![\"PodcastArtwork300\"](\"https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/transformational-practices-llc\/images\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1587010421\/PodcastArtwork300\/PodcastArtwork300.png?_i=AA)
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Joining me this week is Linda Doyle. Linda retired from Harvard Business School after a career spanning over 30 years. In her time at Harvard, Linda served as associate dean of administration, adjunct professor of business administration, course head for management communication, and professor of management practice. She also taught leadership and organization effectiveness as a part of the owner-president management program of the leadership and organizational behavior in the MBA program.<\/p>\n
Prior to her faculty assignment, Linda was the president and CEO of the Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation. She worked with the non-profit publishing enterprise striving to educate leaders, communicate important ideas and improve the practice of management.<\/p>\n
Linda continues to consult, teach and serves as an advisor to several privately-held firms. She is also on the board of directors of Midmark Corporation and the non-profit organization, Professional Women in Healthcare. Linda joins me to discuss leadership styles and how to develop both leaders and their teams. Listen in to learn how you can develop yourself as a leader and inspire change in your team, practice and patients.<\/p>\n
Welcome to Practicing with the Masters<\/em> for dentists with your host, Dr. Allison Watts. Allison believes that there are four pillars for a successful, fulfilling dental practice: clear leadership, sound business principles, well-developed communication skills, and clinical excellence. Allison enjoys helping dentists and teams excel in all of these areas. Each episode she brings you an inspiring conversation with another leading expert. If you desire to learn and grow and in the process take your practice to the next level, then this is the show for you. Now, here\u2019s your host, Dr. Allison Watts.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Welcome to Practicing with the Masters<\/em> podcast. I\u2019m your host, Allison Watts, and I\u2019m dedicated to bringing you masters in the field of dentistry, leadership, and practice management to help you have a more fulfilling and successful practice and life.<\/p>\n I had the pleasure of meeting Linda at a Midmark event that I was invited to. I think it was in September and we had a great time. I know Linda prefers a little bit different style of teaching than we have for her tonight but I\u2019m thrilled that she agreed to do this because we learned a lot from her.<\/p>\n Linda does a really neat sort of a\u2014what would you call it, Linda? You gave us scenarios?<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cases.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cases, yeah. She gave us each a scenario and kind of gave us enough information to go and have a conversation and sort of come back and report what we think we would do. Then she would give us a little bit more information and then would go back. It was just a really neat way to learn. So I\u2019m hoping you guys can get any little bit of what she has to teach because it\u2019s amazing. So, Linda, thank you for being here.<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh, my pleasure.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019ll go ahead and read your bio. I know you guys have probably already seen it but Linda retired from Harvard Business School after a career spanning more than 30 years. In her last few years at the school, she was a professor of management practice. She taught leadership and organizational effectiveness in the owner-president management program and the leadership and organizational behavior in the MBA program.<\/p>\n Prior to her faculty assignment, she was the president and chief executive officer of the Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation, a nonprofit publishing enterprise which seeks to educate leaders, communicate important ideas, and improves the practice of management. Earlier in her career, Ms. Doyle served as associate dean of administration. Other assignments at the school included three years of adjunct professor of business administration and course head for management communication, a course required in the first year of the MBA program.<\/p>\n She had eight years leading the human resources management activities for the administrative and support staff at the school as well as some other assignments prior to these. She continues to consult and teach and serves as an advisor to several privately-held firms. She\u2019s also on the board of directors of Midmark Corporation, which is where I met her. And the nonprofit organization Professional Women in Healthcare.<\/p>\n She is a native of Toledo, Ohio, currently residing very close to there in Holland, Ohio and holds a PhD and M.A. in English from the University of Notre Dame and a B.A. in English and history from Mary Manse College. She attended the program for management development at Harvard Business School. My goodness, that\u2019s a lot.<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m so clever to give you a long bio like that because now this is three minutes less that I have to actually think and talk. [Laughs]<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You are clever, I noticed that.<\/p>\n [Laughter]<\/p>\n Most fortunately, most of the people I\u2019ve invited to speak have a very nice bio. So that\u2019s pretty typical. Anyway, Linda, I\u2019m so excited to have you here. Thank you for being here.<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My pleasure.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As you and I were speaking the other night, we sort of came out with what we thought was an outline but I may ask you people, you guys who are participating, to give us a little bit of a direction of where you want to go here in a little bit. I did want to start off by asking, we talked a little bit about one of the subjects we might talk about was leadership styles.<\/p>\n If we could start with that, I know for me that was especially interesting because I’ve had a lot of experience over the years. My team and I have worked with the DiSC profile and the Myers-Briggs and even, I don’t know if you\u2019ve heard of one called the Kolbe, there\u2019s several different things that have to do with I guess your personality or your strength finders and that kind of thing.<\/p>\n Can you, I guess when we were talking about the way that you see the leadership styles, to me, that was a little bit different from what I\u2019m used to. So I was just curious how you see\u2014it seems like yours is more flexible.<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yeah, I find all of those tools very interesting. In fact, I trained on one of them that\u2019s fairly complex, the Bergman Method, which is the person who\u2019s from Houston might even know something about it since it\u2019s headquartered there. All of those methods are interesting for helping you become more self-aware.<\/p>\n But from my point of view, anybody who sort of stops there is not really getting the value out of the process because basically a style profile or whatever tells you what your natural inclination is. How you’re likely to react. Where your comfort zone is. But none of us are prisoners of our particular style. The great thing about understanding your style is it enables you to figure out how you can vary it. Or where your weak side might be.