SixSEED Partners

#culture

Developing Leaders As They Work

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A Practical Application of Development in the Moment

Joy W. Goldman RN, MS PCC: CEO SixSEED Partners

Our Commitment

With thanks to the great thought leaders at @theconsciousleadershipgroup for their simple graphic on knowing when you’re not present but instead responding from a place of fear or a place of playing it safe (“below the line”). Some might ask: aren’t there times when responding in fear or trying to be safe is healthy? Absolutely! The challenge in leadership is knowing that “line” between a healthy, constructive response and a response that is more from habit and one that gets in the way of success. 

At SixSEED Partners, we work with our clients on practicing in-the-moment behaviors that align with their sense of purpose AND their well-being. Read on for more details on how we are partnering in developing leaders within the context of their work and not in addition to their work.

Our Actions

In this succinct graphic, the Conscious Leadership Group highlights five warning signs for noticing when you are responding from what they call – a “below-the-line” response. These behavioral signs include blaming others, black and white thinking, wanting to have THE right answer thereby making others wrong, and shallow breathing, among others. These are normal reactions to the many challenges in our current healthcare that faces workforce shortages, burnout, and very sick patients.

In partnership with our clients, we have designed a leadership development strategy that helps leaders improve their well-being and results as they deal with patient throughput.

Our Results

At SixSEED Partners, we help our leaders lead first, from a place of courage and compassion, and then invite them to choose a way forward that is more aligned with purpose. When we come from “above the line,” as the Conscious Leadership Group describes, we are more able to see possibilities and solutions that create wins for all contributors. We are present in this moment and can think with greater clarity, focusing on desired outcomes.

With that foundation in mind, we created fieldwork where leaders practice centering when they notice their signals of being below the line and then, from a more centered place, choose a more constructive response that aligns with their individual development goals. They are also partnering with other department leaders whose support they need to improve patient throughput. Their partnering involves learning the other department’s point of view so that their empathy improves and they see each other as the human beings that they are.

Our Invitation to you

Would you like to learn more about how you can help your leaders engage others with less wear and tear on them and their teams? You can see some of our case studies here:
https://sixseedpartners.com/resources/

    Shifts Transforming Organizations

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    Joy W. Goldman RN, MS PCC: CEO SixSEED Partners

    McKinsey & Co published a report: “The State of Organizations 2023: Ten Shifts Transforming Organizations.” Post Covid life has leaders realizing “we’re not in Kansas anymore,” as Dorothy said to Toto in “The Wizard of Oz.” What has worked in the past will not work now. The challenges are different. As the report states: “The shifts include complex questions about how to organize for speed to shore up resilience, find the right balance between in-person and remote work models, address employees’ declining mental health, and build new institutional capabilities at a time of rapid technological change, among others.”

    The report outlines the results of their interviews with 2500 business leaders. Reading the list of ten shifts may have you nodding your head in agreement: “Been there, done that.” The key question is “what are the changes that can be done today that will be cause sustainable improvement?”

    At SixSEED Partners, we most agree with their second and third points for transformation: “The second and third points are “must dos,” regardless of the type of transformation undertaken: there needs to be a strong focus on cultivating talent and on investing in the leadership that will take the organization forward.”

    As they assert: This is a MUST DO: not a nice to do. This is an investment of resources: not a “cost.” We are experiencing the cost of not doing this now: imagine how we might have fared differently if we had the leadership capacity— the thinking capacity to manage the pandemic and impending workforce challenges?

    This capacity includes shifting from accountability with a few to broader, shared accountability and collaboration; from hospital-centric to system-centric; from profits to people; and integrating the best of how we’ve operated until now, with the shifts needed for the future.

    We’ve done this work with ourselves, and with our client systems. You can read some of these case studies here: https://sixseedpartners.com/resources/

    CULTURE Seed

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    Petra Platzer, PhD, NBC-HWC, PCC: COO SixSEED Partners

    Rethinking Organizational Culture: More than just the “Soft Stuff”

    In a recent LinkedIn post by Siobhán McHale, an acclaimed culture transformation expert and author of “The Insider’s Guide to Culture Change”, she invites us to take a closer look at our definition of organizational culture. In a workplace context, culture is traditionally associated with how employees feel – whether they’re happy, motivated, or satisfied. However, McHale suggests a broader and more impactful definition. Namely, culture is “a critical enabler of optimal business functioning.”

    This broader definition can unlock a missing key for many organizations. Instead of viewing culture as the byproduct of HR policies, employee satisfaction surveys or staff retreats, culture now shifts to a driver and core component of the company’s strategy for success.

    The Misunderstanding of Culture

    McHale’s post acknowledges that research on organizational culture doesn’t always show a clear link between culture and performance. The key reasons for this ambiguity include different meanings and indicators for how culture was being defined. As a result, measuring its impact has been inconsistent and difficult to clearly link.

