SixSEED Partners

Lisa Hompe

Leveraging Creative and Reactive Thinking for Leadership Impact

by Leave a Comment

Advanced Practice Provider (APP) Development Case Study: Academic Medicine

SixSEED Partners Affiliates: Lisa Hompe RN, MSOD, ACC; Vinay Kumar, PCC

Background

SixSEED Partners (SSP) co-created and facilitated two virtual leadership sessions working with an Academic Medical Center Advanced Practice Provider (APP) Director and her team of over 25 frontline clinical Nurse Practitioner (NP) and Physician Assistant (PA) leaders.

The Director desired to improve the capacity and leadership skills of her leadership team to then cascade the learning within their teams. These leaders had been stretched with multiple demands, including COVID-19 and staffing shortages. The intent was to provide leadership development for the APP leaders that would be rejuvenating, thought-provoking, and result in a greater sense of team and compassion.

The Strategy

The engagement consisted of two targeted two-hour virtual sessions, held four months apart. The structure supported dyad and small group activities and fieldwork assignments between the two sessions.

The sessions focused on providing the leaders with a framework for creating a mindset shift in perspective and allowing for less reactive behavior and more outcome-focused and purpose-driven creative expression. The content illustrated how majority of leadership happens through communication and conversations.

The first session used the content from the Conscious Leadership Group: Above and Below the Line thinking with practical solutions to switching from below the line to above the line behaviors. The second session reviewed the shared individual and collective learning results that happened between the sessions and focused on the additional content of David Emerald’s Dreaded Drama Triangle (DDT) and The Empowerment Dynamic (TED).  The sessions supported the noticing of oneself to make the shift from a victim mindset to that of a creator mindset.

The Solution

The work created a virtual space for connection, renewal, and rejuvenation. Through interactive dialogue and reflection, the sessions targeted the level of thinking that creates energy that is generative and not draining.

The introduction of small mindfulness exercises at the beginning of the sessions helped shift the team to being present and focused and offered tools for use in the leader’s day-to-day work. The facilitation and content structure supported partnering, shared accountability, and self-awareness.

The models supported a forward-looking, solution-oriented common language for noticing individual and collective leadership behaviors and created a container for exploring relational team dynamics and interactions.

The Impact

The work explored the relationship between a leader’s mental, emotional & physical state and the quality of their conversations, interactions, relationships, results, and effectiveness. This translated to the leaders’ ability to intentionally apply coaching and listening skills with their own teams for a greater, more positive impact.

Through interactive dialogue and facilitation, the participants were able to do courageous work in expanding their own thinking to add purpose-driven, authentic expression to an already strong foundation of problem-solving leadership behaviors. The group walked away with insights to put into practice in their day-to-day work.

The Director said, “this team, in their roles, is always focused on ‘getting to yes ‘ and this work has helped the team to find calm and joy and helps us recover from exhaustion” and it helps them notice “where they are” at any given moment. Others reflected that what was meaningful was learning to notice on purpose and being able to “be at the eye of the storm with courage and confidence”.

The introduction of these models and tools helped to support individual and collective effectiveness. It planted seeds for a future filled with possibilities, while creating a psychologically safe space for dialogue, listening, and vulnerability of their shared experiences.

If you’d like to learn more about how you can bring this tool to your leaders, contact us at SixSEED Partners.

Leveraging Team and Organizational Culture

by Leave a Comment

Intentionally Creating a Positive Healthcare Culture – A Leader’s Perspective

Part 2 of a three-part series on accountability, culture, and gratitude

BACKDROP:

People are tired. Leaders are tired. Sound familiar? It hasn’t been easy working in healthcare over the last several years. The current context of continuous ambiguity and change has posed a multitude of challenges for leaders. People are being asked to be resilient, to overcome, to stay the course. At the heart of what’s being asked of leaders is not only creating a healthy culture, but proactively maintaining it. When I coach healthcare leaders and executives, I often hear that people – at all levels – are stressed and challenged. They’re wondering about the future and if what they’re doing is sustainable. You may be feeling this way too. What would it look like if it were different for you? 

SHARED UNDERSTANDING AND LESSONS LEARNED: 

So why is it often so hard as a leader to “put your finger on the pulse” to know what is working or not working? It is often in the unseen energy- the beliefs, the mindsets, and the attitudes- that make up the milieu of the team. When setting out to create a thriving and positive culture, there often lives a gap in the optimal environment you aspire to create and the day-to-day reality.

I’ve walked in your shoes. I, myself, experienced how the value of creating a healthy culture became a critical and foundational leadership imperative. When I was a leader in charge of opening an ambulatory surgery center (ASC) and leading that same team through immense challenges during the pandemic, I learned that establishing a continuous healthy team culture took intentionality and communication. It paid off in dividends, as we were able to weather immense storms because the foundational groundwork of trust, respect and professionalism was codified.

WHY SHOULD YOU CARE /WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF NOT ACTING?

Given the challenging current healthcare climate, I offer a way forward. Culture building can be a living, learning laboratory; the cumulative byproduct of small everyday actions formed and shaped over time. Daily informal interactions matter, and they add up to have an impact on a larger scale. Looking through a polarity lens, when individual behaviors AND a culture of shared values are leveraged, you help to create a broader organizational alignment in your mission. 

We all know it requires courage to address what may need improvement or to challenge the status quo. What is the risk of not creating this? The building blocks of a strong cohesive team could be missing. When under stress, we face suboptimal ways of dealing with challenges and ultimately risk caring for ourselves and for others. What is the benefit of intentional culture building? A recent Gallup article supports that a greater sense of belonging can foster well-being and relationships, and serve to create an environment based on accumulated trust and transparency.

WHAT CAN YOU DO? SOME TAKEAWAYS AND SOLUTIONS:

What are a few foundational behaviors you can practice to maximize culture building?

  • Be intentional, curious, and open to create small positive acts everyday
  • Pay attention to the day-to- day conversations and relationships within your team and department. Notice what it is being said and not said, both publicly and privately
  • Observe situations objectively for what is working well and share positive observations
  • Be humble and willing to honestly face when something needs improvement
  • Check-in frequently with colleagues for feedback

Right now, the need to address culture change and caring for the caregivers in healthcare are critical imperatives. Part 3 of this series will offer more on how gratitude and appreciation can support a healthy workplace environment in the face of stress and uncertainty in a healthcare setting.

If you’re curious about the work we’ve done in helping other leaders like yourself create healthy, accountable cultures, reach out at the following link.