<\/p>\n So you can make choices to behave in a different way if the situation requires a different kind of style. Once you understand where you’re coming from, you can actually give yourself a series of exercises that you can try on, to see how they work. For example, one of the choices that leaders make that is very indicative or comes from sort of where their style is centered or how a leader assigns tasks, for example, or delegates responsibility and authority.<\/p>\n If you always, for example, make all the decisions. If you’re kind of an authoritative leader who is pretty directive and you say, \u201cI want you to do this and I want you to do it this way.\u201d Well, that works so long as you’re the central intelligence who is always present and is always available to make all decisions. But you’re not really getting people on your team to think for themselves or to be more independent or to be able to take some of the load off your shoulders.<\/p>\n So if you, for example, choose to delegate a decision to them, one that you know you basically don\u2019t care if they choose to paint the breakroom pink or green or yellow or whatever it is, that\u2019s a task that you can assign in a way that gives them responsibility and authority. It gives them a chance to practice decision-making skills and it gives you an opportunity to step outside your usual comfort zone, your usual practice, and to behave in a different way. To get, if you will, into a little bit different mode and learn from that.<\/p>\n You know, how you handle mistakes. Whether you think of mistakes as a failure or whether you think of it as a learning opportunity. You can vary how you react and increase your range of style. Because one style does not necessarily fit every single situation. Do you treat your people on your team as individuals and you deal with them each one individually? Or do you treat them like a team? Do you ever turn over an assignment to them as a team and say, \u201cYou guys come up with it.\u201d<\/p>\n So those are all ways in which you can make conscious choices to vary your own particular style in a particular instance. It gives you greater range, greater flexibility, so that when you need to be able to behave in a different way, you\u2019ve had some practice doing it. The other thing to think about is you would not behave in the same way if you were leading the fund drive, let\u2019s say, for your local symphony and you had a bunch of the city\u2019s movers and shakers on that team.<\/p>\n You wouldn\u2019t behave toward them in the same way that you would towards your team at work, your support staff at work. So having a greater range of style gives you many more opportunities to be flexible and to suit your behavior to the situation you find yourself in. So I mean that\u2019s probably a fairly longwinded answer but it gets to that question of that notion of having a more flexible point of view about leadership style. I personally believe that if you have a greater range, you can be a much better leader.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh, absolutely. But then the question is, do you have to have a certain amount of self-awareness to even realize that you\u2019re not doing that? Or that you might want to try something different? Or, you know. Is that something you can dive into a little bit, how to develop that self-awareness? Or how would you begin to\u2026?<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s one of the reasons why I think those inventories that you are talking about are so useful. But sure, if you don\u2019t have the advantage of having gone through one of those kinds of assessments, you can look at some basic choices. I guess you could say there\u2019s sort of a range. You can be at one end or the other end of those ranges. If you plot where you’re most comfortable on those ranges, then you step back and say, \u201cOkay, this is where I\u2019m usually situated in this particular range. Maybe it\u2019s time for me to learn how to move out of them.\u201d<\/p>\n Let me give you some pairs of things that you might think about. On the one hand, do you embrace individual differences? Do you sort of treat each person as an individual? Or do you try to work with the group as a group and help them develop an identity as a group, as a team? Do you have team goals? So do you deal with people one-on-one or do you deal with them as a collective? So that\u2019s one range where you might sort of say where are you on that?<\/p>\n The next one is: Do you basically foster confrontation amongst your team members? Or do you foster support among the team members? Do you try to get them to be more confrontational in style or do you get them to be more supportive of each other in your style? If you’re always on one end or the other of that, maybe it\u2019d be a good idea to try to move down the range a little bit.<\/p>\n The third one is, do you focus more on performance or do you focus more on learning and development? If every activity that somebody in your group performs is one where you basically expect them to be as close to perfect as they can possibly be and failure is something that\u2019s punished so to speak, that\u2019s one way to deal with people. The other is to take a failure, if you will, as an opportunity to learn and grow. To help the person figure out what went wrong, why it went wrong, what they’re going to do differently in the future to make sure it doesn\u2019t happen again so they can build on it. To fail forward, if you will.<\/p>\n Then finally, do you tend to be managerially the person in charge and you emphasize that? Or do you try to basically have the members of your team have a certain amount of discretion and autonomy in their behavior? Depending on where you usually fit on that range, you might try varying that. Those are each places where you can make choices that are different than your comfort zone and that can give you a chance to learn and grow yourself as a leader and having more variability in your style.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I like that. I’ve never heard that before. I’ve never heard anything like that even. That\u2019s cool. Thank you.<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well, good. I\u2019m so glad this isn\u2019t all old news.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well I guess, I don’t know why I\u2019m surprised. I just, that was awesome. I\u2019m like taking notes over here diligently. That\u2019s great.<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Let me just say, a way to help people think about this whole notion of your leadership style. You are shaped by all of your experiences by who you are, by where you went to school, by where you are in your sibling order, by what kind of family, whether you were raised in town or in the country. All of these things, some of them are visible, some of them are not visible, and all of these things combine to make you the person that you are.<\/p>\n Who you are as a person very much affects your style. It helps to shape your style. But the other thing that affects your style is the situation that you’re in. So if it\u2019s, using the example I used before, you’re in one kind of situation if you’re talking about leading your team at work. You’re in an entirely different situation if you’re leading the fundraising committee for your local orchestra.<\/p>\n So the situation also will affect your style and those things combined will help you figure out what kind of team you need to build. They\u2019ll be shaped by who you are and by the situation you find yourself in.