Sarah Williams, Cancer Support Manager at The Sydney Adventist Hospital, on Creativity, Advocacy, and the Power of Teams

 

Sarah Williams is a healthcare leader in Cancer Support Services at The Sydney Adventist Hospital, and winner of the Impact ANZ Leadership Circle Award 2023, which recognises exceptional leaders who have a big impact on people and organisations achieving important goals.

In this article, Part 2 of 2, Sarah shares the leadership lessons she’s learned so far in her career, from the importance of creativity to team dynamics and authentic leadership in a post-pandemic world.

Miss Part 1? See the first part of our conversation with Sarah.

 

LC: Post COVID-19, what kind of creativity do you think leaders need for a connected, collaborative culture?

SW: One of the good things post COVID is flexibility. When I came in, I was very gung-ho, saying; everything’s back on-site. But I have learned that we need flexibility. There is no doubt that things like Zoom and Teams have brought enormous benefits. I was doing educational forums face-to-face because I wanted our groups to be back, but doing things in person was actually cutting out people who previously had access during COVID; those who lived further away, carers who couldn’t leave the house, immunosuppressed people, or people who felt so poorly during their treatment that they couldn’t leave the house.

It’s important to recognize the positive things COVID created. We also need to remember some of the old values that COVID brought to light: We need community around us. We need nature around us. We’d forgotten that, and COVID reminded us. We’re trying to introduce those lessons at the centre. Go back to some of the essentials of what makes us feel well as humans, whether that’s walking groups or garden therapy or mindfulness photography, so that people are outside more.

For me, a lot of the creative stuff that we’re trying now is actually going back to the essentials that I think we’ve lost over the last few decades—bringing back the outside, bringing the outside in, remembering community, remembering that it’s not just about what education we can receive through this forum or what clinical purpose that meeting will serve. Actually [being] about making connections in the community and creating new friends and support for your carers and loved ones.

LC: How do you think leaders can bring out the best ideas from their teams to solve problems, especially problems that we might not anticipate? What could be the next COVID-19 or what are the potential impacts of climate change? How can we get ahead in our creative thinking as a team?

SW: I really think the way to get the best creativity out of a team is to actually stop. So often, we’re running meeting to meeting. We’re having our 10-minute standup scrums. It can only be 10 minutes, check here, check there. OK, what meeting have we got next? What are we doing next? Ticking off all these boxes. I think when the real magic happens, before you even start listening, is when you can forecast things to stop, and get those really creative, passionate concepts happening. Let’s just take a day [when] we’re not going to be running from meeting to meeting. We’re not going to be saying, we’ve only got 10 minutes to stand up. We’re actually just going to stop and listen to each other.

And I think that is so important face-to-face. When you’re just on a screen, I don’t think that creativity flows as much. If you actually stop and listen to people, they have so many thoughts and so many different ideas that you don’t usually hear. Nobody feels OK to mention a crazy idea in a 10-minute scrum, but if we stop for a while and listen to each other, that’s when I think you get the best out of people.

For us, it’s really important to stop for a day, get together, and get the butcher’s paper all over the wall. We feed each other, we soothe each other with cups of tea. We have good conversations about what we would love to see. What do you think could happen? The best ideas and the most beautiful, passionate responses I’ve ever heard have been in situations like that.

LC: It’s so true. Often, just when we think we don’t have the time to stop, it’s most important to stop. We see that with the Leadership Circle Profile. The perfect time to do it is often just when you think you’re too busy to spare the time.

SW: That’s a really good point. When I was offered this leadership course, I had just started this role, and I’d come from a role that had been extraordinarily difficult during COVID with full-on frontline vaccination rollouts. My adrenaline was already peak each day. I was starting a new role that I felt intensely proud and passionate about. And I thought, I can’t be taking time off for a course as soon as I start. This is going to be wasting my time when I’ve got other things to do. But I accepted it because I felt that I should.

And, as I said before, the last year would be so different if I hadn’t done that course. I don’t think that my team would be as tight as they are. I don’t think we would’ve achieved as much. I would’ve been standing as that manager, rather than as a leader—and so not getting the best out of my team, not hearing their ideas, certainly not going to them for feedback. I needed to stop and I needed to learn. We always need to learn, but it was a really pivotal moment because I needed to stop and was forced to stop.

LC: In the current climate of economic uncertainty, what creativity will you be leveraging to make an impact with your leadership?

SW: I know I’ve used this word already and I overuse it with my team, but it’s the word that resonates the most: passion.

If you’re dedicated to a cause and really have that passion for your role, then the creativity will come, the knowledge will come, the skills will come. Skills, you can learn so easily; I’m never really worried about that. I’m worried about [whether] this is a dedicated and a passionate person that’s going to add to our team, because I don’t think you can be passionate about something and not be creative.

