Promotion prompts worry
Shalawn was chief medical officer at a regional clinic. Her clinic, along with seven others, had been bought by a national corporation and unified into a network. The corporate owners had taken notice of Shalawn and were promoting her to chief medical officer for the entire region. All eight medical officers at the clinics, seven of whom had been her peers, would soon be reporting to her.
Shortly after sheâd heard the news, she reached out to me asking for help thinking about her new role. I asked what her concerns were.
âTwo, I think,â she said. âMaybe more, but two Iâve been thinking about most. One is just getting them to acknowledge Iâm the boss.â
I asked, âWhy wouldnât they acknowledge youâre the boss? Your promotion was announced, wasnât it?â
She gave a rueful laugh. âThat doesnât always mean so much in the clinics. Weâve havenât been owned all that long. Not everyone is sure we like this corporate overlord system. And here I am crossing over to the dark side. I can imagine they could give me the cold shoulder.â
I clarified, âThe clinics do get measured, donât they? At some point, wonât they have to work with you? Is this just a tantrum?â
âIt might be,â she said, âwhich is why I called you. If you can help me stave off a tantrum, or at least tone it down, thatâd make life easier, right? Why not talk to a coach?â
I said, âWell, Iâm glad to help, Shalawn. So, fill me in on number two. Whatâs the second thing youâre worrying about?â
She said, âI worry about barreling in and ordering them around. I know these people. They have lots of ideas. But they have no clue what my bosses are asking of me. Itâs a lot. And in a pretty short time frame. Everything I have to deliver has to happen at the clinic level. So I want them to feel itâs democratic. I want them engaged â even though they arenât really going to have much choice. I worry that no matter how I play it, theyâre going to see me as a bitch.â
âA bitch? Why would they see you as a bitch?â I asked.
She smiled easily. âI have a long history of bitchdom, going back to med school. Actually, even back to high school. I always knew what I wanted and lord help you if you got in my way. Call me bitch, fine, just donât slow me down! But pretty early in my career I knew I wanted to move towards administration and I saw that administrators have to be good team players or everythingâs just a mess. So I thought, stop being this warrior goddess competitor and get on the team. It took a lot of years, but I got myself out of bitch mode. I worry all this pressure is going to revert me right back.â
âSo youâre hoping if they experience you as democratic you wonât be seen as a bitch?â
âWorth a try, right?â
âEven though, whether they like it or not, theyâre going to have to do what works for the corporation or leave, right?â
âWhich is what Iâm worried about,â she said with a bit of exasperation.
Learning in a democracy
I asked, âWhen you say you want to be democratic, what do you mean?â
âI want everyone to feel good about what we have to do. I want them all to have a voice.â
I asked, âAre you thinking theyâre all going to get their own way?â
Seeing the impossibility of that she suddenly deflated. âIâm going to end up forcing them no matter what, arenât I?â
âI donât know about that, but thinking about it through a democratic lens is interesting because, in my experience, democracy is not actually about equality. Itâs about majority rules. Hopefully, itâs also about people being well-informed, too. Can I tell you a story that makes the point?â
âOkay,â she said.
âMy youngest daughter attended a progressive elementary school. The school says they teach children how to live in a democracy. What does that mean? It means that everyone gets their say. But not everyone gets their way.
âI had a front row seat for progressive education from kindergarten through sixth grade, and Iâve never seen anything as inspiring as the way these children were taught. Get this â there were no textbooks, no tests, no grades. It was a completely different way of engaging learning from anything Iâd ever experienced. It was education for democracy because they were teaching children how to become informed about things that interested them so they could make choices. Just as one example, hereâs how they started every year. Even in kindergarten.
âEvery year, the teacher knows the learning goals for the year. She knows the language skills, the math skills, the social skills theyâre going to pick up along the way. The kids donât get to decide that part. What they do get to decide is the vehicle that will get them there. In this version of democracy, the kids get to decide what topic theyâre going to study.
