Good Leadership requires Good Governance

I'm not sure how many of us appreciate the role that Boards of Directors play in setting direction for large organizations and helping it achieve those objectives.  In most circumstances public and media focus falls on a leader - a President, a CEO or other top executive.  Ultimately, however, a well functioning Board is fundamental to the success of an organization through their decisions - not the least of which is their selection of the senior operational leader.  The quality of their decision making and their commitment to their governance task can have wide-ranging impact.

I have worked with a variety of boards in my 25 year career.  I have worked with good boards and not so good boards.  I have seen them lose their way in a variety of circumstances including being burdened with an ineffective Chair, a disruptive board member, uncommitted board members, boards that get too involved in operations, and boards that simply perform a rubber stamp role for what senior leadership wants to get done.  Ineffective governance can severely compromise and inhibit the ability of an organization to succeed and fulfill its mandate.

Sometimes it's the case that boards don't even understand what their key responsibilities are.  This lack of understanding or confusion can often arise from the process by which a person is recruited to the board or the quality of the orientation they receive upon becoming a member.  Too often board members can be selected on criteria that may have nothing to do with kinds of skills that a board requires to fulfill its functions - they are part of the same personal network as existing board members, they are prominent community members, they are politically connected, they are major donors, and so on and so forth.  None of these factors necessarily make for a good board member.  A poor selection process can then be compounded by inadequate orientation to the role of the board.  In that circumstance, an individual board member has to either rely on the skills they bring to the table from their life outside of the board room, the examples set by their fellow board members (for good or bad), or they may be left to take what orientation or guidance they might get from senior leadership of the organization.  Not the ideal recipe for success.

So what's the starting point for good governance?  The first task is clearly understanding what the roles of the board are.  First and foremost a board needs to focus on setting direction - making clear choices on an organization's vision, mission and strategic directions.  Failure to fully engage in this first set of major responsibilities means that an organization can easily drift from its fundamental purposes.  And as "environmental" circumstances change so too does the organization move from objective to objective, without any clear plan and with major implications for public confidence and deterioating staff morale.  Moreover, if there is no consensus amongst the Board as to vision, mission and strategic directions how can senior operational leadership be effectively guided or held accountable for performance? 

Second, a board is required to exercise oversight on organizational performance.  It is important here to distinguish oversight for organizational performance from managing the organization.  Neither the board as a whole nor individual board members (including the Chair) should get involved in managing their organization.  The temptation to direct operations is intense, especially for those board members who lead and manage significant entities outside of the organization for which they are a board member. The board needs to remember that they have engaged operational leaders - the CEO in particular - to manage operational matters.  Ostensibly, they have utilized a robust process for recruitment and selection, have followed up with appropriate performance reviews and feedback, and have trust in the CEO and other management personnel to achieve the Board-established strategic directions.  If the Board lacks such confidence then it has erred in selection, has erred in communicating expectations, or perhaps has not been engaged in managing performance at all.  Ultimately, if that confidence erodes the choice of the Board is to more clearly communicate its expectations or remove the CEO.  The choices available to the Board does not include becoming more engaged in operational decision-making.

That being said, a Board MUST exercise appropriate oversight.  It must be clear on its expectations and establish robust and objective mechanisms by which to evaluate CEO performance on achievement of the organization's vision and strategic directions.  Moreover, a Board would do well to evaluate not only outcomes but also evaluate - at a high level - how those outcomes were achieved.  The Board has a key role in ensuring that the values of the organization are fostered and upheld.  Every effort should be made to ensure that objective, quantifiable reports on performance are made available to the Board on a regular basis.  In this regard, the Board should avail itself of a variety of forms of feedback to evaluate performance and success in achieving objectives. 

Finally, a Board manages its direction setting accountability, its oversight responsibility, and its own functions by establishing policy.  These policies must clearly distinguish Board function from management function.  Just as important, they must describe and detail how the Board itself shall function - role of Chair and other officers of the Board, how decisions will be made, what committee structures if any will be utilized, and so forth. 

As can be imagined, it is easy for Boards to become involved in non-Board activities and tasks.  Board members can easily neglect the very real work that is required to ensure proper Board functioning.   If this high-level, strategic work is not done or is done poorly, there will be little or no foundation for success for the organization as a whole. 

Boards have very real responsibilities.  The tasks they are engaged in cannot be minimized or trivialized.  We have seen too many organizational failures in recent years which can be traced back to governance failures.  Complacency about board performance is not an option.  However, effective governance does not mean becoming more engaged in operational leadership.  Nor is it to establish ever more controls and bureaucracy.  Boards need to do very real work in understanding their roles and responsibilities, establish proper structures to do their work, recruit and retain good members, and set the tone for the values and ethics that will guide the organization.

To achieve operational excellence there must be a foundation of governance excellence.  Good leadership requires good governance.
______________________________

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.

A Passion for Leadership

After my last blog entry on Appreciative Inquiry a colleague of mine e-mailed and posed some interesting questions.  She asked, "What compels you to write about leadership?" and "Is there something in your experience that drives you to do this?"  So bear with me as I engage in perhaps a bit of self-indulgent, public self-reflection on my passion for leadership.

The questions were great questions.  Coincidentally, they came only a day after I was also engaged in a lengthy conversation with a seasoned executive coach who posed similar questions within the context of my expanding executive coaching practice.  Her questions were similar in that they called me to further articulate a personal vision for myself and to describe my coaching and consulting practice a year further into the future.  The conversations and the answers seemed to tie very nicely together even though they took place a day apart and were inspired by different motivations.

The word "compelled" seems very appropriate in this context for me.  Some of the words used to define compelled include force, drive, duty, necessitate, and irresistible.  To me it also conveys a feeling of lack of choice.  I have NO CHOICE but to be passionate about leadership, leadership development, and executive coaching (and being coached) to reach new levels of capability and excellence.  I have always been driven to make a difference and to strive to support achievement of goals beyond myself.  I have recently begun to use a military term to describe the impact I want to continue to have as a leader and executive coach - I want to be a FORCE MULTIPLIER!  I want to be that force or capability that "...when added to and employed by a ... force [or by individual managers and leaders] significantly increases the ...potential of that force and thus enhances the probability of successful mission accomplishment."  As one individual I can have impact.  As an individual who can foster, support, engage, reveal, prod, or otherwise develop the skills and abilities of others I can have an impact out of all proportion to any individual effort. 