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Okay, interesting. So is there more on that topic? I don\u2019t think I have any specific questions myself. Does anybody else have a question? Okay. You\u2019re unmuted.<\/p>\n Caller:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Okay, I have a couple of questions for you, Linda. You were talking about treating the team as a team or as individuals. Couldn\u2019t the two be combined together? That\u2019s my first question.<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sure. What I was speaking about is kind of a range. So at one extreme is you treat each individual person as though they were an individual sort of directly and not really deal with the group dynamics, which all of us who have to deal with people know that eventually group dynamics are going to be a factor. The other extreme is to treat the team as a collective, you never meet with anybody individually. It\u2019s always the team as the team and so on.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a whole range of opportunities in-between and of course you can vary it. In some instances, you might treat them as a team and others it might be more appropriate to deal with them as individuals. But unless you actually think about whether or not you tend to be always one way or the other, you aren\u2019t really reflecting on the opportunity that you might lose by not varying it.<\/p>\n Caller:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Got it. Then is your goal to kind of determine where you are on these four spectrums and to broaden your range as a leader, as a manger of people?<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s what I\u2019m suggesting that I think is a useful effort to try simply because the same style will not work in every situation.<\/p>\n Caller:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Great. Thank you.<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Some of the topics that I often cover when I\u2019m asked to talk about managing change or leading change are topics like the following. Why do people resist change? What are the advantages and disadvantages of different change strategies? What does it take to be an effective change agent? What can I do to prepare my organization for the future?<\/p>\n So just taking some of these, kind of a little bit in order. I think unless we start by being reflective on why people might resist change, we can be blindsided because we\u2019ve got this swell idea and it seems perfectly clear to us why this is something that we ought to do differently and yet when we propose it, we get a lot of grumbling and sort of looking down at the floor. We\u2019re thinking, \u201cWhy aren\u2019t these people excited? This is going to be so cool.\u201d<\/p>\n So it\u2019s a good idea to just kind of first of all reflect on why people might not like change. So what are the potential costs of change? Well, for one thing, they may be very competent in doing the job that they presently do. If you’re proposing to do something different, say you’re going to change the practice software in your office, well suddenly they’re going to go from being very competent to being somewhat incompetent because they’re going to be faced with something that they aren\u2019t familiar with. Nobody likes to feel like they\u2019ve lost ground or like they\u2019ve suddenly gotten stupid.<\/p>\n Relationships might be affected by this. So maybe there\u2019s somebody in the office who already knows this software as an example. They’re suddenly going to be the person that everybody turns to and maybe before you were the person everybody turned to for answers. So how are relationships changed? Your identity changes. I mean, it\u2019s affected by this.<\/p>\n You think, if somebody in the office thinks of themselves as the really smart, go-to person, to suddenly not be the go-to person means, \u201cGee, my image of myself, my sense of myself, is all going to be disrupted by this.\u201d It might take time, it might take energy, and even, depending on how people are paid, even the reward structure might change.<\/p>\n So the change that you think is so swell may mean very different things to the people that you’re working with. Unless you’re aware of the potential costs of these changes, you aren\u2019t really going to be able to be prepared for some of that reaction. There\u2019s a change model that I teach at Harvard\u2014or that I used to teach at Harvard\u2014which is kind of useful because it helps to put together the whole notion of what it is you have to do in order to be able to get change to happen.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not a mathematical formula. Math is not my forte but it\u2019s going to sound like a mathematical formula. Basically, it\u2019s D, M, and P have to be greater than the cost of change. Where D is dissatisfaction, M is the model, and P is the process. What this basically means is that if people are perfectly satisfied with the current situation, there\u2019s not much of an inspiration to change. So one of the ways that you can begin to get people ready for change is to create some dissatisfaction. Now what I mean by that for example is suppose the reason that you’re changing, I’m using the same example, sort of as an extended metaphor here.<\/p>\n The reason you’re changing your practice software is because the software you\u2019ve been using is not going to be supported on the kind of computer equipment that you have and you have to change because if you don\u2019t change, the whole system will crash. Well if you start to explain that the possibility is frequent crashes will happen and patients will be unhappy and that you won\u2019t be able to get to the records you need and so on and so forth and you can make that seem quite vivid and help people understand how that\u2019s a real possibility, the satisfaction with the current system is going to be overshadowed by that possibility. So you\u2019ll begin to create dissatisfaction with the status quo by making it clear that it\u2019s not sustainable.<\/p>\n So that at least helps with the D part of the formula. But the M and the P are also important. The M, the model, is the model of the future. So you have to paint a picture of what the future is going to be like in this new state. It\u2019s got to be concrete enough that people can say, \u201cOh yeah, I can picture myself in that scenario.\u201d But it also has to be flexible enough that people can basically sort of adjust as they go along in order to get to that new situation, that new model.<\/p>\n The P, the process part, is how are we going to get from the current state to that new state? Because even if the future sounds really rosy when you describe it, if you can\u2019t figure out how you’re going to get from here to there, people are still going to resist the change. So dissatisfaction with the present, a model for the future, and a process to get you there, those three things have to be more powerful than the cost of the change. Once they’re more powerful than the cost of the change, you can get people to agree to the change.<\/p>\n Should I pause there for a second and see if anybody\u2019s got any questions about that?<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sure. You guys, just press *2 if you have a question. That\u2019s pretty powerful, Linda.<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well, what I\u2019d like to do, if there are no questions at this point. I think I’d go into a little more detail and give you some tools for thinking about this.