Latest / Authentic Living / Authentic Leadership Through Recognition Practices (Part II) with Sarah McVanel
Transcript
- 0:01Welcome to authentic living with Roxanne, a place where we have as conversations about
- 0:08things that really matter in our lives.
- 0:11And now here's your host, Roxanne Derhodge.
- 0:36Our interview last week was so good that we decided to turn it into a 2 part series.
- 0:41If you missed last week, you'll find the link in the show notes.
- 0:45It's not mandatory that you listen, but we wanna make sure that you don't miss out on this
- 0:51amazing conversation.
- 0:54Right?
- 0:54Because I it's like, what do you call it?
- 0:56The what's it called?
- 0:57The invisible shopper or the, what is that?
- 0:59Oh, the secret shopper.
- 1:01Speaker.
- 1:01The chopper kind of thing.
- 1:03Right?
- 1:03It's like, because really I I've and what would happen to me is is off times it'd have to deal
- 1:08with lots of levels of leadership all the way to the front line because we would be leaning,
- 1:13we would be rolling it out to the front line.
- 1:15It was as confidential service.
- 1:16We'll be seeing trends that wasn't happening.
- 1:19So I would, you know, go for instance, I dealt with, the light, union for, the theaters in
- 1:28Toronto.
- 1:29So guess what they did?
- 1:30Right?
- 1:31So they took me behind the scenes about 10 minutes before production, to see the lion
- 1:39king.
- 1:40So here I am, and they said, we want you to see it through the eyes of what we go through.
- 1:46And I said, Oh, boy.
- 1:48This is gonna be fun.
- 1:49I get to see the Lion King, but I get to see it behind the scenes.
- 1:54Is Sarah the most amazing experience because it really showed me how to look at it from the
- 2:02lens of perfection, what they had to create, and my challenge was we'd like you to count how
- 2:12many mistakes you see.
- 2:16So I'm like, alright then.
- 2:17So I'm right on.
- 2:19I'm, like, got my eagle eyes on.
- 2:20I did not count once.
- 2:22There was 35 glitches.
- 2:26I did not see one because they're so quick at problem solving and fixing.
- 2:31They were they're reconstructed, computers behind the scenes that could have good things.
- 2:36So, again, from a psychological perspective, it allowed me to see potentially how the, you
- 2:41know, how the actors would have to, you know, go on as normal and then how, you know, the
- 2:47managers would have to manage them and all those things, but it it it's an aggregate that
- 2:52allowed you to see it, right, and what people are doing their jobs from such a high level but
- 3:00again, from, you know, the psychological element recognizing how could we support them,
- 3:06understanding the pressures of the industry, Right?
- 3:09Which is yeah.
- 3:10And the connection between authenticity and recognition is how do you authentically
- 3:15acknowledge wow.
- 3:17We overcame 35 issues as opposed to what sometimes happens, which is how did 35 things
- 3:24happen?
- 3:24We are professionals here.
- 3:27How is it possible?
- 3:28We had 35 mistakes.
- 3:30So it's the the where you come at it by understanding and appreciating the pressures,
- 3:36the stress, the, you know, that's kinda goes back to that 8% we were talking about.
- 3:41So rather than than say, like, you're gonna need to work harder.
- 3:45People know that already.
- 3:47Instead, it is we appreciate that you're working harder.
- 3:50So one of the things I think that we can do as leaders to truly authentically see to to be
- 3:56behind the curtain like you Yes.
- 3:59Your job as a leader is to make sure there aren't quality issues and competency gaps and
- 4:05bullying, instability, and all the things that are that are terrible, that you, you know, you
- 4:10have a responsibility to make sure that the that you're rowing in the right direction.
- 4:15And then if that's not happening in the in the rowing term, they call it ketchup crab where
- 4:20you you know, your your your lower shutters in the water, and it could really cause a problem
- 4:24if that happens.
- 4:25So you wanna be able to catch it before it becomes a really big problem.
- 4:28And if you can't do that from up here, you cannot and I'm visually showing you can't go do
- 4:34it from up on high in the ivory tower, as you say.
- 4:38Looking down and clicky high heel shoes and pin straight suits.
