You’ve Heard Of Fundamentalism. How About Nancyism? - featured in California Business Journal

by Sharael Kolberg, Staff Writer, California Business Journal

“If you can’t get people to follow you, it doesn’t matter what your title is. You need to be the kind of leader people want to work with, not have to work with. My clients become the leaders that others want to follow.”

Nancy Steiger uses, what she calls, ‘Nancyisms’ to inspire change in the next generation of leaders through leadership development, personal career development, mission, vision and values development.

“In my opinion, my generation of leaders hasn’t done a great job of empowering the next generation for what’s ahead of them,” she says. “I try to inspire the next generation with the knowledge, skills, and experience to tackle the challenging problems that lay in front of them.”

Example:

• “Knowledge is not enough to change behavior.”
• “Your calendar and checkbook is all I need to see to understand your values.”
• “People will not remember what you say or do, but they will remember how you make them feel.”
• “Leadership is about influence more than power.”

No matter what stage someone is at in his or her career, it’s imperative to find the “why” that got someone to where they are and is “driving them to where they want to go,” Steiger says.

With 30+ years of executive experience, including 25 years of healthcare leadership, Steiger makes a profound impact as an Executive Coach’ she helps individuals who are unsure of which career to pursue and who want to transition to a new career — or jump up the corporate ladder.

“I help them become clear on their mission, vision, and values that lead them to success. Finding your ‘why’ really matters. The mission is the ‘why,’ the roots. The vision is the ‘where,’ the wings. Values are about the behavior and are intricate in creating culture.”

One of the first step in Steiger’s program is to find your why, your mission. Her sessions focus on transitional coaching for newly promoted leaders, relational coaching for leaders faced with interpersonal conflicts, and performance coaching to help leaders reach higher potential for themselves and their teams.

Leaders, she says, have to be effective at “inspiring followership.”

“If you can’t get people to follow you, it doesn’t matter what your title is. You need to be the kind of leader people want to work with, not have to work with. My clients become the leaders that others want to follow.” — Nancy Steiger 

For Personal Career Development, Steiger uncovers clients’ true purpose and passion, and establishes goals toward professional success and personal happiness, unlock their potential and break through barriers holding them back at work and at home.

“I also motivate clients to improve their health and start thinking about their next job. What is the best next job? What’s their perfect North Star? If you didn’t have to work, what would you do? Switching for money is not a good idea. I assist them with getting clarity and learning how to measure success.”

Through a combination of career planning, leadership development, coaching and mentoring, “I equip client with the skills required to reach their highest potential by engraining the knowledge, skills, behavior and self-awareness to lead generative, sustainable change and endurance for years to come.”

Steiger’s Mission Success program provides those in a leadership role with tools to ramp up operational performance and clinical excellence. She teaches executives how to uphold the vision of their company, set the course for how to manage the company, and to create a culture of respect and care within the company.

Some of the most common problems leaders possess is listening and interpersonal relations. “Listening is an undervalued skill — listening with the intent to truly understand – and show how much you care.”

“You can’t manage everything around you, but you can manage your response and your reaction. What you see depends on where you stand. I coach a lot of people on seeing others’ points of view.” — Nancy Steiger

One of the most impactful tools Steiger provides is teaching clients to manage their calendar. Sounds a little silly, huh? Not so. What she does is help clients “avoid being victims to their calendar.”

“People need to manage their energy, not just their time and have a cadence to their calendar. If you don’t manage your calendar, it manages you. We all know that there are limitations to what you can manage with your calendar, which is not an excuse for not managing the parts that you can.”

The biggest challenge as an Executive Coach, Steiger says, is getting people to actually do the work that needs to be done to get them where they want to be. “If you are not achieving what you want to achieve, you have to find the time, space, and money to invest in coaching and be willing to do the work. You will find more happiness and be more effective.”

Her favorite clients are those who are highly motivated. “I love watching people get the ‘ahas.’ It’s like watching a flower bloom.”

Steiger typically works with clients twice a month for an hour, for about four to six months. She says clients typically see results in the first couple of weeks and by week four they feel empowered, not stuck.

