is fundamentally committed to the success of the organization as a whole - even at the expense of their personal success.  This is a leader that cannot be afraid to change out the old guard, to unfreeze old patterns of behavior and performance, to institute a true culture of accountability and responsibility, and sacrifice some sacred cows.  The Board and our government must be prepared to weather some noise as previous governments and administrations have not.

There are undoubtedly difficult and painful decisions ahead but if driven by a compelling vision of the future versus the (political) expediency of the past I am confident that healthcare professionals and public alike will be able to work through these challenges.  All the more so if they are an integral part of the discussion, decision-making and implementation decisions.

Paraphrasing Albert Einstein, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."  Going forward, the AHS Board will have to push itself to really think about the type of leader necessary to achieve far more extraordinary results for our healthcare system.  Does this extraordinary leader currently reside in Alberta's system?  I'm convinced they do not.  Our efforts will have to be more far flung and not just in a geographic sense.

The process and the decision by which a new AHS CEO is chosen this time around will send a huge signal about the type of values, expectations and culture that will be created over the next number of years.  Healthcare providers and professionals are watching intently - and maybe even cynically.  I hope they are not disappointed.  If we are to truly make a difference for the health of our province it really will be all 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.

Color me Jaded...

This morning (November 9, 2015) we have reports of systematic cheating on the part of Russia related to its track and field teams.  In a devastatingly critical report, a World Anti-Doping Agency panel accused the Russian government on Monday of complicity in widespread doping and cover ups by its track and field athletes and said they should all be banned from competition — possibly even next year's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro — until the country cleans up its act.

To some degree this is earth-shattering news.  Even more so if, in fact, the relevant worldwide bodies in charge of athletics actually move to banish Russia from international competition for the foreseeable future.  For most of us, however, I have to believe that we are less naive than that particularly given the historically "robust" nature of some Eastern bloc competitors over the years and our own history of fallen idols in amateur and professional sports in the last number of decades.  Ben Johnson going from Canadian hero to goat within a matter of hours.  Lance Armstrong moving from iconic athlete to obfuscation with Oprah to being stripped of his accolades and awards.  And the list of professional athletes being suspended by their leagues for use of performance enhancing drugs is nigh on endless.  On a larger administrative scale we have the ongoing scandal with FIFA and the awarding of their events.

So color me jaded...Sports of almost any nature other than the efforts of my 5-year old on the soccer pitch have increasingly left me cold and skeptical.

But what does this have to do with business or leadership?  Well in many respects - or in all respects - sports has become a business like any other.  And as a result, we have seen, like any other business, that the ends justify the means.  For far too many athletes and business leaders success can be justified and must be justified at any cost.  As in sports and as in business the key has been in just not getting caught in the impropriety that we assume or know that all of our other competitors are engaged in.  For a current business example look no farther than the current crisis engulfing Volkswagen which has not only had dramatic consequences for the company, its executives and its shareholders but is sending ripples of doubt and despair over the automotive industry and German brand value as a whole.  This, of course, follows on other large scale leadership failures like Enron and Lehman Brothers in the past decade. 

Locally, the provincial government of Alberta has recently initiated new steps to promote transparency and integrity in compensation to those who receive payments from the pubic purse. The proposed legislation extends disclosure to 157 boards, agencies and commissions under the Alberta Public Agencies Governance Act, including Alberta Health Services, Travel Alberta and all post-secondary institutions.  Compensation paid to board members of these bodies will be disclosed, regardless of the amount.  Employees of these agencies, boards and commissions including Covenant Health, AHS and all post-secondary institutions are included, if they make more than $125,000 a year.  Again, like legislation, rules and regulations instituted after Enron, Lehman Brothers, Ben Johnson, or Lance Armstrong, this provincial effort comes as a result of transgressions of past leaders...for which all taxpayers will now foot the bill for extended rules, regulations and reporting.