Individual leaders have a ripple effect on everything and everyone around them.  They set the tone and establish (consciously or unconsciously) performance expectations within and even beyond their sphere of influence.   Unfortunately the ripple effect is just as noticeable when there is poor leadership as when there is good leadership.  We have only to consider recent events in various aspects of our lives - politics, business sector, financial services, public sector - to appreciate that.  We readily see and experience the negative impact of poor or even malicious leadership.  Poor leadership and efforts to fight it are even "celebrated" in our popular culture (e.g., "Horrible Bosses").  Scott Adams captures this spirit most eloquently with Dilbert and his cronies on nearly a daily basis.  At the least we are frustrated with the results.  At worse we feel bullied, intimidated, demoralized and devalued in these circumstances. 

So I want to do good.  I want to do better.  For at least the past dozen years as I have had the opportunity to lead large portfolios I have always been excited and energized by the prospect of helping my staff succeed in their personal endeavours and advancing in their careers.  I want to continue to be, and become even more of, a Force Multiplier.  I believe I can do that within the context of my consulting practice, my executive coaching and even through this blog.  Imagine the impact of successfully helping leaders develop their capabilities and as they do so to become Force Multipliers for their staff!  Imagine that they can get and then deliver the support, energy and sustenance necessary to discover and grow their leadership to the future benefit of their organizations, their professions, their staff and ultimately their clients. 

Take up your own challenge and opportunity.  Become more of a Force Multiplier (for good).

It is 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.

Time for some appreciative inquiry...

In the past couple of weeks I have begun learning - or re-learning - what Appreciative Inquiry is.  I say re-learning as I was exposed to the concept in the area of community development in the mid-1990s and probably before that in the area of child and adolescent psychology.  Since then I've been applying the concepts (unconsciously??) in the areas of performance management and employee development in my leadership roles.

Perhaps this subject matter is old knowledge for many of you.  In my current educational pursuits it came as something of a revelation to me and a reminder of my previous experiences.  I may not have labelled my past work within the context of appreciative inquiry but clearly that's the framework in which my previous experience fit. 

So what is Appreciative Inquiry?  AI is an approach that "...deliberately asks positive questions around affirmative topics to ignite constructive dialogue and inspired action within organizations and communities." (Bliss Browne, Imagine Chicago, 2008).  This approach stands in sharp contrast to how we typically approach organizational challenges.  For the most part we have all been raised and educated in a system - particularly in a business environment - that asks us to identify problems or gaps in performance, analyze or seek out root causes, evaluate possible solutions and implement action plans.  While we may achieve success, our approach can lead to feelings of inadequacy, threat, defensiveness and conflict on the journey towards a solution.  In contrast, AI works from an underlying premise that our organizations and our people are possessed of very many assets, capabilities, resources and strengths that can be discovered, affirmed, encouraged and utilized. 

As I have come to see it over the past couple of weeks, AI fits very well with a number of topics I have already addressed in this blog over the past number of months - employee engagement, servant leadership, performance management, reward and recognition, and inspiring and shared vision.  AI requires a decidedly different style of leadership and a different approach to problem solving than what we may have become accustomed to.

So why my focus on AI at this time?  In some respects my focus comes from the coincidence of my current learning on the subject and the recent (ongoing) negative publicity for Alberta's health care system.  Many of the same themes we saw play out in 2012 have continued on into the current year.  Not only do I have the opportunity to see politicians and media making hay with "all things wrong with our healthcare system" I also get the opportunity to see many of my friends on Facebook or other forums comment about the latest news on health or on their own less than stellar experience with a doctor, an emergency room visit, or a hospital stay.  For someone who has spent the last 25 years or so of their life in the health system its more than a bit demoralizing.  I can only imagine how tough it is on the those who have to work in the system every day.

To recap, in the past couple of months the news headlines of the day have included continuing investigation into queue-jumping in various parts of the system, the ongoing battle between the government and the Alberta Medical Association on contract negotiations, Alberta's looming multi-billion dollar budget deficit which is leading to belt-tightening in all government ministries, and more than a few other stories or letters to the editor about bad patient care outcomes.

Some politicians, some in the media and others have weighed in with gusto on all or part of these stories to paint a picture of a health system not performing anywhere near what is required or expected.  Not unexpectedly, those with an axe to grind or positions to advance have been doing their level best to make as much of these problems as possible.  I contend that they are distorting and expanding on the data out of proportion to reality - and not showing true leadership.  Case in point has been the focus on $100 million in Alberta Health Services expenses that were the subject of a recently completed Auditor General's report.  Some would have you believe that the entirety of the $100 million is wasted or the result of abuse by management and staff.  Moreover, I have seen advertisements that then equate these expenses to what could be obtained in additional staff, new equipment or more surgical procedures if only these dollars were more appropriately used and people held more accountable. 

The reality of the situation is quite different in my estimation.  According to the Auditor General's report, the $100 million in expenses covers off a wide range of expenditures by 26,000 different people of which less than 1% is attributable to claims by AHS Board Members and Senior Executive - the top dogs that most people like to go after.  What many fail to realize that captured in the $100 million figure are expenses for such things as travel by front-line staff to perform their patient care duties, expenses for managers to bring their staff together and perhaps provide them a cup of coffee (e.g., "executive hospitality), and transportation costs for patients - all very necessary expenses in a health care organization with a provincial scope.  Much was also made of gift shops buying hockey tickets or other items for resale.  From my own personal experience I know that these efforts are directed at fundraising for various health facilities or program improvements - they are not done for any personal benefit.

