Practice Makes Perfect?

Practice makes perfect.  I trust that most of us have heard of that phrase and in many cases have used the underlying intent to drive their personal and business lives.  Repetition is a fundamental key to learning and to developing excellent skill in any area of endeavor.  This perspective may have been given even more popular weight by best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell.  Based on his research and expounded upon in his book Outliers, Gladwell suggested the notion that 10,000 hours of appropriately guided practice was the magic number of greatness.  More provocatively he also suggested that this level of greatness could be achieved regardless of a person's natural aptitude.  Based on that premise or theory, I have to assume with 10,000 hours of appropriately guided practice I could become a world-class violinist.

I'm not sure anyone, including myself, could tolerate 10,000 hours of me practicing the violin.

I find some corollary to Gladwell's theory in the work of Jim Collins in his book Good to Great.  More specifically he talks about the discipline it takes to become a great company and, I would suggest, a great leader.  The underpinning of his model is Disciplined People engaged in Disciplined Thought taking Disciplined Action.  Much like Gladwell, Collins believes that discipline is not enough.  Rather there has to be an "appropriate" type of discipline in play to ensure progress or success.  In Collins' words, "Everyone would like to be the best, but most organizations [or leaders] lack the discipline to figure out with egoless clarity what they can be the best at and the will to do whatever it takes to turn that potential into reality."  (bold is my emphasis)

So while Gladwell and Collins both might agree that practice and discipline are critical to success they qualify their statements with words like appropriate, egoless, clarity, and guided.  This brings me to my assertion, akin to something you may have also heard before, that practice in and of itself does not make perfect, rather only perfect practice makes perfect.  Unfortunately too many of us - leaders included - become creatures of pattern and of habit.  What we learn early on in our careers we tend to perpetuate as we move up the chain of command heedless of changes in our personal or business environment.  A simple analogy to this effect is our ingrained patterns of travel to and from work.  How many of us have found ourselves having arrived at work and possessing limited conscious memory of the drive there?  How many of us, upon changing workplaces, find ourselves still habitually driving to our old place of work?

I'm not saying practice or discipline are bad or wrong.  Rather, as leaders we need to ensure that practice and discipline are a function of conscious thought and intent.  As leaders we need to set aside and demand of ourselves time to reflect on what practice might get us perfect or better results.  As leaders we need to set aside and demand of ourselves the discipline to exam with courage our assumptions, beliefs, and even values in pursuit of leadership and organizational excellence.  If in fact a leader is required to achieve different or better results simply practicing more or being more disciplined at the same tasks and expecting different results equates to a popularized definition of insanity.

So what will it take to identify perfect practice and correct discipline for leadership success?  As trite as it might sound, leaders need to structure time in their busy schedules to step back and consciously reflect on their work and the work of their company every day.  This means shutting down your e-mail, turning off the smart phone and locking your door.  And if you have enough courage, strength and discipline do this twice a day - at the start and end of your day.  At the beginning of your day reflect on what your unique deliverables are as a leader.  What alone do you need to take responsibility for?  What do you alone need to achieve to feel accomplished and to have delivered value?  At the end of your day, reflect on whether you moved the needle towards the accomplishment of your unique deliverables.  Did you fulfill your personal responsibilities as a leader?  Did you accomplish what you expected of yourself?  Did you deliver on your unique leadership value proposition?  What's your plan for tomorrow?

Too many of us may balk at the notion of taking time out of our busy day to engage in individual reflective contemplation.  We may believe that taking 30 minutes out of our day for such navel gazing is nothing short of insanity itself and certainly a waste of time when so many urgent issues call for our attention.  My view is that unless you have the discipline to engage in the practice of reflective thought and evaluation your leadership may amount to nothing more than then a frenzied expenditure of your valuable energy and intellect.

If you can't manage your leadership energy, if you can't consciously evaluate your practices and demonstrate discipline in thought, how do you realistically believe you are really leading others effectively.  It's about conscious practice and conscious discipline and it's about leadership.  It's about your leadership.

 _________________________________________________________

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

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

Power...and the Aura of Power - Redux

About a year ago I provide some commentary on revelations on the alleged transgressions of Premier Alison Redford.  At that time the phrase of the moment was "Aura of Power" and I suggested that such transgressions are rarely if ever undertaken or achieved alone.  Last week I was provided with a reminder of the capriciousness of power and perhaps more to the point that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.  The event in question was learning of the summary dismissal of a long-standing executive in a firm that I have come to know over the past couple of decades.  I had no particular emotional response to the news, because - as I've become accustomed to saying in the leadership game - I'm never surprised anymore, just disappointed. 

In reality, I wasn't surprised by the termination.  Rather it served to reinforce what I believe I have seen in relation to an ongoing diminishment of the values that I thought animated this particular organization.  Perhaps even more disappointing is my perspective that an organization that I believe once held so much potential to really help change things for the better in its sector seemingly has been sacrificed to other goals and agendas. 

My perspective might rightly be accused of being too driven by naivety and idealism.  Power and organizational politics are certainly a dirty game and perhaps I operate under too many illusions about the (altruistic?) motives of those who aspire to lead our modern day organizations.  As many of my clients might ask me "Is it any better anywhere else?" and I keep answering "Yes" but maybe that opinion is driven more by hope than by practical reality.  Perhaps too, that perspective is given energy by the fact that so many people are asking the question, are seeking out and yearning for better leadership, and may be in fact the future leaders that they and I are looking for now.

I wish that this might be the end of the story but I'm not convinced of that.  As I contemplate a change in approach or climate I'm realistic enough to know that change in leadership approach or tactics only comes about for compelling reasons.  If there is no "blowback" to change up a so-far-successful approach why change?  On the contrary, if success is defined by solidification of leadership position and the trappings of power all is well.  If it ain't broke don't fix it I assume.

