Inside The Edge
About
The Executive Chair
The one question you always want to ask a successful person in a senior leadership role is “How did you get there?” In developing your own career, you learn more from hearing what worked – and didn’t work – from senior leaders and hearing their wisdom than from any other source.
We are embarking on a series of interviews with leaders who exemplify success for us. In their words are insights that can give you direction for moving your own career forward.
To read a summary, written by Michael DeVenney, of the past 12 interviews this year - click here.
| Anne McGuire - Leadership, A Natural Progression |
Bluteau DeVenney and Company (BDCO): What did you do to move to a leadership role?Anne McGuire (AM): I have always had an interest in leadership. Not long after I started my career as a nurse, I began taking on nursing leadership roles. At that point I went back to school and did a Master's Degree in Health Services Administration. It was then that I really started observing leaders, making note of how they behaved and what seemed to be contributing to their success. Through observation I not only learned what to do as a leader, but more importantly I learned what not to do. (BDCO): What is one thing that developing professionals need to do more of?(AM): Network and find great mentors. I find that people in senior positions are generally very willing to spend time with young professionals. As hard as you may think it is to find mentors, you really need to just take the initiative and ask people if they are prepared to spend some time with you. Also, finding organizations that foster networking is key to making great connections. A great example here in Halifax is FUSION Halifax. I have met aspiring young leaders through that group. (BDCO): What about doing less of?(AM): Be a little less intense. Leadership is something that should be a natural progression. That's not to say that you can't work to develop and improve your leadership skills, but to some extent it should be an easy fit. Some people can be so determined and driven to become leaders, that they lose sight of what's important. (BDCO): What experience helped you the most in your career and why?(AM): Any crisis situation that I experienced throughout my career. In those situations you are able to observe how other people act and handle crisis, and through that you are able to determine what approach works for you. Also, I am a mental health nurse by trade, so I always fall back on my training in understanding behaviour and how to effectively communicate in crisis situations. (BDCO): What was the greatest challenge moving your career forward?(AM): Having a family and raising children while trying to build my career was probably my greatest challenge. It wasn't easy, particularly in the early years, but it is a reality if you want to do your best in both. (BDCO): What is the greatest strength of your approach to leadership?(AM): I like to surround myself with very talented, creative and innovative people, so I feel that my greatest strength is finding and hiring the right people. Of course, once you have the right people, you have to give them the freedom and autonomy to do their job, which I try to do. I have never understood leaders who hold other people back. I love seeing the people I work with flourish. I aim to have the people around me develop to the point that they can step in and do my job just as well as I can. (BDCO): What has been the biggest surprise you have had since attaining a senior leadership role?(AM): The lack of emotional intelligence in some very smart people. There is no shortage of brains in any organization, but being smart doesn't necessarily mean you'll be successful. I am always surprised at how limited people can be when it comes to reading, interpreting and understanding other perspectives. (BDCO): What is the greatest benefit to you in attaining a senior leadership role?(AM): To be able to do what the collective group of leaders that I work with believe is right, making ethical and responsible decisions. Of course, in health care that always leads back to a focus on the patient and their family, and what is important to them. (BDCO): What is the next achievement you want in your leadership career?(AM): I want to accomplish what we set out to do in our strategic plan. I also want to address a number of issues that have been outstanding over a number of years. In a large organization, often things don't get dealt with that are problematic, so I have a few things on my bucket list that I want to address before I retire. (BDCO): What is the biggest challenge you face in achieving results in your work?(AM): In healthcare, one of the main challenges is certainly the fact that we face unlimited demand with very limited resources. The other challenge we have is insuring that there are enough talented people in the pipeline to become leaders in the future. Unfortunately, that is not an easy thing to do in healthcare because we have eliminated a lot of the middle-management training ground that used to help prepare people for the more senior leadership roles. We really need to find a way to compensate for these changes. (BDCO): What is your greatest opportunity/goal for providing value for your organization?(AM): The greatest opportunity is for us to embrace and move to a more patient and family-centered culture, rather than a provider-centered culture. Making this shift is invaluable to the organization. When people for whom you are proving a service play a role and have a say in how that is done, that is a huge accomplishment. (BDCO): What added support or capability would help you the most in delivering on your goals?(AM): Information systems, information management and decision support. We are better than most health care centers in all of those areas, but health care overall is still notoriously slow at bringing technology on board. The reason being that technology is so expensive, yet, we suffer greatly from the lack of it. It causes problems, not only for providers, but for patients and families as well.
Think about where you are now in your career and what you can take from Anne’s observations. We would love to hear your comments about what are your key takeaways from our conversation with Anne. Tell us your progress – we want you to succeed. ______________________________________________________________
The IWK Health Centre provides quality care to women, children, youth and families in the Maritimes and beyond. In addition to providing highly specialized (tertiary) care, the IWK also provides primary and secondary care services. The IWK is engaged in leading-edge research; works to promote healthy lifestyles for families; and supports education opportunities for health professionals and other learners. You can find out more about IWK Health Centre at www.iwk.nshealth.ca. |