- 4:42If you really genuinely want to connect with the people who add the most value in the
- 4:46organization, and I'm sorry to say leaders.
- 4:49It's not the CEO.
- 4:50The CEO's job is very important.
- 4:53So CEOs, I love you of huge respect, not qualified to do your job, huge respect for you,
- 4:58and who would the customer notice if you're gone tomorrow.
- 5:02And for one day, you're only gone for one day.
- 5:05The person who if the phone's not being answered or the care's not being delivered or
- 5:09nobody gets their mail for an entire day, that's really visible.
- 5:13That can create a huge bottleneck in the the whole reason for being So we need to
- 5:18acknowledge by by putting ourselves in the shoes of those people.
- 5:23We call it visible leadership and lean continuous improvement.
- 5:27It's going to gammas with, like, you know, if you if you're actually in the the, let's say a
- 5:32Toyota Toyota, they would say, you know, go to gamba, not it's which refers to us a a circle
- 5:38where you stand in the circle and you watch and you studied.
- 5:42That's what you did.
- 5:43You went to Gamba, And when I was in a senior leadership role, I would hear on a Tuesday at
- 5:51senior team what was broken.
- 5:53And on Friday, I would spend it in scrubs or in runners or whatever wherever the quote problem
- 6:00existed, that we couldn't figure out how to solve in senior team.
- 6:04I'd go there and I'd try to study it.
- 6:06And, you know, not only would I come back with greater information, and frankly, sometimes
- 6:11Sometimes my clients my sorry.
- 6:13My, my peers would respect that and other times they create waves, as you can probably imagine.
- 6:18And And I'm not criticizing them.
- 6:20They have their way of leading.
- 6:21This this just I honestly didn't know how I would ever contribute in senior team if I
- 6:26didn't go and study what was going on with the people who could understand it.
- 6:31Here's what matters most to me, though.
- 6:34The people who were experiencing pain of that issue not yet being solved or that we did not
- 6:41have a good viable solution to, they needed to feel that somebody was listening.
- 6:45The somebody was paying attention because even if it was such a colossal challenge that it was
- 6:51even outside of the realm of anybody on senior team being able to such as in Ontario.
- 6:58Well, every hospital, you have a backlog of beds of people in beds and emergency.
- 7:03We can't create more beds.
- 7:04We can't pull funding out of the air.
- 7:06There's lots of things that we could probably do to iterate, and that's good organizations do
- 7:10that.
- 7:10Good hospitals do that.
- 7:11And There will it's it's virtually impossible to have enough money and funding to do
- 7:17everything you possibly would ever wanna do for a patient.
- 7:20So what we can do is we can make sure that the people providing the care, the one experiencing
- 7:28the strain of an overrun emergency department of the families worried about their the care
- 7:36about, the hearing infection controls concerns that you have patients who should be isolated,
- 7:41but you do not have another isolation room.
- 7:45The worst thing that we can do for those people is let them suffer on their own.
- 7:49And not go down there and say thank you or or ask a question or roll up our sleeves and do
- 7:55something about it.
- 7:56Undercover Boss is not just a reality TV show.
- 8:00It needs to be how we authentically appreciate and acknowledge people because if there's
- 8:05nothing you can do in that moment to fix it.
- 8:08You can study it, and you can be with the people who are the ones struggling the most
- 8:12with that issue.
- 8:13And it can
- 8:14be on the customer's side too.
- 8:15Go and spend time with your customers.
- 8:16It doesn't have to be the people providing you, and it could also be on the other side too.
- 8:19Well, I like the flip because understanding both ends, you know, and I, you know, with my
- 8:24tenure working with lots of, companies in different sectors, I remember if one thing
- 8:29sticks out for me, there was a suicide.
- 8:31And, of course, there was a trauma response.
- 8:34We responded within 24 hours.
- 8:36It was a a hospital chain.
- 8:38And, so I was there just kind of making sure everything was getting done and the CEO showed
- 8:43up.
- 8:44At the response.
- 8:45And I I was shocked.
- 8:48I was like, and so, you know, obviously, we were doing the day debriefing had been done and
- 8:54all those things, and he just wanted to show up to say, I just wanted to show my face and just
- 9:01say, this is a horrible thing to have happened and happened at one of the hotels.
