Keys to Success in Strategic Planning

Strategic Planning is an exercise that is often alternatively loathed and lauded.  For some the whole experience conjures up dread from challenging efforts of the past.  For others it feels like an academic and draining process, requiring lots of effort, producing a glossy publication that no one ever refers to again. Others go through the process believing the outcome of such work as leading to a ball and chain that forever ties them to tactics and objectives that will be outdated in a matter of months but yet must be doggedly adhered to and pursued regardless of relevance.

Strategic planning doesn't have to be this way.  I do believe in the power of strategic planning and of strategic thinking and that some core principles can unleash the power of long-term planning not only for organizations but also for individuals and teams - Yes, I believe that we can apply strategic planning to our individual lives as well! 

First, I believe that we have to change the notion that a strategic plan is a static document.  A strategic plan should provide long-term direction recognizing that NONE OF US has a crystal ball that will unfailingly predict the future for any time period whatsoever.  However, we can and should be diligent in assessing our own organizations and the environments in which they work in.  If done well - and with courage and objectivity - we can learn much from what has worked in the past, what some of the larger trends in our working environments have been, what some of the possibilities for change in the future will be, and how we can or should try to respond to those realities.  Therefore, for a strategic plan to maintain its relevance over a 3-year, 5-year or even longer timeframe, consider where you want the organization to be - more or less - at the end of that frame of reference, recognizing that the exact version of reality at the end of that journey will not perfectly match with what you hope for today.

This first point directly relates to being very clear about how the strategic plan/priorities align with the organization's Mission, Vision and Values.  There is often just as much controversy and eye-rolling when it comes to MVV as there is with strategic planning.  I have had some senior leaders express disdain for the utility of a well-crafted MVV and have had as many front line leaders and staff express cynicism that these foundational components are anything but fluff, bearing no reality to what really happens in the real world.  However, when these have been developed with all seriousness and good intent, they can be powerful anchors for developing strategic priorities and holding leaders and staff to account for the work that is to be done.  The Mission, Vision and Values can and should be guideposts for what the organization commits to doing and how it will deliver on the work ahead.   

Just as important to the utility of a strategic plan as the MVV is an objective and courageous assessment of the organization itself and the environment it is - and will be - operating in.  This is often what I call the Interrogating Reality phase of strategic planning.  All too often the excitement of strategic planning is focused on all the things that individual leaders want to have the organization do.  There is either no work done on assessing current and future state, OR there is superficial work done here for the sake of completeness (a check box approach) OR there is an assumption that all stakeholders are operating from the same understanding of where the organization is at. But if the planning process fails to vigorously evaluate, debate and agree on reality all of the options of "things to do" will either result in unchallenged directions/decisions (e.g., loudest voice wins) or in a series of unconstructive arguments about which particular direction/initiative is the correct one to choose. Failing to understand the foundations upon which an organization's plan is built simply means a weak/weaker plan and one that there is less ability to properly execute later.  

Pay now (in time, energy, and effort) or pay later.  the consequences of paying later are far greater than making the investment up front. 

One of the next challenges in creating - and executing on - a strategic plan is balancing broad, directional initiatives with a level of specificity that helps all stakeholders understand what the strategic plan commits the organization to do and how each individual's work aligns with the overall plan. As noted this can be a challenging balancing act.  The reality is that the need for a long-term vision comes up against the inherent inability for anyone to predict a future with 100% accuracy.  The cure for this challenge is best illustrated through the use of a metaphor.  Think of a your work towards achieving long-term vision as a river flowing towards an ocean. Just as no river flows in a straight line, but meanders over an ever-changing landscape, so too will your tactics and timing have to be altered while you inevitably move towards an aspirational goal.  Specificity comes, and is required, to ensure that the organization is taking deliberate steps towards its desired goals and just as importantly gives the organization the ability to say no to undertaking initiatives/steps that will not be helpful to getting to the agreed upon destination.

Specificity is also required to support assignment of accountability for results.  Being specific supports assignment of ownership and responsibility for actions and results to the C-Suite right through to front-line personnel if done appropriately.  Moreover, by confirming and agreeing on actions, results and milestones expected we can further understand relationships between various initiatives and the work of individual personnel.  Digging into this work clarifies who is accountable, who has supportive roles in delivery, who might need to be consulted in the work ahead, and who might simply need to be informed of the work to be done.  All of this needs to be formalized in respect of individual performance goals and monitoring and reporting requirements.  