As for Steiger’s perspective on the state of the Executive Coaching industry, she says that it has to be relevant and respond to specific industries. With regards to the future of the healthcare industry, she reflects on the enormous impact COVID has made.

“The cost of healthcare is intolerable,” she concludes. “Tele-medicine and wearables will change how healthcare is delivered. We have to figure out how to bring the cost down, which means restructuring everything from strategy and finance to operations. We need to re-create a future that’s more accessible to everyone.”

Copyright © 2021 California Business Journal. All Rights Reserved.

This article was edited and published by Rick Weinberg, California Business Journal’s Founder, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief. Click here for Rick Weinberg’s biography.

"The Single Biggest Problem in Communication is the Illusion That it Has Taken Place." George Bernard Shaw

How many times have you left a conversation feeling good about it only to find out later that the other party didn’t understand, wasn’t on the same page, or simply had a very different take on your conversation?

​In these busy times, we are all trying to connect the dots. How does everything fit together? How do you make sense of priorities? So much is coming at each of us, all the time. Whether you are a leader or staff, you can’t manage your day if you can’t communicate effectively.

No matter what your role is, excellent communication skills are a must.
At the end of the day, the art of listening, one of the most important parts of communication, is crucial to all relationships but most especially to successful relationships.

The problem then is that we think we are better listeners than most of us really are. Why is that?

When we think about communication, we usually think about clearly sharing our point-of-view, usually by talking. But the most important part of communication is listening…with the intent to understand.

Can you think of times when you were not listening with the intent to understand? Sometimes you just want the other person to finish what they are saying so you can talk, sometimes you are in an argument and you are thinking of your next words before they have finished theirs.

Let’s look at the key components of listening...

Listening is not just what you hear, it is the total of what you understand and what you remember. That means you must be present, right here, in this moment.

This is important because being heard means being taken seriously. If you are not present, not really listening than you are not taking the other person seriously and they will not feel listened to...Think about that.

​Listening is such a deep component of communication and many of us could significantly improve our listening skills.

As it turns out, according to a study at the University of Missouri, listening is our most commonly used communication skill accounting for 45% of communications vs. speaking which is only 30%, reading at 16% and writing at 9%. This was a big surprise to me!

Unfortunately, most of us are very poor and inefficient listeners. Why is that? There are several reasons...

...the first is that listening, while the most frequently used component of communication, it is the one we have had the least training in.

Many of us have had training in reading more quickly, or in improving writing skills. Some of us have had training in being better speakers, publicly or in the work setting, but how many of you have or know of people who had had training in being a better listener? Some, but not many.

The second reason is that most of us can think faster, much faster than someone else can speak.

Most people speak 125-175 words per minute but the average number of words you're able to listen to per minute is around 450. Even for people like me who talk fast, this is a problem. As a result, our minds naturally wander when someone else is talking which impairs our listening ability.

Unless we make a concerted effort to listen intently.…. that means listening with the intent to understand, our minds do what they do, they naturally wander.

Paying attention is very hard work and it takes intention! As if that isn’t challenging enough, very commonly, many of us are thinking about our response before the other person has finished their thought…. leaving us with incomplete information.

Let’s go through some scenarios to see if you’ve experienced any of these phenomena when it comes to listening:

1. Leaping to the conclusion that a subject is dull, or you know everything about it can cause your brain to tune out the information being provided

2. Tending to dismiss what the speaker says because of the speaker’s delivery or appearance.

3. Allowing distractions—room temperature, lighting, noises

4. Reacting emotionally to what a speaker says, being triggered in some way that is not necessarily factual

5. Listening only to the facts, not overall understanding

6. Allowing your mind to wander if speaker talks slowly or just as part of the natural process

Are you or have you ever been guilty of any of these? I know I have…. It’s okay… we’re only human. Life is not about perfection, it’s about progress.

Being aware that we need to hone our listening skills doesn’t make us bad communicators. The fact is it makes us pretty darn good ones – self-awareness is the first step in growth – always has been and always will be.

Lesson learned: Communicate better with one another!

10 Tips - Leading Under Pressure

Let’s face it, every leader faces stress regardless of title, experience or personality. Stress is real! And in today’s work environment one thing’s for certain – stress can define who you are, if you let it.

