Recently, during one of our V2V weekly meetings, we discussed the correlation between transformation and integrity. This discussion led me back to a time when a colleague and I led a difficult, pivotal conversation. This conversation was about remaining dedicated to the transformation a medical practice had so rightly pledged themselves. We knew that the conversation was, indeed, required to stay-the-course with the innovation and synergy before them. Otherwise, they would not survive and thrive in this new business of health care. It was critical that, as a team, we did not let this person push our buttons, but also not let her off the hook. Coming back to the V2V discussion, one of our transformationists summed up the connection to effectiveness that exists between transformation and integrity. Transformation is the decision to make a dramatic change. Integrity is the willingness to maintain that change.

Transformation requires integrity: It’s the courage to have a difficult conversation.

Ironically, while the conversation may be with one person, it is not about one person. This is about sustainable, organizational change. Many leaders, while agreeing with the need for change, struggle greatly with acknowledging that organizational leadership is part of the reason transformation was so critically needed in the first place. In short, the leadership hasn’t done what needs to be done to move the organization forward. Integrity is about holding that conversation, asking the tough questions, and then not allowing one (or more) to circumvent or re-direct in order to avoid addressing and answering those questions. It’s sometimes requires a long look in the mirror and acknowledging what you see.

Frame this Conversation: It’s not where you’ve been, it’s where you’re headed that matters.

In this conversation, the topic is not about who or what is causing the failures or missteps of your leadership. What helps you transform your organization is to discuss how to remedy those problems. How are you going to capitalize on the opportunities before the organization? We, as leaders, have to let go of our anger, or rather our fear, about who is at fault and why. Until that happens, our entire enterprise is focused on organizational failures of the past, rather than how to create a sustainable, transformative future.

When that inevitably happens, it is incumbent upon you to hit the “Stop It Button”, a concept first put forth by my colleague and friend, Debra Wiggs. Simply put, Stop it! Stop focusing on the past and why something happened or who is responsible for it. If you wallow in that exercise, it takes all the focus off of what to do to devise your organizational plan for moving your enterprise forward.

Two Steps: Hit the Stop It Button and let it go

As leaders we can hit the “Stop It” Button, as my colleague, Debra Wiggs, so aptly observes. We can give our teams something new, and transformational, to focus on. Stop It doesn’t just mean to stop a process, it means to let-it-go. Let go of the history and shape a new culture by turning to the future. Don’t be so stuck in re-living the past that we cannot envision a future.

Returning to the colleague and our difficult conversation, it centered on that very thing: Turning her focus from who-to-blame for the state of their medical practice because by that time the very real issue in her mind’s eye was the fear of losing her job. She was rightly afraid that the now-apparent understanding of the cause of the organization’s failures was due to her lack of management control on the effective practice operations.

There were two things she focused on: First, how mad she was, because she felt our findings weren’t a clear reflection of current state. Second, she focused on daily operations, in this case, that despite the findings, she wasn’t responsible for them. The very real fact includes that in organizational breakdowns, leaders either fail actually hold teams accountable to perform the work OR, fail to communicate their responsibility for that work. Okay, so we understand the root cause. Now, what will we do about it?

Stop It! Until its leaders change the organizational focus, transformation is impossible.

Integrity: Leading your team to a positive place

Since the seed of transformation is the decision to make a dramatic change, so it then follows that integrity is the willingness to maintain that change. It’s the water and fertilizer allowing this critical decision to change and transform to flourish and grow. When we and, resultantly, our teams fall back into former patterns of blame and equivocation, we have a choice. We can choose integrity, by asking ourselves “What is right, here, in order to move our organization forward?”

This pivotal question, when answered, leads our teams to a positive place. In this moment of choice, we can consider our successful, sustainable future in this new business of health care. We may not have immediate answers, however, this consideration is altogether encouraging, helpful, and constructive. What’s holding you back? Are you ready to envision your organization’s future state but need someone to call the pivotal question? We can help by examining your performance and move beyond blame to a productive, profitable enterprise.

‍