At the end of the day, a well formulated and well understood strategic plan can provide strong guidance to the whole organization, support effective communication and partnership to external stakeholders, frame performance expectations for all individuals, allow for appropriate monitoring and redirection as required, and allow an organization to say NO to options that don't serve the journey to the desired destination/ocean. 

A strategic planning exercise need not be approached with dread or apathy.  Done well, it can ensure inspiration and aspiration, and support alignment and direction setting rather than being seen as a burden or nightmare to navigate.  The promise inherent in a strategic plan, however, only is realized through deliberate thought and energetic leadership from the outset and through to execution.  At the end of the day, like everything else that supports success, it's all about leadership.

_________________________________________________________

Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC

President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions

gregh@breakpoint.solutions 

www.breakpoint.solutions 

780-918-0009

Helping leaders realize their strengths and enabling organizations to achieve their potential through the application of my leadership experience and coaching skills. I act as a point of leverage for my clients. I AM their Force Multiplier.

From Adversity to Possibility

I recently sat down with a panel of healthcare professionals and talk about a range of topics. For someone like me who left the public healthcare system in 2012 (not necessarily by choice), I have been amazed and humbled in my continuing work with healthcare leaders since then. Let's remember some of the more significant events that have transpired since I left healthcare in 2012: the COVID pandemic and a complete dismantling of Alberta's healthcare system as we have known it since 2008.  

Despite these significant challenges - and the accompanying loss of leaders (for both good and bad reasons) and a generational change in the workforce - our healthcare system has still been there, serving our needs, to the best of its ability. I would argue (vehemently) that if not for the dedication of our healthcare workforce, from housekeepers, nurses, lab techs, EMS personnel, to senior leaders, our healthcare system would have collapsed from the combination of the assaults it has faced.  

It was with this reality in mind that I asked my colleagues what had kept them invested in the healthcare sector. What gave them the strength, determination, and optimism to keep going? As might be expected, there was certainly a focus around serving patients, clients, and residents. There was also a strong commitment to staff and colleagues. But one of the more intriguing answers given was a belief that from trials, tribulation, and adversity came new opportunities - and maybe even the best opportunities - for positive change!

From adversity to possibility! Sounds great. As I pondered this statement over the last few days, I also realized there is certainly no guarantee in this trajectory.  In fact, I would suggest that there has to be a progression along a path which roughly goes as follows: Adversity to Awareness (or discomfort) to Realization (and learning) to Action to (realized) Possibility. We all experience adversity - personal and professional - but that certainly doesn't mean that we see or achieve possibility as a natural result or consequence. Too many of us too often choose to give in to despair, defeat and deflection. 

First of all, to achieve something positive from adversity we have to see it in the right light. What lessons can adversity give us? What are we prepared to learn? What could actually strengthen us?  If I go back to my very first leadership role, I would certainly call it a baptism by fire. I was fresh out of university, taking on a leadership role at the age of 21, supervising a team of healthcare professionals that were easily 10 years my senior. Looking back now I would have absolutely fired myself at several points in time. Worse yet, as I completed four years in that role, I had come away with some very cynical and jaded views on leadership - and people. In summary, I felt that an effective leader had to be a hard ass, expecting that only command and control, coupled with cold detachment and logic, would lead to success (or leadership survival). Thankfully, as I went to take a master's level program in healthcare administration, I was exposed to other leadership styles and realities that helped me make a sharp u-turn and helped me to subsequently lead in a way that more comfortably resonated with me.

Adversity absolutely challenges us. It makes us uncomfortable. However, as I hope my brief example illustrates, adversity is no guarantee that we learn the right lessons. In my own case, I could have easily blamed the challenges I experienced as a rookie leader on those I led. And I have seen this approach in a variety of circumstances that I have experienced since then - individuals or leaders looking to blame external realities for their dissatisfaction, their frustrations and their failures. The list of EXTERNAL reasons for adversity - and blame - are myriad. But blaming outcomes on external forces, while potentially providing some form of (temporary?) relief never leads to learning and greater possibility. I might feel absolved of responsibility for my situation. I might rationalize away my role in where I am or where I could be. But that won't help me grow.

