Last week I went to a very inspirational breakfast. There I met Dr. Sue Mathews the CEO at Royal Woman's. Like all great woman, Sue spoke about culture and leadership and ways to really inspire a team. I wanted to share only three topics she raised, but as always, if you ever want to chat more, let me know.
We tend to promote the best clinician to manager even if they don't manage well.
I have found quite often that business owners will promote "technicians" into management roles because they are really good at what they do. If the "technician" has had very little experience managing a team, organising projects, or running a department, we find that we can be setting these managers up for failure. Sue also spoke about behaviors that we seem to accept. For example: "They're a great clinician, even though they don't have a great bedside manner." Her next statement was spot on, "then they aren't great clinicians." Its terrible to say, but I often see clinicians treating other team members in a horrible manner. Whether it is the way they speak, act or interact with others, we all need to be mindful that if we want to move up in our careers, we have to be an all -rounder. Understand weaknesses and have insight to grow.
Culture eats strategy for breakfast.
You could have the ultimate strategy for conquering the world, but if your team isn't on board, you're going to fail. Ways to move forward in your business start from the inside out. Let's be honest here too, if you're genuine, not everyone is going to see you that way. This is why hiring slow, firing fast is important. You want to bring the right people on board from the start. If you don't, you're stuck with someone who doesn't represent your values and behaviors. One bad egg does honestly spoil it for the rest. Get your culture right, and your strategy will be an easy to do on your list!
Enhancing the meaningfulness of work.
Provide empowering behaviors. Sit with that thought for a moment. I'm the first to admit that often, if you give an inch, people take a mile. My kindness has been over exploited on more than one occasion, sometimes even by the same person. However, more often than not, when you find the ability to empower the right people, you will be left breathless. The best scenario Sue mentioned in her presentation is providing everyone a say. I enjoy using the Start Keep Stop method. It's quite effective in the method of change. Sue was going on about how she listens to what her employees are asking of her and my immediate thought was "How is she possibly giving everyone what they want?" She then followed up with this, "[after you've asked your employees to provide input you make a decision and its important for them to understand] just because the outcome isn't what you think it should be doesn't mean you didn't have input." WOAH! Mind blown. She tells her staff, we heard you. I understand you're looking for something different. I understand you feel this way. However, this is the decision. All members of the organisation are responsible for the goals of the practice. Full stop.
I left the breakfast feeling as though Sue was a firm and fair CEO. One who could hear, enhance, and objectively manage her organisation. I can imagine the slew of gender bias that would come her way, but she would fight it fairly.
I'll leave you with what Sue left us, "The purpose of leadership is to build the future's leaders." -Dr. Sue Mathews.