The reality of leaders who abuse their power - even at the risk of public exposure or worse - continues to exist primarily because some leaders do feel entitled, all powerful and above reproach.  In some cases they may even believe that they are doing nothing wrong, that anything that benefits them somehow benefits all, and even if there are abuses they will never be discovered.  They operate with immeasurable confidence in their own superiority and are not reluctant to use fear and intimidation as weapons to build, sustain and grow their personal position.

I have no words of advice or perspective to offer those who would abuse their power.  They would probably give little or no credence to my thoughts or opinions in any event.  Rather I focus my admonitions to those OTHERS that allow and facilitate this type of leadership.  Leaders, regardless of their personal capacity and capability, do not achieve their ends - or alleged transgressions - on their own.  And make no mistake, this kind of leadership behavior is not isolated to any one sector.  Leaders in the private and public sector - both good and bad - work with and through others.  Salaries ultimately have to be approved by someone, terminations have to be processed through a human resources and legal infrastructure, expenses are signed off somewhere in the financial chain of command, and any bending of rules and regulations have to be overlooked or managed by more than the person directly benefiting.  Some of us tie ourselves in proverbial knots trying to manage the ethical scenarios we find ourselves placed in.   Many of us might try to find some solace or comfort to say that WE were intimidated by our leader, that we feared for our jobs or careers, or that "we were just following orders".  Some of us may even  have developed a misplaced sense of loyalty to the leader, becoming confused in believing that what is good for the leader might be or should be similarly good for the organization.  

Worse is that we may have been co-opted by a flawed or narcissistic leader.  For those serving a narcissistic leader they may see their future tied to this powerful, but flawed, boss.   Maybe they hope to gain a new or more prominent position in the short-term.  Others see loyalty as key to their leadership aspirations down the road.  And sometimes they believe that it is best to protect their leader for the sake of their organization's standing and reputation.  Our job satisfaction, salary, bonuses, enhanced benefits, and other perks can be used to build a sense of commitment to a flawed path.  WE are a multimillion or multibillion dollar organization.  There is great pressure and responsibility that comes with being a leader so some might even justify their actions as some "small" recompense for these leadership sacrifices. What's wrong with a few extra hundred, thousand - or hundreds of thousands - dollars coming my way?  What's wrong with bending a few rules here and there? 

This doesn't happen overnight.  Rather it very much mirrors the iconic story of a frog slowly being boiled to death.  Slowly but surely we compromise our values and high ideals because no one step or decision seems critical or egregious enough to cause us to stand up for what we say we believe in.  One day we just wake up and know that we are well past the line we vowed never to cross - or maybe we now find ourselves having to deal with uncomfortable stories on the front page of our local newspapers.  Whether as governing boards, as peers, or colleagues there are ample opportunities for us to exercise oversight, fulfill assigned duties, ask questions, or find the courage to say no.  Unfortunately, sometimes the biggest surprise comes when despite having made all these slow and steady compromises with our own personal code of ethics we still wake up wondering what happened when we too have outlived our usefulness to the goals and power of the leader above us and find ourselves outside looking in.

It is my belief that WE often don't lack for proper policies, procedures, processes and protocols to hold ourselves to high ethical, professional and organizational standards.  More often WE lack the courage to use those tools and to hold to our values.  More often WE are not prepared to pay the price or endure the pain that comes from exercising that courage.

Some time ago I finished reading a biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (author - Eric Metaxas).  It details the life of this German pastor, theologian, and author with a particular focus on his struggle against Hitler and Nazi Germany.  This is not a simple tale of right and wrong as it could easily have been turned into.  Bonhoeffer's struggles in finding his path are well documented by the author.  In the words of Bonhoeffer himself he struggled to determine what was "right" versus what was the correct and loyal behavior for a German leading up to and through World War II.  He often fought with and was reviled by his peers.  He progressively lost his ability to practice as a pastor, to teach and to write.  Regardless he held true to his values and exercised choice in how he would live and lead.  His choice to not compromise his beliefs as to what was right for Germany and the Christian community ultimately resulted in his execution just days before the end of World War II.

I'm not suggesting WE have to die for what we believe in.  What I am suggesting is that WE have far less at stake in holding ourselves and our leaders to account than someone like a Bonhoeffer, that WE have far more choice to do so than WE would like to believe, and WE have opportunity - and examples to guide us - in finding the courage to enforce a standard of leadership that WE deserve.

Be clear on your values, exercise your leadership, and make a difference because of it.
  ______________________________

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.

Handyman or Expert?

A number of years ago I undertook a rather massive home improvement project with the help of some friends.  The project in question was construction of a nearly 500 square foot stone patio in my back yard.  I enlisted the help of some friends, some of whom had some experience in similar projects. The factors that I weighed in the decision came down to cost and perceived complexity (e.g., puffing out our chests and declaring our manliness we said "We Can Do It!").  There was also going to be the satisfaction of a project that I could physically and mentally participate in and achieve.

Things turned out well enough at the time, I learned a lot - most of it the hard way - had some relatively cheap manual labor at my disposal for a weekend, and impressed my girlfriend at the time with my physical stamina in shoveling load after load of crush and sand, placing stone after stone, and finishing a large project in relatively short time.

Several years later, however, I find that I've had constant repair work to do on my masterpiece, dealing with some subsidence in key areas of the stone patio and now worrying about at least one retaining wall needing an extensive redo.  Perhaps the "cheap and cheerful" way associated with my amateur handyman approach several years ago isn't leaving me with quite the legacy I hoped for??  Maybe an "expert" would have been better engaged despite the up-front cost??