Yet for all the effort everyone puts in to legislating a higher level of ethics and integrity in sports, business and the public sector we continue to have scandals like Russian track and field, Volkswagen, and public sector perks that defy reality.  Why?  At one level it is clear that the perceived or actual rewards of dishonest or unethical behavior still outweigh the potential and penalties of being caught.  There is also a perspective that holds that "everyone is doing it" so it would be naive and idiotic to not try to compete by any means necessary to stay in the race.  Finally, it is also clear that some business leaders, athletes and public sector leaders still perceive themselves as too smart or clever to be caught.  To some extent history bears them out.  Like an arms race, the escalation in tactics of trying to create a level playing field seem to be in constant catch-up mode to those who would seek a competitive advantage.

The moral of this story for me is that you can't legislate ethical behavior.  And as with the implications of the Russian doping scandal, it is clear that no individual athlete - or leader - circumvents a system of expectation and legality without help.  The mentality that got us systematic cheating on the scale implied in Russia, with FIFA, and Enron also explains how public sector leaders have - and will continue to - circumvent rules designed to promote transparency in compensation.

Until such time as we hold ourselves to a collective level of responsibility and are prepared to and act in the best interests of shareholders - public or private - I can guarantee you brand new, shocking stories of impropriety next year.  
______________________________

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.

Exorcising Our Ghosts

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Exorcise your ghosts - own the night.

______________________________

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.

Resurrecting Deming

For some weeks now I've had the pleasure of teaching my first undergraduate course in leadership at Concordia University of Edmonton.  It's been a great experience and has allowed me to further develop and articulate my perspective on leadership. Just this past week it also allowed me to revisit the work of W. Edward Deming.  Over 22 years ago I studied his work as part of my master's thesis on total quality management.  

Perhaps too often the work of Deming and of other TQM, CQI, and quality guru's was viewed only through the lens of statistical process control.  More simply put leaders and managers limited the application, and impact, of TQM by implementing a set of tools.  These leaders missed out - consciously or unconsciously - on the changes that TQM required from a cultural and leadership perspective.  As I engaged my students this past couple of weeks on the topic of leading others the import of Deming's 14 Points on organizational culture and leadership effectiveness was reinforced as we reviewed the various bases of authority - legitimate position, coercion, reward, expertise and personal reference. 

Deming provided a leadership and organizational philosophy through his 14 Points that went far beyond a simple set of tools.  His first point - Create Constancy of Purpose - speaks to me about creating a long-term vision and adhering to a set of values that transcend short-term challenges or fads.  However, all too often leaders and managers fail to sustain a long-term direction whether because of a change in governing body, shareholder expectations, or other short-term considerations.  Whatever circumstance is used as the justification an organization and its staff are often left wondering what latest and greatest management initiative they are going to be tasked with making succeed.  Do this often enough and leadership credibility suffers and employee engagement declines.  A wait and see attitude prevails.  Sound familiar to anyone?

The next most relevant of Deming's 14 Points for me from a leadership point of view is End the Practice of Awarding Business on Price Alone.  How often do we do this either in the public sector as part of an RFP process or in the private sector as we grind down our suppliers?  From Deming's perspective a focus on up-front price alone fails to take into account long-term cost of a supplied product.  In colloquial terms you do in fact get what you pay for.  As a counter approach it is suggested that you build strong and sustainable relationship built on key values and common goals.  This approach can equally apply to suppliers and employees.  And maybe even competitors.

Institute Leadership.  Dr. Deming calls upon management to lead rather than manage.  Simple statement but what does it really mean for us as leaders?  Well I'm pretty confident that if you were to talk to many of our frontline staff and management personnel outside of the executive suite they would provide you with countless examples of where they felt they were being "managed", not "led".  A typical management response is to exercise greater control and oversight to make sure results get better.  More often than not in these circumstances efforts of this nature only seem to put more barriers in the way of getting good work done - more reports to generate, more signatures to get, more unreasonable timelines to meet, multiple and conflicting demands, and failure to hear and act upon input and recommendations from staff. 

Drive Out Fear in the workplace.  Unfortunately fear continues to rule too many of our workplaces.  The recent economic downturn has only exacerbated this reality and affirmed that for some staff remain as disposable - perhaps even more so - as any piece of machinery.  Fear - like title or position of authority - can be an effective tool of leadership and compliance in the short-term.  But over the long term, compliance does not equate to high performance.  With fear in an organization there cannot be open communication, innovation, and teamwork - and these are all required for an organization to achieve the full measure of its potential.  With fear in place an organization shall continue to squander the full potential of its people and the organization to the detriment of the people it purports to serve.

