Case Study: New Leader Transition

Cliff Kayser, MS, PCC:  CSO

Background

SixSEED was invited to partner with a hospital seeking to support a new Director of Perioperative Services struggling to acclimate to the organization. The hospital sought an Executive Coach to support the leader’s difficult transition to the new role which was also occurring in the midst of the high-stress COVID-19 pandemic environment and severe nursing staff shortages. There was a need to accelerate the leader acclimating given the high revenue impact of her clinical areas.

The Strategy:

The Executive Coach partnered with the leader using a polarity framework:  a structured approach which matched well with the client’s military background.  In partnership with the client’s executive sponsor, they decided to focus on 7 key tensions.  Crucial to the client’s success would be to leverage the benefits of each of these “polarities” while at the same time being aware of her strong preferences for pole values that are shown in bold, below:

Confidence And Humility

Assertive And Cooperative

Candor And Diplomacy

Advocate And Inquire

Provide Direction And Invite Participation

Give Freedom/Trust And Hold Responsible/Verify

Mandatory Protocol And Discretionary Protocol

The strong preferences and combined impact for those pole preferences were creating barriers to her leadership effectiveness. As she became more aware of the dynamics between and among these competency pairs, she began exploring new approaches and creative ways to create “leverage” – to maximize the benefits of each, while minimizing the downsides of overdoing her strengths.

The Solution: 

In partnering with the coach, the client was able to prioritize a key tension for she and her team which was Give Freedom/Trust And Hold Responsible/Verify. She believed her team was framing the tension as an “Or” – and strongly over-relying on Giving Freedom/Trust to one another and falling short on holding one another responsible for follow-through on mandatory safety protocols.

The leader and coach co-designed and delivered a team development session for her 11-member leadership team. In the session, the team mapped and assessed their performance focused on Patient Safety And Staff Safety as it related to how individuals and the team navigated giving one another freedom while holding each other responsible for following safety protocols.

The Impact:

Near the end of the 6-month engagement the client completed a follow-up self-assessment for the original seven polarity tensions. The results are summarized below.  Most importantly, her leaders were able to depersonalize behaviors and recognize tensions as preferences and not as “good” or “bad.”  The client, by increasing visibility, developing relationships, and becoming a better “leader of leaders,” she was able to influence and “scale” systemic change.