Emma Versluis and the rule of 'nothing less'

In this weekly series of mentor minutes, I am sharing one insight from each of my mentors. Please note that I have learnt SO much more than one thing from each of them, but I wanted to share one important thing I learnt from each (for simplicity and to remain concise).

@Emma Versluis is a dynamic healthcare leader who has worked in Nursing leadership and Project roles for the past 16 years. Her superpower is finding the story hidden in data and then translating it for other health leaders and health executives, but she has many other talents. When I wrote this piece I was writing it in a peer mentor format, but since then Emma has accepted a higher duties role in an Assistant Director position (so it would be incorrect to omit that!).

I have written this piece on Emma because I have learnt so much from her. Peer mentors are important because they have a shared understanding of your current challenges, and different skills. We can all learn from each other and this often overlooked role has been critical to my personal and professional development over the years. Thankyou Emma for your feedback, support and encouragement. This iceberg diagram is something Emma shared with me a while back- and beneath the surface clearly articulates what a great peer mentor can see and share with us.

Nothing Less

The main thing I have learnt from Emma is the rule of ‘Nothing Less’. To achieve the goals we want in any part of our lives, there are minimum standards. It is easy to procrastinate, to make excuses or to scrape by with the minimum standard to get something done. Emma does the opposite.

I am in awe of Emma’s ability to be effective in so many different areas simultaneously. Emma has a full time job, works part time as a course convenor for Masters level students at university, does leadership presentations, writes LinkedIn articles and has a rich life outside of work as well. She inspires others with her actions and is generous with her knowledge.

The formula (in my eyes) for the rule of nothing less is as follows:

-        Exceed the current  minimum standards

-        Set your new minimum standards

-         Deliberately develop others

Exceed the current minimum standards

This one sounds obvious. But I am continually surprised by the number of people who will try to find ways around meeting the minimum standard. Emma is different because she boldy and unhesitatingly goes all in. For each of the past two roles she has achieved, she required a Masters degree (… different Masters degrees, not the same one). Other people in that situation would see that as an obstacle or seek special consideration to have the first Masters degree rated as an equivalent, but Emma dove in and got the second Masters without hesitation. The minimum standard is what is known to be required to be able to do the job effectively. The minimum standard is not the level to aim for to thrive in a role.

The benefit of committing to do what it takes (and nothing less) is that it saves time. When we commit to doing something ‘no matter what’, we eliminate all of the time it takes to make decisions about the best way forward. In the example above (to get another Masters or not) .  Emma finished her second Masters in the amount of time it would take some people to commit to making that decision.

Create your new minimum standard

At one point in Emma’s career, a person who had accepted her equivalent role at another hospital approached her to learn how to do the job (as they did not receive a handover at their facility). Emma rapidly made time to provide personal training to this person, and wrote them a manual to ensure that they knew the best way to pull, collate and explain data as well as ongoing support. This process was then done again for another person at a different facility. 

This was never part of Emma’s ‘job description’. It added to her workload and reduced her personal productivity for a couple of days. But her broad view of the organisation meant that she knew this would add value to our health service as well as helping another team out. Emma ensured that her peer was set up to succeed by ensuring they were functioning at a high level. In taking this course of action, she dramatically increased productivity for the entire health service. In taking such good care of her peer, Emma created a new minimum standard for this role. The people in these roles now regularly collaborate and have good relationships across facilities, where previously they were independently working with little contact. All of the people in these roles now run the same reports the same way, which improves our data integrity and gives us all more confidence in the reports.

In the same situation, some people might have felt knowing this weakness in another facility was an advantage. Our data would be accurate, timely and well presented and the other facility would suffer in comparison. However, seeing this situation from a higher perspective means that Emma recognised that we are all a part of the same organisation and that helping each other makes us all better. Having a long term view ensured that Emma was doing the best and the right thing for our whole organisation. Creating the new minimum standard is a task which requires organisation, integrity and diligence. Emma is a great example of all three. She has written about her perspective on how to show up every day here.

Deliberately develop others

Being generous with her knowledge, Emma actively seeks out ways to develop people around her. She shares interesting articles, books and theories with many of us (and developed the leadership toolkits for our team last year). In her university work, Emma finds growth-focused people and invites them to step up into academic work with her. When her advice is sought, Emma thinks deeply and is generous with her time, whether it be for interview preparation or mindset coaching. Over the past year, Emma (and myself) have delivered presentations on communicating for change. In these presentations we talk about HOW we did things, so initiatives can be replicated with ease. No presentation is ever the same because in between sessions when we learn more, we change the presentation to add the most value to our peers.

Being on a team with Emma means you are being developed, regardless of whether you are a peer or a direct report. This is why Emma adds so much value to her teams. Honest feedback is a high priority for Emma, and we often share our work with each other for this purpose. 

Emma believes that not giving honest feedback is unfair. If we don’t give people around us the opportunity to improve something for themselves, we are holding them in limbo (they can’t change what they don’t know). One of Emma’s most recommended books is ‘Radical Candor’ by Kim Scott. This book discusses that when we truly care about each other, we will take risks and have those conversations. This benefits the other person, because then they can make a choice to change, or not. But we haven’t kept information (or opportunities to improve) hidden from them. It also benefits us, because if the other person does take corrective action then our lives improve too.

The three aspects to the rule of nothing less all combine to ensure that a person is functioning at the highest tier of their role. Emma is known statewide for her excellence in multiple roles, and these reasons are why she has been successful in all of them. Next time you are wanting to assess how well you are doing in your role, consider the three aspects above. Have you improved your job to the point that your high standard is now the new expected minimum? And are you developing others in or on your team? I am grateful to have such a good example before me to learn from. 

Thankyou Emma for role modelling, as well as your time, energy and generosity.

Do you have a peer mentor? How did this relationship start? I am interested to hear your story on how it works for you.