by Doug Gray | Feb 24, 2016 | Business, Leadership Coach Nashville
Recently 4 people have asked me that question. There may be something in the air, like ignorance or fear. Here is a quick model for you to determine if you are a good fit for your organization.
The Competing Values Framework (CVF)
Models provide cognitive maps or useful images for self-assessment and consulting. For instance, the competing values framework defines four boxes from two continua: flexibility or control, and internal or external focus (Cameron, 2008). The result is a simple diagnostic model that can be used to assess your organizational culture (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: The Competing Values Framework (Campbell, 2008)
As you read the following descriptions ask yourself these 3 questions:
- What quadrant best describes my organization’s values?
- What quadrant best describes my individual values?
- How can I re-design my life to work in an organization that supports my values?
Organizations with high flexibility/discretion and high external focus and differentiation are adhocracy oriented. These organizations are dynamic, entrepreneurial, people take risks, and they value innovation and experimentation. Leaders in an adhocracy are visionary, risk-tolerant, and innovative. The adhocracy organizations value experimentation, readiness to change, growth, acquisitions, and new products and services. Examples include technology-based disruptors such as Uber, Airbnb, Virgin. The key word is “create.”
Organizations with high stability/control and high external focus and differentiation are hierarchically oriented. These organizations favor structure, coordination, efficiency, and stability. Leaders in a hierarchically-oriented organization are good coordinators, organizers, and efficiency experts. The hierarchical organizations value stability, predictability, efficiency, rules, and policies. Examples include Bank of America, Community Health Systems(CHS), and Hospital Corporation of America (HCA). The key word is “control.”
Organizations with high internal focus/integration and high stability and control are market-oriented. These organizations are results-oriented, value competition, achievement, and performance. Leaders in a market-oriented organization are hard-driving producers, directors, and competitive. They value winning, increased market share, achieving goals and targets, and rewards. Examples include Merrill Lynch, insurance salespeople, and car salespeople. The key word is “compete.”
Organizations with high internal focus/integration and high flexibility/discretion are very personal places, like an extended family, where participation, mentoring and nurturing are encouraged. The leaders in clan-oriented organizations are coaches, mentors, or parent figures. These organizations value loyalty, tradition, collaboration and teamwork. Examples include the United Way, most churches, most nonprofits. The key word is “collaborate.”
So where is your organization? Where are your individual values? These opposite and competing assumptions are useful descriptors of dominant orientations and value sets. But they do not determine behavior. You determine behavior, when you make your choices. Your individual values do not change.
The key executive coaching question is: How can you re-design your life to work in an organization that supports your values?
Frankly, that is why people hire an external consultant as an executive coach. Once we know an organizational culture, then we can predict your individual effectiveness, success of a merger or acquisition, and your individual quality of life.
Then get in touch with me, your Nashville-based leadership and executive coach, at 615.905.1892 or schedule a complimentary leadership coaching session to discuss how you learn best. As your leadership coach, I strive to provide you with the tools to create an impact, rally optimistic coworkers and comrades, as well as maximize group and individual productivity and creation.
What are you waiting for?
Download this list of services and investment levels now:
Reference:
Cameron, K, (2008). A process for changing organization culture. In T. Cummings (Ed.), Handbook of organization development (Ch 5). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications
by Doug Gray | Feb 19, 2016 | Leadership Coach Nashville
Think of a recent example of success in your experience, and an example of failure in your experiences. Then consider the following formulas:
Learning from success
Our accomplishments certainly define us; look at any profile on LinkedIn or your net profits from last year. And there is plenty of support for successful leaders, in western cultures, that value heroic leadership. Those examples range from Jeff Bezos to Mark Zuckerberg to the popularized leaders in this month’s Forbes or Inc. magazines. That focus on heroic leadership may reflect hierarchical beliefs such as “the boss is the super-leader” or our team is “too big/smart to fail.” Heroic leaders exist in most cultures, as described by Campbell (1988). However, excessive success can lead to hubris. Success can endanger a leader, especially if they lose the ability to consider multiple perspectives. I have witnessed examples from previous executive coaching, management consulting, and leadership training clients who have lost their focus on a corporate vision. Successful leaders often need external coaches to speak truth to power.