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Okay, yes. So we don\u2019t have a question so far.<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Okay. So one of the things that I have found very helpful, and especially when I’ve coached people through leading changes is I have what\u2019s called a dependency chart. Down the left side there are numbers. The heading on that column is \u201ckey players.\u201d So that\u2019s where you write down the names of the people that you know are real influencers, real leaders, they may not be necessarily the people who have the big job title or you know, the official title, but they’re the people that everybody looks to.<\/p>\n If Sally likes it, we\u2019re all going to like it. If Sally hates it, none of us are going to like it. So you have to figure out who those key players are. Then as you look to the columns that you write down to the right of that left-hand column, the choices are: block it, no commitment, let it happen, help it happen, make it happen.<\/p>\n So in other words, on the left side are the people who are most opposed and on the right side are the ones who are most in favor of the change. Basically once you figure out who your key players are, you then figure out where do they fall on the dependency chart? Are the blocking it? No commitment? They\u2019ll let it happen, they\u2019ll help it happen, or they\u2019ll make it happen.<\/p>\n You have to figure out who the key players are and how far to the right you\u2019ve got to get them to move in order to have them be in a position where at a minimum they’re not going to block the change. If you’re fortunate, they\u2019ll help you make the change. Then you\u2019ve got to figure out by what process will I get these people to move? You\u2019ve got to figure out what those costs of change are to them. Then figure out how to neutralize those costs or how to ameliorate it or how to end-run it. But somehow to figure out how to get those key players. Ultimately, if this person is a blocker and you can’t move them, it\u2019s possible that then you have to get them out of the organization.<\/p>\n But by seeing sort of where they fall on the map, where they stand in terms of being helpful or not in the change process, it really helps you get clear in your own mind what you have to do, who you have to move, and how far you have to get them. If people aren\u2019t key players but there\u2019s some that will go along sort of with the key influencers, then you don\u2019t really need to worry so much about moving them. So it helps to break down the process of leading change into something that seems more manageable.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s wonderful.<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Now, I\u2019m going hark back to the earlier discussion that we were having about leadership style because this where it really comes into play in terms of change management. People who are more on the side of authoritative, give direction, and so on and so forth, they are more comfortable generally speaking with what we call a bold stokes management change system.<\/p>\n A bold stroke change often happens when there\u2019s an urgency\u2014it\u2019s called for when there\u2019s a crisis or when there\u2019s urgency. When there\u2019s a high level of dissatisfaction with the status quo, then you can go with a bold stroke because there\u2019s low resistance. In a bold stroke scenario, the leadership has the relevant information, the changes that are needed are clear and easy to execute, and the leadership has the power to obtain compliance.<\/p>\n Now, in contrast to that is what we call a long march type of change. Typically, you have to go with the long march type of change process when the changes that are needed are not clearly known at the outset. If you don\u2019t really know for example what practice software and you’re going to need what you should change to and you’re going to need the input of the employees who are going to work with it. Then you can\u2019t just dictate it from the top down because they’re going to expect you to have all the answers and they’re not participative.<\/p>\n So another reason\u2014if the changes that you need are complex and multi-level, if there\u2019s a high need for reeducation and new skills, if the stakes to the organization are high, and if there\u2019s a high need for commitment to make the changes work, then you need a long march type of process.<\/p>\n The reason the style issue comes into play is that if you are in one style or another in the extreme, and you need the opposite kind of style for this particular change process, there\u2019s going to be a fair amount of discomfort and you’re going to have to really be self-aware and conscious in order to make choices in a different way in order to be able to lead a successful change process.<\/p>\n So bold strokes versus long marches, the way to think about the differences are that in the speed of it, bold strokes are fast. Long marches are slow. At the involvement level, there\u2019s low involvement of the troops in a bold strokes, very high involvement on a long march. The leader control style is high top down in a bold stroke and it\u2019s low control and bottom up process in a long march.<\/p>\n In a bold strokes process, the initial results are quick and clear. In a long march, they’re partial and unclear. With a bold strokes, you might have different systems, different structure there, organization levers that you can pull. When you’re doing a long march it\u2019s more about shared values and skills and style. Is that new?<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yeah, that totally makes sense. Yeah, I\u2019m just sitting here thinking one of those sounds much more difficult to me. At one point when you were talking I was thinking my natural style is more probably just in general the I guess authoritative or the bold, like \u201cget it done\u201d kind of person. I actually thought, \u201cWell can we just delegate the leadership?\u201d Like if that\u2019s not my strength, can someone else sort of head up the thing?<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes, absolutely. That\u2019s actually a great solution. If you\u2019ve got somebody that\u2019s strong and competent and has a style that\u2019s more amenable to a long march. Yes, absolutely. You could say, \u201cLook, you’re going to be the change leader on this process because I need you to get people involved and have them buy in. We’ve got to get their input in order to make the right decisions. So I want you to run this process.\u201d<\/p>\n Obviously, that person needs to be checking in with you and you have to setup the outside parameters so that they know that they can only spend this much or they have to pick something that\u2019s compatible with this other thing. But yeah, absolutely, you can delegate that responsibility to somebody who has a style more compatible with that change process.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Okay, because I was thinking, you’re the leader then you’re always the leader. I mean, you\u2019re still the leader but not\u2026 go ahead, sorry.<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No, you\u2019re absolutely right. You’re still the leader and that goes back to that range I was talking about before. This might be one of those things where you say, \u201cI am delegating this authority and responsibility. You guys are in charge. You’re the leader of the team. Here\u2019s your parameters. You figure this out.