Don't get me wrong. Bad things happen to good people. Bad things also happen to good people because of bad people. But even in these malignant circumstances there are lessons to be learned that can take us to the next best and better thing. For myself, I have learned the hard way that my core strengths of being supportive, loyal, and persevering are also my greatest weaknesses. Failing to be appropriately selfish (as I now often coach others on) and set boundaries has led me to being destructively self-sacrificing, gullible, and masochistically preserving. Just because I lead with my values (integrity, collaboration, creativity, courage) doesn't mean that others lead or live as I do, despite what they say.  I continue to have to learn the lesson of paying attention to the actions of others versus their words. 

Adversity must then be embraced. For most of us, this might feel like embracing a roll of barbed wire or a cactus, but it is essential to moving forward.  We must embrace the challenge if we are to learn. Adversity, if we are to move in a positive direction, must lead to a higher level of Awareness about ourselves and our environments and relationships. Only then can we start to grow, Realize what is possible, what insights, skills and values we have to develop or recover and nurture for ourselves. With these lessons learned we have to then move into Action. The lessons learned through Adversity are only going to be of value if we put that learning into action. Moreover, it is only through experimentation in the real world will we know whether we have indeed learned the right lessons and can also subsequently modify them to reach our next level of Possibility.  

Adversity CAN lead to Possibility, but only if we have the courage to learn and change. We can live in defeat, despair, and deflection, or we can build something greater than we ever imagined possible. What if? Why not?

_________________________________________________________

Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC

President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions

gregh@breakpoint.solutions 

www.breakpoint.solutions 

780-918-0009

Helping leaders realize their strengths and enabling organizations to achieve their potential through the application of my leadership experience and coaching skills. I act as a point of leverage for my clients. I AM their Force Multiplier.

Dream and Dream Again

In his book Built to Last, Jim Collins, one of my favorite authors, introduced me to the concept of a BHAG (a Big Hairy Audacious Goal). He identified a BHAG as a powerful way to stimulate progress through its clarity, its power, and its balanced approach to long-term vision coupled with a short-term and relentless sense of urgency. In doing so, Collins was particularly focused on organizational success. But can this concept be applied to circumstances other than the large companies - Boeing, NASA, Sony, General Electric - that Collins writes about? My answer is a clear yes (otherwise I would have nothing to write about). I see immense power for both my coaching and consulting clients in defining their own BHAGs.

Let me give my own view of what a BHAG needs to look like. First, it should be truly BIG and AUDACIOUS. So far that's got to be a disappointing expansion on Collins' concept! However, a common challenge I see with too many clients - individuals and organizations alike - is small thinking and (perhaps) an unconscious comfort in not straying too far from the familiar or reassuring realities of their current state. They are not willing and/or able to push the boundaries of their vision. This can be expressed in a variety of ways, like "We can't predict the future!", "That will never happen.", "We don't have the resources to do that.", or "I/we don't have the skills, abilities or talent to achieve ____________."  

One of the newer limiting perspectives or beliefs that has come up in my coaching practice is the notion that creating a BHAG for oneself smacks of immodesty or massive ego.  Fascinating how the human mind can come up with reasons not to strive or be aspirational. When I address this latter perspective, I do try to focus on the aspirational nature of creating this bold new vision for self. You don't necessarily need to declare this vision to others, but you do want to create something powerful enough to move you forward.  I also try to reinforce that this vision is likely something never to be obtained. If we are thinking far enough ahead (e.g., five years), the vision we conceive of today will certainly be altered by a variety of external circumstances, things you have accomplished, new opportunities you see, all of which will continue to help refine and shape your future desired state.  

I'm sure you can come up with a variety of other challenges, barriers, and reasons you have heard or made up yourself when trying to be bold. Be bold and daring anyway. 

Now I'm not saying to simply pursue some dream that is a function of seeing the world through rose-coloured glasses. That can be a recipe for (rapid) failure. A BHAG must be grounded in some sense of reality and realistic self-assessment. However, it must also push you to the next level of possibility. It must cause you to stretch your skills and abilities. It must challenge your limiting beliefs and realities. In my estimation it has to be equal parts exciting and terrifying. It can't be accomplished with your current way of thinking or doing things because that's the equation for complacency and mediocrity.