    Yes, while culture does include how people feel at work, it’s essential to realize that culture is about so much more. Culture impacts every aspect of a healthcare organization, from access strategies and quality patient care delivery to workforce recruitment and vendor relationships. Depending on the system’s objectives, the desired culture could be adaptive, innovative, patient-centric, agile, quality-driven, growth-oriented, accountable, performance-focused, community-minded, sustainable—and the list goes on.

    The real risk lies in relegating culture to the realm of “soft” stuff, as something optional or secondary. When we appreciate culture as a strategic enabler, its ties to performance become more robust and more measurable.

    Our Journey in Re-defining Culture

    At SixSEED Partners, we support our clients in defining, or re-defining, their leadership culture. In partnering with one academic medical center over multiple years, we’ve used validated tools and cross-disciplinary designs to introduce real-time systems that support clinical excellence and promote the well-being of its clinical leaders. This journey wasn’t just about diagnosing the existing culture, but about shaping a desired one that aligns with the organization’s goals. One evident link by this multi-site leadership team’s culture work to their improved performance has been the establishment of system-wide processes that also incorporate distinct and unique hospital entities. In a multi-hospital system where an “us-them” dichotomy existed, they are successfully evolving to a cultural approach that celebrates the best of the individual organizations (“Us”) and also functions as a unified system (“We”).

    The Path Forward

    Culture is multi-faceted. It’s not just about feelings, and it’s certainly not an ‘optional extra’ to address when things settle down or there is more bandwidth. Focusing on culture is the foundation upon which the employees and the systems operate, innovate, and thrive.

    So, McHale’s question remains: Have you seen culture impact performance at your work?

    If you are ready to re-define your culture as a strategic enabler for your system to increase its performance with less challenges along the way, we’re here to make that happen with you. Reach out to us and let’s embark on this transformative journey together.

    Read the LinkedIn post from Siobhán McHale here: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mchalesiobhan_culture-activity-7112911972588802048-H5lU?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

    Psychological Safety

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    Joy W. Goldman RN, MS PCC: CEO SixSEED Partners

    Continuing our theme of psychological safety, this article by McKinsey & Company: “Psychological Safety and the Critical Role of Leadership Development” describes research linking leadership development to high psychological safety cultures: “Investing in and scaling up leadership-development programs can equip leaders to embody these behaviors and consequently cultivate psychological safety across the organization.”

    This article eludes to what we at SixSEED Partners train our clients in which is using both/and thinking to address complex challenges. If we are to sustainably create cultures of psychological safety, we must have leaders who can leverage challenging teams and supporting teams; practice advocacy (telling) and inquiry (asking questions, getting curious); flexing their style to leverage candor and diplomacy; and most importantly, when delegating, giving freedom and holding accountable.

    Would you like to develop your leaders to be able to lead their teams toward creating psychologically safe environments? We’d love to hear from you! https://sixseedpartners.com/contact/

    Read article here: https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/psychological-safety-and-the-critical-role-of-leadership-development

    David’s Ulrich’s Leadership Pipeline

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    Joy W. Goldman RN, MS PCC: CEO SixSEED Partners

    With gratitude to Nicki Roth for posting this updated graphic of David Ulrich‘s Leadership Pipeline. As SixSEED Partners work with our clients, we invite them to re-think succession planning to a shift from preparing a few for select positions, to developing the capacity to think and better lead in complexity. In the graph posted by The Talent Guru, you will notice an evolution from task oriented and defined capacities to more of leading and growing others to create a culture of well-being and excellence. How are you intentionally developing your leaders so that their thinking expands before they are promoted into more complex roles? We’d welcome chatting with you about proven methods that respect your team’s and the organization’s most pressing needs.

    Read post here: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/nicki-roth-0b6a86_1-min-summary-of-the-evolution-of-leadership-activity-7086660758188486656-EBKR?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

    National Academy of Medicine’s National Plan for Health Workforce Well-Being

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    Joy W. Goldman RN, MS PCC: CEO SixSEED Partners

    Background

    In today’s post, we celebrate the National Academy of Medicine’s National Plan for Health Workforce Well-Being. This plan emphasizes a systems approach to well-being that includes roles for clinicians, administrators, and “coalition actors” to reduce unnecessary burdens that stem from laws, regulations, policies and standards placed on health workers.

    These links will take you to their website and plan document:

    https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/26744/national-plan-for-health-workforce-well-being
    https://nap.nationalacademies.org/resource/26744/highlights.pdf

    “The National Plan for Health Workforce Well-Being is intended to inspire collective action that focuses on changes needed across the health system and at the organizational level to improve the well-being of the health workforce.” The National Plan’s vision is that patients are cared for by a health workforce that is thriving in an environment that fosters their well-being as they improve population health, enhance the care experience, reduce costs, and advance health equity; therefore, achieving the “quintuple aim.”

    If you’d like support in creating a culture of well-being, email us at this link:https://sixseedpartners.com/contact/