Whether the pressure is self-imposed or from your boss, your teammates, or from the situation itself, how you respond is what matters most.

A recent study revealed that four out of five employees experience stress at work, and nearly two-thirds want to quit because of stress.

We all know that serving as a leader is no breeze.  From juggling countless meetings to managing employee behaviors to achieving goals and doing it all while staying within budget takes true talent and is sometimes achieved on a wing and a prayer.

Those who are called to leadership are often high performers with high expectations – they unnecessarily pressure themselves and others if they aren’t careful. But the leaders who are most effective are those who know how to deal with pressure in healthy and productive ways.

1.   Manage yourself. Only when you can manage yourself, can you manage others in stressful situations.  Learn to cope with stress by finding the positive in each situation.  Self-care is also key to managing stress. Most people believe they have some form of self-care but in reality, don’t. Self-care is any activity that we do deliberatelyin order to take care of our mental, emotional, and physical health. Although it’s a simple concept in theory, it’s something we very often overlook. Good self-care is key to improved mood and reduced anxiety. It’s also key to a good relationship with oneself and others.

2.   Know your triggers. They come in countless shapes, sizes and just when you master one, another pops up.  Some of the most common include tight deadlines, an unpredictable boss, or endless organizational demands.  Sometimes the trigger can be as simple as having to make important decisions. Sometimes they challenge your personal and professional values.

3.   Take time to breathe.  When panic sets in pause, step back, take a few deep breaths  and lean in toward reassurance – remind yourself that there are few problems in life that can’t be solved. If you can’t calm yourself in the moment, rather than reply in a way that might not best represent who you are, end the conversation with, “This is really important.  I’d rather not respond now but think about it and get back to you with a more thoughtful response.”

4.   Start with “why”. Attaching meaning to your work and remembering your purpose will ground you and your team in the importance of why you are there and what you are there to accomplish, together.

5.   Learn to say “no”. Stressful situations often develop because of unrealistic expectations — our own or those of others. Steady leaders have mastered the art of saying “yes” and “no” when needed.

6.   Stay focused. Even with tremendous pressure from every direction to get things done, if you keep your mind firmly focused you can complete the task at-hand. 

7.    “Let it go!” Another fatal flaw in over achievers is the belief that everything must be perfect. The second you accept yourself and model for your teams that it’s about progress vs perfection, you will feel the pressure suddenly lift.

8.   KISS. Keep It Short, Simple! Great leaders know how to boil things down to what you need to know, right now and what you need to do.  When things get stressful, get back to basics and just focus on the task at-hand and nothing else, don’t overcomplicate things by trying to do too much at once.

9.   Build resilient teams! Stressful situations often exist because of uncertainty.  Hiring and supporting great teams is essential. Teach your teams to adapt and to respond to events and uncertainty rationally, rather than becoming overwhelmed.  Break things down for them and help them focus on what they can control vs what they can’t control.

10. Be your best, true self.  During times of stress you must bring your A-game as a leader. Your teams are counting on you. That means, pause… step back… take a breath… and remember who you are at your core.  Your personal values are always with you.  Stress just masks them in a dense fog.  Clearing your head and steadying your pulse will allow you to tap into your true nature that often gets buried in a panic.

Leadership is tough business!  It takes time, talent and tenacity to make it to the top… And if you want to stay there it’s going to require a little poise and grace from time-to-time.  But take heart, these are the leadership lessons that make you stronger.  The good news is we learn, we grow and eventually we let the unimportant things go…

Finding Happiness, True Meaning At Work

Job loss can leave us reeling, regardless of whether or not it’s our choice.  So much of our identity is tied up in our job – losing a job can stir up all sorts of emotions from fear to insecurity. It’s a monster that can get inside our heads and our hearts, if we let it.  When that happens, the best way to fight that demon is to step back, take stock, and take time to focus on three things: 

1.     Who you really are;

2.     What is most important to you;

3.     Reimagining what your future can look like.  

This isn’t the end, but a new beginning.

Jumping into a job search without finding their True North can be the first mistake many professionals make.