Does our health system have challenges and issues to overcome?  Most definitely.  And if there are clear and singular abuses of power, responsibility and power deal with those in a fair and expeditious manner.  However, my concern is that by continuously focusing on all that we think is wrong we will actually lose real opportunity to build off all that is right in our system and to create an environment that promotes creativity, innovation, efficiency and quality.  Appreciative Inquiry holds out far greater promise in my estimation for building a strong foundation for the future strength and effectiveness of our health system than does this supposed "accountability" paradigm we find ourselves in currently.  AI holds out the promise of being far more proactive and creative than the current approach of some loud voices.  Imagine the strength of looking within our health system for examples of success and how those could be replicated for the benefit of the entire province!

If you are looking for an example of this that hits closer to home for you imagine if you approached your spouse, child or other loved one in the same way we are focused on our health care system.  I'm sure there are habits, behaviours or performances that you identify as being less than optimal.  I'm guessing that your relationship would not long survive a constant process of "problem-solving" with them.  I suspect that if you focused on their deficits you would succeed in creating feelings of threat, defensiveness and demotivation.  I don't see the reality of our current health care system much differently. 

Appreciative Inquiry is probably not going to be easy to adopt or make widespread in the current environment.  But with some courage and leadership I believe it is a better way to move forward and build public confidence in our health care system. 
______________________________

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.

Grieving is a part of Leadership

I tend to think that the image of the STRONG LEADER, one who rarely or ever shows emotion, is still the standard most of us think of or aspire to (even unconsciously) in today's world.  Our society still seems to expect our leaders to be strong regardless of adversity or setbacks or changes - and perhaps to be even stronger than normal during those times.  But is that image a desirable state to strive for and emulate?  Is it even a correct assessment of reality?  Is it good for us as leaders?

In talking about grieving as a leader I'm not thinking of death and dying in the literal sense.  In this blog I've previously talked about leading through tragedy and since that entry we have had another example in the form of Newtown.  My focus is rather on the losses we experience in leadership that take on other forms - the failure of an initiative we have invested in and led, the loss of a team member or colleague to another portfolio or organization, a failure in gaining a promotion, a change in our leadership role or status (either voluntary or involuntary).  Regardless of the circumstances in question, as leaders we have experienced loss.  If we were truly committed to the success of a particular initiative or role, or if we have come to heavily rely on a peer or colleague who moves on, and whether we recognize it or not, we have grieved that loss.

I've certainly been in these types of situations.  I can recall vividly the challenge of making a voluntary change in my career and the impact that leaving "my team" had on me at the time.  Even though my time as leader was relatively short - just under three years - we had gone through some real forming, storming, norming and performing.  We were an extraordinarily young management team (average age in the early 30's) who had faced up to some pretty significant challenges - budget cuts, facility closures, divided Board of Directors.  We had a fantastic dynamic about us and the courage (or foolishness) to never say no and never say die.  We accomplished great things and were held up as a model for others to emulate.  When I made the choice to leave it was one of the most difficult career choices I had made up to that point in time and I cried as I told my team of my decision to leave.  I grieved the loss of my team immediately.  My grief was subsequently made worse when my employer chose not to hire a successor from within the organization, one that I thought would have continued to build the culture of energy, innovation and creativity we had established.  Soon thereafter the rest of the team began to disperse to other opportunities.  Something extraordinary had been lost.

I've also experienced loss in circumstances that were not entirely of my choosing.  Those scenarios are perhaps even more challenging than the one I have just described.  I'd made significant emotional investments in the organization, a role, a way of being and then it was no longer part of my day-to-day reality.  And if you are like most leaders I have known and worked with you'll know that my role was not a simple 9 to 5 position, 5 days a week - when we commit we REALLY commit!  Even the knowledge that change was coming didn't necessarily soften the impact when it came.  At the time - and with my direct reports - I certainly managed or masked my sadness well.  And there certainly was a lot of stress leading up to the moment of decision.  It was really only almost a year after the fact that it hit home with me how much I had been grieving the loss of the role, my team and what we had created over a great many years.

It wasn't until I was going through recent educational upgrading that I came to understand the depth of the grieving I had been going through over a great number of months.  The understanding came through a series of self-administered questions and work with a small group of peers.  The questions and discussions were fine enough until the conversation turned to issues of closure, and acknowledgement, and unfinished business.  Some simple questions and some conversations made me realize where I was in my journey.  More importantly, they started to give me some awareness of how the past and perhaps the lack of truly dealing with my grief was holding me back in moving forward in another chapter of my leadership.  While I had certainly put my head down and got busy in "new work" I had clearly not accepted the change to the extent required, nor had I achieved closure.  It was quite the amazing discovery for someone who had prided themselves on being the strong leader and one who has always been adept at keeping his nose to the grindstone - keep calm and carry on!

So maybe this is a lesson that you've already learned.  Maybe I'm not telling you something you don't already know from the ups and downs of your career.  But then again maybe you haven't been doing enough of your own internal assessment and workup after your losses.  So my recommendation to you through times of change and loss is to be conscious of what you may have lost, take the appropriate time to recognize that loss, use your personal network and colleagues as sounding board, and take value from the work you have done.  Your leadership will be strengthened as a result.

For myself, I don't expect to fully accept or like all the changes I've gone through, to not carry some scars for having lost something valuable.  However, it is clear that all these events and how I have been able to learn from them have made me the leader I am and will help shape me as the leader I continue to aspire to 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.

Your leadership can be inspired by others

Just over two weeks ago my family and I did something goofy.  Over a period of two days we experienced the Walt Disney World Marathon weekend in Orlando.  Our soon to be 3 year old daughter competed in the 100 metre dash, our 12 year old daughter competed in the Mickey Mile, and my wife and I completed the Goofy Challenge - a half marathon on Saturday followed by a full marathon on Sunday.  What does any of this have to do with leadership?  Well perhaps it is a bit of a stretch, but I saw more than a little similarity between how my three girls raced and how we as leaders can be energized by those around us. 