Eliminate Slogans, Exhortations and Targets for the Workforce.  Deming did not intend, nor do I suggest, that system performance not be evaluated on an ongoing basis.  Rather, what Point Ten addresses is the notion of trying to assess an individual's performance without reference to understanding the system in which that individual works.  If an individual is prevented from achieving higher levels of performance by a system (that management has created or allowed to be created) then performance managing an employee, setting new targets for them to achieve, and giving them "motivational" speeches will have little impact on performance.  It is far more likely that such efforts will actually cause frustration, demoralization and reduced performance.  It's like expecting employee engagement scores in an organization to go up simply by saying that the target is 10 out of 10 on the next survey.  Only by changing the system and the organizational environment will better, more consistent results be achieved. 

Remove Barriers to Pride of Workmanship.  In this point, Deming was referring to unclear expectations, lack of timely feedback (or any feedback), lack of training and support, and systems that focused on short-term results rather than long-term goals.  Staff and front-line managers are often frustrated by multiple tasks or changing priorities as leaders change focus or react to external stimuli without, it seems, due regard to long-term objectives or stated core values.  This negative impact is often compounded by the lack of visibility and sincere engagement with internal audiences on par with leadership visibility and engagement with external audiences.  Without the kind of internal alignment that I believe comes from such effort the ability to deliver on commitments to external audiences and customers stands on shaky ground.

Finally (at least within my view of leadership) Deming proposes that an organization Institute a Vigorous Program of Education and Self-Improvement.  In contrast, what does one typically see happen at the first sign of economic challenge in any organization?  Education and training programs are often the first cuts to be made.  When one considers the amount of transition that any organization faces in its environment today that seems tantamount to posting one's own going out of business sign. Businesses are unlikely to succeed by not investing in their most valuable assets - its people.  This can take the form of training in new tools and technology but these days can also equate to leadership development, management training and executive coaching.  Pay now or pay later.

There is a lot to be learned and relearned from Deming from a leadership perspective.  Despite the fact that his perspective was borne out of his work in the 1940s and 1950s there is still much relevance to leadership and organizational success today.  The fact that we still need to rediscover these lessons in so many of our organizations says much about our leadership maturity.
  ______________________________

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 Leadership Lesson from VW

Just a couple of weeks ago I was covering off the subject of business/leadership ethics in my foundations of leadership class at Concordia University of Edmonton.  In doing so I was referencing some very classic examples of ethical misdeeds (e.g., Enron) and examples more local to Alberta (e.g. health care expense claims, TransAlta electricity rates).   Unfortunately, just by scanning my local paper, I was able to come up with more than a few examples of recent misdeeds that could help illustrate the conflicted motives of leaders and organizational cultures that made headlines for all the wrong reasons.  In some cases, it was interesting to see some of the explanations and justifications for past or current actions.  One of the more interesting of these made note of the fact that the letter of the law had not been violated. Spirit of the law??

Unfortunately I was able to come back to my students with an even more recent and powerful example of violation of ethical - and legal - guidelines with dramatic consequences for key executives, a historically well-respected company, and millions of customers worldwide.  On September 23, 2015, one day after acknowledging that 11 million Volkswagen-made cars possessed software that duped official emissions tests, Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn resigned from his post.  The consequences seem clear for Mr. Winterkron.  Loss of a respected and highly paid executive role.

The consequences for Volkswagen continue to evolve - investors punishing its stock (e.g., $15 billion hit on one day alone) to the chance that the U.S. government will levy billions of dollars in fines, to class action lawsuits (already filed in Canada).