\u201d Think of how much better and stronger they\u2019ll be as team members by having gone through that process.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s awesome. Yeah, because I think a part of me, even though I want to give it to them, I want to take it back because I feel like I\u2019m supposed to be the leader. And whatever that definition is, I don\u2019t know, rather than just having them check in and having clear parameters, I tend to want to take back control or something. So, yeah, that\u2019s pretty neat. Okay, that\u2019s helpful.<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yeah, your responsibility as a leader is to make sure the right things get done well. It is not necessarily to do them yourself to make sure that they get done in your particular way. It\u2019s much more about getting the right outcomes and much less about dictating the process. That\u2019s so hard for people who have that more directive, more authoritarian type\u2014and I don\u2019t mean that at all as a negative description.<\/p>\n Listen, if there\u2019s a fire in the building, I by golly want somebody who\u2019s direct and in control. I don\u2019t want him or her calling a committee meeting to decide which exit we should take. I want somebody who\u2019s up there and leading the charge and getting me the heck out of the burning building.<\/p>\n [Laughter]<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But there\u2019s so many things where there\u2019s not a fire.<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes, and that\u2019s the issue. Making those choices and realizing that we have choices, that we don\u2019t have to do it in the way that intrinsically feels right to us. It only feels right because of our particular style and who we are. Coming to understand that we have choices as a leader and that that actually makes us a better leader by being able to figure out what the choices are and to vary our approach over time, depending on the situation. That\u2019s what makes us a stronger leader.<\/p>\n It\u2019s funny because in my own career I have had wildly different assignments. At one point when I was taking over a course in the first year of the MBA program. I got out of the executive education program that the school put me through to prepare me for this in May. By September, I had to hire four people to teach the course. There were four who were staying on. We had to design an entirely new course, negotiate the schedule, and go live in September. So we had the summer to do this.<\/p>\n I was like the captain of my ship and I made it very clear, \u201cHere are the parameters. This is the kind of course we\u2019re going to put together. If the material that you’re proposing to put in this course doesn\u2019t fit these parameters, it\u2019s out. There\u2019s no question. There\u2019s no discussion. If it doesn\u2019t fit these parameters, it\u2019s not going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n [Laughter]<\/p>\n Then I put everybody through a training exercise even down to including, \u201cWe\u2019re all going to grade the same set of papers and we\u2019re going to figure out who grades high and who grades low. Then those who grade low, they’re going to move up however many notches we dictate based on this experiment and you’re going to lower your grades by this much because we\u2019re going to have consistency.\u201d<\/p>\n I was just the most ruthless, authoritarian person you could possibly imagine. It\u2019s very unlike my more native style. But I had no choice or I was going to be standing in front of a class of 90 students at Harvard Business School going [makes gibberish sounds].<\/p>\n [Laughter]<\/p>\n And that, that was just not going to be pretty. So I was going to get it done.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Wow.<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Then, you know, there have been other situations in which there were no right answers. I was running the publishing company at the point in time when the internet came into being. We had to make some decisions about whether or not we were going to put our content out on the web. This is back when content was free, which of course we weren\u2019t going to do at Harvard Business School and we had to figure out the safety and security of our materials and would people pay?<\/p>\n It was all so new. There were no models. So I was not going to make those decisions all by myself. I was going to get the smartest people I could find in the same room and we were going to hash it out together. Then we were all going to live or die together by those decisions. So complete opposite of authoritarian. It was about as participative and delegative and as non-authoritarian as you can imagine. But that was\u2014how could I possibly make those decisions by myself? I’d have been nuts to do that in my opinion.<\/p>\n So you know, those are just two examples from my own personal experience of times in which you vary your style tremendously to suit the situation you find yourself in.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Thank you for that example. That\u2019s very helpful. Do we have any questions right now?<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I can talk a little bit more about change management or we could move on to the set-up-to-fail syndrome if you\u2019d like, whichever you think you\u2019d prefer.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I think, yeah, is there anything else that needs to be said about change management as far as your\u2026?<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Let me just offer a couple more things that might be useful. When you’re thinking about what change strategy should I use, and you can have blends of those. I mean, the long march versus the bold stroke is sort of lining up the factors as they typically line up but a lot of change management process requires some variability. So it\u2019s not like you can’t mix and match some of those pieces. It\u2019s just a way to help you think about it.<\/p>\n But as you try to choose a change strategy, some situational variables that you might want to consider is the amount and type of resistance. You know, if there\u2019s not a lot of resistance and people are kind of onboard, you can go to a bold strokes type of thing. The position of the change initiators in terms of their power and trust. So if the person who\u2019s leading the change process has a lot of power and a lot of trust in the organization, again, they can move more directly. Although, if they need the participation and knowledge and reeducation of the people involved, then maybe you don\u2019t want to go with a bold strokes type of move. But it\u2019s possible.<\/p>\n Another big factor is where is the locus of relevant data, energy, and the effort needed for the change? If the people who have to participate in this process have a lot of data, a lot of knowledge in their heads, and they’re the ones who are going to have to put in the energy and the effort to make it happen, then you want to choose the change process that\u2019s going to draw them in and get them involved and committed.<\/p>\n And what are the stakes involved? How big a deal is this? Is this a bet the organization? If the software goes down, does the practice grind to a halt? If that\u2019s the case, then you want to make sure that this is something that everybody\u2019s bought into and can use and that\u2019s going to work for the organization.