Right off the top I have to say the performance of my three girls inspired me!  Each of them overcame their own personal challenges to finish their races.  My wife completed the two day athletic event while 18 weeks pregnant.  My 12 year old overcame her self doubts and disability to finish in a personal best time.  My youngest completed her race while still dancing to the beat of her own drummer.  Like myself, none of them won their race or finished on the podium.  However, they demonstrated tremendous character, spirit and a love of simply being in the day that reminded me of how I need to view my athletic pursuits - be glad for the ability to run (or bike or swim), to learn about myself, and to continuously improve. 



As leaders in small or large organizations we are often expected to be THE source of inspiration and direction for the rest of our staff.  That's what everyone expects of us and it is what we expect of ourselves.  Most dedicated and committed leaders have this need to be "on" all the time, establishing the strategic directions for the organization, planning initiatives to realize the directions, and motivating others to achieve the ends the organization has set.  Frequently, however, our staff can serve to inspire or reinvigorate our leadership.  As leaders we can often get caught up in grand strategies or crisis management.  We can be pulled in many directions.  We can easily lose sight of the real reason we are "in the race".  The distance between our management offices and the frontline can often make it harder to focus on making the experience of our clients the best that it possibly can be.  Yet each day many of our staff are making their very best efforts towards this very end despite the challenges they face.  Like my girls competing in their races, our staff don't have the luxury of dictating the ideal terms under which they will do their jobs.  They come to work anyway.  And the very best of our staff "compete" to the best of their ability and "cross the finish line" with a smile on their face.  They have kept their promise to their clients and to their profession to do the best they can on that day - and they will be back tomorrow for the next race.

I'm sure that most people are familiar with the concept of Management by Walking Around.  The concept is usually associated with making sure leadership is visible, informed, and can otherwise serve to motivate staff and keep everyone on track.  The leader is watching.  However, there is even more value from the MBWA exercise - keeping the leader in touch with the core work of the organization.  In the field of health care this can be critically important when considering the impact of major decisions on frontline staff and services.  Just as important, it can be challenging to keep a leader's energy at peak level with the challenges facing health care these days.  An opportunity to connect with the frontline can provide a regular boost of energy and inspiration to keep a leader motivated.  There are many inspiring people in our organizations who can continue to show us why we choose health care as our calling.  It's an opportunity too great to be missed.

Take the time to be inspired by those around you. 
______________________________

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

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

Leadership Development Programs - Growing Your Own Leaders!

As noted in previous blog entries, leadership talent and the ability to attract and retain that talent has never been more important than in today's environment.  The world we live in has probably never been more challenging with increasing public expectations for performance and accountability in private and public sectors, shortages of personnel coupled with impending retirements of the baby boom generation, and change that moves forward as quickly as new technological innovations can be introduced to the market.  So leadership has never been more critical.  One step that organizations have taken in response is the development and/or utilization of various forms of leadership development programs.  Some have made extensive use of external resources in this regard, while others have decided to develop such programming in-house.  Regardless of which direction an organization takes there are some key decisions to be made and some important elements to implement if you are going to achieve the full benefits of such an investment.

When organizations first conceive of implementing a leadership development program there may be a tendency to start a few levels down in the process and think of what types of courses or modules they should offer to their leaders and potential leaders.  But in my estimation, a critical first step is a review, update and connection of the organization's Mission, Vision and Values to its required/ desired leadership development program.  This can be supported by external resources/facilitation but still requires time and energy of the senior level executive team.  What the organization stands for, where it is heading, and how it will get there are all vitally important considerations in understanding what type of leadership skills will be required to sustain and build the organization into the future.

Once there is an intimate understanding of desired leadership requirements - skills, competencies, talents, abilities - these then must be translated into a range of human resource practices.  Leadership development is not simply about having the human resource or organizational development departments set up or contract for the provision of a few training modules.  To really achieve traction in leadership development effort is required to align all efforts to building, cultivating and reinforcing the required leadership skills and abilities.  At a minimum, the effort must encompass a number of key organizational functions.  At the very outset, Recruitment and Selection begins to set the tone and expectation for new leaders (whether recruited from within or outside of the organization).  It is at this point that the organization makes one of its most fundamental decisions - will it recruit based on their required leadership competencies and values or might it simply fill the position because there is too much pressure to fill a vacancy?  Will it promote from within on the basis of performance related to the stated leadership competencies or perhaps on something as simple as years of service?  The Recruitment and Selection process sends a strong message about organizational commitment to it's stated leadership values and culture.

Similarly the process of acculturation and reinforcement should be further developed and emphasized during Leadership Orientation or Onboarding.  This is where the organization can further reinforce in very tangible terms and language what it's Mission, Vision and Values are.  This is also where I believe there is a strong role for existing leadership of the organization to play a part in being role models for new and rising leaders.  Think of the enhanced power that would come from a senior leader in articulating the organization's mission, vision and values to a new batch of leaders. 

Leadership Development must also extend into other key areas of organizational function like Performance Management/Development, Reward and Recognition initiatives, and Succession Planning.  Each one of these elements or initiatives further reinforces the leadership behaviours that the organization says it values.  Performance Management/Development evaluates performance against the organization's leadership criteria and then provides opportunity as required to further develop skills as required.  This may lead to rewards or recognition that further reinforce desired behaviours.  And promotion or future opportunity should again be based on ability to demonstrate and perform to stated leadership competencies.

Specific leadership development opportunities may be driven by organization-wide requirements or may become quite individually focused as identified through the performance management process.  The range of such training efforts is virtually limitless and should be determined on the basis of the organization's goals and objectives - change management, financial planning, process improvement methodologies, communication skills, conflict management, team building, time management.  Many of these can either be developed in-house or contracted out for delivery.  Regardless of means of delivery the content should again consistently reinforce the organization's unique leadership requirements. 

One of the final considerations in any leadership development program is the need for personal investment on the part of the individual leader.  This should be undertaken in a variety of ways - opportunity to apply new or developing skills outside of the classroom setting; opportunity for self-reflection and assessment; and, coaching/mentoring resources.  To be as successful as possible all learning and development theory and information must be accompanied by the opportunity to practice - and even make mistakes - in the real world.  This real world learning is even more valuable if supported by a coach or mentor.  The choice of coach/mentor again becomes critical - they must be well aware of the organization's expectations and the leadership philosophy. 

