SixSEED Partners

retreat

Leveraging Accountability for Self and Others

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By: Lisa Hompe MSOD, BSN, ACC

Background:

In the current healthcare climate of uncertainty, complexity, and change, how do we manage accountability? That is a question I often asked myself as a former healthcare leader managing a very busy ambulatory surgery center, and a question that I frequently encounter as I coach other healthcare leaders. In my previous leadership role, I was often faced with the dilemma and tension of holding oneself and others accountable. Accountability can have various meanings to different individuals, teams, and organizations, and is often rooted in organizational culture, norms, and behaviors. 

Assessment:

Self:

As a leader, when the work was stressful or challenging, I noticed my own internal challenge of wanting to take the path of least resistance. I found it was easier to delegate to those people who were more willing to take on additional tasks while avoiding those that were less interested or approachable. According to Harvard Business Review, recent data shows it is a common dilemma leaders face in holding others accountable successfully. Difficult conversations and creating an environment of accountability require a thoughtful and intentional approach. Approaching things with diplomacy and candor can help to create awareness and develop teams.

Team: 

What was I showing and modeling to my team by not having these crucial conversations? I realized as a leader, I was doing a disservice to those that needed to grow and learn. How was I holding myself accountable? When difficult conversations needed to take place for undesirable behavior or actions, I may have been unintentionally communicating that only a select few of the team were capable. Self-awareness is a first step and a key leadership and emotional intelligence competency. 

Impact:  

I believe no one intends to go to work every day creating problems and issues. The stressors currently impacting many healthcare workers place undue burdens on an already constrained and overtaxed system. This context can lead to undesirable or suboptimal behavior. It may be possible that leaders are unknowingly playing a part in perpetuating a lack of accountability with individuals and teams. If we’re honest with ourselves and our teams, we all have blind spots. What we model matters. It is possible to consider the well-being of others, while holding them responsible for their actions. I learned that having crucial conversations and asking others to step up creates an environment of shared interests; it creates an environment where everyone feels heard and valued, willing to show up and do their best. I encourage all leaders to take notice of how working with team members to create shared accountability and responsibility helps foster a more positive work environment.

Takeaways:

For yourself, look at what you can control-

  • Assume positive intentions for all individuals  
  • Notice who and how often you may be tapping into? Are they often the same people?
  • Check yourself. Did you have all the correct data and facts before you acted? Ask yourself, what if the opposite were true?
  • What is the intention of your messages? And how does your communication impact others?

For your team, start with open dialogue and conversations-

  • Intentionally create coaching conversations. Learn to ask open-ended questions in a psychologically safe environment
  • Listen and be open and curious for the answers your team is providing
  • Be clear on roles and responsibilities and get feedback if people need more clarity, communication, or training
  • Embrace the challenge and use the support of a coach or colleague 

This is simple but not always easy. Learning to manage these leadership challenges can make a world of difference. How you define accountability reflects the agreements and commitments you are willing to make. What are you committed to? How do you support and grow others to be aware of their behavior and actions? What is the culture you intentionally want to create for your team and the broader organization? Part 2 of the series will address creating a positive culture in the current healthcare environment. If you’d like to learn how to increase the accountability of your team while holding yourself accountable in a courageous and compassionate way, contact sixseedpartners for more information.

Developing Integrated Accountability in Healthcare

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

Background:

SixSEED Partners (SSP) was engaged by a senior health system leader to complete a 360-degree feedback process in support of the client’s ongoing systemic leadership and development.  This leader was brought into the health system to integrate service line leadership from a decentralized and competitive model to a more centralized and collaborative model.  The Leadership Circle 360 Profile (LCP) was administered after the client had been in the system for a year.

The Strategy:

The client had previously completed the LCP at another system so we were curious to see if the themes would be any different from his prior results.  In reviewing the results from 32 respondents, the client’s attention went to two variables:  there continued to be a theme of his strength in relationships and in his overdoing that strength with complying behaviors (for detail, see The Leadership Circle Website).  This leader’s development opportunity was courageous authenticity and achieving results and decisiveness—dimensions well known to him. 

However, his greatest concern was that the ratings from his direct reports was drastically different (lower) than other stakeholder groups. 

The Solution:  

As we explored internal and external dynamics, we found support in the theoretical frameworks of the Empowerment Dynamic, and Polarity Thinking which correlate perfectly with the LCP framework of reactive and creative modes of energy management.  Through coaching and much reflection, the client was able to see how his direct reports were placing him in a rescuer (hero) role and were presenting themselves as victims to system leaders, mainly hospital Presidents who were perceived as villains (see graphic).  This dynamic was evident through numerous cultural stories in the organization—not only did this dynamic occur within his organization:  it was prevalent throughout the system, with a displacement of accountability to “higher ups,” which was also convenient when something didn’t work.  Blame was a well -known song sung throughout the system.

The Impact:

From the client’s perspective, he was able to see that he was re-enacting that dynamic with his boss and part of his development was to be conscious of the roles he was playing and putting on others.  He started individual meetings with his direct reports and shared the distinctions between victim and creator, encouraging them to take ownership and identify actions they can take to influence what they wanted to create in the system.

The client was also challenged to lead a system-level leadership development effort where both/and thinking (polarity thinking) would be introduced and measured for the prevalent tensions of Centralization and Decentralization (system service lines AND local hospital entities) and Individual AND Team accountabilities.  In this way, he would broaden the leadership capacity of system leaders which would minimize the victim/persecutor conversations and support mutual accountability throughout the system.