<\/p>\n Another topic that I\u2019ll put in is that getting people to help you diagnosis what needs doing can lead to more positive outcomes. So in other words, if you sit people down and kind of talk through all the issues, what it helps you do is identify different assumptions and perceptions. If people are thinking about the situation in a way that\u2019s vastly different from the way you’re thinking about it, you need to get those two things closer together. And it is actually possible that you might not know all the relevant facts. So getting that joint diagnosis done can be quite useful.<\/p>\n Another thing another a joint diagnosis will do is to surface misunderstandings. You\u2019ll get a more complete diagnosis. It reduces mistrust because people feel like they\u2019ve had a chance to speak and be heard. It gives the people involved an increased sense of control and mastery. They feel like they’re participating and are making some of it happen not having it all done onto them. As a result of that, they’re much more committed to the solution. So those are just a couple of things to put in there to go along with what we were talking about in terms of managing change.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Okay, nice. Yeah, it just seems like it does take a fair amount of intentionality and awareness. I mean, it comes back to awareness, of paying attention too. I think I\u2019m in the conversation and I\u2019m asking questions but I don\u2019t know that I\u2019m intentionally looking to see what their assumptions are or what their perceptions are so that I can see if mine is close to theirs, you know? That\u2019s deep. [Laughs] Deep thoughts by Linda Doyle.<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Since you\u2019ve put that out there, let me just offer one more thing. There\u2019s a process that we’ve talked about in classes and so on in terms of getting information out and contributing information. We talk about the process of inquiry and advocacy. Inquiry is when you say, \u201cLook, here\u2019s the subject and I\u2019d really like to know what you think about it. I’d like to know what your assumptions are. The data on which you base those assumptions. The conclusions that you draw from those assumptions. I’d really like to understand where you’re coming from.\u201d And mean it. Do it because that\u2019s going to be valuable information that you need to know in order to do your job better.<\/p>\n The second piece is called advocacy. Now advocacy does not mean, \u201cI tell you what I think and then I browbeat you until you say \u2018Oh yes, Linda, you’re the smartest person in the whole world and I agree with you.\u2019\u201d Because that may sound like advocacy but it\u2019s not really good advocacy.<\/p>\n Instead what you want to say is, \u201cLook, I want you to understand where I\u2019m coming from. So here are the facts as I understand them. These are the conclusions, these are the assumptions that I\u2019ve made based and those facts. Here are the conclusions I\u2019ve drawn. So this is where I think I should be going. Now I\u2019m betting that there are some facts that you have that I don\u2019t have. You may see the same set of facts and draw a very different set of conclusions.<\/p>\n \u201cMy conclusions might not be the best ones because I either don\u2019t have all the facts, my assumptions are wrong, or my conclusions have gone haywire. You\u2019ve got to help me understand what I don\u2019t know. Where I’ve gone wrong. Where you would draw a different set of conclusions. Pushback on my thinking. Help me figure this out. I\u2019m putting all my thinking out there so that you can help me see where I’ve gone wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s the kind of advocacy I\u2019m talking about. That process, inquiry and advocacy, where you really put things on the table and you give permission to people to pushback and to correct your thinking, to give you additional facts, to give you new insight, that is the way you’re really going to come to a very positive joint diagnosis of the situation.<\/p>\n It requires a certain amount of humility. But, on the other hand, what I\u2019ll tell you is that if you don\u2019t go through that process and then because you\u2019ve been arrogant and not listened, you find out that you\u2019ve made a really really bad mistake. Humiliation is way worse than humility.<\/p>\n [Laughter]<\/p>\n And let me tell you, speaking as somebody who\u2019s made some colossal errors in my time, I definitely go for humility rather than humiliation these days.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So are you saying that it\u2019s both of those? You want to do both of those, right?<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Both of those, yes, absolutely.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes, that is beautiful. It\u2019s almost like a formula. Because on both ends, you’re talking about the facts, the assumptions, and the conclusions. You’re asking them about theirs and you’re sharing yours and then you’re putting it all out on the table and looking at it.<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yeah, and inviting them to comment. The other thing is that when you do that\u2014when you don\u2019t do that, when it\u2019s all in your head, then it becomes personal. You know? You start thinking, \u201cWell this person is stupid. Or this person is stubborn. Why don\u2019t they see it my way?\u201d Well you know, it could very well be that there are some good reasons for that person not to see it your way but unless you’re willing to go through this process, you’re not going to find that out.<\/p>\n So putting the stuff out on the table, it makes it less personal. It\u2019s like we\u2019re both sitting on the same side of the table looking at this stuff together. Because we\u2019re working together to get a better solution.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s exactly the image I had, yeah.<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s a way more positive way to go about it. It\u2019s on the table and the two of us are looking at it together, not adversarially looking at each other saying, \u201cYou’re a dummy.\u201d<\/p>\n [Laughter]<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Thank you, that was great. I’m glad I said something because that was a nice pearl. So, is there anything else about the change, managing change, Linda, that we need to cover?<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You know, one of the things that I often do at the end of one of my classes is I give people some questions to reflect upon. Since we\u2019ve spent a fair chunk of time on the change management stuff, just some questions you might want to reflect on. So what style of change management am I most comfortable with? How broad is my change style repertoire? What style of change management is my organization accustomed to? As I look at the future challenges, what change style will be most appropriate? I just think those are good questions to ask yourself when you’re not in the midst of it. You know, when you’re not in the midst of running it.<\/p>\n One other thing I would just offer, if you’re running a really big change operation and you know, I mean something that\u2019s kind of bet the company on, do not for a minute think that this is not very stressful and something that you should plan for as if you were training for a marathon. When things are stressful, you don\u2019t sleep as well. You don\u2019t eat right. You know, you drink an extra glass of wine in the evening. There\u2019s all kinds of things, you don\u2019t get exercise because you don\u2019t have the time.