Being in a leadership role is exciting and humbling in a very balanced way. On one hand, you sit in a position to influence change in an organization.
On the other hand, you open yourself up to constant criticism so you get 360° feedback on a fairly regular basis. Two prior experiences provided me a stronger foundation of knowing the good, the bad and the ugly about my own performance.
1. For my first five years in healthcare, I worked as a psychiatric counselor
2. I had a try at improv comedy with a couple of improv troupes
Both of these experiences were enjoyable when things went well and humbling when they did not.
Recently I met with a couple of our medical leaders. We spoke openly about how things were going. I shared my perspective of their leadership style and the perceptions others had of them. They were appreciative of the positive but surprised by the negative perceptions. My guidance was they could be more effective leaders if they knew both sides to they could take action accordingly.
On another note, as I speak to the balance of influence and humility, let me share a couple more stories which took place this morning. I saw Collette C., one of our House Supervisors, and asked for her perspective on the front entrance of our building with our Healthy Food & Good Wine Foundation event set for Saturday, May 8th. She asked if she could be honest with me...then turned to me and said, "Frankly, your brown shoes are a fashion faux pas. I give you credit for the matching belt, but those shoes and belt do not go with dark suits!"
Again, humbling to ask for an opinion on one topic, and get a perspective on a completely different topic. Clearly she is on her way to CEO status!
Then I came across Joe P, one of the managers in our Business Office. I thanked him for his help on a recent situation. He smiled and told me "fix your badge - it's upside down."
These are the things I love about being in my role: the balance of influence and humility is never-ending.
I look forward to your perspective.
Ok, in my defense, the shoes were distracting me from the original question, as the beautuful sun was shining on them like a beacon, begging me "Tell him, tell him....". Weighing these types of issues are hard...do I tell him, or do I turn my head and walk away. What if everyone here at CH were head-turners? We would not be nearly as successful as we are today and will be in the future. I chose the right, although somewhat riskier of the two choices. In closing, Scott, there is a typo in your above blog..paragraph 7, line 4......
ReplyDeleteAlways happy to help and so glad you are on board! Collette