Let me give you my personal examples to try to illustrate the power and benefits of BHAG thinking. I'll start with my business example first. Just over 12 years ago I was involuntarily reintroduced to the job market through a reorganization. A not uncommon experience for many these days - and perhaps much more normal given the tumult of threatened tariffs and rapidly changing technology in our world. That began my journey as a consultant (first) and coach (second and now strongest calling). At the time, I set a target of $250,000+ in annual gross billings. The intent and hope was to recapture what I had just lost through termination of employment. My business plan at the time was predicated on that target, that BHAG. In reality, I had NO IDEA how to be a successful consultant or coach, having devoted the previous 25+ years of my life to an entirely different career path. While I may have had a BHAG in the form of a revenue target, it was ungrounded in the reality of my skill set and knowledge at the time. But having that target - and a need to continue to provide for my family - drove me to learn, network, and develop a set of skills necessary to succeed. It definitely drove me out of my comfort zone.

That's not where it stops, however. One of the potential challenges with a BHAG is plateauing once that big goal is hit. What next? The challenge, therefore, becomes setting the next BHAG, and the next. It's not to say you can't be happy with your achievements, but there are a couple of realities at play here from both a personal and business perspective.  First, standing pat is not a winning strategy in today's world. There are always new realities working to overtake you. There are also new and evolving expectations on the part of your target market. Unless you are close to retirement, coasting is not an option.  In order to sustain success you must be continuously investing and reinvesting in what and who you are. Second, I believe we all need that creative edge and spark to keep our work engaging and fulfilling. Simply engaging in the "routine" tasks loses its appeal after some time. We can become disengaged from what and why we do things, which I believe has a deleterious impact on the quality of work we produce for our clients. Third, the establishment of the next BHAG stretches your thinking - what got you here won't get you to the next level. The BHAG enforces self-evaluation and creativity.

For this reason, I don't see BHAG as being singular. Rather, there is and should be an evolutionary flavour to BHAGs - success lays the foundation for the next impossible goal. This new stretch goal builds on our learning in the first or previous round of achievement and can provide us with the confidence that the next impossible goal, while audacious, is achievable. I've moved from the $250,000+ revenue goal to multiples thereof, and am now pushing myself to think differently about what a multi-million dollar venture might require of me.

BreakPoint...an intentional stopping point or place to pause, an opportunity to

derive new knowledge, establish commitment to a new direction in one's career or life...

allowing one to evaluate a current path, effort and results, inspect one's environment, and

reset for future success.

Now for the non-business example. Over 15 years ago I set a goal to compete/participate in the Ironman Canada triathlon in Penticton. Much like my start as a consultant/coach I really had no idea what this would take at the outset of my journey. Just prior to this effort I could count on any number of limiting beliefs and barriers to my success - 230 pounds of weight to push/pull around over 225 km of course, a true phobia of water, asthmatic, 45 years of age with multiple years of sedentary lifestyle to my credit.  The achievements along the way to Penticton in August 2010 were a significant loss of weight (30 pounds), completion of multiple open water swims, decent results in shorter races, and a significant change in health status. The end results in Ironman 2010 were incredibly deflating. I finished in about 16 hours and engaged in a heavy bout of self-chastisement.  Upon reflection, however, if I hadn't set a BHAG of 14 hours, I wonder if I might have made the cut off of 17 hours at all.

As of today, at 60 years of age, and an aborted attempt to complete a third Ironman Canada event (COVID had a hand in that as did a year of training beset by injury), my BHAGs have changed. I continue to endeavour to maintain a healthy lifestyle, continue to look at shorter distance events, but now try to couple this effort with matching up with destinations in the world I'd like to visit (e.g., Madrid, Prague, etc.). This continues to mean working on weight and cardio status, but also having a complementary perspective on living life, exploring new experiences, and meeting new people.  

Putting those BHAGs out there and reflecting on my past experiences tells me that the tools, techniques, approaches, and intensity from before will inform my achievements and also help me to continue to refine them. I'll have to prepare differently and with a new level of commitment. And throughout this, I know - perhaps like many of you - that I will have to work through feelings of self-doubt, reflecting on the fact that the aging process will continue to change the realities of what might be achievable.  

So, my BHAGs will continue to evolve and what I set out today as a vision for my success will change by the time I am 65.  However, there will be some very strong elements that will always be there, which ultimately come down to learning, living, growing, and enjoying life. New experiences will open up new possibilities that I can't even imagine right now. Who knows, perhaps Canada will join the European Union and I will be able to retire to the south of Spain in the next iteration of my BHAG?!