So how does this story relate to leadership?  Too often I see some of the same mentality coming into play during evaluation of personal or organizational coaching, leadership development or consulting requirements.  Cost definitely comes into play as it should.  But rather than evaluating such expenses as an investment and weighing such against the hard outcomes desired there is a decided emphasis on cost-control.  A "good-enough" mentality enters the equation and a desire to either do-it-ourselves or hire a "handyman" for truly foundational work.  So can you do it yourself or hire on a non-certified coach or consultant to support your efforts?  Sure, but you might wonder if the investment of time and effort really gave you the return you required or ended up being sustained beyond your initial intense effort.  Like my home improvements, you might have been better to engage an expert at the beginning rather than engaging in constant "repairs" or investments to achieve the product or results you hoped for in the beginning.

I'm suggesting there is a leadership lesson to be learned from my home handyman approach noted above.  Leaving aside the do-it-yourself effort for now - which requires a great deal of personal or in-house skill that most don't have - how do you discern the "handyman" from the professional support you might need in coaching or consulting?  Solid track record and referral base are clearly good indications but I'm also going to recommend that you look for impeccable credentials including certification in national or international regulatory bodies.  Holding or pursuing such a credential (e.g., International Coach Federation, Canadian Association of Management Consultants) is a sign that the individual professional not only demonstrates knowledge and skill in their chosen field, but also holds themselves to the highest professional standards and are prepared to be judged according to a strong code of professional ethics.

Further, certified members of these professional associations have chosen to contribute to a broader body of knowledge, to regulate themselves and provide accountability to clients and their profession as a whole. Credential-holders complete rigorous education and practice requirements, providing testimony to their commitment to excellence.  These professionals look to protect and serve consumers of their services, measure and certify competence of their members, and inspire the pursuit of continuous development.

At the end of the day the choice of how to deal with your coaching, leadership or consulting requirements is fully in your court.  Credentials are certainly not a 100% guarantee of success but just like in home renovations they are a better bet than just looking for the cheapest bidder. As in my do-it-yourself reno, you can pay now or pay later (or both).  Make the time and investment pay off.  In this case, It's About Leadership!  And there is nothing more worthy of your investment than that which leverages all of the rest of your success - your leadership assets.
______________________________

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.

Great Leaders

What makes a great leader?  These days, with the ubiquitous nature of social media, there is no shortage of published opinion, top ten lists and assorted other commentary on what makes a great leader.  The challenge seems less in knowing what great leadership should be than in actually finding sentinel examples of such in real life!  Without a doubt we have individual leaders who command great power and reap great rewards in all sectors of society.  But as I pen this note I'm reminded of an exchange between two characters from the 1995 movie "The American President" which for me encapsulates the challenges we face in seeing leaders for what they are or are not:

People want leadership, Mr. President, and in the absence of genuine leadership, they'll listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone. They want leadership. They're so thirsty for it they'll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there's no water, they'll drink the sand. 

Lewis, we've had presidents who were beloved, who couldn't find a coherent sentence with two hands and a flashlight. People don't drink the sand because they're thirsty. They drink the sand because they don't know the difference. 

A damning statement on "our" collective ability to evaluate and select the quality of leaders we need!  Even more so when we consider how much more complex and challenging our organizational environments are becoming. It seems to me that this fictional representation and discourse on leadership is highly reflective of the issues we face in assessing and evaluating leaders in a variety of circumstances.  In my home province we recently made a political choice between three very different leadership personalities and visions.  Time will tell whether we have assessed and chosen correctly.  This fall, Canada will likewise have the opportunity to select its Prime Minister to govern us for the next number of years.  Likewise the United States gears up to choose its next President and may have the opportunity to choose between Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton.  So on what basis do make these momentous decisions?  My hope is that in all cases - political or otherwise - we choose less out of historical reflex, anecdote and emotion and more out of thoughtful consideration of what makes a great leader.

As you may have already ascertained from past blog posts, I operate from a certain perspective on what makes a great leader.  I offer you this short list of factors to explicitly identify what I believe are important considerations on leadership choices.  These build upon my own personal experiences of great - and not so great - leaders.

One -Visionary.  This may seem completely self-evident but I daresay there are a number of leaders in positions of substantial power that have a less than well-developed vision to guide them and their followers.  Vision for me has a very specific connotation.  It is a perspective or destination that extends beyond anyone political term or short-term horizon.  It is also clearly resonates and motivates others to action and is not simply about profit and loss, stock options, dividends or executive bonuses.

Two - Authentic.  Great leaders and strong leaders are authentic.  There is no mask or pretense about them.  They don't pretend to be who they are not.  They recognize and own their strengths and their weaknesses.  Too many leaders try to present as the perfect specimen of leader, without flaw and without doubt.  To my mind this simply reinforces a perception of their own insecurity and prevents them from truly connecting with their followers.

Three - Focus.  Hand-in-hand with being visionary, great leaders ensure that they and their followers focus on work that matters to achievement of the vision.  They don't allow themselves to be distracted and similarly help followers stay focused on critical elements of work and success.  Great leaders continue to stoke passion and hope in achievement of vision despite challenges and inevitable setbacks.

Four - Stay True.  Perhaps similar to focus, but great leaders aren't afraid to chart their own course, to take the path less traveled.  They distinguish themselves from the pack and similarly help their organization distinguish themselves in their marketplace.  Great leaders seek out new markets, new methods and new ways of thinking and acting to build success.

Five - Risk Taker.  Success and greatness often requires risk.  If there is no risk there is no reward.  Each of us has our own definition of and means of assessing risk.  Great leaders may sometimes be perceived as taking foolish risks but in many cases they just have a different mental mindset about what constitutes acceptable risk.  They also appreciate that "playing it safe" also carries it own risk not the least of which is being left behind and becoming irrelevant.

