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Title: Leadership Column

Author:

Section/SPIG: Health Administration

Issue Date:

This section will concentrate on articles that are intended to help you think about your role as leaders in health administration and in public health and to offer practical tips for doing so. Our first article is by someone we know and admire, the penultimate Chair of our Section, Vonna Henry. Thank you, Vonna, for being a leader in providing us with helpful leadership information and by "just doing it!"


JUST DO IT!!



By Vonna Henry, Sherburne County Public Health, Elk River, MN

Have you ever been asked to write an article for a newsletter, run for office or do something at work that you have never done before? My advice to you is, “just do it.” The art of executing is as important as the academic theoretical know-how.

Too often as administrators we become bogged down with the pursuit of the idea. Too often we let chances to expand our experiences pass us by because we are afraid. Afraid we don’t have the knowledge or resources. We limit ourselves waiting for the right time, the right resources, and the right way.

Another phrase that is used to instruct people to get the job done is “take the message to Garcia.” The story that generated the phrase was published in 1899 by Elbert Hubbard. It related an incident leading up to the Spanish-American war. A young lawyer Garcia had organized an army of Cuban patriots that would support the U.S. troops. President William McKinley needed to get a hand-carried message to the leader Garcia and receive assurance that an invasion could begin. Despite all the planning for war, success rested not on the plan but on the execution of the plan.

The problem was that no one knew exactly where Garcia was. Someone suggested that an officer named Rowan could take the message to Garcia. Rowan had a reputation as someone who could get the job done.

Rowan was sent for, the mission was explained and he was given the message for Garcia in a sealed oil-skin pouch. Rowan saluted and left the room. Four weeks later in Cuba he found Garcia and delivered the message. Garcia replied that he was ready for the invasion and history was made.

But the point of the story is how Rowan carried out the request. He didn’t ask, how do I do this, or where is Garcia, or what resources do I have? He had the assignment and carried it out using his own initiative and creativity and efforts.

The principles in the message to Garcia:

1. Listen and understand the assignment;
2. Question only what is necessary to ensure that you and the order issuer are on the same page;
3. Take responsibility for the assignment; and
4. Upon completion, return and give a full report.

A recent example of taking the message to Garcia is the Emerging Leaders Network of Minnesota. This is a project of the Minnesota Department of Health, Minnesota Public Health Association and the Local Public Health Association of Minnesota. The group had the assignment to develop a leadership program for emerging leaders in public health. There were no models, no set curriculums, no definition of an emerging leader and limited resources. However, the group just did it. In one year they defined the program, identified a cohort of emerging leaders, provided collaborative leadership training and began the planning for continuation of the project. They could have spent the year planning and looking for the “right” way to do it. Instead they spent the year just doing it, designing, building and revising the project as they went along.

The difference between health administrators and health departments who make a difference and those who don’t are the rigor and intensity in which the health administrator pursues getting it done. Taking the message to Garcia is nothing new. Too often we focus on the process and whether we are ready. If someone is offering you an opportunity to expand your experiences, my suggestion to you is, “just do it.”


Two Years of Strategic Planning in the Health Administration Section



by Tricia Todd, Plst123@aol.com

(see also Vision/Mission/Principles statement above for specifics)

“Strategic Planning” - Two words capable of causing a surprising emotional response in most people. For some, strategic planning is an exercise in exercising; for others it is the answer to everything. For the Health Administration Section it has fallen somewhere between the two – and this is a good thing.

Two years ago, the chair of the Health Administration Section, Vonna Henry, approached me and asked me to assist the HA Section in some strategic planning. I jumped at the chance because it was a unique opportunity to do strategic planning in the most challenging way without face-to-face meetings. Most of the strategic planning would be conducted using technology - e-mail, conference calls, and Web-based survey instruments.

We began by creating a strategic planning team. One of the first things the team faced was a questionnaire that challenged their willingness to make radical change in the Section. They were asked to describe what they envisioned success would look like, what they were willing to contribute to assure the success of the strategic planning process, and whether they were willing to consider dramatic changes to the way the HA Section does business.