What will help me in describing that new BHAG and moving forward? A BreakPoint no doubt...

BreakPoint...an intentional stopping point or place to pause, an opportunity to

derive new knowledge, establish commitment to a new direction in one's career or life...

allowing one to evaluate a current path, effort and results, inspect one's environment, and

reset for future success.

_________________________________________________________

Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC

President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions

gregh@breakpoint.solutions 

www.breakpoint.solutions 

780-918-0009

Helping leaders realize their strengths and enabling organizations to achieve their potential through the application of my leadership experience and coaching skills. I act as a point of leverage for my clients. I AM their Force Multiplier.

Change the Battlefield: A Different Perspective

I'm a bit of a history buff. Others might consider that comment an understatement as they peruse the inventory of books sitting on my shelves. E-readers and audio books? Not for me; I need the physicality of history in my hands. Old fashioned? No doubt.

One reason for this fascination with history comes from the lessons learned - and not learned - from others. With variations on a theme, the quote "Those who cannot remember (or learn) from the past, are doomed to repeat it" resonates with me. One of those lessons that has been the subject of explicit and implicit discussion with many of my clients is that of choosing or changing the field of battle on which you compete or work with others. We can probably all understand and appreciate this at some bigger picture level with companies and technologies like Apple, Uber, and Airbnb that have changed their landscape.  These companies and technologies did not take the landscape they faced as given and at points in time made conscious decisions to NOT compete against well-established competitors. They radically changed the field of battle. In some cases, so profound was the change that they wrought that major competitors were put out of business.

This is not a new a concept. For centuries, dating back to Greek city states, the Persian empire and other dynasties, commanders, and armies would maneuver for days or stare across at each other for weeks from their respective camps, looking for the best place or opportunity to engage in battle. They sought out high ground, access to water, linkage to the coast or supplies, or waiting for the sun to be in their enemy's eyes before engaging. These ancient leaders went to great lengths to try and set the table to their best advantage, to leverage a strength, or mitigate a weakness. Alternatively, they might seek similar opportunities to diminish an opponent's strength or take advantage of their perceived weakness. Don't have sufficient or good enough cavalry? Choose a battleground that constrains the field of movement.  Fighting against great odds? Choose a place where only part of your enemy's strengths can be brought to bear at one time.

So how does this relate to leadership/team coaching, organizational effectiveness, business development, consulting, or other things you might be doing? How does this relate to the current world reality of economic warfare (US versus everyone else) and hybrid/proxy warfare being engaged in Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea? The reality of assessing your personal battlefield - whether in your work or your personal life - resonates with so many circumstances that I have lived and that I have coached others through. Which of these scenarios might you have experienced or otherwise be familiar with:

"I looked at the job posting and I'm missing a couple of the qualifications they are looking for so I'm not going to apply."

"He/she/they stopped me in the hallway and were looking for my input on his/her/their initiative. I felt compelled to answer them on the spot but I don't think I gave the best answer."

"I'd like to pursue the CEO role but I'm not sure I'm what they are looking for. I'm not anything like the current CEO."

"The client/RFP is looking for something pretty particular as far as a solution/technique. It's not something we have do so maybe the fix is already in?"

"I thought we had agreed on a deal, but then the client/partner/vendor keeps changing their mind or terms of an agreement. I feel like I am constantly chasing my tail on this."

I could go on with other samples, but at the heart of these comments is a belief (or fear) that the terms and conditions of the "battle" are already set and our choice is to compete on those terms or not at all. My suggestion is that perhaps the battle conditions are not set in stone. You may and can have a choice as to where, how, and when to engage. And maybe you also have a choice as to never engage either! 

How can you alter your own reality and that of your "adversary" to change the tide in your favour? For example, if applying for a new role, how can you paint a picture that, despite not having a couple of the qualities or attributes asked for, you have something different or more important to offer to the role?  

Rather than feeling compelled to respond on the spot to a question or proposal, how can you set yourself up to better respond, perhaps by asking for a more considered, focused, and structured discussion - one that allows you to be as prepared as your counterpart?  

