SixSEED Partners

Coaching

Leveraging the Tension of Assuming Responsibility and Delegating Responsibility

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This is the fourth in a series on leveraging tensions during this time of the coronavirus.  For SixSEED Partners, Covid-19 is a powerful reminder of what already exists in our world which is complex and unpredictable circumstances that can cause much pain and expense unless we learn to take a more systemic view and get comfortable leveraging interdependent tensions.  Previously, we covered the paradoxes of:

  • Leveraging Facts AND Faith
  • Leveraging Staying Present AND Anticipating the Future
  • Leveraging Care for Self AND Care for Others

After hours of speaking with our clients who are on the front lines in hospitals or leading medical practices, the tensions we’re highlighting are coming from them—you.  We’re asking questions and staying present to your pain points, that, in already demanding circumstances, is taking additional energy that you don’t have to spare.  We want to help make this easier for you, while also increasing your capacity to lead others through this pandemic.

As we coach leaders, we often refer them to the powerful work of David Emerald who wrote: “3 Vital Questions: Transforming Workplace Drama.”  This book, along with his other book: “The Power of TED (The Empowerment Dynamic)” describe our tendencies to fall in roles of victim, persecutor, and rescuer.  Covid -19 calls on medical professionals and others to play the role of “Hero/ Rescuer” to patients who are sick and/or dying due to the coronavirus.  These patients are helpless to fight this battle without medical support.

The tension for leaders occurs when we extend that pattern of playing hero with others in our lives who are quite capable of taking care of themselves and possibly, even acting in a way that may exceed our capacity.  How do you determine the essential work that only you can do, as compared with those responsibilities another resource is, or could be, well-prepared to do?  If I were to use some of the examples I’m hearing from my clients, I’m impressed with the speed with which others have been trained to staff command centers, or resources have been summoned to expedite operationalizing telemedicine.  

It takes a conscious leader to pause during the crisis of reacting to Covid-19, and ask themselves and their teams the following questions: 

  • “What beliefs did we suspend during this crisis that helped us to be successful?” 
  • “How might we continue to challenge our former belief structure to allow us to expand our talent pool and create a stronger degree of shared ownership?”  
  • “What benefits might emerge for our ability to better care for ourselves while we create more powerful engagement for our teams that can help us meet future challenges?”

In the book above mentioned, the second question is: “How are you relating?”  During this time of complexity and uncertainty, pausing to notice with curiosity “how you’re relating,” (from what role) in addition to taking action will yield dividends in your future preparedness and increase in systemic well-being.

Below is a polarity map, which outlines this tension of Assuming Responsibility and Delegating Responsibility in service to creating shared ownership for all.  

At SixSEED Partners, we are committed to developing leaders who have the capacity to see these interdependent tensions to better lead in this time of uncertainty.  We’ve taken the liberty of adding some action steps and warning signs to this map that you can use immediately with your teams.

If you’d like your own editable polarity map to give yourself the systemic view of the tension you are navigating, or if you have questions about how you might use this information now, complete our contact form and we’ll respond within 1 business day.

  

Caring for Self AND Caring for Others

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This is the third in a series on leveraging tensions during this time of the coronavirus.  For SixSEED Partners, Covid-19 is a powerful reminder of what already exists in our world which is complex and unpredictable circumstances that can cause much pain unless we learn to take a more systemic view, and get comfortable leveraging interdependent tensions.  Previously, we covered the paradoxes of:

  • Leveraging Facts AND Faith
  • Leveraging Staying Present AND Anticipating the Future

I am thankful and in awe of my healthcare executive clients who are staffing command centers yet continue to honor our time together and their development work.  The tension of Caring for Self AND Caring for Others is present as they wrestle with the pull of the never ending “to do list” and command center requirements with the desire to structure in time during their day that refuels their energy and feels like a gift to themselves.  Many of these leaders have chosen to do a “walk and talk” session where we both get outside so that we can experience the simple pleasures of exercise; sunshine; animals; and blossoming trees.  Spoken by several of my clients: “I’ve been sitting for hours on zoom calls:  this is the first time I’ve allowed myself to get outside and move!”