One of the first tasks the team took on was to create a Web-based membership survey to learn more about who our members are, and what they wanted and needed. Laura Larsson, one of the team members, managed the technology details of getting the survey on the Web, allowing a number of us to pilot test it, then to send what must have seemed like an endless list of e-mails encouraging you to respond. At the 2002 Annual meeting, Vonna Henry and Joyce Gauffin (then President-Elect) facilitated the discussion of the results in a packed scientific session and received additional input into the needs and wants of the members.

All that rich information was fed back to the strategic planning team which then proceeded to frame a mission and vision for the section. Perhaps the most important result of that discussion was the creation of some guiding principles that would direct the activities of the section to assure we could fulfill our mission with meaning.

Using a wonderful new technology suggested by Laura that allowed us to put the new mission, vision and principles online and get feedback, suggestions and comments from our members. The application we used was called DocReview. It is an Web-based commenting tool that facilitates collaborative interaction and helps to democratize the process of building a mission and vision statement.

At the 2003 APHA meeting, the mission, vision and principles were discussed once again, and with additional feedback, a final mission, vision and principles were created. The vision and mission statement are presented above.

At the last meeting of the Health Administration Section at APHA, the mission, vision and principles were used to identify some of the next steps for the Section. The next step in the strategic planning process is implementing some concrete steps to meet our new mission and vision.


Today's focus: Tips for Holding Better Meetings



by Melissa Shaw <mshaw@nww.com>

One of my colleagues says it best. When he's in a meeting, his Instant Messenger away message reads: "The only thing that comes out of a meeting is people." And all too often, that's true.

Although they're supposed to be productive uses of our time, most meetings have morphed into long, boring, pointless exercises, where we sit and pretend to listen to the person speaking, but we're really thinking of all the other things we could be doing at that moment.

That's why I was excited to talk with management and leadership expert Don Andersson, who breaks meetings down into three types:

* All Hear This: These are meetings for passing along information, with no questions except for clarification.

* Show and Tell: This is how you could describe most staff meetings. Everyone sits around bored as each person updates the others on what he or she is doing.

* Make a Decision: The name says it all. The group needs to come out of the meeting with a plan of action.

"The biggest challenge for meetings is to first of all know why you're calling it," Andersson says. "What is it you want to accomplish through the meeting? Put that in the form of a question that needs to be answered."

And, he adds, agendas don't cut it alone. "There's an awful lot of times that the agenda says a lot of what we're going to be covering, but we don't know what we've got to do when we cover it," he says. "We're going to cover all these items on the agenda, but now what?"

Since many of the meetings I attend fall into the Show and Tell category, I asked Andersson what steps managers can make to improve them. It turns out, the best improvement would be not holding them at all.

"The only reason you have [a Show and Tell meeting] is if people are working in silos and are not working cross-functionally at all," he says. "It means people haven't been talking." Show and Tells are symptoms that the department is not communicating, or even functioning, as well as it could, Andersson adds. The only valid reason for a Show and Tell is for colleagues to explain what they're doing in the context of asking for assistance so they can bring their project to the next level. If its purpose is to just keep tabs on what everyone's up to, you need to improve your communication.

Source: NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: MELISSA SHAW ON MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES, 05/06/03. To subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World e-mail newsletters, go to: http://www.nwwsubscribe.com/news/scripts/notprinteditnews.asp . Note: This article was used with the permission of the author.


Getting Things Done: Time Management Tips



These tips were taken from several issues of Taylor's Time Tips, an electronic newsletter and used with permission of the author. Harold L. Taylor is the author of 'Making Time Work for You.' Subscribe to Taylor's Time Tips at this address: <http://www.TaylorOnTime.com>.