Six - Inner Strength.  Great leaders recognize that not everything goes as planned or as desired.  But they are resilient in the face of such challenges.  Moreover, they don't look to assign blame to others or extraneous variables.  They assess, analyze and find a new path forward, learning from failure, continuing to move forward to on their personal and organizational vision.

Seven - Build Relationships.  Great leaders recognize that leadership is not a solo endeavor.  By its very definition leadership requires that there be followers.  Effective relationships are built on a foundation of trust, respect, belief in and commitment to a common vision, authenticity and integrity of word and action.  Without relationships leadership cannot, by my definition, be great.

So as you assess your own leadership ambitions or are in position to evaluate the leadership aspirations of others, I encourage you to critically evaluate yourself or other candidates against these criteria or those of your own choosing.

The most important request is that you indeed critically evaluate before choosing.  It's About Leadership!  It's About Great 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.

Taking on Doubt

It's been an interesting few weeks from both a personal perspective and as it relates to delivering value to my clients.  On the one hand, I've been working diligently to further develop the strength and depth of my executive coaching practice for some months now and this has had me contemplating additional certifications, partnerships and business development strategies.  I've found myself in almost parallel discussions with more than one of my coaching clients who in similar fashion have been looking to take the next strong steps in achieving their goals either in developing their own business or making a transition to a new career.  In all cases, one of the common subjects for discussion has been in respect of taking on doubt.

In these conversations one of the phrases used was "mastering self-doubt".  To me that sounded like a very grand idea but not necessarily an achievable goal.  Perhaps I'm overly pessimistic or have been raised or experienced too much self-doubt in my lifetime to truly believe that one can master such a beast.  I've never lived without some measure of self-doubt - whether in career, academics, athletics or even personal relationships (never was a lady's man so count myself extremely lucky to have found my soul mate!).

Now if you don't take quite as extreme a view as to what "mastering" implies for me at this point - complete lack of doubt for example - then there is a middle ground to taking on doubt and that implies application of some personal strategies in recognizing doubt when it shows up, assessing the degree of reality that this doubt does or does not represent, and then taking determined action to mitigate the potentially paralyzing impact of such doubt.  So rather than mastering doubt, I propose to confront it and put an action plan in place that helps me - and you - manage through it.   

And let's be clear.  You may know those that state they don't suffer from any form of doubt.  I don't believe them for a second.  This perspective demonstrates to me a lack of thoughtful insight and self-awareness.  So, needless to say, I'm not addressing myself to those who are in denial about their personal challenges.

So whether you have doubted yourself, doubted some of the people working for you or doubted whether your company could succeed in meeting a particular challenge, there are strategies that I have offered and have worked through with many of my clients that helped them move forward effectively, productively and successfully.

One - Own your Past Achievements.  All too often too many of us focus on what we have not yet done, what we have "failed" at, and what remains unaccomplished.  We do a great job of owning "failure".  In contrast we lose track of or readily dismiss the accomplishments and successes we have experienced that have actually got us to this point in our lives, our careers or our organizations.  Most of us did not become leaders by default.  Nothing has been given to us.  Own your past achievements and recognize that they set a pattern or base for you to take on the next impossible dream.

Two - Own Your Strengths.  In similar vein, I find that if I were to ask anyone what their weaknesses were they would respond without hesitation and rapidly and completely fill a page with perceived and actual shortcomings.  Flip the coin and ask for a similar listing of strengths and hesitation would take over with results far less expansive.  Often then I push my clients to look back on their past accomplishments and experiences and be honest with themselves about what it really took to achieve success.  I also suggest or recommend they get some perspective by asking others they trust and respect for their assessment of strengths.

Three - Set a Plan.  Self-doubt seems to be particularly magnified when we think about a long-term goal but fail to establish the small steps and actions that will progressively move us forward.  We become overwhelmed by the enormity of our grand goal or vision.  Setting the grand or compelling vision is something I DO advocate but similarly work that through with my clients and identify the small steps they can take in the next week, month, quarter or year to ensure movement to the long-term goal.  In the absence of that we easily fall back on "documenting" failure in becoming an overnight sensation, give up the ghost, and move back to mediocrity or the next big thing.

Four - Phone a Friend.  As one of my coaching colleagues south of the border said to me "Your mind is a dangerous neighborhood to go into alone."  This reflects the danger of merely having ourselves to rely on and the many voices in our head that conjure up images and the potential for harm and failure that subsequently paralyze us to the real opportunities that lay ahead of us.  So get the plan and the fears out of your head.  Write down your goals and plan.  Share them with your team of trusted advisers - an executive coach, a peer advisory panel (e.g., TEC Canada CEO group), other trusted colleagues or peers.  Talk it through, walk it through, make the possibilities real and wipe away the cobwebs of your mind.

Five - Work the Plan, Evaluate, Recommit.  Setting the plan and visualizing success is one thing but we all need ongoing motivation and encouragement to keep moving forward.  Ensure that as you set the plan and get feedback from your advisers that you also establish milestones and metrics for yourself to monitor progress for yourself.  Seeing and experiencing tangible evidence for yourself on progress on your plan will keep you motivated as you put in the hard work to achieve your impossible dream.  And make sure that you celebrate - in some small way - each milestone achieved.  Reward and recognition are just as important as the sacrifices you are making on your journey.

One final word on doubt.  It's not all bad.  Doubt can also serve you well if only to have you appreciate that you alone are not infallible and all-knowing.  Doubt serves to remind us that our perspectives, decisions and actions are subject to the limits of our own knowledge, experience and biases.  Doubt at some level should compel us to continuous learning, ongoing engagement with others, and appropriate analysis of options presenting to us.