It doesn’t take a lot of time, it doesn’t take a lot of energy, but it does take commitment – to you. You may have helped write Mission, Vision and Value’s statements for your organization, but have you ever written one for yourself?  Probably not!  Most of us haven’t. This is a great exercise in helping ground and focus what you’re looking for before you start looking.

Once you do that, you are better prepared to find your calling vs finding a job.  And it gives you the ability to assess an organization and leadership to ensure the right fit for YOU.

Writing personal Mission, Vision, and Values statements is a best practice I use with all of my clients who are seeking a change, have been forced into a change, or simply want to be the force of change within their organizations.

MISSION:

According to Simon Sinek in his book Start With Why, “mission and why” are what inspire people. I like to think of mission as the roots that ground a person in their work – mission is where the rubber meets the road.  

...mission is where the rubber meets the road.

When writing a personal mission statement, you must get serious about YOUR why.  What is your purpose and how do you express it at work?  Answering these questions helps you zero in on what you are looking for and what your personal purpose REALLY is.  So many people get this wrong – they focus on the mission of their employer versus really focusing on why they are put on this earth.  

I have reflected throughout my career on my mission, and I have come to believe that for me, at this point in my career, it is, "to empower and mentor the next generation of leaders with knowledge, skills, behavior and self-awareness to lead generative, sustainable change and endurance for generations to come." 

VISION

Mission is the why and vision is the where.  Vision represents where you are trying to go.  True vision statements should be audacious and really hard to achieve.  They should be a declarative sentence that is bold!  When crafting your personal vision statement imagine what the future can be…  Don’t hold back…  This is where you get to have fun.  Express the utopian idea of who you are and what you want to create.

Don’t hold back…

Yours might look something like, “To be part of a community of people dedicated to changing the world by finding cures for cancer or other life-threatening diseases… or… a hunger-free world… or… equality for all…”

VALUES

Now that you have a why and a where, values describe the behaviors that drive you and shape culture.   A values statement is a declaration that affirms your top priorities and core beliefs. It will help you identify with and connect to potential supervisors and employers.  Shared beliefs with your employer always make going to work a little easier.  Start by making a list of qualities, attributes and behaviors that are important to you, then use those qualities when considering  your next employer.  What are your values and how can you use those to match up with a potential boss and employer?

Example:  To lead an organization that shares my admirationand respectfor people, their unique skills, talents and desire to find new innovativeways to deliver personalized,high-qualitycare to local community members.

My personal values are TRACE: transparency, respect, authenticity, courage and excellence.

At CEO Advisory Network we specialize in coaching leaders and teams who are ready for personal and professional transformation.  We never start with what’s wrong, we always start with what’s right – what’s right for you. We can help you find your True North and when you’re ready, help you tailor your resume materials to find what you’re looking for.  Just email me at nancy.steiger@ceoadvisorynetwork.com    www.ceoadvisorynetwork.com.

Next week we’ll explore the challenges of preparing for the job search in today’s competitive and ever-changing job market.  I’ll share some quick tips on how to stay relevant and what to do if you feel you’re falling behind in a technologically advanced job market.

For now, a few of my favorite books on finding your True North are:

“Life Reimagined” by Barbara Bradley Hagerty

“True North” by Peter Sims

“Start With Why” by Simone Sinek

So, you lost your job... Now what?

It’s estimated that more than half of American workers 50 years and older will be ousted from their jobs at least once.  A 20-year-old study that began in the 1990s tracked employment patterns of professionals who turned 50 just to see the impact of unemployment through the remainder of their career (20,000 people surveyed):

It’s shocking when you think about it -- odds are two out of every three of us will be unexpectedly unemployed at some point.

So, what do you do if you’re suddenly the recipient of the proverbial pink slip?  For most of us, our first reaction is to panic.  That’s perfectly normal.  But more importantly, step back… take stock… and take time.

Step back... Take Stock... Take Time!

My best advice to the unexpectedly unemployed is this:  You have to do what is right for you and take the steps that make sense for your personal situation and emotional state of mind.  No matter what, make sure your next step is well thought-out and that you aren’t rushing into anything.