- 9:05And but I just wanna let you know this is this is horrific.
- 9:09Because that person's lost someone and, you know, obviously, but you, as my staff, have had
- 9:15to deal with this and you've dealt with it, in such an amazing way that I wanted to come to
- 9:21show you that I know how difficult this must have been, but I'm so proud of how we as an
- 9:27environment dealt with it.
- 9:28And I was so I'm making sure on my end, my company end that everything flows.
- 9:33That's kind of part of my role.
- 9:35But again, for him coming down from corporate to the actual hotel to be able to show the
- 9:41presence, it's it was pretty amazing.
- 9:43And Like, you're right.
- 9:44When when you think of leadership, right, especially through dire times, and, of course,
- 9:48the situation I'm talking is one of those dire things.
- 9:51And someone does something like that, you it sticks with you.
- 9:55Yeah.
- 9:55It it it sticks with you in your mind.
- 9:57Right?
- 9:57Like, versus kind of the leaders that, you know, would, and unfortunately, sometimes the
- 10:04leaders to get back to work or, you know, we'll be okay or the ship coming in.
- 10:08It's not, you know, gonna be okay, but this time, this last 18 months has shown us the
- 10:13value of some of these examples that we've been using, right?
- 10:17The ones that really stop to you know, really see how, you know, the Arabic battles of the
- 10:23world, how are you really doing, Sarah?
- 10:25Like, not the, what you're showing me, but how is it really in your life or stuff like that.
- 10:30And that's value because we all wanna be validated Mhmm.
- 10:35To
- 10:35feel like we're important and you know, when you're my senior leader, and I feel a
- 10:41connection, and I feel a connection to the culture, then it's like, that's kinda like part
- 10:46of my family, and I wanna do my best to optimally function, you know, because I want my
- 10:52my culture and my family to survive.
- 10:54Which is a different space, you know, compared to let me just get through the day, and they go
- 10:5920 minutes at a time.
- 11:01You know, let me try to on my on my days off look for what's better out there, which,
- 11:06unfortunately, is the inauthentic end to things because people are just like, Like, we've seen
- 11:11in with the new resignation with a lot of people.
- 11:13People are voting with their feet based on their values now.
- 11:16Yeah.
- 11:17Yeah.
- 11:17Right?
- 11:18Yeah.
- 11:18And, you know, it's when you think about all the things you gave, you know, about tragic
- 11:23example of a suicide, we have COVID, we have natural disasters, we have cyber attacks.
- 11:30There's it's not if we have something that is going to dramatically shake the people and that
- 11:37we serve that we that we employ here.
- 11:41It's it's what are we gonna do when it happens?
- 11:43It's it's and it's not a fault of the organization or the industry or or, you know,
- 11:48whatever has happened, to create that.
- 11:51It's what do we do?
- 11:51And that's really what tests our authenticity.
- 11:54And it's what tests, if recognition is sincere.
- 11:58Did that was that company gonna keep it going or not?
- 12:00You know, an example that I hadn't thought about until, you know, you just shared that,
- 12:05which was beautiful, is, I was the keynote speaker at a conference that where we were
- 12:11talking about recognition, and they didn't have a formal closing keynote.
- 12:15But I was curious.
- 12:16I want to stick around.
- 12:17They invited the general manager of the hotel to close out the conference.
- 12:22And I thought, well, I don't know if there he's making plugged for.
- 12:26Everybody come here and go into vacation.
- 12:28It was Puerto Rico.
- 12:30So, I don't know.
- 12:32Is this is it this is the world's best I did.
- 12:34Did you get a free conference by having the general manager come and speak?
- 12:38And you know what it was?
- 12:39It was brilliant.
- 12:40He talked about a hurricane that had hit the island, just over a year before that and how
- 12:48they as a leadership team.
- 12:49Oh, sorry.
- 12:50That was Siri.
- 12:52She's talking about my Apple Watch.
- 12:54The, the general manager talked about how they handled that response.
- 13:00And what what he shared was he and all of the members of the leadership team basically moved
- 13:07into the hotel.
- 13:09Many of the surrounding hotels, unfortunately, had been catastrophically damaged.