I’ve had some of my amazing navigators—I can think of one in particular who has said to me, I’m not good at that stuff; I’m not creative. But she’s so creative. She’s just creative in different aspects. How is she going to get that person to that goal? How is she going to get that person to start talking? How is she going to get that person to realise she needs to be referred to a dietitian? It’s not “pretty, arty” creative, but it is creative because she’s got to use different methods to achieve all those things. And again, it’s because she’s incredibly passionate about what she does, about delivering that care.

Creativity, skills, and knowledge can all be acquired, but I don’t think passion can be acquired. I think it comes from deep inside, experiences and histories. So, if I’m ever looking for somebody to add to the team or how to inspire a team or myself in a new role, it all comes down to what I’m actually dedicated to and passionate about.

There is one Creative Competency that I felt that I struggled with personally: courageous authenticity. I marked myself really low on that, compared to my other competencies, and it was scored lower than other areas by everybody who was surveyed.

Of anything in my leadership, that’s probably what I feel has changed the most. I was very good at being pleasing and positive all the time, even though my values might not have agreed with what I was being pleasing and positive about. Kristyn (Sarah’s leadership coach), at the start of Leadership Circle, had us identify our main personal and professional values. That grounded the whole thing. I’ve always felt I had very strong values, but doing the Leadership Circle Profile showed that maybe some of my values I was a little bit weak on when I came to work. So courageous authenticity is definitely at the forefront of my mind because it was something I needed to work on.

With the “achieves results” competency, I think I found a better balance. I don’t think I ever managed a team in the way that the personal connections were overpowered by having to achieve results, but what I’ve realised is that results will be better achieved with better balance in the team. It isn’t just, “We’ve got to do this at all costs.” I really want to achieve results for the patients and for the centre and for the hospital, but I have a better understanding that those results will be better achieved through a positive and happy team than if the team is just being ridden all the time.

Balance and integrity were probably my highest-ranked competencies, both personally and from the people that were surveyed. And they will still always be the top values for me and the top focus. Balance, integrity, and caring connection—those three would be the most important to me overall and long term. And I’ve tried to highlight more courageous authenticity.

LC: What leadership lessons or tips do you share most with your team or would you share with other leaders?

SW: Advocacy. It comes into caring connection, team play, integrity, and courageous authenticity.

I used to mother my teams, thinking I was doing a good job, but that didn’t really let them grow. To have a flourishing team, the team has to know that they have your support, [even if you don’t] fix the problems for them. If you have belief in your team and you always advocate for them, your team grows with you.

My team really enjoys the safety of having an advocate. They know that I will always support them and their growth. It’s [the courageous authenticity of] saying “Let’s have the difficult conversation” and “I’m going to support you.”

LC: Do you have any reflections to share on the narrative identity topic that we focused on at the APAC Leadership Circle conference, this idea of taking the reins and “rewriting” our leadership story?

SW: I found it an incredibly interesting talk. The thing that stuck out to me the most in regard to my own leadership was the “too small” trap of the narrative identity. I chose an area of study which I didn’t enjoy, and I believed that I needed to fulfill that identity due to the time and education that had gone into it. It was only when I broke out of that “too small” trap of my own story that I found a career in healthcare that was fulfilling and rewarding and allowed me to grow leadership potential.

I’ve watched The West Wing start to finish no fewer than 30 times. And if we’re talking individual episodes, I guarantee you can triple that for “Celestial Navigation,” “Two Cathedrals,” and “Posse Comitatus”—because sometimes I need a good cry.

Friends have begged me to broaden my episodic horizons. Watch Breaking Bad, they said. Game of Thrones, Stranger Things. When I give them polite nods and blank looks around the watercooler, they implore me to step into the worlds of The Office, Veep, and Ted Lasso.

No, thanks. I’m good with Sam and Josh and Toby and C.J. and Charlie and Leo and President Bartlet. I like it here on the fictional Pennsylvania Avenue of the early aughts. These characters feel like old friends. Their stories are hot chicken soup to my achy and feverish soul.

I may be in a rut when it comes to my TV, but I like it.

And that’s how ruts get you. They tempt you with their comfy trappings, their cushy chairs and warm blankets. They lure you to linger with a pervasive, but not unnerving, sense of well-being. They lull you into a state of indifference, if not relative satisfaction, and keep things blissfully knowable and safe. Why would you ever leave?

But for a leader, safety is the refuge of the uninspired. You may have achieved a certain level of professional success. You may have a position you love, a routine that works for you, and a team that trusts you. You may feel complacent, even content.