Leadership development is a crucial investment in the success of the organization and it must be treated as an investment - not an expense.  It requires at least as much deliberation, consideration, and energy as any other major expenditure or decision.  The ripple effects from leadership - good or bad - cannot be underestimated.
______________________________

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...

The Christmas season is upon us!  That usually means the typical scramble to get those last minute gifts, prepare for family visits, or send off Christmas cards.  It is also the time of year for work-based Christmas parties and events.  In my healthcare experience these have taken on many forms from unit-based social events, to Board/senior executive formal functions, to larger site-based or 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 manager's commitment to staff and can send strong messages about the reality of employee engagement in the organization.  In a previous blog entry on employee engagement I touched on a couple of issues that I believe need to be reinforced in regards to how Christmas functions are managed.  It is my hope that you see value in my perspective and can use that input in considering your options for this or future years.

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 of a nature that lent itself to industrial production - hot food dished out of a cafeteria style buffet line, with cake or squares for dessert, and your choice of juice or coffee.  There was cost, but not extravagance.  However, it was the thought that counted.  Staff social committees put forward their best effort to provide entertainment for these functions as well so there was music, carolling, and perhaps a contest 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.  There certainly was a cost to this event, but in my estimation it was an investment that paid off many times over in conversation and engagement. 

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.  If there were budget challenges for the healthcare system how could we justify spending dollars on a staff Christmas meal?  Others believed that if other parts of the health system 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 in our house each day enjoying each other's 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.

Succession Planning Takes Leadership

Increasingly, organizations feel compelled to consider some form of succession planning.  Most often the reasons identified for undertaking this effort is an aging workforce or a shortfall in skills of available candidates for key positions.  These certainly seem like logical reasons to aggressively implement or refine a succession planning initiative.  However, I believe these stated reasons mask a fundamental truth - succession planning has always been critically important for the long-term success of any organization.  Good times or a more robust labour pool in years past may have reduced the perceived cost of error - just go out and get another candidate - but in reality having the right people in place or waiting in the wings to keep the organization's momentum flowing forward in a positive direction has always been important. 

In a market-driven enterprise lost time with a wrong hire means lost ground to the competition which may not be recaptured - we lose market share or profit or both.  In the public and not for-profit sectors we don't benefit from similar incentives and historically appear to have put less effort into constructively, assertively and with real intent growing managerial and leadership talent.  This is despite the fact that these organizations have broad-ranging and substantial impact on many aspects of our lives that we hold dear - like health and education.

I've seen a variety of models proposed and used for succession planning.  Whether they are formulated on the basis of a multi-step process, multi-component model, or some other framework, there are some key elements in any succession planning initiative that are critically important - identify key positions, understand competencies required to perform in the key positions, identify gaps in your talent pool, formulate individual development plans or target external recruitment as necessary, update on a regular basis.  A structured process on paper, however, is no guarantee of success in reality.  More important than adherence to any particular model or formula I believe is need for the right leadership mentality if you are to truly achieve the benefits of the effort.

Fundamentally, some organizations and leaders have to decide whether they have the courage and confidence to engage in meaningful succession planning.  If done with the right intent, and with the long-term success and sustainability of the organization in mind, as a leader you are really trying to develop your own replacement.  More than a few leaders find that prospect a bit threatening to their own personal security!  Therefore, they go through the motions of succession planning but never fully commit to what it takes to develop the qualified candidates that might step into their role in the future.  After all, if someone becomes too skilled or competent perhaps the succession plan might be accelerated or taken out of their hands!

There is also another risk in allowing only the immediate supervisor to identify their succession plan.  As noted above, there may be a reluctance or hesitancy to really fully support or develop a replacement due to perceived personal risk.  Just as much a concern is that a current leader may identify and groom a successor that is a carbon copy of themselves.  A carbon copy of a successful leader may not be a bad idea - presuming that the current leader is in fact a good leader.  However, if they have not been effectively performance managed over time, or they have not been an effective champion of key organizational values or strategic directions, then the consequences of leaving succession planning solely in the hands of this individual will certainly compromise long-term success for the organization.  This can be particularly challenging when staff in the area view the current leader has highly competent, a champion for their particular issues, and the epitome of their current sub-culture.  If some new level of performance or new direction is required from this work group it will be tough to find from a hand-picked successor.

Another misstep in succession planning is confusing success or competency in a current role with predicted success or competency in the next.  In healthcare we have been guilty of this error on many occasions.  In particular, we have often erred in equating potential management/leadership competency with success as a clinician - a great nurse, physician, or tech will make a great manager. Unfortunately, we often compound this error by not providing good mentorship and development opportunities to the newly minted or promoted leader.  We never provide them with the skills and training to take on a fundamentally different role.  The new leader is left to their own devices, often experiences the school of hard knocks, and ultimately succeeds or fails based almost entirely on the strength of their character and the toughness of their skin.  The likely consequences of failure, however, are a damaged career and a dysfunctional work unit left in the wake.

The last paragraph also presumes that there is actually ongoing assessment of individual performance.  As I have touched on in previous blog entries, performance management is important in its own right.  For the purposes of effective succession planning it becomes absolutely critical.  In the context of succession planning, this process must again include robust 360 degree assessment with results tied to the creation of a personal development plan.  Effective leaders are made through constructive feedback and concrete development opportunities - not wishful thinking.

Finally, there must be real accountability for succession planning from the Board of Directors, through senior administration, to all levels of management.  It must be as important, if not more important in terms of accountability, as budgetary performance.  If an organization wants to build and sustain high levels of performance over time it must hold itself accountable for cultivating talent and investing in its future.

Organizations that do succession planning right end up having the talent on board when they need it to step into key leadership positions.  Future leaders have been provided with the skills necessary to ensure success and just as important they carry the values with them into roles that define the organization's culture.  In the end organizational success can only be sustained by ensuring continuity in quality of leadership developed from within. The leaders of today can lay the foundations of success for tomorrow through their investment in others.
______________________________

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.