For many of you reading this, if you’re in a leadership role, you may have a story of “I’m responsible and that means I model total commitment to the work that needs to be done.”  Working twelve-hour days becomes a badge of honor.  Of course, you have no time for exercise—you are doing your job:   there are no other options.  Self-Care requires you to challenge your internal operating system—your belief structure that might actually be getting in the way of your committing time to care for yourself.  It’s an interesting tension between playing the hero as you rescue others, while also having the self-awareness of knowing when you might be overdoing that role, to the detriment of yourself and of others who have the capacity to learn and grow in assuming additional responsibilities.  One of the most important lessons I had to learn as a nursing leader was to make myself dispensable because I was developing others.

Below is a polarity map, which outlines this tension of Caring for Self AND Caring for Others in service to creating health for all.  

At SixSEED Partners, we want to develop leaders who have the capacity to see these interdependent tensions to better lead in this time of uncertainty.  We’ve taken the liberty of adding some action steps and warning signs that we’ve heard from our clients.  Perhaps they ring true for you as well.  I admire those healthcare leadership teams who have relaxed their pre-Covid policies around who staffs their command centers, in service to both developing others AND providing relief for over-worked leaders.

If you’d like your own editable polarity map to give yourself the systemic view of the tension you are navigating, or if you have questions about how you might use this information now, complete our contact form and we’ll respond within 1 business day.

Staying Present AND Anticipating the Future

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During this time of the coronavirus and high stress amongst many, it is easy to find oneself blaming others for what might not be working.  For example, I’ve read complaints that we knew we were vulnerable to a pandemic and failed to plan adequately for it as we focused more on political or economic agendas which were real NOW.  There were some who feared that spending too much time preparing for something that might never happen would be a waste of time to the detriment of immediate issues.  Which perspective is correct?  Both!

One of the tensions often present as we lead complex organizations and deal with unpredictable change is that of honoring and being present to the needs and gifts of now, AND planning for future demands.  Healthcare has had to meet volume-driven payment models while planning for value-based care.  We have to serve our existing inpatient and ambulatory patient visits while planning for the future of telemedicine.  More imminent right now is meeting the existing demands of COVID-19 patients while planning for predictive surges in viral spread and increasing demands for personal protective equipment and ventilators, as well as planning for sustainable adaptation when the new normal becomes evident. 

What happens when we take a problem-solving approach to these interdependent challenges, without considering the interdependent tensions?  We find ourselves arguing loudly for our perspective believing there is one right answer and we have it, which creates more stress for us and others and can cause a see-saw-like approach which results in inconsistent performance and wasted resources.

I met with a client recently who is a physician and clinical leader dealing with both in-hospital and public health issues.  What she found most helpful in our dialogue were the reminders to practice self-care now, so that she could take care of others in the future.  She also appreciated the idea for harvesting seeds of positive ways of interacting during this crisis now that can help her, her teams, and her system to function more effectively in the future.  Without the intention to pause and document those positive interactions, she and her system remain at risk of reverting back to ineffective habits.

Below is a polarity map which outlines this tension of being present and anticipating the future, in service to an agile and prepared organization.  

At SixSEED Partners, we want to develop leaders who have the capacity to see these interdependent tensions to better lead in this time of uncertainty.  Missing are action steps and warning signs that would be added based on what is relevant for you and your teams.  One action step for staying present for the leader previously mentioned would be taking the last 15 minutes of a meeting and harvesting what worked during that meeting and what barriers existed that would allow them to create new ways of interacting in the immediate future.

If you’d like your own editable polarity map to give yourself the systemic view of the tension you are navigating, or if you have questions about how you might use this information now, complete our contact form and we’ll respond within 1 business day.

Gathering Facts AND Thriving in Uncertainty

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As mentioned in our previous post, SixSEED Partners would like to provide you immediately applicable tools to help you lead during this time of unprecedented disruption.  These tools can help elevate leadership capacity in leaders at any level.  These times call us to leverage problem solving skills which often have a right/ wrong- black and white answer along with both/and responses to complex interdependent tensions (if you want to know more, stay tuned for a webinar being offered soon).  