1.    Focus on the future:  For many of us, the sudden shock of job loss has us stuck on what we could have, should have or would have done differently in our last gig.  I’m here to tell you, it doesn’t matter.  Keep your eyes on the horizon, the only view of your last employer should be in your rearview mirror.

2.    Don’t let your current job status define who you are:  People who interpret job loss as a sign of personal inadequacy or failure are less likely to be able to pick themselves up, dust themselves off and get back to it.  Job loss is the perfect opportunity to grow in self-awareness, and most importantly, re-evaluate your happiness, life and future.  Almost everyone I know who has lost a job is in a better spot now and is far happier.

3.    Prioritize taking care of you:  Now is the time to focus on your health (physical and mental).  Don’t jump into the job search immediately.  Take a little time to clear your head, energize your body and lift your spirits.  When coaching executives who have recently experienced a job loss, my first bit of advice is to find your True North.  Think about what makes you happiest in life and write personal mission, vision and values statements.  This helps you focus and bring clarity to what matters most to you.

4.    Surround yourself with positive people:  Now is the time to connect with friends…. I mean your real friends… the ones who will remind you of how fabulous you really are.

I recently had the privilege of speaking with a fellow healthcare worker who was restructured out of a long, 30-year career with his employer.   He was devastated!  Like so many people in his situation, he felt he had nothing to offer a new employer – after all, he hadn’t worked anywhere else.  He was asking himself, “Who would hire me?”   I remember saying to him, “Who wouldn’t hire you?  You’ve been a stable thriving leader in an organization that was at the top of its game for years, you’ve helped advance a mission, driven a healthy bottom line, and trained generations of young healthcare workers who are now leaders in organizations all across the country.”  Any organization would be lucky to have someone with that level of expertise and experience.  It’s all about connecting with the right organization and finding YOUR North Star.

Over the next several weeks, I will be exploring the journey to reemployment, independence, and personal happiness.  Next week, I’ll share how to write your personal mission, vision and values statements. In a couple of weeks, some practical steps for finding work in 2019, especially when you’re up against a radically changing work force that is moving at lightspeed in the digital era.  In the meantime, if you or someone you know is reentering the job force and looking for support with their executive resume materials or preparing for an interview, or just needs help processing the journey they are on, please email me at Nancy.steiger@ceoadvisorynetwork.com

‘Leadership is More Art Than Science’ If you have a leadership issue, this post’s for you!

If you’re a member of a governing board or a c-level executive, you’ve no doubt faced the difficult decision of whether or not you need to “make a change.”  You’ve likely agonized over the decision and lost a little sleep too.

Take heart, you’re not alone. It simply means you care deeply for the people you lead as well as the people they lead.  Before you make the decision to “make a change,” I encourage you to think differently.  Here are a few reasons why…

1.    There is a shortage of quality senior level leaders as Boomers retire and next gen leaders are challenged to take the reins before they are fully ready.

2.    Hiring a new c-suite leader is complicated and costly. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the cost of replacing an employee ranges between six to nine months of that person’s salary. The costs of replacing a c-suite level leader can be much higher.  

CEO hiring cost => 9 month’s salary

3.    The costs are more than just financial. It’s proven there is a significant loss of productivity and morale across the organization as well as disruption to the strategic plan, mission and relationship building (customers, partners, employees, donors) of the organization.  Not to mention, the impact of the departure on other leaders who become unsettled by the change.  

4.    And even after a new leader is hired, the success or failure of that new leadership will remain uncertain for months and possibly years ahead.

Did you know that most executive terminations are the result of leadership issues versus competence? Don’t get me wrong, every c-suite leader should know how to do the job and do it well, but when you dig deep into most terminations, it isn’t about their understanding of the technical skills that result in a leadership change – it’s about the leader’s ability to lead from a place of expression of creativity combined with skill, imagination and integrity.  That’s the essence of Art.

I truly believe leadership is more art than science.

So often we look at senior leadership with a formula in mind: Goals + Strategy + Planning + Implementation = Success.