Charting Your Leadership Course

Over the course of the past several months I've touched on a number subjects related to leadership, how I believe leaders should perform and behave, and how they set the tone for the organization as a whole.  I've also discussed at some length the importance of well-articulated and supported vision and values for an organization, a process that the leader must facilitate with significant energy and commitment.  What I haven't touched is the imperative for a leader to put the same amount of energy and thought into their own personal plan and journey as a leader. 

I've had my own personal Mission, Vision and Values statements for at least 15 years.  I've made effort to review these statements on a periodic basis and particularly at points in time where I've either been considering or experiencing a major transition in my career or life.  In general, I can say that an intensive review has taken place at least every two to three years.  Otherwise, I keep the statements close at hand and visible enough to remind me and support me in my day-to-day work.  The frequency with which I review my commitments to myself seems to work and I've surprised myself in seeing how stable my vision  and values have been over the years despite some major changes in personal circumstances.

Key to the long-term stability - and relevance - of my personal mission, vision and values was some pretty intense up-front work and personal introspection.  I wasn't always interested in that level of self-work and there are days even now where I cringe at the "touchy-feely" exercise that it can sometimes feel like.  Certainly some of my closest colleagues over the years will attest to the challenge of trying to get me to explore my inner self!  So I thank them for the effort!  It's been worth the trip.

I strongly believe that every leader should put this kind of work into themselves.  They owe it to themselves, but they also owe it to those that they hope to lead.  And it's not just thinking about it - you need to spend time crafting, articulating and ultimately putting pen to paper.  It's not something that you may share with anyone but yourself, but it will clarify what is important to you as a person and as a leader, will help guide your decision-making in an organization, and will help place your career goals within the context of your broader life goals.  This latter point is critical.  We don't exist in a vacuum nor in a manner that allows us to easily compartmentalize our lives.  Our work life impacts our home life and vice versa.  I believe that this reality is too strong to ignore and we do a great disservice to ourselves and others if we try to force that compartmentalization.

What are the necessary steps to creating the components of your leadership plan?  In some ways, the effort and the components very much mirror the work most of us as leaders have done in crafting strategic plans for our organizations.  We have experience and templates/processes already available to us that we can scale back to an individual level.  Most efforts need to start with some process of self-evaluation or self-diagnosis.  This could take a variety of forms.  Over the years I have continued to take advantage of opportunities afforded to me by 360 performance reviews/ assessments, self assessments, or even something as simple as a SWOT framework applied to my leadership.  This self-evaluation process may include both reflections/lessons learned from your past experiences as a leader - how did people in the past respond to your leadership?  Your process may also benefit from an assessment of the approach, style, qualities and perceived values of leaders you have worked for in the past.  I have found that I have learned as much from poor leaders as I have from excellent leaders.  Poor leaders have helped me define what I don't stand for and how I won't lead.

There is also benefit in writing down your thoughts about your vision and values as you go.  You need to engage with yourself and struggle with the work of articulating what is important to you as a leader.  Don't expect to come up with the perfect statements in the first - or seventh - attempt.  As you know from work on organizational strategic plans, there is a lot of back and forth, refining and clarifying that is going to happen.  Cut yourself some slack in the process and understand that you make refinements as you grow and develop in your leadership knowledge.  Don't be afraid to listen to what others say about what are important leadership qualities to them.  That doesn't mean just adopting what somebody else has said, but there will more grist for the mill in your process and at this point more input is better than no input or ideas.  Talk with some of your trusted colleagues.  There is great benefit in bouncing ideas off those who will be honest with you about your strengths, weaknesses and current leadership behaviours - if you have the strength and courage to really hear them.

Charting your leadership course may mean that you end up with far more than just a set of statements about your personal Mission, Vision and Values.  You could choose to create other components of your own strategic plan including a personal action/learning plan (Human Resource Plan), personal strengths/approach that characterize your leadership style (Marketing Plan), how you want to be known or remembered as a leader, and any number of other components.  The choice is up to you.  At a base minimum, however, I have always found value in establishing and finalizing in written form a personal Mission, Vision and Values.

My personal vision is perhaps a bit different than some.  I have not articulated it as a statement of which position I expect to hold in five years or how much money I'm going to be making.  Rather I have talked about the characteristics of my life that I want to be known by - honesty, integrity, hard work - the lifestyle I expect to lead (e.g., physically active, life-long learner), and my commitment to family and others.  At a professional level I have focused on being of value to my profession, contributing to the improvement of health services, and being respected and valued by my colleagues.  The value in this approach is that it allows you to be true to your core rather than defining success by whether you achieve or don't achieve a particular position.  Moreover, it allows for a greater degree of personal flexibility in responding to both adversity and opportunity - life can throw us curves, both good and not so good, but if we keep our eye on our personal north star we will be successful in navigating short-term "surprises". The ultimate benefit of knowing yourself is the ability it gives you to truly take control of your journey to becoming the most effective leader - and person - you can be. 

Your future is yours to create if you understand who you are and what is important to you.  Chart your course.  Your star is out there.

______________________________

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 is Culture and Why Does it Matter?

Earlier this week I was privileged to attend an early morning presentation that focused on a particularly challenging set of events for a large organization, the changes in leadership that took place at the time, and the dynamic environmental circumstances in which this organization faced and overcame its time of crisis.  There were a number of gems of perspective and wisdom that were presented by the guest speaker.  Amongst these were the need to persevere through adversity with optimism and energy, a commitment to celebrate milestones and achievements even in tough times, a need to continuously develop one's own leadership and the leadership skills of your team, and the necessity to balance work with one's whole life.

In and of itself there was more than enough food for thought in the presentation to spark my thinking and reinforce some of my own beliefs.  But for the purpose of my blog entry today, I choose to focus on a question that was posed by an audience member in relation to whether the guest speaker had a recipe for culture change in large organizations.  As the guest speaker themselves identified if they had such a recipe they likely would be retired by now!  So being either bold or foolish I'll take a crack at the question.