Or you may just be in a nice, predictable, comfortable rut.

How To Know When You’re in a Rut

Being in a rut, even a nice one, can prevent you from growing as a leader. It can blind you to new opportunities, keep you from adapting to changing circumstances, and kill your motivation. So, be on the lookout for these signs that you may be stuck and, if you are, try these simple steps to help you break free:

• You’re bored. You know the feeling: monotony, fatigue, even sleepiness. You’re just going through the motions, and the motions are so familiar and mundane that you could do them with your eyes closed.

What To Do: Get curious. Volunteer to tackle a new task or a project outside your normal scope. Seek out a mentor or coach who will switch up your methods and challenge you to grow.

• You avoid risk. Like the captain of a ship that never leaves port, you stick to the status quo and stay the (same old) course. This may be hard to hear, but you fear failure, rejection, and criticism.

What To Do: Adopt a growth mindset. Right. How do we do that, again? Try to see your failures as merely first tries. Armed with valuable new information, you’re much more likely to embrace the risk of a second attempt—and a third.

• You’re overconfident. Complacency results when you think you have learned all there is to learn. Even the best of us can get caught in the trap of “But that’s the way we’ve always done it.”

What To Do: Bring in fresh blood. Seek out input and feedback from others who are different from you and have varying experiences and perspectives. Challenge yourself to listen and learn.

A Rut Is a Rut Is a Rut

Ruts are well-worn for a reason. I return to West Wing over and over again because I know what’s coming. Even the dramatic and exciting bits, like when Josh gets shot or Zoey is abducted or C.J. has to select which turkey to pardon, play as a familiar and comforting refrain for me, like a verse from a favorite song that unexpectedly comes over the radio.

In a world and time of great change, that predictability is incredibly appealing. But it keeps my perspective narrow. The more I re-watch Jed Bartlet, the less I learn of Selina Meyer. The more I stick to Sorkin, the less I explore, well, just about anyone else writing for television these days.

The point is, even if I like it, a rut is a rut. And to fulfill my potential as a leader, I need to branch out.

So, what series should I watch next?

How Impact Award Winner & Healthcare Leader Sarah Williams’ Career and Leadership Evolved From Law to Cancer Support and from Manager to Leader

 

Sarah Williams is a healthcare leader in Cancer Support Services at The Sydney Adventist Hospital. She is the recipient of the Impact ANZ Leadership Circle Award 2023, which recognises exceptional leaders who have a big impact on people and organisations achieving important goals.

In conversation with Leadership Circle, Sarah shares how her career journey took her from studying law to marketing international hotels, to her dream role managing Cancer Support Services and helping cancer patients thrive—with a trip back to her academic roots in family law and a stop managing a healthcare team during COVID-19 in the process.

Sarah discusses her invaluable leadership experiences and lessons learned along the way, how the Leadership Circle Profile helped transform her from a “manager” to a “leader,” and how she enabled her team to excel in providing incredible outcomes helping patients.

 

LC: Can you tell us about the origins of the Cancer Support Centre at Sydney Adventist Hospital?

SW: It started about 30 years ago and it was very much ahead of its time. Nobody in Australia had thought of the emotional and psychosocial impact on cancer patients. There were no courses, groups or treatments to support people on their journey. So, some visionary leaders started the Cancer Support Centre 30 years ago in a little cottage with some support groups and wig libraries. It was very small, literally a cottage industry!

LC: How did you come into your role leading the Cancer Support Centre?

SW: I first came to know Cancer Support Centre when I came back to work after a career break having my children. I’d previously been in marketing for international hotels which was a very different lifestyle.

I wanted to come back in a smaller capacity at first, doing something that had an impact in the community my children were going to be living and growing up in. So I found myself as the coordinator at the Cancer Support Centre and I fell in love with it and everything that was done here.

After a little while, I decided to progress my career. I decided to go back to my qualifications, which were in law, and I went to family law. People said to me, “how will you handle family law?” And I said, “I can do that, because I’ve been dealing with the sad stories of cancer patients for the last four or five years”.

With cancer support, you see the absolute best of humanity and love and family and everybody was trying to live as long and as well as they could. Every family and loved one was trying to support that. Although we obviously get some very sad stories as well, it’s an incredibly uplifting and satisfying area to work in because of the love that people show each other and the kindness and the generosity of groups. As soon as I reach out, if we’re holding an event or something, people hear it’s for cancer patients and they give. It’s quite humbling to be a part of.

About 18 months ago, I was given the opportunity to manage the Cancer Support Services at the hospital including the Cancer Support Centre, which I jumped at. I was really thrilled. I’d always wanted to come back.