Are victim/ persecutor conversations rampant in your organization?  Are you fatigued in having to spend time on these draining discussions that result in stagnation and energy drain?  We feel your pain!  Contact us to learn how you can lead sustainable, empowering change in your system!

Living Our Practices: SixSEED Partners Retreat

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Our commitment

SixSEED Partners applies the tools and processes we use with our partner clients, to ourselves. One way we did that recently was to take some “time-out” from virtual and the day-to-day to do some reflection and self-care in the process of our work. Cliff’s retreat and learning center, “Kayser Ridge” located in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia was the perfect place to “walk our talk.” Here are a few highlights from our SixSEED retreat, which focused on leveraging a few key polarities:


Take Care of Each of Us
AND
Take Care of SixSEED

Appreciate By Looking Back
AND
Grow By Looking Forward

Our Actions

Prior to gathering at Kayser Ridge, we divided the work of the retreat according to each of our “sweet spots:” signature strengths (matching work with the right resource to tap into natural energy). We met between October 2nd and October 4th and each partner facilitated a section of the retreat, with previously agreed upon outcomes.  Tapping into our CEO’s “big picture,” strategic thinking and passion for the application of non-verbal methods of learning and change, we stood in each of our Six SEEDS to celebrate our accomplishments and sense into future directions.  Shifting from a macro lens to a more micro lens,  we next designed and filmed sixty second video summaries for each of the Six SEEDS. 

We spent quality time exploring the challenges and opportunities from the perspective of our client partners, and how this period offers unique opportunities for us individually and collectively.  We agreed to an infrastructure that would allow us to leverage margin with our mission to provide “integrated solutions to heal healthcare”. 

Amidst working hard, we played.  We shared in the preparation and clean-up of our meals, and enjoyed each “breaking bread” experience – complete with stories, laughter, and a few tears. We appreciated and experienced the beauty of our surroundings – more laughter stories over a campfire, under stars, and in the glow of harvest moonlight. Up from behind the mountains facing east, Joy captured images of the sun rising amid and the mountain mist. And in those same moments, turned the tripod to capture the moon setting down behind the western mountains. We watched leaves fall and streams trickle on a valley hike. Lastly, tapping into Petra’s lovable “jester energy,” we posed for photos in our own version of Charlie’s Angels.

Our Results

We have scheduled discussions with two partners we’re most excited about working with in the future; we re-allocated our compensation structure to support our strategic goals; and we secured resources to finish our SEED videos for publication.  We have a renewed sense of purpose in our work around culture, wellbeing and leadership ecosystem capacity as it pertains to providing skills that support depolarization within healthcare and our country.  In addition to these business results, we affirmed why we chose to partner in the first place:  that we are much better together than alone and we truly enjoy each other’s company and find it life-giving.

Our Invitation to you

As Petra articulated in a prior blogpost on the first Vital Question:  “Where are you putting your focus?,” it is easy to get caught in the maelstrom of activity and crisis.  This problem- focus results in wasted energy without accomplishing your desired outcomes.  By holding ourselves accountable to our desired outcomes and allocating time to step back, assess, and plan, we maximized our own wellbeing, while also being productive in our desired results.

We’d love to hear from you about how you’re leveraging taking care of yourselves while you take care of your organizations and appreciate by looking back and grow by looking forward.  Contact us at: www.sixseedpartners.com or by tagging us on LinkedIn or Facebook.

Leveraging Polarities to Create Sustainable High Performance: A Physician and Nurse Leadership Academy Day of Learning

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In April of 2019, WellSpan Physician and Nursing leaders were brought together for a transformative Day of Learning conducted by SixSeed Partners.

Dr. Larry McEvoy presenting the background of polarities.

For over a year SixSeed Partners worked with system senior leaders to increase the capacities for transformational change and leveraging polarities to create and measure sustainable performance. As the work of polarities had begun to permeate throughout the system, the was an expressed need to increase nursing and physician leadership knowledge about the power of polarities.

Educating Nursing Leadership AND Physician Leadership

Polarities are interdependent pairs of values or points of view that may appear as opposite, but when leveraged together can produce powerful outcomes. Prior to the workshop,

WellSpan choose four polarities to concentrate their work:Joy Goldman, RN, MS, PCC discusses the mindset shift to AND thinking.

Joy Goldman, RN, MS, PCC discusses the mindset shift to AND thinking.

  • Centralized and Decentralized- Focus on the independent business units needs AND systems opportunities;
  • Continuity and Transformation- Keeping the legacy and traditions of the past AND transforming for the future;
  • Tactical and Strategic- Increasing leadership capacity to think tactically AND strategically at the same time; and
  • Margin and Mission- Optimizing the financial health AND mission goals for individuals, systems and teams.

The physicians and nursing leaders learned that each polarity was not a problem to be solved, but a mindset to embrace, thus the “AND” mindset was put in motion for the group.  Interactive practice tools were given to help mobilize teams toward forward movement when they experienced repeated cycles of interdependent tension.

Perhaps the most significant take-away was the provision of language for the leaders to hold and invite numerous perspectives, which support AND thinking and leading within complexity.

_____________

Individual leaders start to map their own polarities.

“It was so helpful to hear what others have learned. I’m a new director, so to hear from other directors and doctors was so helpful for me in my new role.”  — Nursing Director

 

“To mention the elephant in the room, it was pivotal to our success today to bring nursing and physician leaders into the same room, to encourage dialogue around our common polarities.” — Chief Medical Officer

 

“I am going to go back to my team tomorrow and integrate eight minutes of dialogue into our meetings instead of our usual one-way conversation and problem solving.”  — Physician Leader