- 13:14So they had other people from those hotels that they welcomed in.
- 13:19Any any of the family members of the staff who had lost their homes or wasn't safe to go home,
- 13:26were allowed to live in the hotel.
- 13:28I mean, they were at they were bursting capacity.
- 13:32But, well, he said one of the proudest members, and you had had a long decorated career in
- 13:37hospitality.
- 13:38He said, my proudest memory to this point and likely will always be is when I and my entire
- 13:44executive team and all of the leaders lived in this hotel, with our staff and their families
- 13:51and our guests and the guests of other hotels, guests.
- 13:55And we made sure that they had three meals a day and we we cleaned as best we could and we
- 14:01we went and we used every single resource we had in the intercontinental hotels disposal.
- 14:07To bring in supplies.
- 14:09And, I mean, I get goosebumps when I share that story with you.
- 14:13And I thought that is the best way to end the conference where you started talking about
- 14:18authentic, meaningful recognition in the service based industry.
- 14:22You have How smart?
- 14:24How smart?
- 14:26Ugh.
- 14:26Doesn't that inspire you?
- 14:28Like, they didn't have to do any of that.
- 14:32Absolutely.
- 14:32Absolutely.
- 14:33Right.
- 14:33Like, I mean, the the fact that is that, I mean, what a valuable way to demonstrate, like,
- 14:41they were just being, which is part of their culture.
- 14:45And, to be able to share that with anybody that what I mean, we all have to travel.
- 14:49We all have to stay places and things like that, but would you not want to have your event
- 14:55or, you know, your your getaway in an environment that's so validating in a in a time
- 15:00of really such a need.
- 15:02Versus the place to, you know, the 5 star or the whatever, just, you know, somebody that's
- 15:07in line.
- 15:07But, you know, I'm always amazed, from some of the leaders that I interviewed, that you had,
- 15:13connected with me with.
- 15:15What I've one one trait that they shared with me that was quite, interesting is they said
- 15:21They're in alignment, whether they're at work or at home, with their values.
- 15:27And they're often coming from a place of service And the one theme that I often heard as
- 15:34well was that they they had something happened to them in their life that made them re realize
- 15:41or reconfigure the concept of, performance, and it was more about service versus performance.
- 15:48And, you know, it it was it was fascinating to listen to because then they were doing things
- 15:54in their communities that were connected to their families that kind of impacted the that
- 15:59just their overall concept of how they led you know, whether it was in their communities or at
- 16:06home or at work, they would they were 1 and the same, but they had evolved, to a level to
- 16:12recognize that I'm the representative where wherever I am, I'm going to be the same person
- 16:19and that the growing that they did, you know, and a lot of these leaders had worked a lot on
- 16:24themselves as well.
- 16:26Not just to lead for outcome, but to lead so that, you know, they bring people on that
- 16:33really wanna follow them, which I was already inspired by, most of their stories.
- 16:38You can leave for outcome, You can lead for lead for impact, and then you can lead for
- 16:43purpose.
- 16:44Like, those, I think, to me, those are the 3 levels.
- 16:47And and some of the the folks that leave from a place of purpose, these are the folks who hear
- 16:51that they are mentoring, that they are and and really pushing for equity and rights of people,
- 16:59not only in their own organization in their their whole industry.
- 17:03They may even be the ones who encourage their organization to become more philanthropic or,
- 17:09have volunteer activities in days.
- 17:12One organization that we partnered with for a nurses week or a, a virtual nurses week event
- 17:18that my my colleagues and I run every year, is the Daisy Foundation, and that's a family that,
- 17:25out of their losing their son, who's a who's a a young man, they just they saw the amazing
- 17:33care that and and the connectedness of the leaders, the authenticity of the leaders, and
- 17:39the genuine authentic care at the bedside.
- 17:43And they decided to totally transform their mission in their life, and they built the Daisy
- 17:49Foundation, which is now in over 100 organizations across the world, certainly in in
- 17:56a lot of them in the US, What what are those is their mission is to try to have an easy way for
- 18:04organizations to collect patient stories family family member stories and peer stories about
- 18:10who what amazing care looks like.
- 18:13So in other words, they took up this place of being so grateful for the care of their son
- 18:20that sadly they lost.