LC: How did you find taking the reins of leadership at the cancer centre post COVID-19?

SW: We’d had an incredible manager while I was here previously who had taken it from the cottage industry and moved it into the early 2000s, and developed lots of different programmes and support services. Then Covid hit.

We had a number of acting managers who were doing their best during a time that was quite horrific for people who needed support due to cancer, because when lockdowns finished for everybody else, they certainly didn’t finish for cancer patients. So many of our services were stopped and so many were on Zoom, which just didn’t have the same impact.

I had this incredible privilege 18 months ago to come in with almost a clean slate. I felt an incredible responsibility for the vision and the work that previous people had put into this centre and the desire for the doctors, nurses, and patients to have all these services.

LC: How did you feel about receiving a Leadership Circle Award?

SW: I feel like it was an award for my team. I was given an incredible team of administrators, counsellors, volunteers, and clinical patient navigators.

I think if I’d received it prior to doing the Leadership Circle Profile with Kristyn (Kristyn Haywood, Sarah’s leadership coach) and prior to leading the team that I lead now, I probably would’ve thought, Oh yes, that’s a great award. And I worked very, very hard, so I deserve that award. But Kristyn, through the Leadership Circle dynamic, taught me so much more about what leadership is, and it was such a beautiful synergy and timing in my career in that I was given the opportunity to lead the team that I’m leading, which is without doubt the most amazing team I have ever led.

LC: How has Leadership Circle helped you achieve your goals as a leader?

SW: Before, I’d always been like a mom for the team, so if there’s a problem, I’m going to fix it. With Kristyn’s guidance and mentoring with the Leadership Circle Profile, I very much felt that I needed my team to grow with me rather than just fix problems. The leader really is only as good as their team.

We’re working on the concept of managing versus leading. I managed before, but with Kristyn’s guidance and the Leadership Circle Profile, I feel like I’m able to lead. I’m able to inspire people and initiate things. The team wants to come on that journey, and I want to be with them on that journey. Working together and making a safe space for the whole team to bring in ideas [allows us to] openly communicate. Now, we can actually bring things up and say, Well, that’s actually not going to work because of this, this, and this, but could we [approach it from] a different angle? I probably wouldn’t have done that in the past.

LC: How has using the Leadership Circle in your organisation helped with innovation and growth?

SW: We’ve tripled the amount of people that come through the centre. We’ve started four or five new support groups for cancer streams. We’ve got different therapy programmes.

People need different things. Some people just want to come and chat one-on-one with a counsellor. Some want to go to a support group. Some need help socially and emotionally through this journey, but don’t want to just sit and talk. So, we do a lot more activity therapy, like mindfulness photography and crochet circle. People are doing something while they’re talking, so they don’t actually realise that they’re talking, but they’re getting the great benefit of talking. We’ve grown tenfold over the last year, and we’ve got so many grateful patients because of that.

Our patient navigators are incredible. We now have cancer patient navigators for breast, prostate, GI, and gynaecological cancer who can refer people to different services, answer their clinical questions, and make sure that they’re thriving through cancer. That’s what we ultimately want to achieve.

LC: What are the big goals you’re all working towards at the Cancer Support Centre?

SW: Our biggest fundamental goal is that nobody goes on their cancer journey alone. We want everyone to be able to identify something that will work for them in all our different therapy programmes. And we want them to think that they can thrive during their cancer treatment. Even for people with metastatic and terminal diagnosis, they can still have life goals, and thrive while they’re here. We’re not pretending that everything’s rosy all the time. But we’re trying to find beauty even in the chaos.

LC: And finally, can you share what you’ve been most proud of in your career?

SW: The thing that I’m most proud of in my career is when I managed a primary care healthcare team in the hospital, and I headed up the vaccination rollout in the LGA during covid. The team was under incredible stress. It was before anybody had vaccinations, testing wasn’t widespread, and nobody had any understanding of what covid would do. We were all coming into work each day when everybody was in lockdown. We didn’t know if people turning up had covid, if we were going to be taking it home to our families. It was a scary time.

It was a very isolating time in healthcare. When the vaccines came out, it was just so fast, so busy. People were very stressed calling us, wanting vaccines and appointments. Government guidelines were changing daily. We would find out as the public found out, there was no advanced notification to the primary health networks.

My team went from handling 200 – 250 phone calls a day to 700 with the same amount of staff. We did over 10,000 vaccinations. The team were doing very long hours. It was isolating, hard work, and it was judgy work: There were people that didn’t like the vaccines, people that thought they should be getting more vaccines. A lot of opinions. We were so desperate to reach 80% vaccination rate so that people could go out in the community. I will be endlessly proud of what we did for our community during that time.