Budget Your E-Mail Time. Deadlines make us more efficient without losing effectiveness. So place a deadline on the time you spend reviewing your e-mail. With a deadline, you will delete more, respond to fewer messages, write shorter answers, delegate everything possible and work faster. Since you may not complete all your e-mail in the limited amount of time allocated, you are also forced to prioritize. The ones that don't get answered are probably not that important anyway. So estimate the amount of time you are spending on e-mail now, cut that time in half, and schedule that shorter time period each day. You may want to spend half the allocated time first thing in the morning and the other half after lunch. With some managers receiving hundreds of e-mails each day, it is imperative that you don't let the time infringe on priority, goal-related tasks.

A Life of Choices. Time management requires tough choices. We sometimes have to say no to important activities in order to accomplish higher priorities.

Apply what you learn. The value of any time management seminar varies directly with the willingness to apply the ideas presented.

What is Prioritizing? Prioritizing refers to determining the relative importance in the various tasks so that you can select the ones to do first.

Productivity Nap. Many of the world's most productive people have napped every afternoon, according to Stanley Smith in his book The Sacred
Rules of Management. He recommends dozing in a parked car at lunchtime or taking a nap at home before dinner. He also claims that resting your eyes occasionally will conserve a lot of nervous energy.

Focus on Results. Strive for excellence, not perfection; achievement, not activity; efficiency, not longer hours.

Safety First When Filing. When starting a file system or moving current files into a new cabinet, always start with the bottom drawer so the cabinet won't tip.


Leadership Books to Buy or Borrow



Leadership books abound. All you have to do is to search on Amazon.com to find more than you can possibly read. In this section we will provide you with some interesting and recommended books on leadership and management. Your leadership recommendations may be sent to Laura Larsson, <larsson@u.washington.edu>.

Broom, Michael and Donald Klein. The Infinite Organization: Celebrating the Positive Use of Power in Organizations. Palo Alto, CA: Davies-Black Publishing, September 2002.

Bruce, Anne. Leaders - Start to Finish: A Road Map for Developing and Training Leaders at All Levels. Alexandria, VA: ASTD, March 26, 2001.
This easy-to-use, icon-driven book offers you the opportunity to design a complete leadership training and development program from scratch or simply benchmark your existing program and make adjustments that suit your organization's specific leadership goals. The book includes dozens of useful exercises, tips, and advice for training professionals that can be put to use immediately. (from book)

Clarke-Epstein, Chris. 78 Important Questions Every Leader Should Ask and Answer. New York: American Management Association, September 2002.
Important questions for leaders to ask to survive. Your role as a leader should be to: "Ask questions. Listen to the answers. Ask some more questions. Give good answers to questions asked by others."

Koestenbaum, Peter. Leadership: The Inner Side of Greatness. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, June 1991.
The move from leadership to greatness depends on: taking ownership and assuming accountability, shedding dependence and recognizing that "adults take care of themselves" in addition to other characteristics not mentioned here.

Lindgren, Mats and Hans Bandhold. Scenario Planning: The Link Between Future and Strategy. Palgrave: Macmillan, 2003.
Step-by-step introduction to developing complex strategies. The concept of scenario planning is as much an art as a practical management tool.

Ruderman, Marian and Patricia Ohlott. Standing at the Crossroads: Next Steps for High-Achieving Women. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, May 8, 2002.
"The authors debunk the common myth that women must give up life's other roles to be successful professionally, and offer research conducted by the Center for Creative Leadership in conjunction with participants in The Women's Leadership Program to show that multiple roles in fact benefit and enhance women's managerial performance. The book provides individuals and their organizations with invaluable advice they can use to support women's development as managers and leaders."

Tichy, Noel. The Cycle of Leadership: How Great Leaders Teach Their Companies to Win. New York, Harper Business, August 20, 2002.
This book shows "how great companies and their leaders develop their business knowledge into "teachable points of view," spend a great portion of their time giving their learnings to others, sharing best practices, and how they in turn learn and receive business ideas/knowledge from the employees they are teaching."

Zenger, John H. and Joseph Folkman. The Extraordinary Leader: Turning Good Managers into Great Leaders. New York, McGraw-Hill, July 25, 2002.
Focuses on making good leaders great.