- 18:22And they channel that into a life's work.
- 18:24So they they they could have written the note, which would be, you know, check-in the box that
- 18:30it was it's the task.
- 18:31It could have had an impact and to maybe write the CEO and the board or write a positive
- 18:36positive note to the newspaper.
- 18:38They and they elevated it to purpose because that was the most authentic way that they could
- 18:44acknowledge the light that the forever impact that those nurses and leaders had on them.
- 18:51And now I've created this incredible opportunity for thousands of people in any
- 18:54given you're gonna be recognized.
- 18:56So what you're saying around the the the connection around alignment between personal
- 19:03and and a work, you can't have alignment without it being driven from a place of impact
- 19:10and purpose.
- 19:12So, you know, I I invite people who are listening to this and thinking, how do I
- 19:17instead of how do I become more authentic, How do I come become more aligned with what I
- 19:23believe my greatest most important mark is going to be in my career as a leader?
- 19:30And if that is to to bring the next generation of of of leaders into of of different, maybe
- 19:39diverse groups, that haven't been well represented, that's great.
- 19:41For maybe for you, it's to increase quality standards for somebody else's creative learning
- 19:46organization, whatever that is.
- 19:48It is just it is just 1% better every day to end up having the most authentic version of
- 19:55your of your purpose.
- 19:56And one of the side benefits of that is it gets you out of the I'm too busy, disempowering
- 20:03cycle that is sometimes leaders mental and and also tactical reality every day is how do you
- 20:10make time for the most important things that authentic important impact in your life you
- 20:15make the things that are most important you make happen.
- 20:18So that's that's I mean, we could talk about this for hours I'm wondering if that has been
- 20:25your experience as well.
- 20:26Absolutely.
- 20:26And I I, you know, in my book, I talk a lot about why did you become a leader to begin
- 20:30with?
- 20:30So what is your backstory?
- 20:32You know, and I often think of my own, and it was because I grew up in a family of 6.
- 20:37There was so many of us.
- 20:39And, you know, at times in the school, I would get my voice would get lost.
- 20:43So I wanted to ensure that, you know, in kind of doing the kind of work that I the path that
- 20:48I took that everybody, that I would interface with with time would have a voice, right, and
- 20:53look how it's evolved into what I do today.
- 20:56And then in the latter part of the book, I talk a lot about what is your leadership legacy?
- 21:02What legacy do you wanna leave behind And if you think about what you're saying about
- 21:06meaning and purpose, is that does that not fit?
- 21:10I might have an idea where I begin and like you said, you could, you know, you have all these
- 21:14pressures as a leader, the tactical outcome driven things that you have to achieve, which
- 21:19we know as part of leadership, and but then how, you know, when you when it's value driven
- 21:24and purpose driven to what is that imprint that I'm gonna leave behind then that really kind of
- 21:30allows you to allot your time to kind of highest and best use of that time first with in
- 21:36reference to what that that purpose is.
- 21:39You know?
- 21:41Love that.
- 21:42Yeah.
- 21:43Yeah.
- 21:43And they're and that that's where only you can know.
- 21:46Is, again, that other ingredient piece of authentic is that we can look to role models.
- 21:53We can go to a conference and learn about practices and leading practices.
- 21:57We can read books.
- 21:58We can, talk to people that we really respect and get great council and, ultimately, you need
- 22:05to decide what your legacy is and you need to decide.
- 22:09And it can you don't have to decide today.
- 22:11It's just it's that quest to understand And that's how we truly, you know, to your point
- 22:16around leaving leave leading and leaving a legacy is that it's through our or everyday
- 22:23experience, that little tiny imprint that we make that leaves.
- 22:27And even if it gets like a tide coming in, it gets washed away for the day.
- 22:32It was there for that period of time.
- 22:35And all we have is this moment now.
- 22:37If you win the lottery tomorrow and choose to retire or you You get another opportunity to
- 22:42have even greater impact somewhere else.
- 22:44Your your industry completely changes and and you're even just like today with remote work.
- 22:49People are feeling a sense of greater, I'm hearing, greater sense of disconnection, and I
- 22:54say, time to rebuild connection.