 

Learn more about Sarah’s journey in Part 2 of our conversation, where Sarah shares her insights and reflects on the leadership lessons she’s learned.

Learn more about the Leadership Circle Profile and how it helps leaders and their teams to do their best work and achieve impactful goals.

This weekend is Super Bowl 58. The Kansas City Chiefs vs. the San Francisco 49ers. Patrick Mahomes vs. Brock Purdy. The genius of longtime coach Andy Reid vs. the mastermind Kyle Shanahan. Storylines abound in this rematch of the 2020 Super Bowl, as it pits two of the most successful NFL franchises ever against each other. The Chiefs have won three Super Bowls. The Niners have won five. Kansas City’s last win came last year at the expense of the Philadelphia Eagles. San Francisco hasn’t won since Steve Young quarterbacked them to victory 30 years ago. Between them, the two clubs have 53 Hall of Famers. In the annual ranking of NFL Franchise Success published by The Athletic, the Niners rank fourth all time while the Chiefs rank ninth. In short, neither of these clubs is a stranger to long-term sustained success.

It’s tempting to examine how these two teams arrived at the peak. How one overcame a struggling offense, an inexperienced receiving core, an aging tight end, and a QB playing from behind more this year than ever. And how the other overcame a QB with the mantle of “Mr. Irrelevant,” a frustrating rash of injuries, and some regularly questionable coaching decisions.

Both those stories are worth telling. And plenty of other people will tell them.

But as often happens in our work with leaders, examining the victors may be less fruitful than examining those who failed to advance. With that in mind, the AFC and NFC Championship games become fertile ground to explore what can happen when leaders fall back on their Reactive Tendencies instead of reaching for their Creative Competencies.

In times of great stress and pressure, how we show up matters. And knowing how we may show up in our Reactive Tendencies can be the difference between rising to a challenge or making it exponentially worse. Case in point: the Baltimore Ravens and the Detroit Lions, losers to the Chiefs and Niners, respectively.

Death by a Thousand Cuts

The Baltimore Ravens entered the AFC Championship game with, arguably, the most pressure of any of the final four playoff teams. Most of that pressure sat squarely on the shoulders of quarterback Lamar Jackson. The presumptive league MVP, Jackson is notorious for wilting in the playoffs. Yet, even with that hanging over his head, the Baltimore defense was widely considered the best in the league during the regular season, and the Ravens entered the game as favorites.

Jackson finished 20 of 37 for 272 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. Known for his ability to save failing passing plays with his legs, he ran for just 54 yards. Players on both sides of the ball committed boneheaded errors, including a 15-yard taunting penalty and a fumble at the goal line that cost the Ravens precious yardage and left points on the field. On top of that, Baltimore, who led the league in rushing during the regular season, rushed for only 81 yards against the Chiefs, who struggled to stop the run game all year. Despite leading early, the Ravens collapsed in the second half, losing 17-10 to Kansas City.

So, what was this? A case of the yips? Was the moment too big? The pressure too much? Perhaps.

Leaders internalize pressure in myriad ways. One of those ways, especially when facing pressure that feels overwhelming, is to lean on the Reactive Tendency of being driven. In the Leadership Circle Profile, the “driven” tendency measures the extent to which a leader is in overdrive, equating their self-worth with the need to perform at an impossibly high level.

Imagine you’re the quarterback of the top-seeded team in the NFL playoffs; your team is favored to win; you’re playing on your home field; you held out for and signed a lucrative contract this season; and you’re coming into the game with only two playoff wins in your six-year career. You might be feeling the need to perform. And not just perform but perform perfectly—a second Reactive Tendency (and one adjacent to “driven” on the LCP), measuring a leader’s need to succeed beyond all expectations, performing at constantly heroic levels.

Maybe Jackson felt he had to play a perfect game. Like there was no room for error. When a team leader tries to be perfect—whether they’re leading a football team or a business team—everyone on the team feels that pressure, and suddenly everyone’s Reactive Tendencies are heightened, the volume of self-limiting beliefs rising to a cacophony rivaling the loudest of home-field crowds.

Watching the Ravens abandon many of the behaviors and beliefs that powered their 13-win season was like witnessing a confident and capable leader crumble, clinging to old patterns and suffering the hits that accompany out-of-character behaviors. It’s in those situations that the leader, the team, and the whole enterprise loses. In a football game, it can tarnish legacies. In business, the consequences can be much worse.

Situation Critical

In contrast to the Ravens, the Detroit Lions held too tightly to the culture and identity built by Head Coach Dan Campbell in their 34-31 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

A former tight end, Campbell is known in the league as a player’s coach. In an article for Sports Illustrated, sportswriter Collin Haalboom described Campbell’s style as a “hard-nosed, ultra-aggressive, work boots and lunch pail mentality that he not only exudes but speaks into existence.” In other words, he’s a charismatic tough guy and inspires the same in his players.