<\/p>\n There\u2019s all kinds of things that happen when you’re running a really big, stressful change process and you need to think about how are you going to take care of yourself physically and mentally? You need to have somebody outside the organization that\u2019s safe that you can talk to and blow off steam with. And you need to be aware of the price that your family pays if you aren\u2019t taking care of yourself in a good way while all this is going on.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And don\u2019t you think that your family pays but actually the whole, everything pays.<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh, sure.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I mean, everything. Okay, yeah.<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So I\u2019ve run some extremely large, complicated change processes over the course of my career and I have sort of fallen into practically every bad habit that you could possibly think of and I know where of I speak.<\/p>\n [Laughter]<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Been there, done that, huh?<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yeah, yeah. Don\u2019t make these mistakes. I’ve already made them. You should get \u201ca get out of jail free\u201d card on this one.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Thank you so much. Now it\u2019s just listening to it. It\u2019s actually heeding your warning. Can you repeat those questions again? What style of change management\u2026?<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Am I most comfortable with.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Okay.<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How broad is my change style repertoire? In other words, do I always run the exact same top down or do I always run the long march or can I vary in between those two depending on the situation? And if you always tend to go\u2014just the question you asked was perfect, Allison. Can I delegate this change process to somebody else who has a different style because I\u2019m not good at this and I can see by the situation that it requires this more participative style and that\u2019s not who I am. That\u2019s a great question but until you raise awareness of what your change management strategy typically is, you’re not aware enough to even think about asking somebody else to run it. So that was such a great question.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Thank you.<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So how broad is my change style repertoire? What style of change management is my organization accustomed to? In other words, if you always make all the changes top down, you give them directions and that\u2019s it, when you start asking them to participate and tell you what they think, they’re going to kind of look at you funny. Because they\u2019ve never been asked that question before.<\/p>\n So if your organization is only used to one style, that is actually going to make a different kind of process more foreign and possibly create more resistance. Of if you always ask what they think and if they always get to participate and then suddenly you\u2019ve got something that you\u2019ve got to impose because it\u2019s clear that this is what the practice needs and there can’t be any ifs ands or buts about it, they\u2019re going to think, \u201cWell, why aren\u2019t you asking what I think?\u201d<\/p>\n So knowing what your organization is accustomed to helps you think about how you introduce a different kind of change management process and why it\u2019s necessary. You need to explain why it\u2019s different and why it\u2019s necessary in order to get people to be more accepting of that process. Then finally, as I look to future challenges, which change style will be most appropriate? That was the last question.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Thank you for repeating those.<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sure.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I was wanting to write them down and I couldn\u2019t write fast enough. I also thought somebody else might have the same question.<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well if they do, it\u2019s what, *2?<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *2, thank you, Linda.<\/p>\n [Laughter]<\/p>\n So we are getting close to the end. We have about five minutes and I don\u2019t know if we have time to do a quick\u2026?<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I can do a very quick just description of the set-up-to-fail syndrome if you\u2019d like.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yeah, I think that would be great. Then if you’re open to it, I\u2019ll just tell anybody that listens to the call that if they have questions or something, is there a way to, are you able to do any kind of follow-up questions or anything? We didn\u2019t even talk about that ahead of time.<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh sure, I mean if somebody would want to email me a question or something like that you mean?<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes.<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes, I can give you my…<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Or if you want them to go through me, I can email you. But if you don\u2019t mind them emailing you then…<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Either way is fine.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Okay, yeah, that might be a good thing at the end just to give your email if you’re willing.<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Okay, sure.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Okay, so the set-up-to-fail syndrome. Research demonstrates that an employee\u2019s poor performance can be at least partially and sometimes largely blamed on that employee\u2019s boss. In other words, we are often the author of the failures of those who work for us. The set-up-to-fail syndrome describes how that happens, why it happens, and how to prevent it.<\/p>\n Now basically, the idea is there is\u2014I don’t know if all of you have ever heard of Pygmalion, it\u2019s sort of the precursor of My Fair Lady<\/em>. Anyway, the Pygmalion effect is that basically people live up to great expectations. If you think they can succeed, they will. Alternatively, if you think that somebody is a weak employee, that person will live down to the manager\u2019s expectations. For the employee that you\u2019ve got faith in, they own their own successes and the failures come from exogenous factors, it\u2019s not their fault, it\u2019s the marketplace, or the weather or whatever. But for a person who’s been set up to fail, success is a lucky accident but they own their own failures.<\/p>\n Now how does this happen? A relationship kind of begins normally, or at least neutral to start. Then something happens. There\u2019s a trigger event or for some reason the boss distances themselves. Sometimes this happens because there\u2019s enough difference between the employee and the boss that there\u2019s just not a natural ease and comfort. So there\u2019s a distant that gets created.<\/p>\n When that happens, the employee senses it and starts to kind of tense up and not do so well. When that happens, the boss increases supervision and the subordinate withdraws or over promises. The boss interprets the outcomes as poor judgment and capability, limits the subordinate\u2019s discretion and withdraws even further. The subordinate feels boxed in, withdraws, acts out, or self protects. The boss gets frustrated, starts to really intensely oversee the person\u2019s work and assigns only routine tasks. Doesn\u2019t give the person any flexibility or freedom in terms of how they’re going to conduct the task. And eventually, the subordinate shuts down or leaves.