Learning from failure
Failures also define a leader’s character. We recall our failures from 8th grade and from last month. Some leaders post a list of failures in the hallway as a public reminder. Did you know that we recall failures longer than we recall successes, and that the memories of those failures are located in the oldest part of our brain where we process emotions? Last week I participated in a fascinating webinar on “Coaching the post-heroic leader,” led by Jeff Hull at Columbia University. That webinar focused on recent studies describing adaptive leaders who are comfortable working in a fluid, networked, virtual world that supports failure. The lean startup movement described by Reis (2011) and the disruption models (Christianson, 2011) encourage failing fast, and failing often in order to gain a competitive advantage. From a systems thinking perspective (Senge, 2006), failure can provide an external stimulation that helps leaders stay true to their values and character. Leaders who are failing at one behavior may need external coaches to teach them additional tactics and strategies.
Your Consultant’s Conclusions:
My tentative conclusion is that leaders are in greater danger from success, than from failure. But my conclusion is less important than yours.
Ask yourself these leadership coaching questions:
- What have I learned in the past month?
- How do I know that I have learned that?
- What do I need to learn in the next 6 months?
Then call me at 615-905-1892 today, or schedule a complimentary leadership coaching session to discuss how you learn best. As your leadership coach, I strive to provide you with the tools to create an impact, rally optimistic coworkers and comrades, as well as maximize group and individual productivity and creation.
What are you waiting for?
Download this list of services and investment levels now:
References:
Campbell, J. (1988). The Power of Myth. New York: Doubleday.
Christensen, C.M. (2011). The innovator’s dilemma; The revolutionary book that will change the way you do business. New York: Harper Business.
Reis, E. (2011). The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses. New York: Crown Business.
Senge, P. M. (2006). The Fifth Discipline: the Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. Random House/Currency.
by Doug Gray | Sep 8, 2015 | Business, Leadership, Managers, strengths, Success, talent, talent assessment
The goal of coaching is behavioral change toward a desired personal or professional outcome. For instance, Sarah may need to develop her business development skills to grow her new franchise by 50% within the next 6 months. John may need to develop an assertive meeting style with his new manager, in the next 30 days, or risk opportunities for promotion. How do these leaders attain their goals?
Some leaders like to imagine the coaching process in the following 4 phases. My experience, since 1997 with hundreds of coaching engagements, is that coaching engagements rarely fall into the neat categories of these 4 phases. One reason is that learning is a messy process. The process is ongoing, iterative, client-focused, both an “artful craft” requiring practice, and a scientific management consulting process requiring expertise. The action learning process implies that coaches and leaders jointly learn what works, and why it works, so that the leader can do more of that behavior.
That said, the process of organizational development can be described in these 4 phases. (Source: Gallant & Rios, 2014).
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- The start-up phase requires candid assessment of what is working, what is not working, and what is needed. The selection of a coach or consultant is crucial. Leaders should not select someone they like as a potential confidante or best friend. Leaders should select the most expert consultant who can help them master a new behavior. For instance, if a leader needs a woman who speaks Spanish to help prepare for relocation to Mexico City, then I am not qualified. The goal of this start-up phase is to define boundaries of the engagement, and to mutually agree on those boundaries in a written contract.
- The diagnosis phase includes learning what the leader thinks about their reputation, brand, strengths, and weaknesses. That self-assessment often conflicts with data gathered from others. Techniques include surveys, interviews, assessments, observations, and video. The word “diagnosis” is not accurate, because it implies a gap or deficiency that is static and needs correction. I prefer the words “development” or “focus” or “assessment” because they accurately describe the ongoing quality of coaching engagements that reinforce the strengths of leaders.
- The intervention phase is the core of any coaching engagement. The process includes ongoing assessment of the client’s agenda, review of behaviors, feedback, and constructive actions. There is both art and science involved in coaching. The art requires constant attention to the leader’s words and actions, following intuition, and what I call “dancing with curiosity.” The science requires ongoing consideration of recent research in evidence-based behavior or world-class tactics that may be useful to the leader.
