After reading
nearly 40 books about leadership released this year, my pick for the very best
is the book, The Front-Line Leader: Building a High-Performance Organization from the Ground Up, by Chris Van Gorder.
This book is
my top choice because it:
- Covers the issues most important to today's workplace leaders
- Provides "real-world" and practical everyday steps you can take
- Gives you specific techniques and tactics
- Tells powerful, life-experience stories
- Capsulizes "Take Action" to do’s for you at the end of each chapter
- Reveals how to create a culture of accountability that creates a high-performing organization with a competitive advantage
And, most important,
because the entire premise of the book is:
- People come first!
Today, Van
Gorder is the President and CEO at Scripps Health, one of America’s foremost health systems with 14,000 employees and 2,600 affiliated physicians. He has
presided over a dramatic turnaround, catapulting Scripps from near bankruptcy
to a dominant market position. But, he
started with Scripps Health back in 1973 and rose through the ranks, learning
along the way the lessons he shares in his book.
Equally
impressive, Van Gorder had to reinvent his career after having been injured on
the job as a California police officer.
That reinvention led him to that 1973 hospital security director job.
You’ll find
the 200-page book easy to read. Each
chapter is comprised of short sections, often about the length of a blog
posting.
My favorite
chapters are:
- Know Your People
- Tell Stories
- Create a Culture of Advocacy
- Build Loyalty and Engagement from the Middle
- Bring People Together
- Ask “What If?”
This week, Van
Gorder kindly answered the following questions for me:
Chris Van Gorder
Question: Even when a CEO does his/her best to be
approachable to their employees, often employees find it difficult to approach
that CEO. What couple things can a CEO do to make that a less threatening
experience for the employee?
Van
Gorder: It is up to CEOs to make themselves
approachable and it does not happen overnight. There is no doubt that the
title can be intimidating but the best way to break down the title is to let
the employee get to know who you are – that you are more than just a
title.
I’ve found great success in developing programs like our year-long
Leadership Academy for middle managers or our six-month program called Employee
100 for front-line staff. The initial sessions are always a little
awkward but when we spend time together, talk about our backgrounds and how did
we get to where we are and answer questions candidly, the artificial barriers
start to break down and a relationship – even trust – develops both ways.
Another
way to do that is to spend some time working side-by-side with your employees
doing their job with them. When that happens, the CEO is working for the
front-line employee. Relationships and understanding develop.
The
point is it takes time and consistency – and it takes effort on the part of the
CEOs. Fly-bys don’t count.
Question: Can
work ethic be taught?
Van Gorder:
I believe a work ethic is cultural – both from an individual and
corporate perspective. My father always told me, “don’t steal from the
hand that feeds you.” What he meant by that is that nobody owed us (me) a
job. He believed that it was a privilege to be employed and that we owed
our loyalty, dedication and hard work to our employer. In that regard, he
taught me a “work ethic.” But it’s also an issue related to
organizational culture. If the culture of the organization is to be
productive and focused as an organization – where there is fair and equitable
accountability – the organization can have a strong work ethic. But
if there is not a sense of “accountability” from top to bottom, a work ethic
will be sporadic if it exists at all.
Question: Why do
many CEOs forget their roots?
Van Gorder:
I think they lose contact with their roots and start to believe their
own “press.” We live in a competitive world and it’s not that easy to
achieve success and become a chief executive. But it’s important for
every CEO to remember they did not get there by themselves. They were
mentored, taught, supported and in almost every case, it was hard-working
employees and managers who helped the CEO achieve their success. It’s
important to reflect on that point regularly and go back to those
roots. And if nothing else, volunteer with an organization where
you are not in charge so you can remember what it is like to be an employee
just like everyone else.
Question: How do
you engage middle-managers to effectively reflect your philosophies?
Van Gorder: Spend time with them. We established a Leadership Academy that
runs one full day a month and I spend my entire day with that group starting
with a wide open Q&A session with them for about 2.5 hours. It is
very candid and transparent. Over the course of time, an understanding of
both personal and organizational philosophies becomes understood.
When the class graduates after a year they join the Leadership Academy Alumni Association
and I meet with that group every month just to do a Q&A. Over
time the philosophies become well-understood.
Question: How much
of a person's positive morale is based on that individual versus the influence
of the organization where they work?
Van Gorder: There are certainly individuals in the world who are so positive
consistently and so self-motivating that they have the greatest impact on their
personal morale. But most people need a combination of personal or
mission-oriented morale and organizational morale. So care of
employees is as important as the success of the organization in building and
sustaining morale. It’s a combination of personality, organizational culture,
organizational purpose and mission, and success.
Question: When
things aren't going so well for an organization, how much of that situation do
you recommend a CEO shares with his/her employees?
Van Gorder:
Transparency is transparency – not selected transparency. I
believe employees should know as much as possible about what internal and
external forces are impacting the organization. So in our communications
and Q&A sessions we share everything except three things: we don’t violate
patient confidentiality, we don’t talk about personnel actions as they relate
to individuals and we don’t discuss business transactions if there is a
confidentiality agreement in place. Absent those three conditions,
we share everything we can as soon as we can.
Question: The
downturn in the economy during the past few years has caused many people to
have to reinvent themselves. What advice do you have for those struggling
with their reinvention?
Van Gorder: Reinvention starts with a positive attitude. I like to hire people
with positive attitudes as we can train people for almost everything except
attitude. The second thing to remember is that nobody owes you anything –
it’s up to you to get the training and prepare yourself for the career or job
you want. But at the same time, there are organizations that believe in
investing in their people and helping their people achieve their career
aspirations. Find those employers. So it’s a combination of
personal attitude, proper preparation and a great employer. Find those
and you will likely find success.
Thanks to the book’s publisher for sending me
an advance copy of the book.
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