Are You Leading with Your Performance Brain?

Significant change initiatives, in organizations today, often focus on technology and process neglecting to take the human factor, the people, into equal consideration. Regardless of the industry and the cliché, leaders must accept that the most valuable asset, relative to organizational performance, is its people. People are not automatons, and as research continues to demonstrate, most people come to work with the desire to add meaning, value, and purpose to their work. When organizations focus on aligning people with strategy, creating unity and clarity, people can drive performance to the highest levels.

The healthcare industry experiences constant change both in practice and regulatory oversight. The fundamental challenge for all leaders remains constant: How do we lead and manage (two fundamentally difference executive functions) healthcare organizations through the reality of constant changes driven by the market and by health care reform? Leadership is a behavior skill not a technical skill. Leadership is the daily, persistent expression of behavior that positively connects with people to execute and accomplish the purpose (why we exist) and the mission (what we do) of the organization. If you have been receiving our newsletter for some time you have heard us repeat over again that individual leader behavior is the singular most important predictor to this high level of organizational performance. We do so because time and again neurophysiology, how the brains of people work, continues to validate our claim that when people are connected and engaged positively with their leaders they are connected and engaged in their work at higher levels. In the words of Dr. Henry Cloud, “when leaders lead the brains of their people the way the brain is designed to work, the people can perform at the highest levels.”

Influential leaders succeed where other leaders fail because their brains perform at a higher level too.  They are more productive, and they achieve greater results than other leaders, faced with similar circumstances and given the same resources. The success and effectiveness of influential leaders is driven by what is commonly referred to as tactical capacity - a set of behaviors that enables them to become role models for followers, guide operational improvements, execute on strategy consistently, and sustain performance excellence. In our terminology, they are leading from their upper brain. In the words of Shad Helmstetter, imagine what you could do with a brain that, “is always clear, sharp, and alert; thinks in the positive; deals with problems, but refuses to be stopped by them; believes in your unlimited potential and inspires you to reach it; is endlessly encouraging; will do for you what you tell it to do, and is neurologically hard-wired for growth, development, achievement, and success.” Can you even begin to imagine?

Influential leaders recognize the importance of self-awareness, collaboration, and building highly effective relationships. They spend time focusing their efforts in key areas that will build connections with the people they lead to drive performance. They focus these efforts around the fundamental skill set of tactical capacity. We define tactical capacity as simply “getting it right as a leader” both with the technical elements of performance and with people too. When you have a meaningful relationship with another person you work more effectively together. You have a common goal and a consistent purpose. Your efforts are channeled toward the same common outcome and you drive performance in the organization to peak levels. What is clearly essential to this conceptual model working in any organization is the level of trust that exists both at the team level and the overall organization.

The Trust Quotient

The word trust is derived for the German word trost, meaning comfort. This is an appropriate association because when we trust someone, we are comforted by the belief that this person has our best interest at heart and thus will not endanger us or put us at risk. Trust is a critical component in all human interactions, just as in mathematics the quotient is the result of division, a leader has the ability to divide and separate teams as a result of their individual leader behavior. Trust is cultivated by daily and continual repetitive behavior that demonstrates the trustworthiness and safety of a person. Leaders have the responsibility to go first and demonstrate the desire for this kind of high level relationship dynamic.

Trust has many types. Following are two types of trust that we encounter most often in team settings.

1.     Generalized. We trust on the basis of our mental model that people are generally honorable. Generalized trust is a leap of faith in that we choose to trust without evidence that our trust is deserved or without concrete assurance that whom we trust will deliver positive results. Social and ethical theorist Russell Hardin stated that “generalized trust must be a matter of relatively positive expectations of the trustworthiness, cooperativeness, and helpfulness of others.”

2.     Behavioral. We bestow trust on the basis of how we experience a person’s behavior toward us. That is, if someone has exhibited reliability, honesty, competency, compassion or courage, over time that person earns our trust. Earn is the operative word in this instance. Trust does not come automatically with positions of power. Even if it did, however (as is the case with generalized trust) trust cannot be sustained by virtue of rank, power, and position alone. It must be supported by ongoing good behavior, which then validates our confidence in bestowing our trust in a person with disproportionate authority.

The foundational principle of The Frisina Group and The Center for Influential Leadership that individual leader behavior is the single most important predictor of organizational performance. In keeping with that core belief we focus on the second type of trust – behavioral. Trust-earning or building behaviors include:

·        Consistency in manner, words, and actions.

·        Accountability and transparency, including actively listening, sharing information, and taking responsibility instead of blaming.

·        Genuine or sincere interest in and concern for others.

·        Respectful and equal regard for and treatment of others, regardless of rank or position.

·        Focused attention.

·        Principled and evidence-based decision making.

·        Dedication to fulfilling (not just making) promises.

·        Willingness to celebrate and reward good and exceptional work.

These behaviors depict the self-awareness traits of influential leaders. As masters of interpersonal relations, influential leaders know that their everyday words, actions, and habits can either strengthen or weaken trust. People can only take so much bad behavior before they lose their willingness to trust and begin to feel disconnected from their leadership and organizations. We can all list the outcomes of an unmotivated, disengaged workforce, particularly in high stress and high risk environments. This is why, as influential leaders, we are vigilant to how we as leaders choose to make positive, impactful decisions that build trust in those with whom we work.

Trust must exist among members of teams for it to function at its peak. Trust enables the team not only to perform its daily function but also to rise above conflicts and crises. In fact, by the strict definition of a high performing team (HPT), if you do not have trust you do not have a real team at all. Ideally, trust should be at a high level, but at a minimum, it should be at an acceptable level, allowing the team to develop and execute organizational plans and strategy.  Absence of trust almost always brings about negative consequences. As indicated in a study by Deloitte titled “Truth in the Workplaces: Ethics & Workplace Survey,” both employees and executives who participated in the survey agreed that lack of trust hurts morale. In addition, executives responded that the presence of no trust damages productivity and profitability. Simply stated, low or no trust puts the organization at a competitive and performance disadvantage and you as leader have the ability to negatively or positively build trust in your organization every day.

As leaders, you are ridiculously in charge of the results your teams produce. If you have the desire, you can learn to lead from an upper brain built for performance. In doing so, you have the ability to create an amazing future for you personally and the long term sustainability of your organization. Our goal is to provide you the means for creating performance architecture using an integrated, actionable, conceptual model for leadership effectiveness that puts you back in control of leading your teams and your organization to the highest levels of performance that you can imagine. That’s worth thinking about today.