âAt the beginning of every year, the children debate what to study. Some kids want to study space, some kids want to study oceans, other kids want to study climate. And they talk it out. Then, whatever the group decides, is what the teacher will use as a foundation for all the subjects all year long. Everyone gets a voice, but not everyone gets their way.â
âThat could be upsetting,â she said.
âExactly, yes, it could be. But part of living in a democracy is learning to have grace on both sides of a decision, whether it goes your way or not. And sometimes someone is upset about the outcome. You know what happens? The community helps that kid. Thatâs what you do in a democracy. You help each other, because some day that upset person is going to be you. And then the community helps you.â
âWell, doesnât that sound great?â she said.
âDoesnât it?â I agreed. âThe kids learn the importance of speaking up individually, and they also understand the importance of being part of the larger group. Nobody wants any one to give up. Everyone roots for each other. Itâs part of why there are no grades. The kids arenât there to compete with each other. Theyâre there to learn how to live in a democracy.â
âI wish Iâd been taught in a school like that!â
I laughed. âMe, too. All of us parents used to say, âWhy wasnât I taught like this?ââ
Getting voices heard
She cocked an eye at me. âIâm trying to see myself in this. Whatâs the lesson for me as the leader? Whatâs the analogy to letting the kids pick the topic?â
âI donât know,â I answered. âI hadnât thought of it as parallel, but what if it were? What if you were like the progressive teacher â you make the meta-decisions â and the directors are like the learners who get to make choices among themselves. Could there be a parallel?â
âWell, it means Iâd do my initial presentation a little differently,â she said.
âHow so?â I asked.
She said, âIâm planning to call a meeting with the eight of them. I was going to be completely transparent with them. I was going to say, âLook, hereâs what corporate needs us to do. I know all the reasons why this is going to be hard. So letâs brainstorm ways we can deliver against the goals.ââ
âAnd, in the analogy, brainstorming would be like the kids talking it out and deciding what to study, right?â I asked.
âDonât you think?â she asked back.
âAre they used to brainstorming?â I asked.
She laughed. âNot really. This will be a first. Usually the clinics operate pretty independently. We havenât needed to work together before.â
âSo theyâre like the kindergarteners.â
She laughed. âGolly! Donât tell them that!â
I laughed, too. âI just mean the first time a group tries to work together it goes slowly. Kindergartners are just leanring. By sixth grade, the kids are sharp.â
âSo maybe I need to allow more time,â she said.
âMaybe. Can I tell you my concern?â I asked. She nodded. I went on. âYouâre going to sit them down and show them all the ways their work is going to change. You seem to think it could sound pretty extreme.â
âI think theyâre going to be shocked,â she agreed.
âSo first you shock them, then you say, âBut, hey, letâs dive right in and think up a whole bunch of new ways to do our work.â Then you ask them to do something theyâre not very skilled at. Iâm concerned that could feel like dose after dose of discomfort!â
âWhatâs the alternative? One-on-ones?â
âWould you have time to talk with all of them individually?â I asked.
âIf itâs important, Iâll make the time,â she said.
âThen why not? Wouldnât one-on-ones be the ultimate democratic move?â
She laughed. âA listening tour!â
I laughed, too. âThatâs a great way to think of it. Can I give you a challenge?â
With a suspicious smile she said, âOkay?â
âThe purpose here is to get people to speak up, right? Have a voice. So when you go in to listen, just listen. Donât go in to make agreements or negotiate. When they tell you their idea, take it seriously. Donât judge it. Donât poke at it. Ask them to tell you more about it, yes, but donât âimprove itâ or tweak it or correct it, even if itâs clearly full of holes. Write it down. Say thank you. And maybe theyâll have another idea. Write that one, too. And say thank you again.â
âThatâs going to be hard for me. Iâve never heard an idea I couldnât make better!â
âSo this challenge might really be a challenge!â I laughed.
But being a democratic leader was a meaningful motivator for Shalawn. She worked at it consciously. We talked about it often.
She came to view democratic leadership as having two components: authentic, genuine relationships, and rigorous, measurable results. To her, democratic leadership was an ever-shifting balancing between âtasksâ and ârelationshipsâ that looked a whole lot like The Look & Sound of Leadership.