So you want to be a successful leader in healthcare?
When The Healthcare Leadership Symposium was delivered, loads of people noted what a great success it was. When I run workshops with The Emotional Culture Deck, we explore the question: "Our success relies on us feeling this" or “my success relies on me feeling this”. So, how are we defining success, and is it something we can measure? Is it a feeling or something to track?
Some months ago, along with an incredible team who answered the call to join me on a course exploring The Path of Moral Leadership, we were faced with that very question. One of the early modules asked us to define success for ourselves.
When I started working for myself, one of the early exercises I did, and still check in with, was 'what will success look like for me in this'.
It's not a question that is front of mind for you every day; there are the tasks, the emails, the fires to fight. Stopping to answer the question 'What is success for me as a leader' begs you to go a little deeper.
You can look at KPIs, targets, measures and to-do lists to get an idea. Before you pick the measures to track, you need to decide what you are aiming for. Defining success for you as a leader, or for your work as a team, is a multi-level question.
There are the outputs and outcomes you are working to achieve. There is also how you are feeling as you do that work. Success for us all looks and feels a little different. For the person who has injured themselves or been unwell, success can be getting out of bed and getting dressed. For others, success is completing a marathon. Our definitions of success are situated in context and very personal.
The Path of Moral Leadership course had a fabulous framing for considering what success means to you:
Think of 3 people whom you don't want to disappoint.
How would they define success for you?
When we got into this as a group, we spoke a lot about our families, and how being safe, loved and cared for were markers of success. It gave a different perspective. There was little about money, titles or power. It was about how we were showing up in the world, and how we were making a difference.
We also agreed that one person we wouldn’t want to disappoint was ourselves. Our success was influenced by our values, what we want our lifestyles to look like, the relationships we want to have and the impact we want to make on the world.
Defining success is important because it helps you to set clear goals and priorities in your life. When you know what success means to you, you can focus your time and energy on the things that matter most and avoid getting sidetracked by distractions or other people's expectations.
The power of the question creates openness and creativity. With a broader view of success, it means there are many different ways to achieve it. You aren't stuck on one path, you can look around a achieve success in many different ways.
Isn’t that great, because it also means we can all be successful. My definition of success isn't going to be the same as yours. That is fabulous. Success isn't limited to a few people; it's available much more freely. It also means you can celebrate the success of others with glee and without it detracting from your own.
And it all starts by asking the question - What does success look like for you?
Maybe success will be found in your personal hedgehog! Watch the video below to hear Jim Collins explain one of the concepts from Good to Great.
It’s not, though, just a question for the big whole of life, reflective moments.
I think it's a great question to ask yourself at the start of the day – particularly one of those days when you know you'll be stretched. It can help give perspective and set intention.
You could break it down even further and consider the meeting, the conversation, the interview. Think broadly about the elements, the actions, and the way you show up. What defines success in how you’ve made others feel through a process or a conversation.
How will you know that you are a successful healthcare leader?
