“I think they will hear the message differently if it comes from you,” said my client.
The message she hired me to bring to the leaders in her dispersed healthcare organization — “Effective teamwork can create better results.”
My client is known for living this message herself but at this annual leader retreat she wanted to bring more emphasis to the critical need for her staff to think beyond their location or function to effect the care for patients.
Taking advantage of the premise that the outsider can get away with ideas that insiders can’t, I suggested that we create an interactive format to the retreat where people were working in teams and reflecting on their experience. This was a significant change over the business-like retreats held in the past and my client wondered aloud whether her organization would resonate with it or judge the activities to be too game-like. After all, they all had been quite serious students earning advanced degrees in their specialty.
I could feel my client’s dilemma. She wanted to spearhead a successful event AND she wanted to ignite some new energy around teamwork. To her credit, my client decided to jump into the new interactive approach. The risk she took was a testament to the degree of agility she has as a leader. She changed an approach for a desired result. This agility has been labeled, “Situational Leadership” by Ken Blanchard and can be further studied in his newest book, Leading At A Higher Level.
Last Wednesday was retreat day. The assembled group took part in a round robin ice-breaker, “Knot the rope” team exercise and simulations devoted to teaming. The energy in the room was high throughout. Some of those who my client least expected to be energized by the team-building activities rated the day with high marks. People typically known to be hesitant in large groups were seen as leading. Some who usually are out-spoken took leadership from others. Agility abounded.
When have you purposely placed yourself in a new situation and adapted to it? When have you delegated a task in order to help someone’s flexibility develop?
Collaboration Pays Off 