In his statement of resignation, Winterkorn said "I am shocked by the events of the past few days," and "Above all, I am stunned that misconduct on such a scale was possible in the Volkswagen Group."  All that being said, he accepted responsibility for irregularities that were found and, like a warrior of old, fell on his proverbial sword.  He went further in expressing a perspective that "I am doing this in the interests of the company even though I am not aware of any wrong doing on my part." (italics my emphasis)

So let's assume that Mr. Winterkorn is forthright and truthful in his assertion that he was not culpable or aware of a manufacturing issues that allowed upwards of 11 million VW's to roll off its assembly lines that emit up to 40 times more pollution than allowed by US standards.  It's a hard assumption for me to swallow but lets go with that for now.

Presuming that this is all true I believe there is a much more challenging conclusion and leadership lesson that Mr. Winterkorn experience provides for all of us.  In the process of his admission he appears to acknowledge to me that either he had no influence or presence as CEO in establishing or sustaining the culture of VW or that by his leadership style and actions he helped to foster a culture that suggested it was quite acceptable to defraud customers, shareholders, the general public and government/ regulatory agencies in the service of the bottom line.  Either way not a very pretty picture of leadership.

Again presuming that Mr. Winterkorn was truly not aware of the massive fraud committed by VW under his watch, I tend to believe that more than just a failure of ethics this represents a unbelievably massive failure in leadership.  In my estimation, THE Leader is responsible for setting the tone for the quality of the organization's culture.  THE Leader defines the desired outcomes to be pursued, the balance to be maintained between competing objectives (e.g., profit versus environmental stewardship), and what the acceptable means by which these objectives are or not to be pursued.  What makes this example all the more egregious is the extent to which VW placed itself on a pedestal of its own making with claims of being environmentally friendly.

So aside from the legal and ethical implications that will get a lot more play by a variety of experts and pundits in the coming days and weeks, I challenge all of us to consider and consider again the impact you as a leader have on the culture and actions of all of your followers.  By your words and actions, even by what you don't do or say, you are setting the standards and expectations for your entire company.

At the end of the day if you are left to state that you "...are not aware of any wrong doing on my part..." as the epitaph on your leadership role it should be seen as a stunning admission that you weren't really leading at all.  And at the end, It's About Leadership.
_________________________________________________________

Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
Director - WMC
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.
 

Understanding Your Personal Leadership Capacity

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

From several of my coaching clients this week I heard the lament of too much on my plate, how do I get this all done, how do I prioritize and/or how do I get others to appreciate that my plate is already full.  If we flip the coin on this lament we can hear some other common themes that are all too often a part of our work these days - diminishing levels of employee engagement and challenges to work/life balance.  Sometimes these results are being borne out because of or in parallel to the perception or reality of lack of resources.  "If I only had more budget, more staff, more supplies...all this would be more manageable."  I suspect, however, that more resources is not the solution.  More resources may just mean higher expectations rather than management of existing workloads.  In some cases it might not matter how many resources were thrown at any one division or leader - the stress level might end up being exactly the same.

Just as challenging it would seem for some leaders or organizations is the willingness to say no or to otherwise prioritize the requests and workloads coming at them.  In some of these cases, as described by my clients, there appears to be an organizational willingness to say "yes" to everything that comes across the table.  Conversely, it may be that there is an organizational unwillingness to say "no" to anything that comes across the table.  This predicament is probably enhanced in the kind of economic downturn that my province is experiencing right now.  Saying no to a request might be perceived as tantamount to asking for your own termination notice.  Unfortunately, too many organizations have not been willing to truly establish the key guideposts by which they would evaluate any initiative that comes before them.  The result is predictable - yes is the answer to every initiative regardless of current workload or resources.  The long-term sustainability of such a response is hardly considered.  Just don't say no now.

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

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

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

The final hitting home point for me on capacity has come on my own business and personal side.  These past two months have been busier than at any other time in my current career and despite the economic downturn we are currently facing.  That fact alone has already challenged my "capacity" and more particularly made me feel that I have been less of the quality family man then I should be ans aspire to be.   Others - most notably my wife - has taken up more of my personal "overflow" than is acceptable.  While potentially manageable in the short-term the stress tolerances of continually exceeding one's capacity has inevitable and predictable consequences.

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

Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
Director - WMC
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's Your PCR Level?

