And The Winner Is...

So we were fortunate enough a few weeks ago to get icon Bill George who many may recognize as former Medtronic CEO, Harvard professor, and best-selling author, to serve as the judge in what we called The Bill George Challenge. I first mentioned something about it here in a post called: Semper Fi & The Challenge of Leadership

The Challenge was for members to tell Bill what they would have to change about their leadership style to adapt to a more participatory management practice. What role models would they reference? How would they measure the result to assess whether the effort to make such a change was worthwhile for themselves and their organization — would specific behaviors or aspects of the culture also change?

The responses from the membership were incredible, and while there can only be one winner (he gets to be Bill George's guest at HSM's World Business Forum) I am sure that we'll put together a collection of the responses to share.
For now, however, I wanted to thank our winner and former Healthcare CEO, Jay Jarrell, for giving us the okay to let the readers here gain from his thoughts on the subject. Here is what Jay had to say. Once read, it is easy to see why Bill George picked it.

Mr. George,

There is an old adage about having to step inside the shoes of another to understand that person's actions. I believe this understanding is the starting point for practicing participatory management. Asking questions, such as what would motivate me to participate or what would make me work harder, have always guided me in eliciting stronger participation from my staff and others. I have always found that it is my responsibility to create not only the environment for all to participate, but also, to have that occur.

From this beginning, it is a matter of having the generosity to reward success and share the financial success, the patience to listen and communicate, the good sense to encourage, the intelligent curiosity to probe and ask questions, the diligent work ethic to demonstrate personally the more routine daily actions of making sure all that I can make happen in an outstanding way does happen, and the character and integrity to reward.

I am constantly finding myself falling short of practicing what I preach. Believing in participatory management and its benefits is easy, as are having most of the characteristics I described above and practicing them. However, there are two characteristics that I find I typically over time short change.

I often don't take the time to personally reward, believing the receipt alone of previously agreed upon monetary or other awards is sufficient. Also, I find myself not making the effort each day to make the contacts to ensure all of the strategic steps of a certain goal are occurring as well as possible.

To correct the above, I have begun writing out each evening a daily plan for the next day to make sure I practice each of those steps.

President Obama has been inspiring whether you agree with him on all policies or not, and in these dire economic times, he will have to become even more so. I intend to take inspiration from him and try to communicate better a vision and hope for better times.

Measuring the benefit of practicing participatory management may be somewhat subjective, but I can see it clearly. Certainly, achieving your revenue and profitability goals or chosen other specific goals that are quantifiable are a great indication, but industry or even national or international economic crises, as we are now incurring, can prevent financial goals from occurring. I can see the benefit of having practiced good participatory management in the constant flow of ideas and suggestions on a daily basis.

If personnel at all levels down to the lowest are not comfortable in greeting me by my first name, if they are not comfortable being able to tell me their ideas or even just what is oing on at their level that day and how it can help achieve certain company goals, and if they are not completely knowledgeable of the company's goals and the problems the company is facing that month, then I have not achieved my goal.

Those cultural changes of all employees knowing what I know and enthusiastically participating in the achievement of company goals are measurement enough.

The philosophy I try to follow comes from playing and following sports. It's the team that wins or loses, not the individual. By including all employees in my circle, by empowering them with as much knowledge and information as possible, by communicating the company's goals, and then by offering significant rewards and recognition for their achievement, I've used as much leverage as I can bring. The more people a company has working together and intensely toward shared goals, the greater its chance for success.

Thank you for this opportunity.
Jay Jarrell

Congratulations Jay, enjoy the forum. New York in October is a great place to be.

Semper Fi & The Challenge of Leadership

Over the past few weeks at ExecuNet we have been having a lot of fun with an event called the Bill George Challenge.

Reading that sentence again, it occurs to me that beginning a post by saying something about "fun" in light of the current environment is probably not the best choice of words, so let me rephrase it by saying over the past few weeks we have been both fascinated with and excited by the response to an event called the Bill George Challenge.

If you are a member of ExecuNet you are probably familiar with what's been going on, but for those who aren't, Bill George is he former Medtronic CEO, Harvard professor, and best-selling author and someone who is very interested one of today's thought-provoking leadership topics — "leading from behind."

With that in mind, ExecuNet, together with Bill and the World Business Forum, the largest business event in the United States, partnered to offer our members the opportunity...to connect with the world's influential business leaders by participating in the following:

Background: During his inauguration address, President Obama ushered in a "new era of responsibility" suggesting that every citizen should accept responsibility and be held accountable for his or her role in ensuring America's recovery and renewed prosperity. With a "leading from behind" style, Obama is solidifying his position as a leader for the "we" generation (also known as the Millennials).

The Challenge: Tell Bill what you would have to change about your leadership style to adapt to a more participatory management practice. What role models would you reference? How would you measure the result to assess whether the effort to make such a change was worthwhile for you and your organization — would specific behaviors or aspects of the culture also change?

The prize: The ExecuNet member with the best response (to be chosen by Bill himself) will be invited as our guest to the World Business Forum 2009, to be held October 6-7 at Radio City Music Hall® in New York City.

Having read a number of the submissions over the past couple of weeks, I'm glad I am not Bill. It is going to be a very tough call and I know that those members of our Roundtable discussion groups who have been following the responses would agree.

All that said, I came across one response that particularly touched a chord with me, and I thought it worth sharing. If you take the time to read it too, maybe it will resonate with you as well. It needs no further setup from me other than to thank Lynn for allowing me to use it. The rest speaks for itself.

Mr. George,

In regards to your Bill George Challenge, I have put together a few notes which I would like to submit for your review and consideration.

I have had the unique opportunity to have been taught by the best leaders in the world, the United States Marine Corps. I learned as a young Private that a true leader leads from the rear. A true leader can lead from the right or left, but never from the front. Having one's employees/subordinates/whatever you call your employees, have them empowered enough to want to lead with you no matter where you lead from.

I spent 14 years in the USMC, and then entered the civilian lifestyle and work in the Human Resources field by choice. I train, focus, teach and lead from where ever necessary, but never out front like I have to be in seen to be in charge. The best leaders look just like you or I, we blend in and just lead.

I have found in my years since the military that civilian leaders without that military background feel they always have to be upfront and noticed. They have problems when everyone is not looking or paying attention to them in a group situation. I have kept my moral grounding from all the years of experience during my tours of duty, and I lead as my leaders lead....from any place necessary. Please remember, when a platoon or group of individuals are running in a formation, the leader runs on the side leading cadence/chants, not in the front, but on the side. The same way one marches into battle....

When I was a Drill Instructor in the USMC, I told my recruits that once they leave basic training, they will always hear my voice. I may not be there in the building, location, state or even country, but the good things I have taught you will always be in your head and I will be whispering direction from afar. Leading from afar.

So I guess in short, leading from anywhere but the front, is not new. It is the way of our Nation's leaders in the Military. Great to see someone is really interested in showing our civilian leaders that there really is another way.

I am fortunate to work in manufacturing in Southern California and have a great team of 17 in 4 states. I have to lead from afar, I can't be in PA, FL, TX and CA all at once. It is just good solid leadership.

Thank you for your time,

Lynn M. Gomez, SPHR

Well said, Lynn, well said.