There’s a leadership model I often use in my talks and workshops, and in my book, All Physicians Lead. It’s a hierarchical structure graphically represented as concentric circles. (I’ll do a future post about it.) It posits that leadership proceeds outward in four circles.
The first and innermost circle is Leading Yourself. This level implies that in order to best lead others, you must know yourself—how you’re perceived and what your tendencies are as a person and a leader. The next level outward is Leading Another, the one-on-one dyadic relationship of influencing another single individual. Beyond that are the circles of Leading Teams and Leading Organizations.
It’s tempting, as you go beyond that second circle (Leading Another), to believe that leadership now shifts to some sort of group dynamics approach. But that’s not the case.
When leading a group of any size, you’re not dealing with a megalithic hive mind. You’re still dealing with individuals. If you’re addressing a team of, say, thirty people, what you’re really doing is engaging in thirty simultaneous, independent, one-on-one leadership events.
All leadership is relationship-based. It’s always about your connection with individuals. Each of those individuals has his or her own agenda, point of view, attitudes, and history with you. That’s why it’s important to develop relationships with as many team members as possible.
Relationship-based leadership requires more than just standing in front of a group, reciting a message, and expecting it to be executed the way you think. It entails paying close attention to the actual human beings on your team and being mindful of how they’re responding to you, to the mission, and, most importantly, to the patients.
This requires some leadership skills—especially observation skills. You must develop the ability, as comedians and actors say, to “read a room.” That means actively looking for cues—both verbal and physical—as to how people are taking your communications.
First, are they even paying attention, or are they glancing at their iPhones? Second, how are they responding? Is the entire team sitting there in muted silence?
If so, you probably need to draw out why everyone is so reticent about the topic. Is everyone leaning forward in their seats and looking excited? This is an opportunity to build on that energy, expand on the message, and keep everybody engaged.
Are some people nodding their heads vigorously while others have horrified looks on their faces? Explore the mixed reaction. Seek clarification and feedback. Ask a few key people, “What did you take from what I said?” and similar probing questions.
As a relationship-based leader, you also need to recognize that when you leave the room, the team you’ve been addressing is going to split off into small groups, each talking differently about what you just said. That’s why it’s important to recognize the official and unofficial leaders within each “subgroup” and try to anticipate how they’re going to interpret—and, more importantly, execute—what you just discussed.
This becomes increasingly important as you lead larger and larger groups. After all, there are only 24 hours in a day, and you will have varying depths of relationships with each person in a department of three hundred people.
You should explore—by observing and talking to team members—who the key influencers are within each space. Try to form positive relationships with these folks. Observe how they take in what you’re saying and seek their guidance on whether people are on board with changes. This is particularly important when trying to implement big change.
By building trust through smaller, day-to-day relationship interactions, you develop the goodwill and understanding needed to execute the big stuff. That’s when relationship-based leadership pays deep dividends.