What makes you think that you have to lead like the last CEO? Or that you can? Or that you should? We are all different leaders, no clones, and certainly all imperfect. What do you bring to a leadership role that your successor did not and that is perhaps better suited to the current and future realities?

All of these scenarios - and the historical analogies of success - speak to and require several foundational realities being in place. 

First, understanding your personal, team, or organizational strengths and values.  Those (successful) generals and commanders noted earlier were completely aware of the strengths and weaknesses of themselves, their armies and those of their foes as well. You likewise need to understand your own strengths and limitations and how to make best use of those in your chosen field of endeavor.  

I can't overemphasize how much we need to understand, appreciate, and hold to our personal values. If you find yourself feeling uncomfortable in any work or personal scenario, pay attention to those    misgivings. They are a sign that some core value of yours is being pushed beyond what you feel is right and good. Understand what you are prepared to negotiate away - but do that consciously. For me those core values include integrity and honesty. Once you cement these values, its easier, although not easy, to not just negotiate a "better deal" but to even walk away from a damaging engagement - live to fight another day. 

Second is the ability to exercise restraint and patience to seek out the right opportunity to apply your skills and abilities. Wrong time, wrong place? Maybe these questions and answers will also help you determine that this is the wrong opportunity altogether. 

Third, have the courage to be bold or patient as circumstances dictate. When pushed, can you hold your ground to create the right circumstances for victory? When opportunity presents, can you demonstrate and apply your strengths at the right time and place? Time and tide may wait for no one, but luck also favors the prepared. Be ready when the time comes.  Be clear about your objectives, your vision for success, and apply your strengths, abilities, and values with confidence.

It's About Leadership and sometimes leadership means actively understanding and creating the conditions for success...your success.

_____________________________

Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC

President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions

gregh@breakpoint.solutions

www.breakpoint.solutions

780-918-0009

Helping leaders realize their strengths and enabling organizations to achieve their potential through the application of my leadership experience and coaching skills. I act as a point of leverage for my clients. I AM their Force Multiplier.

The Maze of Motivation?

By definition, leadership means that one has followers. Ideally, what you are experiencing is work with a highly engaged team that works well together and moves from success to success, right? Or is this perspective overly optimistic and grossly naive? Perhaps your experience is one where you feel that you are more constantly cajoling, prodding, and pushing your team to perform at even at a basic level of effort and achievement. You lament that you just can't seem to get individual team members working effectively and efficiently. You find that the 80/20 rule is working against you because you spend 80% of your leadership time trying to performance manage the 20% of your team that is problematic, trying to repair mistakes, and trying to manage the next conflict within your team.

If you are like many leaders - whether a business owner or employed decision-maker - you have likely tried a variety of techniques and approaches to getting better results from those you have contracted, employed, or otherwise worked with. This might include creating sophisticated models for recruiting and selecting staff because hiring the right people at the outset that will be more than half the battle won, right? Unfortunately, even the best of efforts doesn't guarantee success in this regard. Next you start playing with compensation/benefits plans and look to solidify performance management processes in your company. The bottom line is you have goals you want to achieve and you want to MOTIVATE your team to help you succeed in your plans.  

The problem is that carrots (e.g., money) and sticks (e.g., traditional performance management) don't create true engagement, motivation, or sustained (positive) impact on performance. My own experience is that any compensation model, pay for performance, bonus system, and so on, might have a short-term impact for an individual, but all too often they diminish the teamwork that is necessary for bigger and sustained differences in performance. These approaches are also problematic because there is rarely agreement between organization and individuals as to what constitutes good, better, and best performance; there can be large discrepancies in how one leader/manager assesses performance relative to their peers; and it sets up comparison and unhealthy competition between team members.

Another challenge in trying to motivate staff through a carrot and stick approach is what to do in times of restraint that every organization and business inevitably goes through. In some cases, this might not just mean eliminating bonuses in a given year (or years). There could also be efforts on the part of a company to rein in costs, ensure alignment with industry best practices, or even to ensure alignment with legislative standards. I have seen this latter reality take shape when companies had to move away from long-standing practices and "traditions" that then impacted things like vacation banks, ensuring staff take vacations in the years they have earned time off, and setting limits on how/when sick time can be utilized. The consequence of formalizing and maturing these HR policies and procedures? Disgruntlement and demotivation as employees view these changes as a unilateral change in the implicit contract/relationship they thought they had with their employer.  

