LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS

Want to prevent even small-scale disasters, as well as achieve greater team results? Make it safe for people to challenge you. Here are a few ways to expand that safety zone.

In the 1950s game show “To Tell the Truth,” groups of contestants attempted to convince the player of their character to see if they could accurately sleuth out who was – and who was not – who they said they were. It’s also Oscar season, rewarding those who have done the best job of portraying someone other than who they are. While it might be true that leaders are always on stage (people do notice what we do and say more than we think), putting on an act and being less than transparent can...

We must learn how to manage emotions or they will manage us and that won’t end well. I have a sense that emotional reactions are a little quicker to surface for many of us than 4 years ago. We can go from 0-60 in an emotional nano-second. How do we rebuild a reserve and get back in the driver’s seat of regulating our emotional temperatures so that we can navigate with less cortisol flooding our systems?

Our phones require regular upgrades to function properly. IT folks tell us, “When you get that reminder, do the upgrade.” Consider this final 2023 post focused on belonging as your “auto-notice” pop-up reminder to reboot. The end of the year is always a good time to reflect, so here are some update prompts. Shut down for a while and consider the following to be ready to restart YOU, version 2024.

A friend of mine went to a clinic visit with his wife recently to support her in getting screened for depression. The medical assistant came out to the waiting room to get them - with blue hair, a nose ring, multiple tattoos, and a gender vague name tag to match their demeanor. Walls went up automatically.And yet… This MA showed care and concern, even sharing that they had “been where you are” with depression, reassuring my friends that they had come to the right place for help. In the end my...

Ahhh…Fall! The season of colorful leaves fluttering to the ground, cooler temperatures, fields being harvested, Friday night football, children racing door to door to collect treats, and yes…PUMPKINS! I may be more excited than most about the annual tradition of growing, carving, and displaying pumpkins. But this year in my pumpkin search, I’m seeing messages of leadership and fostering belonging. Read on to see what I mean:

My colleague (and dear friend who nurtures my belonging), Cella Hartline, and I stopped at the beautiful Copper Falls for a hike to break up a long work road trip this month. I kept seeing so many metaphors in nature for leadership that it almost felt trite, but at the risk of appearing so, I’m going ahead with this. The natural world presented a template for exploring how leaders can increase a sense of belonging. Here is what I saw, and some questions for you to ponder as a leader...

Which would you rather work on today?___Building a clinic addition to serve more of your community’s medical needs, or___Building capacity for your community to address the factors that impact health beyond the medical building (like housing, child care, access to healthy food, and other social determinants of health.While building a clinic may be more in your direct line of responsibility, your community needs you to bring your talents outside the healthcare walls. The need goes both ways, esp...

The 2023 posts here have focused on how you can create an environment of belonging for others. What about your accountability for creating your own sense of belonging?

I listened to this year’s Leadership Residency CEO Panel with an ear to messages of belonging. Some of their best pieces of advice fit perfectly with this theme.