- The transition phase occurs at the end of every coaching session, in monthly written summaries, after any feedback session or observation, quarterly frequency reviews, and opening and closing meetings with the leader, HR business partner, direct manager, and the coach. Those 4-way meetings insure that behavioral outcomes have been exceeded. As a 4th step in this model, the transition phase reminds all stakeholders that coaching has a beginning and an end. There are some “executive coaches” who boastfully declare that they have provided value to a leader for years. I sincerely hope that they regularly review the behavioral outcomes and business needs so that each phase of that engagement is closed. If not, they may be describing a dependent relationship that has little to do with a leader’s need for behavioral change.
This neat model with 4 phases may be useful for those who like structure. Accountants and engineers and some HR managers may find them useful.
One final thought: if the client needs a more fluid model, then these 4 steps can be twisted into a circle or a spiral.
Call us if you need to assess step 1 above, the start-up phase.
If we cannot help you, then we will refer you to someone who can do so.
Reference:
Gallant, S. & Rios, D. (2014). The organization development (OD) consulting process. In B.R. Jones & M, Brazzel (Eds.), The NTL handbook of organization development and change (2nd ed.) (pp. 153-174). San Francisco, CA: Wiley.
by Doug Gray | Aug 16, 2015 | change, healthcare, Leadership, Managers, physicians, strengths
Every U.S. citizen has a vested interest and an opinion about the quality and effectiveness of healthcare delivery, a $3.8 trillion industry with rapidly escalating costs.
The fastest-growing industry in healthcare is telemedicine, which is now used in over 50% of the hospitals in the U.S. to promote remote access to healthcare. Examples range from tele-surgery to tele-emergency care to tele-psychiatry. The reasons for telemedicine abound. It allows specialized care to be distributed from a central hub to a rural location or an underserved population, efficiently and at lower costs. For instance, in 2012, the Veterans Administration (VA) documented over 1.5 million telehealth sessions, for over 35% of veterans.
Problem statement and opportunity
The primary problem with telemedicine is low user adoption rates because many people resist organizational change. The result is massive waste that can be reduced. Telemedicine technology and processes exist. However, organizational readiness for telemedicine results from two variables: 1) ability to change, and 2) motivation to change. The innovation diffusion curve (see Figure 1) demonstrates an immediate opportunity for telemedicine initiatives to move from the early adopter phase to the majorities.
Organizational readiness for telemedicine can be measured. The key variables for organizational readiness include 1) executive sponsors who champion the ability and need to change, 2) buying agents convinced by case studies or ROI data of the economic value for the change, and 3) consumers driven by a compelling need for effective, inexpensive health care outcomes. The need for organizational leadership innovations in telemedicine programs is immediate.
Figure 1: The innovation diffusion curve (in Rogers (2003) Diffusions of Innovation)
Unique opportunity: Tennessee
Although resistance to telemedicine is a global problem, we have a unique opportunity to provide a solution from Tennessee. Described as the “Global Center of Healthcare,” Nashville, TN has over 400 healthcare companies, spawned from Healthcare Corporation of America (HCA). On January 1, 2015, Tennessee became the 21st state to enact “telemedicine parity” legislation requiring that insurers reimburse licensed health care providers for services delivered remotely just as they would for in-person visits. On February 15, 2015 Tennessee added law stating that telehealth providers will be held to the same level of care as direct care providers (SB 1223). That law “opened the door” for telemedicine services to be delivered remotely, at lower cost, to rural minorities in Tennessee. We are in the right time at the right place to lead innovation in telemedicine.
Sadly, there is resistance to telemedicine from consumers and administrators who do not trust the government, or the technology, or the financial benefits. A telemedicine visit may cost $50 and take 10 minutes (e.g. MD Live, Teladoc); an ER visit may cost $150 and take 3 hours; a hospital visit may cost $15,000 and take 3 days. Telemedicine has demonstrated a 10X cost savings. Unless, of course, there is organizational resistance to change, in which case telemedicine is a waste of time and resources.
