The loneliness of leadership
Stephen,
I noticed again when we met this week how your receptionist refers to you as ‘Chief’. It is obvious that the Executive bit of your title cuts no ice with him. From the way he refers to you it is clear that he sees and acknowledges that you are in charge. And since I register your uncertainty, your hesitation about ‘shooting before the 12th’, even though you can now articulate the nature and extent of change that needs to be wrought, how to reconcile that hesitation with the view your receptionist has of you, your role and its responsibility?
Perhaps I should start by backing up a bit and describing the lay of the land as I see it.
As you approach the end of your first year you are now able to articulate the WHAT of ‘what we need to do’ and are persuasive, even compelling about the need, the opportunity and the consequences of stasis. When you mentioned having had a few moments of pure joy in the awareness of quite what might be possible, I infer that was in part because through the process of strategy development you now see so clearly what needs to be done. To have that vision is genuinely exciting!
Further, I have no doubt that after the required period of wrangling, the Board will align around this statement of what needs to be done and the redoubtable future Chair will drive production of a suitably enabling mission statement, revision of the Charter should that prove necessary and even a renaming of the institution you lead. Even the Treasurer will be obliged to give ground and acknowledge the inevitable. It is just a matter of persuasion, persistence and time.
There will some additional loin-girding to be done: the Chairman wishes you to have some SMART objectives and we named four candidates for the end of your second year, namely:
- Have the organisational structure in place with suitable individuals appointed to Medical Director, Business Development Director, Marketing and Comms supremo and the Business Service Delivery Units Director roles
- Subject to detailed business development review agreeing the priorities, have plans for discrete enhancements in the three units we discussed
- Have mobilised development of a plan for the operating environment
- Have reinforced the status as the provider of choice to the Purchasing Consortium and established a profile in the region.
Yet quite soon after these procedural i-s get dotted and the enabling t-s get crossed you will find that the advisers and the non-executives whose efforts served to frame the ‘what’ will fade into the background and you feel left alone to ‘get on with it’, bereft of support and with a crushing in-tray. (I see myself already as being in the background, by the way)
No-one is going to tell you how and quite where to start. And no-one else really knows how to stop the change initiative being swamped by the tidal wave of business as usual. I hear no evidence that anyone else has seen the strong dependencies between different decisions – for instance, if you appoint the ex-diva to the medical role then you don’t get the reputational kick that a sector superstar would bring, so does that mean you don’t appoint her despite her several external endorsements? No-one will give you specific guidance although everyone will have a point of view and a reaction to anything that you decide.
Also a year sounds an age, yet the elapsed time for searching and recruiting the oomph you need to bring on board means that the individuals who will help you deliver the change may only just have arrived by the end of the year. Reflecting on these challenges and practical questions might lead you to feel as though somehow nothing has changed over the past few weeks and months other than the point of the problem has moved from working out ‘the what’ to working out ‘the how’.
What is more, there will soon be no-one left alongside to help you with such questions of praxis and all eyes will be turned to you in the expectation of action.
This feeling is precisely that of being the leader, the nature of being the figurehead. What to do? Take a deep breath, ponder hard and then follow your judgement. Trust yourself. You have all the resources you need for this work. No-one else can or will depute for you and no-one needs to. Be clear that NO-ONE ELSE KNOWS ANY BETTER and most of them know much less or much worse.
For example, DK exhorts you to start recruiting now and you know he is right but how to do so before the Board has endorsed anything and how to avoid upsetting the overstretched Louise in the process? Look inside, ponder and seek to discern your personal response to this situation. During our conversation you found a middle path with your idea of taking Louise into your confidence directly. Do so. Trust yourself to present the situation to her in a way that she can receive. Be open, be definite, be direct. It has to happen sooner or later so why not make it sooner?
I also think that it matters less what you do than you get started. All things will be required in due course so the sooner you set them away, the sooner you will feel you are getting somewhere. As for the Chairman and the Board, they will say they seek change but will find that as difficult as anyone else who is involved, so force the pace with them, be demanding of them. Change is always uncomfortable for everyone.
So take charge. You do not need permission, you are the Chief. Your receptionist has the simple wisdom to know that Chiefs make the difficult decisions and lead. Everyone else will fall into line accordingly.
I am not being flippant. I mean this.
Happy to talk more as you wish,
Best,
Simon