Leadership is about change.  Leadership is about seeing what must be done, oftentimes more uniquely than anyone else around you including your competitors.  It's also about understanding how you can effectively, efficiently and profitably implement change, appreciating how all of the various market and internal forces of your company may support or challenge your change effort.  And finally, after appreciating what the environment and opportunity might be, there is the necessity and the courage required to take action.  Without combining action with insight and vision one may be merely in possession of a beautiful but unrealized dream.

Effective leadership, however, doesn't start by scanning the external environment for threats and opportunities, nor by looking at the skills, abilities and capacities of one's company or staff.  In my estimation, effective leadership comes from the ability to critically evaluate one's own leadership skills and gaps.  Moreover, once that assessment is made there is a requirement to act on the opportunities presented.  In this regard I then ask you what's your PCR Level - what is your Personal Readiness for Change?

By any measure, regardless of sector we are working in, we see and believe ourselves to be in change overload mode.  Nothing stays the same for long.  Science fiction technologies we dreamed of only yesterday are today's reality.  For me one of the best examples is the ongoing drive (no pun intended) to realize driver-less technology - taking the human factor out of the automobile.  If you are like me perhaps your first thought is what impact could this have on the transportation sector.  But if we think bigger what might realization of this science fiction dream mean for the insurance industry (e.g., are they still going to be in the business of insuring individual drivers), education (e.g., will there be anything like driver's education and licensing?), and entertainment (e.g., I guess I don't have to worry about getting my next distracted driving ticket anymore...).  What does this kind of rapid and disruptive change mean for where you are working now and what kind of leader you will need to be?

If we go back to a core definition of what makes a leader - seeing what needs to be done, understanding how it could be done, and having the courage to act - how will you effect continuous evolution (or revolution) in your leadership?  I don't really believe that there is any question of whether you should or should not invest in your continuous evolution as a leader.  Perhaps the only leaders who might consider themselves immune from this requirement are those who are only a few years (or months) away from retirement and those that have become independently wealthy.

So how do you see what needs to be done for your leadership evolution?  Do you periodically and objectively evaluate your leadership acumen through a skillfully applied and interpreted set of assessment instruments (e.g., EQi, SDI, etc.), do you seek out broad-based feedback from key stakeholders (e.g., Board of Directors, peers, subordinates), or do you open yourself for "review" by a peer advisory forum (e.g., TEC Canada) on an annual or more frequent basis.  Ideally, you are not just relying on your own level of self-awareness to achieve insight to target next steps in your leadership evolution and development.  We all have blinders on - for good or bad - and we all require other perspectives to truly come to conclusion and really see ourselves as we are, warts and all.

Second, do then investigate and appreciate the "how" of dealing with the "what" you have seen for yourself?  Too many leaders suggest or kid themselves into believing that they simply don't have time for ongoing self development.  They are far too important to be absent for any length of time from their place of business.  They are irreplaceable.  The fact is that if you believe any part of the reality of being the most important tool you have to ensure the success of your business venture then you are too important to not devote time to your leadership development and evolution.  EVERY tool must be sharpened periodically to continue to be effective.  To be of any use to your business you had better be the sharpest tool in the toolbox.

Finally, both in terms of seeing what must be done for yourself and how it may come to pass, you must have the courage to act.  This means having the humility to see your leadership for the quality it is and is not.  It also means having the courage and humility to recognize that some of your skills may be outmoded and need of upgrading or wholesale replacement.  The key word here is humility. I've worked with too many leaders who failed to appreciate - or actively resisted/dismissed - the feedback they were receiving.  Alternatively, despite having received and accepted the feedback, they felt they could not afford the time or money to invest in their leadership development.  Either way they ended up doing a disservice to themselves, failing to reach their true potential and effectively held back the performance of their staff and their company.

So what's your PCR Level?  Are you willing to see yourself objectively, are you prepared to truly evaluate your options for improvement, and are you prepared to act with humility and courage to take your leadership to the next level required by the changes happening around you.  It's not science fiction.  It's About Leadership.

_________________________________________________________

Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
Director - WMC
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 NOT to use Executive Coaching

I'm a strong advocate for the use of executive coaching.  As an executive coach myself you'd probably expect nothing else.  However, I'm not just speaking as someone who provides executive coaching services but also as someone who has benefited from and continues to benefit from using an executive coach.  I've experienced first hand the power of having an unbiased sounding board and accountability partner work with me to perform at the next level or work through particularly challenging times.