This identity manifested in a remarkable franchise turnaround that began when Campbell took the helm in 2021. The team’s magical 2023 season saw the Lions finish first in the NFC North with a 12-5 record and win back-to-back playoff games—after winning only one in the previous 56 seasons. Campbell’s reputation for going for it on fourth downs and re-lighting a fire under quarterback Jared Goff delivered a Lions offense that has been among the league’s best the last couple of years.

How then, did the Lions find themselves three points down when the clock hit triple zeros in the NFC Championship game? One contributor, the main contributor in my opinion, is that Dan Campbell didn’t play situational football.

Within the controlling dimension of the Leadership Circle Profile is the Reactive Tendency to be autocratic. This tendency measures the extent to which a leader may be forceful, aggressive, and controlling, particularly when they want to be seen as worthy of a high position. One of the ways to counteract this tendency is to be open to new information within a situation and respond accordingly. Effective leaders are nimble and, in fact, Campbell has proven himself to be a situational learner in numerous instances throughout his time as a head coach. But in this moment, in this game, he played to the culture and identity he had created instead.

Up by 14 in the first half, the Lions had an opportunity to kick a field goal on fourth down and take a three-score lead. They didn’t. In the fourth quarter, with the chance to kick a field goal and tie the game, Campbell decided to go for it on fourth-and-3 from the Niners 30-yard line. The pass was incomplete, and the Niners scored an insurance touchdown on the next drive, essentially putting the game out of reach for Detroit.

Was it arrogance? Was it inflexibility? No. It was the autocratic impulse left unchecked. Dan Campbell picked the worst time to be too aggressive, and it cost his team a trip to the Super Bowl.

Super Bowl LVIII

As for those two teams headed to Vegas on Sunday, I suspect the one that best manages its Reactive Tendencies will hoist the Lombardi Trophy at the end of the game. For the Niners, quarterback Brock Purdy and Head Coach Kyle Shanahan should beware of the temptation to play a perfect game. We learned from Lamar Jackson what can come from falling into that “perfect” tendency. Shanahan, for his part, usually scripts out the first dozen or so plays and can get pretty narrowminded about his gameplan. The Reactive Tendency of arrogance could be a challenge for him. For Andy Reid, Pat Mahomes, and our favorite Swiftie, Travis Kelce, the hard part may be avoiding the “passive” Reactive Tendency. The trio has been to 11 Super Bowls between them—two of which have been together. After an underwhelming season, Kansas City seems to have flipped the switch just in time for the playoffs. Will it be enough? Is the Super Bowl old hat? Can they keep the switch flipped for four more quarters? In short, can they be repeat as champions after playing a season at a less-than-championship level?

Conclusion

Reactive Tendencies emphasize caution over creating results, self-protection over productive engagement, and aggression over alignment. When we lean too far into them or rely too heavily on them, we limit our effectiveness as leaders.

Our best chance to mitigate these behaviors is to recognize how we show up when we lead, to understand the situations in which we might show up reactively, and to be prepared with action plans to counteract those reactive impulses. Maybe then, we’ll find ourselves playing in, and even winning, the big games.

I used to work with this guy who always had a hack for everything. He had a hack for growing his online presence. A hack for losing weight. A hack to get free Netflix. He even had a hack for getting free Air Jordans, although I suspect it was just his brother making knock-off sneakers in his garage on a Saturday night. For years, I called this guy Life-MacGyver in my head, and not with a particularly flattering tone. He just seemed so jumbled, so flighty and completely lacking in discipline. After all, I was much more logical about things. I knew how to get things done, in which order things needed to be done and how to get the best results because of my brilliance and attention to process.

Life-MacGyver had no process whatsoever, and it annoyed me to no end.

After a while though, a thought occurred to me. Life-MacGyver was not particularly good at planning things, but he was REALLY good at doing things. He would just try stuff. Most of it was haphazard and didn’t really seem to have a through line, but he kept doing things. Every now and then he would stumble upon a hack that would work for a while but only for a short time before the loophole would be closed. But he was undeterred. He just kept hacking away at life.

That dogged determination is one of the most underrated aspects of creating habits. The desire to just keep trying things until you find what works. To act regularly and quickly. We talk about this all the time in business (the adage “fail fast” comes to mind), but how often do we really do it? I know it’s hard for me.