If things were only so simple. Ask any board member or CEO who is thinking about a leadership change and they will most likely tell you it’s about leadership style and/or leadership effectiveness.  The fact remains, the art of leadership is about creating followership.  You must win the hearts and minds of the people you lead.  Once you’ve done that, your teams are ready to lean in and help you achieve your mission, vision and values.

You must win the hearts and minds of the people you lead. 

I often have the privilege of working with a young CEOs and other c-suite executives who are struggling. Their organizations are facing a variety of issues from operational performance, engagement, quality concerns to public relations crises. Often times, their organizational Boards or CEOS are unclear how to address the concerns.  The shortest path to addressing concerns could have been to change senior leadership.  But Boards that are committed to navigating challenges by developing the c-suite often navigate challenges successfully.  I provided one-on-one personal leadership coaching and strategy development with the c-suite in each incident.  We never focus on one or the other, but how they work together – the integration of leadership, management, and inspiration.  

Tough times are not over for these clients, but I’m confident the senior leadership is better equipped to navigate the organization’s challenges.  Not because of me, but because the Board, CEO and senior leadership embraced change and approached their leadership with a renewed sense of creativity, positivity, clear direction and vision.  The strategy and operations were there, but the leadership wasn’t…. until now!

At CEO Advisory Network, we focus not only on helping you navigate current challenges by developing your existing leaders, we walk hand-in-hand with you by providing interim leadership as well as help you plan for the future, be it with current leadership development or in succession planning.  I’d love to hear more about the leadership challenges you’ve faced and have overcome.  Email me at nancysteigerconsulting@gmail.com

Is courage an undervalued leadership attribute?

Good leaders are always looking for new ways to become great leaders. They’re working on continual self-improvement, professional growth and… yes… they possess high emotional intelligence. If you think about it, that’s what sets great leaders apart.

Throughout my career as a CEO, I’ve seen them all, the good – the not so good – and the great. Watching them grow – coaching them through those amazing teaching moments – seeing each of them find their own greatness -- has been my greatest honor and the most gratifying role I have held as a servant leader to them.

Coaching others often entails recommending reading for growth. I was often asked what my favorite books were and I had cultivated quite the library of recommendations through my years in leadership. By far, the book I recommended most often was “Leadership on the Line” by Heiftez and Lansky. If you haven’t read it, I would say it’s a foundational book for anyone who is in leadership, who wants to be a leader, or who is coaching other leaders.

To lead is to live dangerously. Heiftez and Lansky tell us that “People do not resist change, per se. People resist loss. You appear dangerous to people when you question their values, beliefs, or habits of a lifetime. You place yourself on the line when you tell people what they need to hear rather than what they want to hear. Although you may see with clarity and passion a promising future of progress and gain, people will see with equal passion the losses you are asking them to sustain.” (p.12)

To be willing to lead and take that risk of putting yourself on the line, one trait you cannot live without is Courage.

Courage to set a vision.

Courage to cultivate a team.

Courage to be vulnerable in your leadership and to create true connection.

Courage to risk optimism.

Courage, sometimes, to do the unpopular thing, or to break away from the crowd.

Courage, even, and perhaps especially, to know how to respond when you are asked to compromise your values, internally or organizationally.

And courage, to discern which way to go, what to do, and how to lead your people.

Courage is the one thing that separates great leaders from the rest of the pack. My foundation for having courage is taking the time to get clear about my own mission, vision, and values. These are guiding lights and serve as filters and screens for what I say yes to and what I say no to. As a leader, all activities and opportunities should start with aligning your mission and values with the organization you are supporting. This is what creates culture, and this is what propels teams and businesses to achieve aspirationally and stay inspired.

Courage has been on my mind lately. It’s an essential trait in leadership and I am always refreshed and inspired by others when I see them acting with courage. Acting from fear is not a recipe for success – but taking action from courage is. I want to be very clear here – I truly believe that courageous leadership is not about title. I recently took an interim assignment as an Operations Consultant and I was reminded of this: you do not need to be the CEO or even have an Executive title to create meaningful change in an organization, the culture, or the people. In fact, sometimes it’s more effective to lead from exactly where you are rather than waiting for a title or for permission.