First, I believe there is some value in defining what we might mean by the term culture.  Being a creature of our time, I googled the term and came up with the following (amongst a variety of definitions) - "...the total of the inherited ideas, beliefs, values and knowledge which constitute the shared bases of...action.." and "...the total range of activities and ideas of a group of people with shared traditions, which are transmitted and reinforced by members of the group."  I've highlighted what I think are some key elements of the definition and upon which I will touch in this blog. 

The phrase "Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast" is probably familiar to most of us and reflects the very real challenge in moving an organization forward or changing its direction.  As many an executive will attest to, you can have spent countless hours and money on developing a world class strategy, putting together and delivering a slick internal marketing strategy, and engaging all manner of expertise and external resources and yet find that after a year (or less) that you have made no progress on your lofty goals - and may actually have taken your organization a step or two backward.  The culture of the organization - it's inherited ideas, beliefs, values and knowledge - became an effective barrier or block to your strategy. 

So instead of developing the glitzy strategy, or restructuring the organization, or implementing new processes or systems, why don't executives focus on organizational culture?  My perspective is that it often appears easier to tackle structure and process than it is culture.  One can implement structural and process changes in a far shorter time frame than cultural change.  Quick or easy, however, doesn't equate to effective.  Such initiatives can certainly disrupt the organization and give the appearance of action especially to those looking at the organization from an external perspective (e.g., shareholders, community leaders).  Cultural changes take a much longer period of time to realize and take more intense and sustained effort.  Unfortunately, our leaders (and too often a variety of stakeholders) don't have the patience for these types of efforts.  We all want instant solutions and instant results.

The term "inherited" implies to me something that is built or created over a long period of time.  And it will take just as long to mould, alter or modify something as it took to create.  Moreover, it's critical to understand that, for the most part, this set of shared ideas, beliefs and values have worked for the organization or key stakeholder segments.  It doesn't mean life has been easy or great, but that the culture has worked at some level for people and has done so for some extended period of time.  So change will not come easy or without effort. 

One of the first key steps in changing culture will be defining the characteristics of the new culture and why it is important to shift to this new set of beliefs, behaviours and practices.  If the leader doesn't have a clear idea about where and why they want to take the organization it will be impossible to overcome resistance from the current culture. 

Just as important as defining the new desired culture will be the concrete actions that a leader and the organization as a whole must take to reinforce and support the shift.  This includes such steps as recruiting, hiring, retaining, rewarding and promoting individuals who will by their behaviours and actions develop and reinforce the tenets of the new culture.  People build culture.  Focus on cultivating the right people.  Make a long-term commitment to them.  They become your stones thrown into the water, with ripples emanating out from them and influencing the behaviour of others.

Communicate, communicate, communicate.  Along with that becomes the importance of leadership visibility and reinforcement, by word AND action, of the key organizational values.  As a leader you are being watched all the time and people will rapidly determine whether you hold the values of the new culture sincerely or merely as another fad of the moment.  Your energy is going to be critical to success.

Make sure that all processes and systems of the organization are aligned and supportive of the culture you are trying to create.  If you are marketing yourself as an organization that prides itself on innovation but have an incentive system that rewards everyone at the same level regardless of performance than creativity is not likely to be sustained.  If you are touting yourself as an organization that fosters empowerment and employee participation but have a human resource system that tolerates old-style management practices you will quickly short-circuit your efforts.

As leaders you also have to ensure that your own personal words and actions are aligned with the corporate culture you say you are trying to build.  If you set yourself apart from what you are expecting of your staff - do as I say, not as I do - you will have compromised your leadership credibility.  You won't be able to retain your best leaders or get the kind of change you were expecting or hoping for.  In addition, you have to have patience for this effort, you have to be in it for the long haul.  Culture happens through long-term, consistent behaviour and effort.  The best and most successful organizations build from within and stay true to their core. 

Rome wasn't built in a day. Neither is the culture of your organization created or changed in a fiscal year.  And building a new temple to the gods won't keep the barbarians away from the front gates.  Only strong and vibrant citizens/staff working from the same page will ensure long-term success.
______________________________

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 is Executive Coaching anyway?

Executive Coaching is increasingly being used by a variety of organizations and individuals in a range of sectors.  As I have recently discovered, however, there are many who don't really understand what executive coaching is, where and how it can be applied, and how to get the greatest benefit from its use - both from an individual and organizational perspective.

As a management consultant, executive coaching is one of my key service offerings.  Throughout my health care administration career, I've had the opportunity to be a coach for a number of individuals in my workplace and through my involvement with my professional associations.  I've also had the benefit of having my own executive coach.  Invariably, at the outset of any coaching process, a key theme emerges even though it might be framed in a number of ways - "What is Executive Coaching?"  Most people who are about to be coached don't really understand what they are getting themselves into, how to prepare, or what to expect. 

The challenge with putting a solid definition to executive coaching primarily relates to the reality that there are simply a multitude of circumstances in which it can be applied.  A CEO is going to have very different coaching requirements than a newly minted supervisor.  Ultimately, however, regardless of circumstance I believe that coaching really is about helping an individual develop personal insights, channel effort and energy into growth and opportunity, and develop and support acquisition and application of new knowledge and skill. 

Each coaching situation is unique - as unique as the individual being coached.  This is a critical point.  As the individual pursuing a coaching engagement you are in charge of - or should be in charge of - selecting your coach.  There has to be a fit between who you are, what you are looking for and what your prospective coach can deliver.  Above all there must be the ability to establish a relationship with your coach.  To be as effective as possible you must be able to develop a great deal of trust and confidence in your coach's ability, be comfortable sharing your challenges with them, and be prepared to receive tough feedback from them when necessary.  It should be a very engaging partnership focused on YOU!

So in deciding to use the services of an Executive Coach there is some work for you to do up front.  Be clear about why you - or your organization - wish to engage the services of an executive coach.  Is it to develop your skills in your current role?  Is it to prepare you for future roles in the organization?  Once you settle on the base goal of the engagement next be ready to undertake some form of self-assessment.  Ideally this takes the form of a 360 assessment from a wide variety of your stakeholders - supervisor, subordinates, peers, external contacts - anybody that can help you evaluate your skills and abilities.  It's that assessment and the discussion around its results that forms the basis for developing your personal action plan and ongoing engagement with your coach.  At this point, your coach continues to work with you, provides you constructive feedback, helps you identify options and tactics to develop your skill sets, helps you to question your assumptions, and otherwise works with you to meet your goals. 

