Accountability. Success. When approached individually, these principles can elude even the savviest of executives. But try to achieve both
simultaneously and that’s when things can get really difficult, Dennis Lee says. As president and CEO of Methodist Hospital of Southern
California, his most difficult challenge isn’t overseeing the day-to-day operations of the facility, which had net operating revenue of
$207.4 million in 2006, but it’s demanding honest accountability from his 2,050 employees in a way that doesn’t discourage them from
aspiring to succeed. Smart Business spoke with Lee about how to earn power, gain trust and ask the direct questions that alleviate stress.
Manage with accountability. You have to know
what your goals are, and you have to have
some way of tracking your progress on
achieving those goals. One of the ways you
can do that is by having regular meetings.
Our executive team meets quarterly and
reviews the goals of the organization. Each
goal has a member of the executive team
assigned to accomplish that. If you haven’t
made progress on your goal, you’re going
to be a little embarrassed in front of the
rest of the members on the executive team
that you haven’t made progress.
I have my one-on-one meetings with my
executive team. Their goals are a standing
part of the agenda for every meeting. Just
asking the question, ‘How are you doing on
each of these goals?’ — that’s the way you
hold people accountable.
Once somebody agrees to accept a particular goal, give them the freedom to
achieve that goal however they want to do
it. The only time you intervene is when
they’re doing something that you know is
going to be problematic to the organization
or them in some fashion.
There are lots of different ways you can
accomplish a single goal, and my way isn’t
always the only way or the best way. If you
let people decide for themselves, then A,
they’ll be successful, and B, they’ll feel
empowered that they can do it the way
they want to do it.
Help others be successful. With respect to
your direct reports, you always establish
goals at some point and make those goals a
regular part of your one-on-one meetings.
Ask direct questions about how they’re
doing in accomplishing their goals. It’s really just asking the question, ‘What can I do
to help you?’
A lot of employees, just because of your
title, are going to be reluctant to share bad
news with you. If you make yourself accessible to employees, eventually some of that
fear will be overcome, and then employees
will be open with you.
It takes an ongoing commitment to be
approachable and accessible to employees. That’s the only way you’re going to make them feel comfortable that they can
share problems with you.
When an employee does bring a problem
to your attention, you have to follow
through. You have to eventually get back to
that employee and say, ‘When I talked to
you a couple weeks ago, you brought up
this problem. Here’s what I’ve done about
it.’ That’s absolutely key.
‘What can I do to help?’ — that direct
question is the only way you’re going to
know what you can do to help other people
be successful. It rubs off on people. It helps
them be friendly to patients and their families, visitors and the community at large.
They don’t come to work with a lot of fear,
and they’re better able to approach their
job with a happy spirit.
Lead with integrity. Tell the truth, and tell it
completely. When you can’t tell the whole
truth, tell people, ‘There are certain parts of
this issue that I can’t share with you,’ and
tell them why.
It’s telling the truth 100 percent of the
time and over time. You can’t fail on that.
It’s the only way to build trust.
It’s important to everyone within the organization. It’s important that they trust, that
they’ll know what’s going on all the time, and
they’ll know the truth whether it’s good or
bad. People will respect you more, even
when it’s bad news, if you tell the truth.
Make communication a priority. We hold regular open forums where employees are invited to come and meet with members of the
executive team to hear what’s going on in
the organization and to ask questions.
We have regular management and department director meetings where we communicate to them so that they, in turn, can
communicate to their employees at their
departmental meetings.
There’s an open invitation to everyone in
management if they would like me to come
to their department meetings to address a
particular issue or just communicate
what’s going on.
You have to be on the lookout for signs of
stress, and then have the courage to ask
direct questions to get an understanding of
what’s causing that stress. For example,
when I go to the nursing unit, I’ll look up at
the assignment board. If it’s full, I will ask,
‘How’s your staffing today? Are you having
any problems?’
You have to just be sensitive to signs of
stress, and then ask direct questions to
understand what the sign of stress is. Then
have the courage to say, ‘Is there anything I
can do to help you?’
It’s the fact that you asked the question
and you offered to help that is the greatest
benefit.
Use your power appropriately. (Executives)
should never use their title or position in
the organization to browbeat employees
into doing something.
You have to be approachable. Just because
you have the title of vice president or department director doesn’t mean that you should
isolate yourself in your office. You should be
out, and you should be visible.
It’s only through how you perform in the
organization — that’s how power is really
given to you. It’s not through your title or
where you sit on the organizational chart.
Basically, do you follow those leadership
principles? It’s only if you do that well do people give you the power that you need to carry
out your responsibilities in the organization.
HOW TO REACH: Methodist Hospital of Southern California,
(626) 898-8973 or www.methodisthospital.org