If you know how to connect the dots for people, and connect them back to the mission, vision, and values;

if you believe in empowering people with knowledge and skill, removing barriers and providing resources, all to drive and achieve results;

and if in your core you know that it is critical to listen to and inspire the hearts and minds of the people you are serving,

then you can lead from anywhere and in any place.

I have been in many different “positions” throughout my career – starting as a nurse’s aide, and moving my way up to being a Network CEO for multiple hospitals and medical groups and having responsibility for leading thousands of people. No matter the title I’ve had, I bring my whole heart and all of my leadership to every role, moment, and interaction. No matter where you are in an organization, you have the opportunity to create positive change and incredible followership, as long as you have courage to do so.

I would love to hear your thoughts or stories about moments you’ve shown up to lead with courage, with or without a title. Questions are always welcome too! Oh, if you have a book or piece of literature by writers who have helped you with your own leadership formation, like Heifetz and Lansky have done for me – please share it with the rest of us.

It's Time We Embraced Sabbaticals

This summer I resigned my position as CEO of PeaceHealth’s Columbia Network, a group of hospitals in Southwest Washington. Everyone wanted to know what I was going to do next, but my intention was exactly the opposite: my immediate focus was on doing nothing.

For nine years, I worked in leadership positions for the parent organization, usually getting up at 5 a.m. and returning home at 8 p.m. Near the end of this period, I felt out of touch with the personal connection I had always felt with my work. It became a bit, well, robotic.

To put it another way, I’m a mission-driven leader, and I didn’t feel as grounded with my mission.

So I decided to take a break.

But in doing so, in hearing the longing in my colleagues’ and friends’ voices for an answer to the “why” and “what next?” question, I realized that even in an industry designed to care for others, we aren’t very good at self-care.

There’s no real notion of a sabbatical in the healthcare profession. We aren’t supposed to take a break, to recharge, to acknowledge our humanity.

Instead, we’re supposed to toughen up and make do with the occasional vacation.

Don’t get me wrong. I love my profession and have always worked hard because that’s who I am. But after three months off, I’m a different person. There were several days I didn’t get up until 11 a.m., not because I’m lazy but rather because I allowed my body to decide how much rest it needed.

I routinely do yoga, work with a personal trainer, and hop on the treadmill. I work in my garden, read books, and see my friends. When two people close to me fell ill, I was able to fly to them and help out.

I haven’t felt this good in years.

Am I going back to work? Absolutely. I’m thinking hard about my purpose and asking, “How do I use my skills for the highest good?” This is the type of question we ought to ask ourselves more often, but getting an honest answer often requires stepping back and taking a break.

I will go back with a clear head and a strong sense of what matters most to me. That will come from taking the time to recharge.

As leaders, we have to model the behaviors we want to engender in our teams. Personally, I want to empower people to improve their health and achieve a sustainable work/life balance. If we fail to do this - if we model “work until you fall down” practices - then what kind of people will we attract to our organizations?

The sabbatical is a self-care activity not currently sanctioned in our society. We should rethink this. Taking a pause is not a negative reflection on you. To the contrary, it is a sign of wisdom and maturity.

How Do You Make Others Feel?

Maya Angelou said, "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

This beautifully epitomizes how I try to carry myself as a leader, and it is a wonderful guidepost for how any of us conduct ourselves professionally.

Too often, organizations get caught up in words, numbers, messages, instructions, processes, and procedures. These all serve understandable purposes, but they are bare necessities and not nearly enough to produce spectacular results. These necessities aren’t enough to create a culture that attracts the best and the brightest.

To create such a culture and positively impact how others feel, you must engage both their hearts and minds. You must tap into their values, and find the overlaps between their values and the values of the organization you are helping to lead.

When I first took over management of one medical center, employees walked down the hallways with their heads down, like robots, never making eye contact or greeting one another. No one would stop to pick up a piece of paper out of place. As a newcomer, I didn’t feel welcome and I didn’t think our visitors did either. My goal was to change this as quickly as possible, and one way you can do this is by modeling the behaviors you hope to foster: being present, remembering names and faces, smiling at people,and being caring and appreciative.

Leadership is ultimately about transformation, and it has been said often that culture trumps strategy any day. To transform a culture, you need to focus on WHY more than how or what.