However, while executive coaching can be one of the most effective ways of accelerating your development as a leader its not the panacea for all situations or circumstances.  There are in fact times when an individual and an organization should consider other options for addressing leadership or organizational challenges.  I identify some of these circumstances - where executive coaching may not be your first choice - below.

1. Executive Coaching in lieu of performance management.  Good executive coaching should not be substituted for good - or bad - management.  I've had a few occasions where I've been approached to undertake a coaching engagement where it's clear that a leader's perspective or that of an organization is that executive coaching is the last ditch effort to "salvage" an employee.  At this stage, its often relatively clear that the employee in question is on their last chance but unfortunately have gotten to this point because of poor hiring process at the beginning of their tenure, poor expectation setting and communication on the part of their direct superior, or a combination of related factors.  Ideally, executive coaching is more often applied to advancing an organization's high potentials rather than salvaging those an organization no longer has any faith in.  More often than not in these cases I would prefer to coach both the employee offered the opportunity as well as their direct superior.
2. Lack of defined outcomes or objectives.   Any good executive coach and any strong organization will seek to establish an understanding of specific goals and objectives for the engagement.  Whether sought out by an individual or secured through organizational endeavor, the quality of an coaching engagement is measurably improved when all parties involved are on the same page when it comes to understanding what success is supposed to look like.  If there are no clear outcomes established - whether at the outset or relatively early in the engagement - then there is a risk of "any destination will do" coming into play.  As with any initiative, being able to define and measure success is key to achieving such.  
   
3. Client is unprepared to work.  An executive coach is there to challenge your thinking and assumptions, to move you to new levels of performance, and to enhance confidence through action.  But just as it is incumbent upon you (sometimes in partnership with your organization) to define the outcomes it is equally essential that you show up in the coaching session ready to work.  The time spent with a coach should not be akin to pulling teeth - you are addressing your current challenges, taking charge of your future, and you should be prepared to work as hard - and harder - than your coach.  You should not expect your coach to offer up ready-made solutions.  A coach is there to help you discover and execute on your own self-discovered plan of attack.  If you expect your coach to do the heavy lifting for you you are probably not ready for, nor will you fully benefit, from working with an executive coach. 
4. Client is unprepared to work - Part II.  The work in a coaching engagement doesn't just or even mostly happen when you are face-to-face with your executive coach.  Your time with your executive coach is designed to develop plans, explore options, test assumptions and commit to change.  While a change in perspective and perception will happen in the executive coaching session, delivery and action happens in between sessions and back at the coal face of your work.  All the best laid plans are only as effective what actually happens when you implement your plans.  If you have no interest in implementing your plans or making time for change in your work its best not to engage an executive coach.  
5. Unprepared to Change.  If you are thinking about engaging an executive coach, be prepared to change.  Growth comes only from change.  Change is often or entirely uncomfortable.  If you are only looking for validation or affirmation there are likely other avenues for you to pursue.  Engaging with an executive coach is not about maintenance or just having a great conversation.  You - or your organization - is expecting you to evolve, grow and change as a result of the investment of time and money made in an executive coach.  Work with an executive coach is not about maintenance of status quo.  You should expect that when you choose an executive coach that you will be undertaking new challenges, overcoming anxieties, and assertively progressing forward.  The coaching engagement should make you feel uncomfortable.  Be prepared for and embrace change!
   
   
6. Unprepared to drive the agenda.  Sometimes it's of benefit to think of your executive coach as your co-pilot.  You are in charge of where you need to go.  You define the work for each session.  Again your executive coach will be there as a guide, a thinking partner, and a challenger, but you are in charge.  You are the leader in your business (and personal life) so be the leader in your own personal development.  Work with your co-pilot to plot the course at each session and once decided focus on your path.
7. Unprepared to be truthful, candid and honest.  Your executive coach is focused on your success.  Period.  In that regard, if you have done the best job possible in selecting your executive coach you've determined a fit does in fact exist, you trust the person in front of you and you are confident in their track record in support of your goals.  So don't beat around the bush.  Time is money and if you are going to move forward assertively be prepared to be vulnerable.  It's in your best interests and your executive coach has no other agenda than what works for you.
   