Leading during Covid-19 requires both problem solving as we learn facts concerning viral spread and leveraging uncertainty- what we don’t yet know.  As we learn facts about the corona virus, we can problem-solve where there are definitely right and wrong answers.  For example, we know the right way to wash our hands and to deploy personal protective equipment so that it is accessible to those who most need it.  Decision-making during complex and ambiguous times also requires the ability to know when we’ve exhausted what we know, and could benefit from the deployment of faith and possibilities.  Faith is not often spoken in healthcare, AND we know that deploying faith along with facts helps to strengthen our resilience and positively infects others.

The Polarity Map® below takes you through how you might leverage this tension in service to our greater purpose of impactful and informed decision-making.  Since this virus is new, we are leveraging what we know and have used in the past, while dancing in the moment as we discover new patterns of viral spread; infection and disease manifestation.  

If we listen to the news, there are many who want to blame others for spreading “wrong information.”  If all acknowledged the tension of what we know with what we don’t know, perhaps we’d be more forgiving in our perceptions.  Each human being on this planet is now challenged with leveraging their own tensions around their behavior.  How do I protect myself and loved ones, while also contributing to the common good?  As the primary caregiver for my 88 year-old mom, I’m challenged by leveraging the therapeutic benefit of my presence and healing touch, with the risk of exposing her to the virus should I be a carrier without symptoms. I’m not convinced the risk of exposure is of greater risk than that of her not seeing me which provides her reason to live.

The map below is a suggestion of how you might leverage action steps and warning signs to make sure you’re fully-leveraging the benefits of both poles and minimizing the downside limitations.  Merely balancing isn’t good enough. Truly great performance comes from full-leverage – staying out of the downsides as much as possible and staying in the upsides as much as possible. System-level resilience is directly tied to how well leaders and those who follow them leverage this and other polarity tensions. Here’s the bottom line: while either/or thinking is useful, it’s not up to the task of leveraging the interdependencies that show up for leaders, teams, and organizations.

If you’d like your own editable polarity map to give yourself the systemic view of the tension you are navigating, or if you have questions about how you might use this information now, complete our contact form and we’ll respond within 1 business day.

Leading effectively: The importance of giving yourself – and your teams – space to breathe and think

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Are you leading through continuous change? Is the change unpredictable and moving at such a fast pace that it is difficult to keep up and has you wondering what it looks like to lead effectively and with the space to think? Not just for yourself, but also with your leadership team and for your teams across your system?

These are very common questions we hear from our clients, and frankly, what a multitude of articles and books are being written about in the leadership development space. The fundamental principle involved in all of them is similar to the metaphor of the Oxygen mask on the plane: in order to navigate the changing situation (e.g. cabin pressure dropping), we must slow down and put the oxygen mask on ourselves, before we can effectively serve others and take further actions. 

What is that metaphorical oxygen mask for you, your leadership team, and your system as you look to navigate unpredictable and complex situations? One vital tool to answer that question is to create increased awareness through feedback systems – internal and external – focusing on the way we are interacting and taking action with others.

Image by David Emerald, www.3VQ.com

If you read that sentence and felt an added weight or wanted to dismiss that because it’s just “another thing to do,” you may be interested to learn that Peter Senge, known as the father of organizational learning, has long advanced the framework that focusing on thinking about how we think, interact and take action is the critical 3rd dimension of work within every organization.1  This is not extra work, nor soft work – it is the vital groundwork that when incorporated, can support you and your teams to navigate complexity and ambiguity effectively over time.

So back to that oxygen mask metaphor: having systems and structures in place to get feedback on how you are interacting and taking action, the impact it is having to yourself and others – is your way of assessing what the cabin pressure is in your environment.

Internal feedback systems include administering “self check-ins” and establishing a “self care plan” that puts you as a priority on your to-do list, among all the other priorities that your role and organization are asking of you. As leaders, you have this strength developed around planning for implementations, for budget cycles, for change initiatives – you must apply that same skill to yourself before any of those others. In healthcare, the troubling reality – and sad irony – is the increasing evidence that those providing care, administering and leading the health care system are doing a poor job of modeling that care for themselves.  No system – and no person – can sustain over time with that kind of discordance within.  What is your “self care plan?” On a scale of 1-10, how do you rate yourself in implementing your plan successfully? What works for you, and what gets in the way?