Instead of telling people what to do or how to do it, it’s important to get input from all levels of an organization, from front-line, direct service providers, to managers, to support staff, and address the reasons to make a change. This means listening, engaging people, understanding what provides them with a feeling a purpose, and helping them understand how they are valuable to the organization, what they can do to serve the organization’s mission.

For example, at another medical center, developing a new service was an important component of our growth strategy. This program required higher levels of coordination and performance because critically ill patients need to have their care exceedingly well coordinated to move rapidly through the medical center.

At first, my approach focused on explaining to physicians and staff what and how I wanted to do, and there was a lot of pushback. Physicians heard “I’m going to be on call more often.” The staff saw it as more work. They focused on the negatives.

Once I understood the wisdom of explaining why, I tried again and explained that programs like this elevate the level of care throughout the medical center thereby providing better care, and physicians and staff want to be associated with better care. The reputation can also generate more business for the medical center and a physician’s practice, which is another positive.

Even then, not everyone was on board, but once my team understood the why, and knew they would have input into the what and how, they got behind our plan.

In this case, the why tapped into how physicians and staff want to feel: proud of their work and of making a real difference for the people in the community they serve.

The more you can help people to feel like they are making a difference, the more likely they are to make a positive difference, day after day. Then you can spend even less time on how and what, because others will be figuring out better ways to perform each critical task.

One caution: superficial actions aren’t enough. You can’t just smile and be cheerful. You should listen to others, understand how they are feeling, and react in a substantive manner. 

I’m genuinely curious to hear your perspective. What is it that YOU do to uplift and inspire others?

Your Checkbook and Calendar Reveal Your Values

A reader’s comment on my last article, It's Time We Embraced Sabbaticals, stopped me in my tracks. Bob Korzeniowski wrote, “Sabbaticals are only for those who are rich.”

At first, I cringed at the possibility I had inadvertently published an elitist article. But it didn’t take long for me to gain some perspective. Sabbaticals are most common in academia, and most university professors are anything but rich. Sabbaticals aren’t a function of wealth, but rather of priorities.

The fact is that most of us have a greater ability to change our lives than we acknowledge. I recently read an article about Behan Gifford and her husband Jamie, who have spent the past eight years sailing around the world with their children, surviving on about $25,000 a year. They’re not rich, they just decided to teach their kids about the world by wandering around it. Most people would argue they can’t “afford” to sail around the world, but in reality they aren’t willing to sell all their possessions and live on $25,000 a year… in order to spend 100% of their time exploring the world.

It’s not that someone can or can’t take a sabbatical. It’s a matter of choice… how much are you willing to sacrifice for what’s important to you?

So if you value recharging above all else, you will figure out how to take the time to recharge. As this relates to leadership, it’s all about congruency. Are your actions congruent with your words?

Whatever you value should be reflected in two fundamental ways:

1. How you spend your time

2. How you spend your money

Having worked for so long in the healthcare industry, I’ve seen leaders who struggle to model the right behaviors, and I’m no exception. For example, they say they want to improve patient experience, but they fail to sufficiently fund it or to invest enough of their own time in this area.

If you were a leader serious about patient experience, you would model the behaviors you want your team to emulate. You’d make patient rounds most days, rather than occasionally. You’d stop putting most of your capital budget into the likes of the latest technologies and would instead invest some of that funding into quality and training that enhances patient experience. It’s all too easy to blame middle management for falling short of your words and goals, but if you don’t provide sufficient resources - including your own time - how is your team going to move the dial?

You can find this disconnect in nearly every industry. Executives spend money on new technology, but won’t invest in the training necessary to allow their team to fully leverage that technology. Instead, they stop halfway, spending 70% of the necessary funds and investing 50% or less of the time their team needs to master a very different set of processes.

Nearly everything we want has a cost that can be measured in both time and money. Only the most superficial things are free in these regards.

No matter what your role in life, the best way to judge what really matters to you is how you invest your time and money. If you say you want to improve your health, you need to participate in self care behaviors. If you say you care about the community, volunteer your time and contribute money.

What does your calendar and checkbook reveal about you?