So, today let’s talk about some simple hacks you can use to kickstart habits that boost your effectiveness as a business leader. To provide a bit of structure, we’re going to pair these “habit hacks” with Creative Competencies from the Leadership Circle Profile to show the path from hack to habit—and connect the dots between the habit you’re starting and the reason you’re starting it. After all, if your habit doesn’t have a good why behind it, you’ll end up like Life-MacGyver, hacking away without knowing where you’re going.

Target Creative Competency: Sustainable Productivity

A leader’s ability to achieve results in a way that maintains or enhances long-term effectiveness.

Why?

Because your goal is huge, and you don’t want to get overwhelmed.

Because you’re trying to avoid paralysis by analysis.

Habit Hack

Start small, practice consistency, and build to the big goal.

One surefire way to fail at accomplishing your goal is to bite off more than you can chew. Can I single-handedly reduce the amount of plastic waste in the ocean? No. Can I reduce the number of single-use plastic containers I use as a consumer? Yes. Can I eat an entire Dairy Queen ice cream cake in one sitting? Despite my best efforts, also no. I must enjoy that sweet, sweet soft serve and signature fudge crunch one slice at a time.

Simply put, sustainable productivity is the ability to make steady progress at a pace that makes sense. Begin with small, relatively easy tasks. Complete those tasks consistently—so consistently that they become part of your normal routine. Then, gradually add new ones or increase the intensity of those you’ve adopted. Make little changes in sequence. Remember, buildings are built brick by brick.

Target Creative Competency: Collaborator

The extent to which a leader engages others in a way that allows everyone involved to discover common ground.

Why?

Because you want to build stronger relationships with your team members.

Because you want to bring out the best in each member of your team.

Habit Hack

Ask a friend or colleague to help you craft a habit.

A popular approach to building new habits and adopting new behaviors is through an accountability-buddy system. You “team up” with a partner who holds you accountable for making progress toward your personal or professional goals while you hold them accountable for making progress toward theirs. Ideally, both parties also provide support, encouragement, and motivation. It’s a sort of positive change quid pro quo. I’ll help you speak up more in meetings if you help stop me from dominating the conversation.

This sort of system can be effective, especially if a desire not to let your accountability buddy down is a strong incentive for you. But imagine that your buddy isn’t only your watchdog in this scenario but is also a true partner in authoring your habits and the ways you can cultivate them. Imagine that you ask for assistance in policing and correcting the actions you believe to be in conflict with your new habit and for input and feedback on what that new habit should be in the first place.

Creating your habits collaboratively results in a community benefit. It encourages open communication and vulnerability. It makes you and your partner more relatable. And it opens doors for future collaborations—on new habits, new projects, new team goals, and more.

Target Creative Competency: Personal Learner

The extent to which a leader actively pursues opportunities to grow in self-awareness, wisdom, knowledge, and insight.

Why?

Because you’re looking for ways to ensure that you’re your best self for your team.

Because you know that the most effective leaders know themselves.

Habit Hack

Read a book. Several books. All the books.

If I learned anything from years of after-school programming on PBS, it’s that reading can be a transportive and transformative experience. Whether you go for a self-help book, an op-ed or article online, or—my personal favorite—a cozy murder mystery, reading exposes you to diverse ideas, prompts self-reflection, and provides opportunities to learn from others’ experiences (fictional or otherwise). All of these contribute to expanding your understanding of yourself and the world around you.

It may surprise you, but the thing you read is less important than the act of engaging with it. Seeking out a variety of perspectives and media, such as graphic novels, social commentary, academic research, historic nonfiction, memoir, and more, allows you to pause and think. Then, you can relate the content to your own experiences, values, and beliefs. Leonardo da Vinci was a master at this kind of action. It was da Vinci’s fascination with human anatomy that allowed him to evolve the kinds of artwork normally painted in the 15th century. As he understood the human skeletal structure, he could more accurately paint a living subject, which eventually gave rise to an entirely new artistic movement.

Even 10 minutes a day of dedicated reading can broaden your perspective and enhance your self-awareness.

Conclusion

We all know that good habits are at the center of accomplishment. We’ve been told for years that success comes after doing something consistently for a long period of time. Whether it’s the 10,000-hour rule or all the thoughts in Atomic Habits, or the work of David Brailsford and the English Cycling team, small, consistent actions bring great rewards. But unless you have the tenacity and willingness to try things every day, just like Life-MacGyver, you may find yourself successful but particularly impactful.

A good habit hack clarifies your actions and makes starting a new habit much less overwhelming. After all, if you can read for 10 minutes a day because you want to broaden your perspective, pretty soon, you start to look forward to that 10 minutes, and then you begin to miss it if you skip a day or two. It’s easier to be consistent when you are progressing toward something that is important to you. And it is that consistency that breeds accomplishment. Not brilliance.