You can start to appreciate how critical the selection of a coach is when you consider the nature of the work they will be doing with you as described above.  In addition, this is a relationship that should continue for a period of months if not longer.  Your personal change and development is not achieved after one or two meetings.  So take the same care in selecting your executive coach as you would in making one of your most critical hiring decisions.  You must have trust and confidence in your coach's ability to support and challenge you.  You have to believe that they can help you generate options and solutions to your current and future challenges.  One final note on selecting a coach - I strongly believe that a coach should come from outside of your organization.  This provides greater assurance of objectivity and confidentiality to your personal journey and development.  You may be able to find a mentor within your organization, but you should engage a coach from outside. 

I've focused exclusively on the benefits of executive coaching for the individual.  But organizations often are the ones initiating and supporting the coaching engagement.  To get the maximum results out of this effort, it is clear to me that coaching needs to be intimately tied to overall organizational and human resource strategy.  Otherwise its a nice thing to do but doesn't necessarily leverage all the potential of the coaching resource to the benefit of the organization.  Other human resource initiatives, programs and resources should be tied in with executive coaching so that efforts can be mutually supporting.

Finally, I believe excellent Executive Coaching takes into account not only work objectives but also places work life within the context of the individuals total life.  We all have a broader range of experiences and realities than the time we spend at work.  I believe that in order to be as successful as possible - by our own personal definition - we must balance all aspects of our lives in accordance with our own personal vision and values.  You bring your whole self to work and you take your whole self home at night.  I believe your coach needs to understand the entirety of YOU in order to most effectively support your growth and development as a leader.  Make it so!
______________________________

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.

Performance Management - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Thanks for bearing with me as I've tried to cover off a lot of territory on performance management.  I started this series of blogs by touching on the dread and anxiety too many of us - leader and follower alike - feel when we approach what has been the traditional annual performance appraisal meeting.  I hope that over the past several weeks you have taken away at least a few nuggets of information and thoughts that you can incorporate into a more functional process for you and your followers.  Not the least of these pieces of advice is don't have a performance appraisal be the one and only time that you have a discussion around performance!

Just as important, be sure to ask yourself what the fundamental purpose of the performance management process is for you and your organization.  If in fact, you have a desire to have a once annual meeting that engenders fear, dread, anxiety, and other negative consequences for its own sake then you are doing well!  As we probably already know too well, that annual event often can culminate in a process of argument and counterargument, diminished morale, and lower engagement.  Probably doesn't do much for your psyche as a leader either.   However, if the true goal of the performance management process is to improve employee and organizational performance than the process should be geared towards that end - mutually established goals, continuous feedback, 360 degree feedback, and decisions/support on how performance can be improved.

This is where we start to really address the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.  If you have adopted all of the steps leading up to the formal performance appraisal you are now left to deliver the formal written results of a performance management process and commit to next steps.  Even in the best circumstances no one - in my opinion - rates a perfect 10 on their performance.  I believe there is always room for improvement and new challenges.  So as the Leader of the Good, the next step is to truly be prepared to to discuss with the follower where there are further (real) opportunities for improvement AND be even more prepared to discuss other developmental challenges these high performers can take on.  In regards to the latter, this might mean further developing their skills and abilities to move up in the organization.  This might include opportunities to lead broader initiatives for the organization that are beyond their day-to-day roles.  It might also include financial commitments to ongoing education relevant to their current or future positions in the organization.  For these Good people, there is real risk that if all you say is "Good work, keep it up!" you wil actually diminish their effort in the future or lose them entirely to opportunities outside the organization.  If these individuals are true high performers and motivated by the challenge they will likely seek it out in ways you didn't intend.

Just as critical is being prepared to address the Bad performance.  Again, the results of the performance management process at this stage should come as no surprise to the individual receiving the appraisal.  Ideally, you would have been working with them well before this formal meeting.  At most, this meeting should again attempt to formalize the results on improvement achieved to date and what else remains to be done.  Depending on the significance of the performance issues, the targets for improvement and timeline for achievement might have a particularly hard edge or short time frame attached to them.  Regardless, at this point you have to have crystal clear clarity about what is expected in the next number of weeks or months relating to performance.  There should be no need for guessing on the part of the employee as to what they should be working on - and what kind of support they can expect from you to improve performance. 

Finally, we have the Ugly.  Performance in this circumstance has been so poor that there really remains no option other than termination or redeployment to another part of the organization.  Again, it would be my sincere hope that this reality would not come as a bolt from the blue to the affected employee.  This would either speak to incredibly poor performance management on the part of the individual leader or a complete disconnect from reality on the part of the employee.  I have seen both occur in my career.  I'm not intending to speak to any aspect of termination processes and procedures in this blog, but suffice it so say that the ways and means by which the organization handles the situation will say as much about it as it does about the departing/redeployed employee.

Both Bad and Ugly performance must be dealt with expeditiously and appropriately.  It's relatively easy to evaluate and reward Good performance.  Most of us, however, are not nearly as adept and comfortable in dealing with less than stellar performance.  Yet the rest of our management team and employees - and research - would tell you that there are major impacts on the organization if poor performance is not addressed including lower productivity, conflict, and disengagement of all of those around and impacted by the poor performer.  This situation is only worsened if the performance appraisal results are tied to the organization's compensation and bonus systems - if poor performance and good performance are not sufficiently differentiated in this regard inevitably many start to gravitate towards the lowest common denominator of expectation and reward.  It is not a recipe for organizational success.

Performance Management.  It takes energy and effort.  The results and rewards are worth it though.  As a leader you owe it to all your staff and your organization to do it well.  It's one of the most important things you do as a leader, particularly if you are committed to developing the human potential you are responsible for.
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Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
TEC Canada Chair/Executive Coach/Senior Consultant
hadubiak@wmc.ca

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