What does integrative leadership mean? I have been researching this question for the past several weeks and a consensus opinion I have not found. This quest was stimulated by an article in the March/April 2016 issue of EXPLORE: The Journal of Science and Healing. Bonnie Horrigan wrote a brief but thought-provoking summary of key points about integrative leadership from a healthcare perspective. Horrigan is editorial director at EXPLORE and teaches in the Leadership Program in Integrative Healthcare at Duke University.
Horrigan drew parallels between integrative healthcare and integrative leadership. Integrative healthcare requires partnerships between healthcare professionals and their patients. These partnerships are built on relationships. Likewise integrative leadership builds on relationships and partnerships. Here I will summarize her recommendations for leaders concerning relationships. In a later blog I will summarize her recommendations concerning partnerships.
On relationships: “As a leader, you do not want pawns that you move, you want people who move themselves in the right direction” (p.139). To make this happen requires that leaders have real relationships with those they lead.
Horrigan then offers “tips for establishing good relationships with the people with whom you work.”
My take-aways:
#1 is active listening. It is very difficult to do all the time but unquestionably a key to maximizing leadership. As I discussed in Decoding the Workplace: “You cannot actively listen to every conversation . . . But the key is to actively listen when the conversation is important, if not for you, then for the person speaking” (p.158-159). If you are formulating your response as the other speaks, you are not actively listening. Many people think they are good listeners when in fact they are not.
#2, discovering strengths, requires a sincere interest in others or, at least, a sincere belief in the value of others to the mission. You may work with someone for years and unless there is frequent and real interaction, you may not really know the capabilities of that person. Get to know your people.
#3. If you want engaged employees, trust is foundational. Leaders of integrity create supportive, trusting cultures – and probably sleep better than leaders with less integrity.
#4, Are you a multiplier or a diminisher? Do you know? Being a multiplier is at the heart of leadership. The multiplier inspires others to go above and beyond job requirements. The multiplier builds engaged followers, supports them, and cares about them as people. Be a multiplier.
Horrigan, B. (2016). Integrative leadership means partnering. EXPLORE, 12 (2), 139-140.
Image from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Geneticcounseling.jpg. In public domain.
© John Ballard, PhD, 2015. All rights reserved.
__________________________
Author of Decoding the Workplace: 50 Keys to Understanding People in Organizations.
"Decoding the Workplace: 50 Keys to Understanding People in Organizations is as informed and informative a read as it is thoughtful and thought-provoking. . . . An absolute 'must' for community, corporate, and academic library Business Management Studies collections, Decoding the Workplace should be considered critically important reading for anyone working in a corporate environment." —Midwest Book Review
Available at leading online bookstores such as Amazon.com
________________________
Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/johnballardphd
On Twitter: @johnballardphd
Horrigan drew parallels between integrative healthcare and integrative leadership. Integrative healthcare requires partnerships between healthcare professionals and their patients. These partnerships are built on relationships. Likewise integrative leadership builds on relationships and partnerships. Here I will summarize her recommendations for leaders concerning relationships. In a later blog I will summarize her recommendations concerning partnerships.
On relationships: “As a leader, you do not want pawns that you move, you want people who move themselves in the right direction” (p.139). To make this happen requires that leaders have real relationships with those they lead.
Horrigan then offers “tips for establishing good relationships with the people with whom you work.”
- “Be present in all your interactions . . . do not think about or do other things.”
- “Discover other people’s strengths.” Ask questions “that uncover and strengthen another’s highest potential.”
- “Build trust . . . by being honest, unwaveringly reliable, and strong.”
- “Be a multiplier not a diminisher.” Leaders who are diminishers think they are “the smartest and most important” people in the room. Leaders who are multipliers give “a sense of ownership” and amplify the energy of those with whom they work.
My take-aways:
#1 is active listening. It is very difficult to do all the time but unquestionably a key to maximizing leadership. As I discussed in Decoding the Workplace: “You cannot actively listen to every conversation . . . But the key is to actively listen when the conversation is important, if not for you, then for the person speaking” (p.158-159). If you are formulating your response as the other speaks, you are not actively listening. Many people think they are good listeners when in fact they are not.
#2, discovering strengths, requires a sincere interest in others or, at least, a sincere belief in the value of others to the mission. You may work with someone for years and unless there is frequent and real interaction, you may not really know the capabilities of that person. Get to know your people.
#3. If you want engaged employees, trust is foundational. Leaders of integrity create supportive, trusting cultures – and probably sleep better than leaders with less integrity.
#4, Are you a multiplier or a diminisher? Do you know? Being a multiplier is at the heart of leadership. The multiplier inspires others to go above and beyond job requirements. The multiplier builds engaged followers, supports them, and cares about them as people. Be a multiplier.
Horrigan, B. (2016). Integrative leadership means partnering. EXPLORE, 12 (2), 139-140.
Image from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Geneticcounseling.jpg. In public domain.
© John Ballard, PhD, 2015. All rights reserved.
__________________________
Author of Decoding the Workplace: 50 Keys to Understanding People in Organizations.
"Decoding the Workplace: 50 Keys to Understanding People in Organizations is as informed and informative a read as it is thoughtful and thought-provoking. . . . An absolute 'must' for community, corporate, and academic library Business Management Studies collections, Decoding the Workplace should be considered critically important reading for anyone working in a corporate environment." —Midwest Book Review
Available at leading online bookstores such as Amazon.com
________________________
Follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/johnballardphd
On Twitter: @johnballardphd
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