September 2005 Is Leadership Part of Your Profession?

Not too long ago I was privileged to hear the keynote address to the incoming first year medical students at Jefferson Medical College.  The speaker was Dr. Robert Barchi, president of Thomas Jefferson University.

As you might have guessed, much of his talk was about the greatness of becoming a doctor. In Dr Barchi's eye's, medicine is, indeed, a noble profession, and I could sense the deep passion that he still feels for it. He also spent time talking about the standards expected of medical professionals in general, and the values and guiding principles expected of students and faculty at the college.

But then Dr Barchi took his remarks down an unexpected path. He told these aspiring doctors that today, health care is provided in teams-of nurses, specialists, and a host of others-and that as doctors, they are expected to be the leaders of those teams. What I heard him saying was that competence in the practice of medicine is no longer enough. Competence in leadership is now also required for excellence in medical care.

I wonder if this message came as a bit of a surprise for many of the aspiring doctors. I would also wonder if the implications of it fully sank in.

Everyone knows that medical school is tough. The demands placed on these students for studies and hands-on learning is quite extraordinary, as the subject of medicine is challenging, extremely complicated, and time consuming. And the consequences of not learning appropriately can indeed be a matter of life or death for the patients for which they may ultimately be responsible.

If that is not enough, now they must also find time and ways to learn about teamwork and becoming a better leader. Being already overwhelmed (and sleep deprived) with learning what it takes just to be a doctor, how can they possibly find time, or brain capacity to hone their skills as a leader?

That seems to be the issue facing a lot of people in almost every line of work these days.  Feeling overwhelmed with their managerial responsibilities and the effort required to remain technically competent in their respective fields, many managers easily make a convincing argument that they simply have neither the time nor the energy needed to develop their leadership abilities.

Similar to effective health care, much of the great customer service efforts, product innovations and problem solutions that occur in business result from teamwork. Remember that merely putting a group of people together to work on a common project does not make that group a team. For teams to jell and do their best work, many pieces have to fall into place. These things do not happen unless there are people capable of and willing to step up and provide leadership.

For all of you who struggle with finding time to develop your leadership abilities, you might want to consider what is required of you to be competent in your role. Every job always has certain technical skills required of it. For example, think about the specific skills needed to be an expert as a financial analyst, a graphic artist or a computer programmer. For some positions, mastery and application of technical skills are the keys to success.

So the essential question for you to answer is this: how important is leadership as a competency for you in your job? That is, how important is it for you to be able to provide guidance and inspiration for people now working directly for or with you, or for people in teams that you currently count on to deliver stellar results? How important will your ability to effectively lead be to the work you most want to do in the future?

Think long and hard about your answers, because they will contribute immensely to the time and effort you will choose to devote to your leadership development. And remember that leadership is ultimately a choice.

Investing in your own leadership development is a choice that is very difficult to make in many cases. People are told that they are expected to lead, but they are measured, recognized and paid more directly for their individual contributions or management activities. Corporate norms encourage people to spend a much greater percentage of time taking a retro look at current numbers and why they are where they are, than a forward look at developing the capabilities of their people and where they need to be. Some people just get more personal fulfillment and satisfaction out of closing the big deal themselves, than they get watching one of their people win the contract. And some hold the belief that since their people already know what to do and what it takes to do it, they shouldn't need much else. "After all, we do hire capable people don't we! And besides, don't the best leaders challenge their people and then just get out of the way?"

Do any of these examples hit home for you?

So back to the original question: to what extent do you believe you need to improve your abilities as a leader in order for you, your group or your company to be successful? If you believe it is crucial, you will find the energy and make the time to get better. If you don't see the immediate (or future) reward, you probably won't.

My guess is that most of the medical students referred to earlier will not be devoting much time immediately to leadership development. And that is clearly the best choice for them right now, as the primary responsibility for each of them is to learn medicine.

But what about the number of people working in organizations who currently have a primary responsibility to lead others, and who have chosen not to devote much time to their own leadership development? Is this the formula for ongoing success in an ever-changing, highly competitive world marketplace? If given a choice, would these be the kinds of people you would most like to work for?

There is one final comment for you to think about. When you have a medical need and go to your primary care physician (or a specialist when called for), you are assured that this person already has a high degree of knowledge and is capable of providing reliable medical care. Otherwise, she or he could not be called a doctor.

But when your people have a need for leadership, can they be as equally assured they you are capable of responding credibly and reliably to their needs? That is, can you legitimately be called a leader? If you answer yes, based on what?

Being qualified to lead requires more than reading the occasional book or attending a seminar for a day or two every couple of years. (Would you choose a doctor whose medical expertise was based entirely on that approach?) It also requires more than just having an impressive sounding title or position. Although one can learn a lot about leadership from books, tapes, and day to day work, these by themselves are seldom enough to develop the skills necessary to lead, or earn you the respect as and the right to be viewed as a leader.

The world will always need great doctors, and organizations (and the world for that matter) will always need great leaders. Just as one cannot become a great doctor without doing the hard work to learn and practice medicine, neither can one become a great leader without doing the hard work to learn and practice leadership.

Reflection Questions

• What confidence should your people have in you to lead them? What kind of evidence might they have that proves you are committed to becoming a better leader for them?

• In what ways would you like to be a better leader? What kind of time and effort are you devoting to that pursuit right now?