Conducting business is a lot like conducting an orchestra.
Jan Cetti, who serves as president and CEO of San Diego Hospice and The Institute for Palliative Medicine, says good business leaders, like orchestra conductors, know the score, get the right talent in the right seats, inspire people to achieve their best and then ensure that all the applause goes to the soloists.
“The job of the leader is to make sure that we have a common, shared vision of what we’re trying to do in this business — what’s the purpose?” she says.
With a 2007 budget of $76 million, the organization’s 800 employees and 500 volunteers serve more than 1,000 patients a day throughout San Diego County.
Smart Business spoke with Cetti about how to adapt your management style to fit the issue at hand while maintaining a steadfast vision.
Be a situational leader. As a situational leader, you’re really mixing up the different styles according to what people need. It’s being able to be flexible — whether it’s a telling style, a selling style, a participating style or a delegating style — so that it’s not stuck in one style.
I’ve been with this organization for 12 years, but I’ve tried to develop that style over the past 20 years or so. I’m really interested in organizational theory and organizational development, and I read a lot about management and management styles.
Being a situational leader is a comfortable style for me, in that it allows me to stay on my toes in terms of what’s needed, making sure that I’m using the right style, getting the best out of people and keeping the business on track.
Balance flexibility with constancy. What keeps the situational style from being confusing is that there’s a great predictability around principles. It’s important for people to know what they can count on from the CEO.
The employees understand the principles of how the business is being led and how we deal with the people and the customers in the business. It becomes very predictable, and employees can be free enough to make decisions and know that those decisions will be supported because they are in alignment with the philosophy.
It’s having that constant, ‘This is what we’re going to do, and these are the principles by which we do it.’ All of that gets set out in terms of the organization’s mission, purpose, vision and direction — all of the common things that people can depend on.
Situational leadership works because you’re not just swaying all over the place without any kind of plan or boundaries. You’re trying to get the best out of people, depending on a particular task, and making sure that the direction that you’re giving is correct.