In my estimation, leadership should come with a good mixture of confidence, ability, experience, challenge, hard knocks, humility and self-doubt.  When lacking this balance we are more prone to hubris and spectacular failure.

Don't let yourself be paralyzed by doubt, going into the dark alleyways of your mind whistling a hopeful tune, but rather seek to manage your doubt so as to afford yourself the greatest possible opportunity for 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.

To Declare One's Vision or Not

As is often the case for me, this latest blog post came directly from recent work with one of my executive coaching clients.  One of the angles we took in our work was around the advisability of publicly declaring one's personal/business or organizational vision.  In contrast to my own long-held belief that documenting and declaring a personal and/or organizational vision is key to moving strongly forward to a new and better future state my client had a contrary perspective brought to his attention.  This contrary perspective, backed up by empirical evidence, suggested that those who publicly talked about their intentions were less likely to make them happen!

From my personal and business standpoint this assertion has significant implications.  Not only does it have bearing on my own personal/business efforts and direction, it would also impact how I work with my individual and corporate clients.  As an entrepreneur I have just recently updated my own personal business plan, refocused efforts, targeted new avenues of work, and strengthened my marketing focus.  In similar fashion, whether working on individual plans for success or supporting strategic planning efforts with organizations, a key element is development and articulation of a vision statement and supporting strategies, goals and objectives.  So how to reconcile this contrary perspective with my current work and historical efforts?

The assertion made is that by announcing one's plans to others (e.g., colleagues, stakeholders) is that enough action has been taken and enough of an "emotional/intellectual" high obtained that you or your corporation's ego is sufficiently satisfied to obviate the need for actually taking action and achieving the endpoint described in the vision.  In essence, "we" are mistaking or substituting a declaration for achievement of the actual goal. To put it more simply, it's like me saying that I have a vision for completing an Ironman triathlon, getting a "high" off of the declaration, getting satisfaction from the accolades that come in from my friends and acquaintances, and becoming complacent in taking the steps necessary to actually get to the start line of the race.

When this "counter-factual" perspective was brought to my attention I rapidly dismissed it and its implications.  After further reflection, I'm not so sure now.  If I think about some of my own recent history (e.g., signing up for a half Ironman race in 2015 and not following through), there may be something to this theory.  In some respects, it may not be all that different from those of us (all of us??) who have declared a fitness or weight loss goal (sometimes associated with our annual New Year's resolution) only to fall off the wagon within a few short weeks of the often public declaration of the stretch goal. 

Yet, I'm not ready to give up the ghost so easily.  I know that my personal and business achievements have not come about due to silent reflection, hoping for the best or casting my fate to the winds.  Where I have strongly succeeded I believe comes from a strong declaration of the goal, the support of friends, mentors and colleagues, and a specific plan of action to move me towards my vision.  And perhaps it is this latter factor in particular that makes the key difference between delusional self-satisfaction and true outcome achievement.

In one respect then there may be agreement between myself and others who believe vision - or delusion - may be a dangerous thing.  I certainly can attest to friends and colleagues of mine declaring grand objectives only to recast them and boldly declare a new vision every few months.  In this regard, I can agree that vision is not enough.  Without action, concrete steps, perhaps even small steps, milestones, evaluation and re-commitment to a goal or set of objectives, vision is likely to amount to no more than delusion.

It is for this reason that I drive myself to develop very specific strategies, actions, goals and measures by which to track my own personal progress to my grand vision.  I also review the vision regularly and recast specific actions on an annual if not quarterly basis.  It is also why an executive coaching process should work with the individual being coached on developing an action plan as part of the overall process and as an outcome arising from each coaching session.  In a similar way, I work through a strategic planning process with organizations that goes from environmental scan; affirmation of mission, vision and values; through to the specific strategies, key results, individual accountabilities and key metrics that moves us from vision to concrete steps necessary to achieve that vision.  Otherwise, what we can be left with is a strategic plan that is glorious in its conception and glossy production but becomes no more than an expensive paperweight fated to be reproduced by another expensive process 2-5 years in the future.

So at the end of this you may consider me to be firmly planted on the fence on this subject.  Maybe you are right, but I hope that my commitment to vision - personal or organizational - is clear as is my commitment to what it takes to make a vision reality.  Your vision can be made real, declaration can be part of that commitment, but so too must real, short-term actions.  Without that real effort vision is in fact delusion.
______________________________

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 Case for Disruption in Canadian Healthcare

One of the tasks that I set myself is to do what I can to keep current on issues that matter to my clients. This builds on my lifelong interest in learning.  In doing so, I've increasingly tried to force myself into new areas of learning or non-traditional avenues that can stretch my thinking, establish new thought patterns, and suggest unique opportunities to delivering value.  As I've continued to grow my executive coaching and consulting practices, one of the singular benefits that I've derived comes from working in a variety of sectors that substantially transcend my former career as a senior executive in healthcare.  The experience with so many other sectors has significantly expanded my view of the world, opened up new possibilities, and allowed me to bring greater value to all of my clients.  My own personal disruption - career change - has had significant positive benefits for me.

These positive returns, as with all types of disruption, did not come without pain and challenge.  Indeed that's what we see in all industries that have undergone significant disruption. A new model for product or service delivery is introduced, competitive conflict and "bloodshed" ensues over some period of time, before a new "normal" is established.  Certainly some of the more familiar examples of disruption are often associated with technological innovations, e.g., the automobile, the airplane, the internet.  But just as often, and perhaps more profoundly, we find sentinel disruptions coming from new ideas and new means of delivering products and services like Walmart, Apple and Uber.  In these cases, existing business paradigms are turned inside out, upside down and/or entirely bypassed in order to achieve a position of market dominance including creation of entirely new markets.  Perhaps common to all of these disruptive innovations is a deep understanding and better appreciation of what fundamental customer needs and desires are.