Does all of this mean that motivating others is a fool's errand? Not at all. But it does require us to accept another perspective on motivation and then adopt a different approach to motivating others.  First, we have to accept that everyone is motivated! They are just not by the same things that you are.  If I consider either my role as a public health care leader or as a business owner/entrepreneur, I was very clear about why I did. There was clarity of purpose that made me a self-starter, highly conscientious, and a person focused on achievement. What I clearly had was a strongly held passion for the work I was doing. Did others share that passion? In some cases, almost completely so. But in the vast majority of cases, other people and staff would not or could not put in the time or effort that I was prepared to exert in pursuit of success.  They had other aspirations and goals. No amount of sloganeering, pulpit pounding, or bonus would dramatically impact that reality. 

Is there a solution for getting more out of your team? To be successful in motivating them? The answer is YES. However, it requires to understand motivation differently, do differently, and put energy into our leadership and teams in a more positive and assertive way. The answer was recently and most articulately brought to my attention through the work of author Susan Fowler in her book "Why Motivating People Doesn't Work...And What Does". She suggests that everyone has an innate desire to thrive, to grow, to develop, and to be part of a team/positive collective. A leader's task, then, is to create the condition in which these innate desires can be supported. And if the leader fails to create that environment, then an individual will focus on other areas of their lives that will deliver those benefits to them. They will be motivated by something else. 

What do people need and what can you tap into as a leader to enhance motivation for your organization's goals? 

First, you have to empower those who work with you. You have to give them choice and a sense of control in their work. Now this doesn't mean unbridled anarchy. There are always boundaries in place for everyone, including the boss. However, all of us want to have a semblance of control over all aspects of our lives, set direction, and feel like we are using our skills and abilities. In this way we are tapping into internal drivers of success rather than being driven or constrained by external forces. I can speak to this reality even at the pinnacle of my leadership journey when I was a senior vice president. While I was making the most money I had ever made in my career, was afforded the chance to earn bonuses when they were available, and enjoyed a great benefits package, I was not only unmotivated but also disillusioned by feeling that I had limited latitude to exercise my skills and abilities. Bureaucracy was stifling or eliminating my decision-making power.  

Second, a leader needs to cultivate an opportunity for individuals to be connected with the leader, the team and the broader organization. Humans are social creatures. We need to experience genuine connection to others, to feel that our values align with the values of our team or organization, and that we are all working towards something greater than ourselves. This means personal, interpersonal, and social connection. If people don't feel this level of connection with you, their team, or their organization, they will fulfill that need in other places - professionally, with family and friends, anywhere but within the organization. As I consider this insight, I am reminded of Lencioni's 5 Dysfunctions of a Team and the first element of that model being Trust/Absence of Trust. A bonus system as a motivating tool, unfortunately, feels like a nice way to tell us what to do but won't foster relationships or support a belief in your staff that you care about them.

Finally, a leader needs to support their team in experiencing growth and development. Does the work environment promote confidence, does it support learning, does it build confidence, and does it learn and manage through "mistakes" (or punish those transgressions? It has always struck me as extraordinarily short-sighted that so many organizations - public and private sector in equal measure - so easily cut back or eliminate training and development budgets as one of their first go to means of managing through adversity. In reality, training and development, including leadership and team development, are never more important or required than in challenging times. Instead of constantly focusing on short-term productivity metrics (What did you achieve today?), you might start by appreciating the growth and development of an organization's greatest asset - its people - and find out what your people are learning and how they are growing.

I had always believed that all people were motivated by different things. However, I could never necessarily translate that understanding into tools that could support motivation of others. In reality, I just had to think about those times where I felt most motivated in my work (and life) and can easily see the parallels to having choice/empowerment in what I was doing, how cohesive and supportive my team environment was, and the degree to which I felt I was able to learn and grow in my skill sets, my leadership capacity, and in myself as a person.

Motivation doesn't have to be a maze. There is another way forward if we change our leadership mindset.  It's all about leadership!

______________________________

Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE(R), CEC, PCC
Executive Coach/Senior Consultant

gregh@breakpoint.solutions

www.breakpoint.solutions

780-918-0009

Helping leaders realize their strengths and enabling organizations to achieve their potential through the application of my leadership experience and coaching skills. I act as a point of leverage for my clients. I AM their Force Multiplier.