<\/p>\n Now what happens is that basically there\u2019s a bunch of studies that show that some bosses make decisions about who\u2019s in and who\u2019s out in as little as five days. Such decisions can be influenced by perceived performance, by reputation, by personal bias, or comfort level. Now, basically how do you avoid having this happen in the first place?<\/p>\n The way to intervene, if this has already started to happen, the way to intervene is for the boss to create a proper context for discussion. The boss and the subordinate agree to the symptoms of the problem. They inquire, using that inquiry process regarding the data, sort of what\u2019s going on, what have we seen happen, and so on. They develop a common understanding of the causes and they agree on performance objectives and a desire to have the relationship move forward. They agree to communicate more openly.<\/p>\n If you want to prevent it from ever happening in the first place, and this is so key, it\u2019s basically to begin with very active involvement for all employees. Do not say to somebody, \u201cWell if you have a problem, let me know.\u201d Who wants to look like a dummy when they’re in a new job and come to their boss and say, \u201cI have a problem.\u201d Nobody wants to do that. So they struggle on by themselves and they get way down a rabbit hole before you ever realize that they’re struggling.<\/p>\n If on the other hand, you say to somebody, \u201cLook, I\u2019m going to give you this assignment. I\u2019m going to ask you to do,\u201d whatever, say if it\u2019s a small routine, you might ask them to do five. If it\u2019s big and complicated, you might ask them to do one. \u201cThen I want you to come back and see me with it because I probably will have left something out or forgotten to tell you something or told you something in a way that was confusing. The way I\u2019ll figure out how I made a mistake in my direction is by looking at the project with you. We\u2019ll go over it. I\u2019ll figure out what I haven\u2019t explained fully enough or well enough and then we\u2019ll have you do another one.\u201d<\/p>\n Being involved early in a systematic way sets expectations, sets priorities, and establishes communication patterns. The early guide is nonthreatening because it\u2019s not triggered by a performance shortcoming. Then you can gradually reduce involvement based on improved performance. If you start with active involvement and then withdraw it, it\u2019s so much better than the opposite which is to not start with it and then have to supervise more closely because than the person thinks, \u201cOh, I\u2019m screwing up. I\u2019m going to get fired.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, how to manage yourself in terms of avoiding the set-up-to-fail syndrome. Challenge your own assumptions and attitudes about employees regularly. Resist the temptation to categorize employees in simplistic ways. Monitor your own reasoning and inferences. Go back to the data, that inquiry process again. Create an environment where employees can discuss their performance safely.<\/p>\n Now I realize that was kind of a rapid run through but I hope it at least gives you\u2014there\u2019s a great article. This is based on an article called \u201cThe Set-Up-to-Fail Syndrome.\u201d It\u2019s in the Harvard Business Review <\/em>back in March\/April 1998. So I think they\u2019ve also written a book about it. It\u2019s Manzoni and Barsoux, B-A-R-S-O-U-X. It\u2019s a great article and it\u2019s something that I see so often in my coaching practice. I would just encourage you to sort of raise this to a little bit higher level of attention because it\u2019s something that can be easily avoided if you think about it.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Okay.<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And we are out of time.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes, we are. Well I love what you said because that\u2019s the employer taking responsibility and it\u2019s much less threatening.<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh, absolutely.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It makes the whole thing just so much safer.<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Exactly.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And I have a new employee I need to do that with.<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yeah, that\u2019s when to start. Start from the very beginning and then ease back with the active involvement and the person feels like they\u2019ve built confidence rather than lost it.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Right. Okay, gosh, Linda, thank you so much. That was fabulous.<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It was a rapid run through.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well you know the blessing in this is it\u2019s all recorded, so myself and anyone who\u2019s listening tonight, as well as the people who get the recordings, can listen to it again. And you know, get the pieces that they want. They can listen to it again.<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If you don\u2019t mind, Allison, I think I\u2019ll ask people to run their questions through you so that you\u2019ll\u2014for one thing, that will give you an idea of how I screwed up and how to give me better advice in the future.<\/p>\n [Laughter]<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Okay, I see you use your own teachings.<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I try to live by them. Yes, I do.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Okay.<\/p>\n Linda:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well it was kind of you to invite me to join your merry band. I appreciate the patience of those who\u2019ve actually lasted all the way to the end, however few in number you might be. I hope it was a little bit of help.<\/p>\n Allison:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It was wonderful.<\/p>\n Thanks for listening to Practicing with the Masters<\/em> for dentists, with your host, Dr. Allison Watts. For more about how Allison Watts and Transformational Practices can help you create a successful and fulfilling practice and life, visit transformationalpractices.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/div> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Joining me this week is Linda Doyle. Linda retired from Harvard Business School after a career spanning over 30 years. In her time at Harvard, Linda served as associate dean of administration, adjunct professor of business administration, course head for management communication, and professor of management practice. She also taught leadership and organization effectiveness as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[303],"tags":[309,305,304,307],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Allison's-Button\"](\"https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/transformational-practices-llc\/images\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1587010383\/Allisons-Button\/Allisons-Button.jpg?_i=AA)
<\/a><\/p>\nDeveloping Leaders with Linda Doyle<\/h3>\n
CLICK HERE TO READ THE TRANSCRIPT (9,249 WORDS )<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n
\n<\/a> \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0
<\/a><\/p>\n