Over the past several decades as concerns about costs in Canada's healthcare system have been debated, as new technologies have been introduced, and as governments and health administrators have attempted to grapple with a myriad of challenges to system performance and sustainability a plethora of studies and solutions have been offered in support of desired outcomes.  Yet for all these studies, changes, and restructuring there are certainly questions about what we have achieved for the significant investment of time, energy and money.  Debate continues around whether we have achieved healthcare's triple aim of improving the patient experience of care, improving the health of our population, and reducing the per capita cost of health care.

Ongoing prescriptions for impactful change - mine among them - call for clear vision, sustained effort towards achievement of a vision, and strong leadership.  I still believe that all of those are necessary prerequisites for a more effective and sustainable health system.  However, I'm also increasingly of the mind that Canada's healthcare system needs its own Uber to break out us of our incremental pattern of change.  Some might take issue with my assertion that we've only undertaken incremental change and note major shifts in health governance and structures in the past number of years.  However, I suggest that while challenging and energy-draining, these changes have not fundamentally altered altered how we deliver healthcare services nor have they changed our bottom-line results.  To my mind, even the advent and expansion of specialized, privately-owned/ operated health services (e.g., surgi-centres) has done little to change the base paradigm for health services in Canada.

Ultimately, what we may need to come to terms with is whether a highly-regulated and bureaucratized system - subject to the whims and foibles of political forces and professional self-interest - is actually able to deliver the significant and widespread innovation necessary to deal with current and future challenges.

As with other disruptive influences and forces that have reshaped other industries the solution may need to come from an outside source.  Perhaps the leadership and disruptive change cannot, in fact, come from our current political parties, pundits, leaders and structures.  We are too bound up in managing the day-to-day challenges, vested in current systems, too constrained by our current view of how things have been and should be.  Perhaps for truly innovative and breakthrough solutions to present themselves we need our own version of Steve Jobs and Uber.  My thoughts and hopes for a vastly improved health care system increasingly lie in this direction and with this hope.

Disruption can often times feel like anarchy and barbarians at the gate (just ask taxi operators about Uber) but in as many circumstances it can be a harbinger of a new industry or reshaping of an existing one to deal with fundamental customer requirements (e.g., cost-effective and timely transportation in the case of Uber?). Is this the path forward for healthcare?  Can some leader or leaders break the mold and pave a path to delivering on our Triple Aim?

Is leadership in healthcare about managing and smoothing disruptive influences for the effective management of the organization or do we need leadership to BE the disruptive force that takes us to a new, impossible to imagine, level of performance that we require.

Either way it's 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.

Leader Heal - or Direct - Thyself!

I get a lot of satisfaction from being an executive coach and consultant.  Most of the time what this look and feels like is the gratification I get from helping individuals, team and organizations make an important breakthrough, realize and own their strengths, and achieve a goal that they have never imagined possible.  Beyond that, my clients also cause me to reflect a great deal on what is possible in my own business and personal life.  They inspire me by their journey, their courage and their commitment to make something real for themselves.

Most importantly they continue to teach me the importance of turning my executive coaching lens and leadership abilities on myself from time to time.  They compel me to practice what I preach.  They direct me, as a leader, to chart my course and take specific action to realize my personal vision.

Just as organizations benefit from having, developing and living to a well-articulated vision and set of values so too is it clear to me that individuals - leaders - similarly benefit from similar efforts in solidifying their own direction and plan.  Just as with an organizational effort, significant time, energy and thought should be put into establishing a leader's personal vision, values, strategic directions and action plans.  All too often, however, we assume "we've got it".  Why do I need to plan for something when I'm already "on the path"?  The answer to these types of questions is not necessarily dissimilar to why an organization undertakes a strategic planning process - clarity of direction.  And don't assume that just because you are a force of one that you don't have to coordinate or consult with others to achieve your grand vision.  In fact, it might be critical to seek out support or thoughts from others in your journey - mentor, colleague, spouse.  None of us, no matter how accomplished a leader, can claim omnipotence.  

I've had my own personal Mission, Vision and Values statements for at least 15 years.  I've recently been more motivated to develop specific annual goals and objectives that move me toward achievement of my vision.  I've made effort to review these products 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.  In fact, I'm undertaking that personal "business plan" review right now.  Otherwise, I keep my plans 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! 

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 personal 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/business.  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 more 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 the end of the day you also need to make a commitment to taking the first steps in making your vision real - what will you do in the next 3 months, 6 months and year to move you closer to your ultimate goal.  Vision without action is simply a dream.  Action without vision is simply a frenzy.

My personal "business plan" is perhaps a bit different than some.  I have not articulated a vision as simply a statement of a position I expect to hold in five years.  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 and being respected and valued by my clients and colleagues.  The value in this approach is that it allows me to be true to my core rather than defining success by whether I've achieved 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.

Use Executive Coaching to Your Best Advantage!

I've previously posted on how to select your executive coach and touched a bit on what executive coaching is all about.  However, I've not yet addressed how you should prepare to get the most out of your executive coaching engagement.  Executive coaching can be one of the most effective ways of accelerating your development as a leader and well it should since it can represent a significant investment of personal and/or organizational time and money. Here's my list of things you should do to maximize the benefits of your executive coaching experience.