One administrator said, “We have 3 telemedicine kiosks sitting in a storage room, hidden by sheets. The vendor who provided them no longer exists. The technology may be extraordinary, but I cannot get my physicians and nurses to use it.” His experience represents hundreds of wasteful healthcare initiatives.
What can you do to increase adoption of telemedicine?
by Doug Gray | Aug 10, 2015 | book review, change, Coaching, Leadership, money, Personal Development, talent
(Disclosure: I am a fan of Marshall Goldsmith because he is an enthusiastic role model for countless executive coaches. When I shook his hand at an event hosted by the Center for Creative Leadership, I told him so. And when I was given four copies of this book to distribute to our largest CoachSource clients, I told them something favorable. Marshall Goldsmith has celebratory cachet as a thinker and a champion.)
I wanted to love this book, but it fell short.
Triggers can be defined as “any stimulus that defines our behavior.” That broad definition enables Goldsmith to go beyond Skinnerian behaviorism, or beyond antecedent-behavior-consequence, or Duhigg’s cue-routine-reward model. The “Circle of Engagement” model includes five steps: trigger-impulse-awareness-choice-behavior. The primary focus of the book is to “help others achieve lasting positive change.”
Structures help us define individual behavioral change. Goldsmith defines three structures: the AIWATT question, the “Six Engaging Questions” and the “Wheel of Change.”
- The AIWATT question can increase engagement. Ask yourself, “Am I willing, at this time, to make the investment required, to make a positive difference on this topic?” Am I willing at this time… is the short version.
- The six “Engaging Questions” can be useful early in a coaching engagement, and when measuring behavioral trends. The questions are: 1. Did I do my best to set clear goals? 2. Did I do my best to make progress toward my goals? 3. Did I do my best to find meaning? 4. Did I do my best to build positive relationships? 6. Did I do my best to be fully engaged?
- The Wheel of Change can be described using two axis or four spokes on a wheel. One axis is the Positive to Negative axis, which “tracks the elements that either help us or hold us back.” The second axis is the Change or Keep axis, which “tracks the elements that we determine to change or keep in the future.” This descriptive model encourages clients to explore what they may need to create, eliminate, accept or preserve in order to achieve their desired behavior change.
The remaining content includes anecdotes from Goldsmith’s broad client base. His charming, self-effacing style often made me smile. The inclusion of the Buddhist anecdote reminding us that anger is always directed at “an empty boat” is a perfect reminder to stay focused on our internal locus of control in the moment. The resounding feeling I had is that the book made me feel good, consider using some of these structures, and then wonder “Now what?”
There are no citations of published works in this book. However, an emerging body of academic research does exist. Positive psychology provides the theoretical construct that the profession of executive coaching sorely needs. There is abundant research in well-being. Seminal leaders include Richard Boyatzis’ Intentional Change Model and studies using neurobiology, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s Flow and optimal experience research, and Martin Seligman’s work in PERMA (positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning and purpose, and accomplishment.) These are evidence-based thought leaders, with broad following, who are not referenced by Marshall Goldsmith. That fact makes me wonder, why not?
According to the International Coaching Federation, there are now some 50,000 professional coaches in a $7 billion industry with little consistency. (Disclosure: I have been certified at the ICF-PCC level since 2006.) The Conference Board 2014 survey, from 142 companies, defines external executive coaches compensation ranging from $600-200/ hour depending upon the size of the company, developmental needs of the leader, and seniority. The average investment for 6 months and 40-45 hours is $25,000. The 2014 ICF survey states that the average salary is $214/hour. The market realities and financial value of executive coaching are significant.
My experience of countless “coaches” is that the profession sorely needs a) a scientific evidence-based backbone and b) a theoretical backbone. Without such theory, science, and applications, the profession of executive coaching is at risk.
In hindsight, I realize that I wanted Marshall Goldsmith to provide some leadership or insight into these aspects of executive coaching. Marshall Goldsmith’s book Triggers does not address any of these academic, social and market realities. Hence it fell short of what I had expected. I can imagine him chuckling and retorting, “OK, so what are you going to do that would make you happier?”
Perhaps that is the subject for a different blog.
Call me if you’d like to discuss this book?
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