External feedback systems include informal, formal, ongoing and easeful ways of giving and receiving information to each other that increases your collective awareness, for the sake of learning and evolving amidst the ongoing change around us. When done effectively, this can raise the learning cycles from single loop, to double loop and even triple loop learning.2,3 What systems do you have in place to learn about the ways you – individually and collectively – are interacting and the impact you are having with respect to your intended results?

In healthcare, most often the external feedback loop stops with processes like HCAHPS and performance reviews. While both provide important information, it is at best partial and incomplete for an overall effective external feedback system. While it is beneficial and important to look backward to review what has been achieved, having only that focus orientation has an inherent trap in its design. Namely, the underlying intention and processes typically do not include two-way communication, nor have the intention of generating growth and development in a forward direction. Effective external feedback systems require a “growth mindset” and a focus on “scaling leadership.”

These two components are your metaphorical oxygen being delivered in the oxygen mask.  Stay tuned for additional articles to expound on these topics.

For now, take a moment to ask yourself – and your leadership teams – the questions posed in this article.  So that our readers can learn and grow together, tell us your story of what you find is working for you. If you recognize any gaps or areas you could improve in, we invite you to share that too.

Reference:

  1. Senge P. (1992) Building Learning Organization Journal for Quality and Participation. 15(2): 30-39.
  2. Argyris C. (1991) Teaching smart people how to learn. Harvard Business Review. 69(3): 99‐109.
  3. Tosey P., Visser M., & Saunders M. N. (2012) The origins and conceptualizations of ‘triple-loop’ learning: A critical review. Management Learning. 43(3): 291–307.

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Next Generation Succession 2.0: Leveraging Succession to Accelerate Leadership Capacity

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On July 25th, Dr. Larry McEvoy and I had the privilege of presenting the above topic to a room filled with leaders, recruiters, and consultants attending the American Hospital Association 2019 Leadership Summit in San Diego.  We provided a case study that illustrated the application of a different paradigm in addressing succession planning. What the audience most appreciated were the five key shifts necessary to leverage systemic leadership capacity that drives results while fostering better engagement and well-being.  They are as follows: 

  1. “Bet on the herd; not the horse.” Paradigm shift from heroic leader with development of a select few, to increasing the thinking capacity of many leaders.  Focus on the collective rather than individual leadership.
  2. Create deep thinkers who are comfortable with the unknown and who create developer leaders. These leaders see “scaling leadership” as a key accountability area for their role.  Development is not a “nice to have.” It’s an intentional, systemic priority with frequent and varied feedback loops.
  3. Cascading both/and—polarity thinking along with problem-oriented thinking (either/or): Leaders are often promoted for their problem-solving ability.  Unfortunately, all the simple problems have been solved and healthcare is now dealing with complex issues that are interdependent.  This requires the ability to see and effectively leverage the larger system of polarities: mission and margin; tactical and strategic; centralized and decentralized; continuity and transformation.  Cascading a system’s capacity to manage paradox increases the system’s ability to compete in this complex world.
  4. Providing strategic simulation experiences that intentionally take the leaders out of their comfort zones; pairs them with leaders with whom they share different perspectives and apply time constraints that simulate the pressures CEOs face in dealing with real environmental challenges. This exercise provided a real-world “heat” experience that included their presenting to a mock board with challenging questions a CEO would experience from the board.
  5. Be a lens, not a filter: Shifting from silo’d selection and placement of CEO to an integrated process that proactively identifies development needs and structured methods to meet those needs post CEO hire.  The goal of the succession/ development efforts being stabilization of the entire system during times of transition as compared with filling a given role.

Click here to download a copy of our presentation. We’d love to hear from you! 

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References: 

Anderson, Robert, and William Adams.  Scaling Leadership: Building Organization Capability and Capacity to Create Outcomes that Matter Most.  Hoboken, NJ: Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2019 

Anderson, Robert, and William Adams. Mastering Leadership: an Integrated Framework for Breakthrough Performance and Extraordinary Business Results. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2016

Johnson, Barry. Polarity Management: Identifying and Managing Unsolvable Problems.  Amherst, MA: HRD Press, Inc. 1996

Petrie, Nick. The How To of Vertical Leadership Development Part II:  30 Experts; 3 Conditions and 15 approaches. Colorado Springs, CO: The Center for Creative Leadership, 2015 (http://tinyurl.com/jrxuvgx)