1. Define your outcomes.  Any good executive coach will seek to establish an understanding of your specific goals and objectives for the engagement.  Moreover, they may have at hand various methods by which to draw those out of you and define the work for the next number of months.  Ultimately, however, the goals and objectives and outcomes are for you to own, create and work towards.  In the case of support being provided by an organization (not just an individual) there may be specific expectations and outcomes defined by a supervisor.  Regardless, work towards clearly defining the target.  Otherwise at the end of the engagement all parties may be frustrated with what's been achieved or not.
2. Be prepared 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 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.  Don't expect your coach to do the heavy lifting for you.
3. Be prepared 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.  Be the change you want to see!
   
4. 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.
5. 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 (check out my October 14, 2014 post "Selecting Your Executive Coach - Redux") 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. 
6. Have the courage to change.  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!
   
7. 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.  That being said, be prepared for your coach to push you.  Part of the value in executive coaching is breaking out of your comfort zone and traditional patterns of behavior.  It's a give and take relationship and both you and your executive coach will work to develop an effective and constructive working partnership.

It's my hope and expectation that following these guidelines you will make the most out of your investment in yourself through executive coaching.  Coaching can be a powerful tool in moving your leadership forward in a powerful way but much of that success depends on your leadership in the engagement.
______________________________

Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
President & Co-Founder
BreakPoint Solutions
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.

Leadership and a Leap of Faith

Recently I shared a visual on my LinkedIn profile that suggested if any one of us were to realize our ambitions, if we were to achieve all that we could be, we would have to make the jump from one certainty or reality to something less tangible but more rewarding.

The visual calls upon the reader to take a leap of faith.

When I posted the visual I got a question back from one of my connections along the lines of:  "But what do we do when we need the safety net between the two ledges? Prepared to jump, but conditioned to be a sheep and stay in the safe zone... :)"  Not necessarily an atypical response and certainly a relatively common reaction or perspective that I have encountered in my executive coaching practice.  Many of us dream of a better job, career, life but are in fact afraid to take that next BIG step into the unknown.  In fact, there are many of us out there who have made a choice - consciously or unconsciously - to stay in positions, companies, and careers that are demoralizing, uninspiring and downright painful.  We have defaulted to the evil we know rather than taken the risk for a less well understood future benefit.  

My very brief response at the time to the question was that if we constantly find ourselves in need of the safety net, or the tether, or the anchor - whatever that might be - we are unlikely to achieve any of our dreams or ambitions in life.  Another way of putting this more poetically is:

You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.

Christopher Columbus

Many of us marvel at the success of renowned entrepreneurs and business owners.  We envy their success and the lifestyle that has come with that success.  However, if you dig deeper into their stories it is clear that most of these individuals were not overnight successes nor did their current success come without challenge or even outright failure.  In fact, many of them failed spectacularly or often before achieving success.  What ultimately allowed them to succeed where others may not have even made the attempt?  You'll get various answers to that question but in part I believe it relates to a strong determination to succeed, a willingness to fail and not be deterred by failure, and perhaps a stronger confidence in self than many of us may have.  Ultimately, they took that leap of faith because they wanted to get the brass ring, understood they might stumble along the way, but were confident enough in their vision and abilities to eventually succeed.

All nice high-level stuff but let me bring this back to a local sense of reality from my point of view.  For the past two years I've been privileged enough to be a TEC Canada Chair.  That experience has opened me up to the possibilities ahead for any of us if we have strength of vision, a belief in self and a determination to succeed.  The stories of my TEC members have been inspiring for the challenges overcome, the success achieved to date, and the audacity of goals being pursued.  How audacious?  How about $50 million net worth by the age of 50 - with no capital of your own to start your venture (and on track)?  How about starting a company from scratch, getting executives to buy in with an equity stake in nothing and no salary and turning that into a nationally recognized venture in 3 years?  How about being a driving force in a regionally based company and turning that into a multimillion dollar stake as part of a buy-out by a national firm?  Success does come by a leap of faith.  Not without risk of course, nor without trials, tribulations and a few sleepless nights, but it does come.

Need something more personal?  How about making a shift out of a 25-year career to take on the challenge of building an executive coaching and consulting practice?  In the course of my three-year reinvention (to date) I've had more than one of my contacts express appreciation and amazement at my "successful" transformation.  I can't say that I yet share their same perspective on what success looks like but the comments have come all the same.  When pressed for the "secret of my success" I come back to the leap of faith concept once again.  I certainly had opportunities to return to my past career on a few occasions and I could easily have retreated to my place of comfort and safety.  I may have hesitated a time or two - and still have sleepless nights - but I know that I'll achieve more by having stayed the course and invested in my leap of faith fully.

I certainly appreciate the comfort and need for a "safety net".  But rather than hold on to your current reality and past success as your anchor and stabilizing point let me offer you some other linchpins in realizing your greater success that can still reassure you while you take flight:

1. Work on your vision, solidify your vision and keep focused on your vision - a leap of faith for me doesn't entail going in blind.  Belaboring the metaphor, you have to see the other side of the gorge in order to know where you are jumping to and have invested enough in yourself to have a reasonable degree of confidence to know you have the strength and skills to make the gap.  There is no 100% guarantee of success but there is closer to 0% chance if you make the leap without any focus or preparation.
2. Execute your plan with strength and conviction - even the best plans fail through poor execution.  Vision is the starting point but solidify that vision with clear goals and priorities, measure your progress, hold yourself accountable to those goals and metrics, adjust tactics as required to achieve the vision, and get help as you need it.  Those who are constantly planning or changing focus have no hope of making the leap.  
3. Don't give up (easily) - as noted before, many successful entrepreneurs and leaders did not enjoy or experience overnight success.  There will be setbacks, challenges and moments of (intense??) anxiety.  Be dogged in your determination to succeed.  Plan your work and work your plan.  Review tactics and investments to be sure.  If it were easy somebody would have already done it.  Where there is risk there is also reward.