- 22:56Maybe it existed before, and it just rewriting the story.
- 23:01Perhaps it's it's wasn't it was an artificial sense of connection because you saw each other
- 23:05and you thought that that was actual connection.
- 23:07And and maybe lots of things in between.
- 23:10The point is you can't do anything about the fact that some workplaces will never truly go
- 23:16back to being face to face.
- 23:19Some are going to be blended.
- 23:20Some will be completely remote.
- 23:22Whatever that is is is this is what now.
- 23:24So what does your legacy look like now?
- 23:26What is your purpose look like now?
- 23:29Because the opposite of authentic is complaining about what what isn't present.
- 23:34That's that's not solving it.
- 23:36That's not finding out who you are.
- 23:38That's not tapping into your resourcefulness.
- 23:40Whether it be your people that you reach out to, access information, access to resources,
- 23:46and and from like a tech or physical standpoint, So being in your own agent of your
- 23:54own design, designing your career, your life makes you more effective for everybody else,
- 24:00because it's an action.
- 24:02And even if you change course, that's okay.
- 24:05I mean, look at you and I have had many different careers in our time, and each time we
- 24:09hold we've left the one we left behind a little bit better off.
- 24:13We'd like to think that we did.
- 24:14I'm I'm I'm sure we did.
- 24:16And the point is it's all leading to now.
- 24:19And then it's it's something else.
- 24:20It's gonna lead to something else.
- 24:23If we don't recognize people along the way, hardwiring that impact is not hardwiring it
- 24:31into our our emotional DNA.
- 24:34Our the things we feel most dip deeply, I know you know this so well is as the type of expert
- 24:40that you are, in the psychosocial well-being realm of things, whether providing therapy or
- 24:46coaching and so forth, The things that we feel most deeply, we remember the most.
- 24:51Mhmm.
- 24:52So on your journey to have authentic purpose and contribute meaning recognize value support
- 24:59people along the way no matter what your core purpose is because you will leave a deeper
- 25:03imprint on them They will be more likely to be a part indoctrinated into your mission and your
- 25:09purpose, which makes your purpose faster, deeper, more meaningful in the end.
- 25:14So never underestimate the power of recognizing as part of your quest to fulfill the most
- 25:22important aspects, that is after they've read your book and and have clarified what that core
- 25:27purpose is.
- 25:30Masera, this has been amazing as usual.
- 25:32Thank you so much for, your time.
- 25:35Now now you said you were, you're gonna have a new addition of your book.
- 25:39If there are people that are, wanting to, get some of your other books or get, on a list or
- 25:46reaching out to you to consult, Where can they reach you?
- 25:49Greatness magnify.com.
- 25:51Yep.
- 25:52They and I'm on all forms of social media, including TikTok, much to my children's
- 25:56chagrin, So Sarah McVannell, m c v a n e l.
- 26:00So,
- 26:02I love her TikToks, by the way.
- 26:03I watch them all the time.
- 26:04I'm like, oh, no.
- 26:06This is a new one.
- 26:07She makes me giggle.
- 26:08So check those out because I checked them out, and I'm often giggling.
- 26:11I'm like, oh, that was a nice one.
- 26:13So again, for everybody, thanks so much for tuning in.
- 26:17It's a pleasure.
- 26:19I think I can say that without a doubt, it's always, an honor spending time with Sarah.
- 26:24Authenticity lends into, space that you need to be where you listen at a deep, profound level,
- 26:31to that legacy that you just imprint on the world.
- 26:35So spend time and awareness Get connected to who you are as a leader and put it out into the
- 26:41universe and see what comes back at you.
- 26:43So for everyone, if you're wanting to consult, with me about authentic part leadership and
- 26:48your teams reach out to me.
- 26:50And we can have a chat.
- 26:51They all you gotta remember is chat with Roxanne, and we'll jump on a Coke.
- 26:55Thanks for tuning in to authentic living with Roxanne, creating the space for positive,
- 27:01healthy change.
- 27:02Roxanne is a keynote speaker psychotherapist, and coach to work with Roxanne, visit
- 27:08rocksandurhaj.com/blueprint.
- 27:12We'll see you next time.
- 27:14Unauthentic living with Roxanne.