Canadian HR Reporter

CanaDian hr rePorTer September 22, 2014 10 exeCutIVe seRIes "We have an incredibly strong hi- erarchy in health care and we're all about our top-down leadership — people sitting in a conference room, making a decision (about) what's go- ing to work, and then developing a program and rolling it out across the organization," he said. "In a complex world, relation- ships matter more than anything else. So how you interact with each other matters greatly in complex problems." When those relationships and that communication aren't there, you're missing a critical piece of the puzzle, he said. A hospital in new York, for ex- ample, was trying to have doctors do their rounds with the nurses, so there would be more communica- tion with each other and with the patients. But the doctors wouldn't get onboard because they didn't want to take more time out of their schedules to talk to the patients, said Gardam. "that's toxic culture," he said. "We could bring in all the checklists that we want but that is the elephant in the room. And that is what we need to fi x in order to make things better." So Gardam's consulting team does social network mapping to see how many people are communicating with each other. "One of the most amazing maps I've ever seen was at a hospital in toronto, and we asked, 'Who do you talk to about preventing superbugs?' And this hospital, which has the best record on multiple levels when it comes to patient safety, you know who was at the centre of the map? e CeO. I've never seen that before." ere wasn't just one group tak- ing responsibility — everyone from the CeO to the housekeeping staff to the doctors were fully engaged in providing the best patient care. at type of high-level engage- ment is called front-line ownership, said Gardam. "Front-line ownership is exactly what you think it is: When we're try- ing to bring about change, we engage the people who are touching the problem. In other words, the very people who are going to be most aff ected by this change are the ones who lead it." So how do we do that? rough the peer-to-peer spread of ideas, rather than top-down, he said. "You specifi cally don't tell people (what) to do; you let them see it for themselves. And that's where this feels so uncomfortable, because we look at it and say, 'Well, if that's work- ing, why don't we just tell everyone to do it?' Well, how does it work when you tell your teenagers exactly what to do? "What we're looking for is owner- ship. You change because you want to change, because this is your baby. You're doing this." CoNtAGIous < pg. 8 Strict hierarchies counterproductive to change understands it is her accountability to provide direction, resources and coaching to her team, not to instruct the team on how to do their work. Any manager quickly discovers that managing — managing change included — rarely succeeds by dik- tat. As Gardam mentioned, one size does not fi t all and every team and every team member requires a cus- tomized solution created in dialogue with those who will experience the change. In this model, it may well be that managers identify their positive de- viants and encourage them as agents of change, but it is the manager's call to make — not a change expert stalk- ing the wards. ere needs to be a meeting of the minds on top-down pushing and bottom-up pulling (or is it the other way around?). Gardam proposes that "change spreads in infi nite ways," including emergent change from individuals on the front line. But we should not lose sight of the fact that one of those ways is using the energy and focus provided by hierarchies. Michael Clark is director of sales and mar- keting at Forrest & Company, an organi- zational transformation fi rm with more than 25 years' experience in developing the organizational and leadership capacity in organizations. Meeting of minds HIeRARCHICAL < pg. 9 e power of positive deviants I WONDER IF change and innovation would be easier for many organi- zations, including those in the health sector, if more leaders adopted the mindset of letting go of what is no longer essential and — most compelling of all — command and control? In listening to Michael Gardam from the University heath network and hearing about his experience with positive deviance, it seems the health sector has the same challenges with change and innovation as the rest of the corporate world. how many of you would agree with Gardam that your leadership team depends on "evidence-based criteria, top-down leadership structures and practices, balanced scorecards and limitless in- formation and data" before making any decisions? All these leadership practices and operating principles have allegedly worked well for most companies, prior to the recession. ere is, how- ever, a growing belief these practices are in fact not working in today's world, where greater change and in- novation is mission-critical. In searching for an alternative practice, Gardam found inspiration in Pascale, Sternin and Sternin's e Power of Positive Deviance: How Unlikely Innovators Solve the World's Toughest Problems. is counter-intuitive approach is in- tended for leaders in search of alter- native solutions to the most complex of challenges. eir core concept is based on leaders leveraging the abilities of individuals whom they consider to be "positive deviants." Interestingly, these people are not your leaders or managers; they are typically front- line employees. Positive deviants are a s those few individuals who find unique ways to break down and break through problems that others see as being impossible to solve. Pascale expands this approach even further in Surfi ng the Edge of Chaos where, as co-author, he shares a number of actual stories. For example, Steve Miller (former managing director at Royal Dutch/ Shell) tells how his leadership team learned from employees as to what were and were not eff ective change management practices. One of the quotes that captures their key learning is "We stopped treating the downstream business like a machine to be driven and began to regard it as a living system that needed to evolve." Does this sound familiar? Remember when Meg Wheat- ley's Leadership and the New Sci- ence advocated that the only way leaders could expect to change or- ganizations eff ectively and success- fully would be to start viewing them as a system? In other words, before commanding what has to change, we need to fi rst examine, think about and value how individuals, work groups and teams work together within the system. Once completed, the second step is only then to consider how we want to drive change. As a leader , how many times have you expe- rienced the ensuing chaos when a change initiative has been mandat- ed from the top down without any attention being given to Wheatley's fi rst step? how many times have you heard leaders express their frustration be- cause "People don't understand, are unwilling to buy in and are resist- ing change?" how diff erent do you think the impact of change could be if leaders introduced change as the start of a conversation rather than a fait accompli or directive? A key learning for me with change initiatives is that the opportunity starts in changing employees' con- versations up, down and across the organization. this is how people learn and only then do you see last- ing change and innovation happen. the self-confidence that evolves from a core of committed employ- ees is highly infectious, together with their energy. People begin to think in new ways and fresh, innovative ideas emerge. It's fascinating how the smallest of actions in an organization can gener- ate phenomenal results. has anyone ever asked you how the principle "If a butterfl y fl aps its wings in tokyo, it causes a tornado in texas?" applies to leadership and change management practices? e answer: It enables ev- eryone to appreciate the enormity and consequence of each and every employee's connection and impact on your organization. Whether you refl ect or choose to act on how you can leverage the infl uence of your positive deviants, I leave you with a fi nal thought from harold Geneen: "Leadership is prac- tised not so much in words as in at- titude and in actions." Trish Maguire is a commentator for SCNetwork on leadership in action and founding principal of Synergyx Solutions in Nobleton, Ont., focused on high-potential leadership devel- opment coaching. She has held se- nior leadership roles in HR and OD in education, manufacturing and entrepreneurial fi rms. She can be reached at synergyx@sympatico.ca. trish Maguire LeaDership in action e self-confi dence that evolves from a core of committed employees is highly infectious, together with their energy. People begin to think in fresh, new ways. COST: $69 + applicable taxes LIVE WEBINAR TIME: 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. ET REGISTER ONLINE: www.HRReporter.com/CPDCentre For more Live and On-demand Webinars, visit us online. MANAGING MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES IN THE WORKPLACE CHOOSING THE RIGHT EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP Learn and follow best practices when handling employee mental health issues to make accommodation as easy as possible on both the employee and your organization. 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