Leadership is never about certainty or guarantees.  Leadership is all about taking that leap of faith - for yourself and on behalf of others.  Your current reality and success can hold you back or become a foundation for even greater success.  Which reality you embrace is truly going to be a matter of your own courage, confidence and conviction in yourself.  Leadership - is it in 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.

Fear and Panic don't equate to Leadership

Earlier this month Alberta underwent one of its infamous generational changes in government.  A new NDP government was formed after 44 years of Progressive Conservative government who had in turn ousted a Social Credit dynasty that had been in place for decades before.  In fact, Alberta has only had 5 governing parties hold power since coming into being since 1905.  When Alberta holds to a party it holds on to them for a long time.  Similarly, when a party is ousted from power it goes into political oblivion.  To this date - with the jury currently out on the Progressive Conservatives - no party has ever returned to power, and two have been wiped away completely never to return.

Leading up to this transition in power and since, the level of hyperbole from some commentators,  business people, federal politicians and Joe Q Public in respect of the transition from a "conservative" government to a "socialist" government has been extraordinary.  Dire predictions have been made of wholesale cancellation of oil and building projects, flight of capital, and departure of major segments of our population.  The province has now even been referred to as Albertastan in some quarters.

The predictions and prognostications were so over-the-top as to cause others to worry about creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Concern developed that continued negative commentary would start to make too many believe that now was the time to pull up stakes or freeze further commitments with the result that the provincial economy - already dealing with a precipitous drop in oil prices - would in fact slip into recession or worse.  A group of five prominent Alberta businessmen (sometimes derogatorily referred to as the "Monopoly Men") in particular warned of the consequences to Alberta's competitive advantage if the "socialists" were voted to power.

In my time as a manager/leader starting some twenty-five years ago, I've had the opportunity to work with and observe many leaders, managers and staff.  They have all helped me grow and develop my own leadership philosophy and style.  Sometimes I've learned great tools and techniques from them as they have navigated normal and not so normal situations.  But there have been just as many opportunities - and maybe more - where the lesson learned has been "I'll never do that!"

One of the areas of greatest learning has been in the experience of seeing how managers and leaders react to "adverse" events.  Those events have covered a spectrum of circumstances - poor (to deadly) service to clients, the out-of-the-blue call from a prominent political leader looking for action, a staff crisis, a building or equipment malfunction impacting service delivery, or media showing up without warning at your doorstep.  The set of circumstances is largely irrelevant other than in trying to convey that something bad has happened that needs to be addressed.  More importantly for me, is the range of leadership reactions these situations have engendered - which has been nothing short of extraordinary, educational and (in a perverse sort of way) highly entertaining.

For the intent of this blog and to highlight my point, I am going to focus on what I consider to be the negative side of these reactions.  In many cases, I write from direct experience or have otherwise observed the leadership response as it has unfolded.  Namely, a leadership reaction that actually becomes part of or creates the crisis it purports to want to avoid or manage.  Rather than providing stability, strength and vision through a challenging time, some leaders react with fear, panic and threats.  All too often the reaction is far more a testament to their true skill level or fear of lost alliances and entitlements enjoyed in "better" times. 

All too often, and for too many in leadership positions, there is a tendency to lose one's head during a real or perceived crisis.  I emphasize perceived because I believe that in many situations leaders may overplay a set of circumstances and never step back for long enough to evaluate whether in fact there is a real crisis in need of management.  Up-front evaluation is an important first step.  Otherwise you are going to be expending a lot of unnecessary time and energy that probably could be put to better use. 

Beyond this initial evaluation, it appears that for some leaders running around, crying out that the proverbial sky is falling is somehow an effective way of ensuring that immediate, decisive and effective action is taken.  That's where I believe some leaders miss the point about what effective leadership is and should be about.  Too many react to a negative scenario by confusing immediate action or any action with effective action.  They seem to believe that only by providing an immediate response in a situation will they be perceived as being in control, responsible and competent.  The reality is often far different.  More often the sense they convey to staff and others around them is that they are in panic mode.  Rather than being a leader that manages the situation their reaction more often generates fear, stress and anxiety to everyone unfortunate to be caught up in the vortex of activity.

Aside from the mental distress that the leader is subjecting themselves and their team to, a "decisive" yet hasty reaction is just as likely (or more likely) to lead to the wrong decision as to the right one.  In most situations we rarely have 100% perfect information.  In crisis situations this is even more the case.  Therefore, crisis demands disciplined leadership, an ability to remain calm, and the strength to keep yourself and your team focused in order to solve the problem at hand.  In my experience, panic and performance excellence rarely go together.  A panicked reaction can often lead to more problems to solve.

A leader in crisis (versus a leader who manages through crisis) also creates a number of other negative impacts that may not be understood at the time or even later. First, in your haste to make a decision, you many not even be solving the right problem but merely papering over symptoms.  Second, by making a hasty decision you may inadvertently compromise your ability to achieve other more important objectives.  Third, rather than creating an effective and productive team you are more likely creating fear, reduced productivity, risk aversion and indecisiveness amongst your staff.  Ultimately, you are also doing damage to the perception of your leadership capacity - you are not creating an image of a confident and competent leader amongst your team, peers, superiors, or other stakeholders that can be looked to for strength in times of challenge.

So Keep Calm and Carry On!  I'm convinced that we don't see or experience as many crisis situations as we think we do.  Take the appropriate time to assess the situation.  And even when you do experience a true crisis, taking a deep breath before taking action is still a good tactic and a sign of confident, disciplined leader.  Your reaction will calm others, help them focus on doing the right things, and ensure understanding of all impacts of your actions.  I'm convinced that by taking a more measured and less panicked approach that you will make better decisions and the confidence in your leadership will be enhanced.

Leadership excellence means more poise and less panic. 







______________________________

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.