   
8. Unprepared to own the coaching relationship.  As tough as it might be for some executive coaches, you are the customer and the customer is always right.  Tell your coach - your vendor - what is working for you in the coaching engagement, what's not working and how the work can be changed to be more effective.  If you are not prepared to do that you may be disappointed in the results you get - or don't get. 

Coaching can be a powerful tool in moving leadership forward in a powerful way but much of that success depends on using it in the right circumstances, for the right reasons, and with ownership of the effort on your behalf and that of your organization. 

 _________________________________________________________

Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
Executive Coach/Senior Consultant
gregh@breakpoint.solutions
780-250-2543

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.

Your Personal Leadership Walk Around

In fits and starts I've been trying to rediscover my Ironman triathlon form of several years ago.  Most recently, as I hopped back on my bike and wind trainer, I really had a strong sense of how far I might have fallen from peak form.  I was really laboring on this early return to the bike.  I felt like my legs just weren't firing and my underutilized lung capacity wasn't helping either.  It was a frustrating start to a hoped for workout.  I had assumed that my efforts and changes in physical condition over the past number of years would have at least allowed me to start off at a relatively modest pace and not feel like things would be a complete do-over.

Somewhat gratefully, however, I did discover that my issues were not all physical.  Since 2010 two other children have been added to our family and I had failed to take into account the havoc their curiosity might play in my return to physical fitness.  As I looked down at my controls, it became evident that small hands had doubled the tension I had been traditionally used to on my workouts.  Problem identified and problem solved, right?  Not quite.  After having made the change and assuming that I was good to go I still seemed to struggle.  What I discovered, after a now shortened ride, was that these same small hands had pulled on the cable leading to the wind trainer such that whatever adjustments I made from my seated position had absolutely no effect on the effort I was forced myself to exert on my training ride.  Lesson learned - check all equipment before starting one's workout or suffer the consequences.

I'm hoping you start to get the drift of this somewhat belabored athletic metaphor for how we approach our leadership on a daily basis.  How many of us assume things about our leadership, our teams and our organizations every day?  How many of us are surprised by the results we get or don't get as a result of assuming that all of the right things will happen without some sort of conscious, regular and disciplined examination of our environment, our tools, or our approach.  Perhaps like me on my bike, your initial reaction has been disappointment with lack of performance.  Maybe you've even gone a bit further - as I have on occasion - and expressed your disappointment in more cutting, vitriolic and colorful terms.  This more challenging response may be directed at yourself (e.g., "Come on, you can do better than this!") or at others (e.g., "How could you let this happen?").  In either case we may be assigning blame to the wrong cause or to the wrong people.

The fact is that we can all benefit from our own personal leadership walk around on a regular if not daily basis.  I've shared a simple analogy from my workout process.  All who do any kind of serious racing will attest to the necessity of checking out equipment, hydration, nutrition, and mental state the night before and immediately prior to any race.  Not doing so leaves you open to nasty surprises and puts you in serious jeopardy of missing out on your personal goal. Why would you not do a similar check-in each day with yourself as a leader when what is at stake is not just your own personal performance or goals but also the welfare, well-being and success of your team and your organization?

So what might a personal leadership walk around look like?  And as with any team, are you allowing others to help you with your personal leadership walk around?  Do you have the humility to ask for and accept advice on how you leadership could be improved?  Even CEO's, Presidents and Owners need some form of input.  Do you foster an environment in which it's safe to bring attention to your blind spots?  Do you have mentors, peers, colleagues or coaches that can bring some light to your challenges and assumptions.

What does your personal leadership walk around look like?  Or are you content to work harder than you might have to with less than optimal results by just doing things yourself, making erroneous assumptions, and becoming frustrated with yourself and others.  I encourage you to take a step back every once in a while and see if your "tension" is on a higher setting than you desire.  It's About Your Leadership after all.
 _________________________________________________________

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.