So take the lesson from Life-MacGyver that is the most impactful. Just do something. Chances are, even if you think it’s the wrong thing, you’ll find yourself on the right side of becoming the kind of leader who is always trying to improve—and that is what matters most.

Where I live in Washington state, in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S., there are—officially—nearly 700 miles of hiking trails through the old-growth forests, across the snow-capped mountain peaks, and beside the freshwater lakes of the region’s state and national parks.

I have hiked exactly zero miles of these trails. (I’m more of a beachcombing, waves-crashing, whale-watching kind of girl.)

But you can’t live in these parts without acquiring some know-how about the makings of a good hike. Every trail worth taking contains a mixture of five key elements:

• Views: A great hiking trail delivers on stunning scenery, and not just at the top, but along the way.
• Peace and quiet: Trekking through nature gets us out of our mundane routines and opens our eyes to see the world anew.
• A little challenge: While this varies greatly depending on the hiker, the need to put in a little effort makes any trail even more rewarding.
• Varied terrain: We said a little challenge, after all. Great hikes are punctuated by flat sections, small descents, and spaces that invite hikers to pause, catch their breath, and enjoy the view.
• Wildlife: Whether eagles in the trees, elk in the mountains, or simply fellow hikers you meet along the way, viewing and interacting with others (from a safe distance, of course) greatly enriches every hiker’s experience.

The same principles are important when setting the course in January for a good year. Allow me to explain.

Many begin January by focusing on grand, sweeping resolutions, seeing the month as the starting block for setting right all their bad habits (or lapsed good ones). There’s space for that. After all, there’s a lot of good that can come from setting goals. But as with any goal, just as with any hike, the key is sticking to it.

Maybe our best approach to the year is the same one we use when we lace up our hiking boots: come as prepared as possible, find reasons to keep going when you want to give up, and remember to stop often to take it all in.

January as Base Camp

Nothing beats the optimism of base camp. Your gear is clean and organized; everyone’s well-rested; your water bottle and snack reserves are full; your socks are fresh; and your feet are blister free. Trail maps are crisply folded and at the ready, and you’re looking forward to the adventure ahead. It’s easy to embrace the momentum of the moment.

In the same way, January offers us a fresh, new start. Gyms advertise membership deals. Art classes can be had at a discount. The whole year lies before us, 12 months of endless opportunity. The desire to move forward, whether by learning a new skill, tackling a challenging situation, or adopting a positive behavior, is infectious. Everyone you know is making resolutions. And underscoring it all, is our shared desire that we can be a little better, try a little harder, do a little more.

After all, at the heart of any resolution—New Year’s or otherwise—is hope.

Make Hope a Habit

Unfortunately, the newness and enthusiasm you feel at both the trailhead and in this first month of the year eventually wear off.

Inevitably, you reach a point where the temptation to turn around and go home is just as strong as the desire to keep moving forward. You’ve had some fun, made some progress up the mountain, maybe even reached a vista or two. Your body is aching in that self-satisfied, “I’m feeling muscles I didn’t even know I had / I could totally be a professional athlete” kind of way. But the path ahead looks steeper, rockier, and sure feels harder than anything you’ve faced so far. You think: I’ve come a long way. Do I really need to go any further?

This is the moment it becomes impossible to ignore one universal truth: Finding hope is easy; staying hopeful is the hard part.

In times of difficulty, hardship, or overwhelm, that optimism you felt at the beginning of the journey can evaporate, only to be replaced by discouragement, resignation, and exhaustion. How can you ensure that these moments don’t overpower you and take you off track? Make hope a habit.

• Hope is easier to build when your goal is clear. Why are you hiking this trail to begin with? Get clear on your “why.”
• Hope is easier to find when you remember past achievements. Look at all you have accomplished so far! Take heart.
• Hope is easier to trust when you reach for it consistently. Like riding a bike or popping the clutch when your ancient car won’t start, actions stay with us when we repeat them over and over again. You can do this; you already know how.

One Road, Many Destinations

With your eyes on the prize and hope enough to see you through to the end of the hike, success (and the summit) seem a fitting reward—but they’re not the only reward. The best hikes feature the best views. Views, plural.

Stop. Look around. Feel the sun warm your face and the breeze cool your skin. Take a selfie next to that little waterfall. Smile at the people you pass. Smell the very real flowers in your path. And all the metaphorical ones, too. The saying goes, “It’s not the destination; it’s the journey.” I’ll do you one better: It’s not the destination or the journey. It’s both. It’s all the ways your eyes get wider, your lungs fill more deeply, and your curiosity is piqued. It’s making the most of every advertised scenic viewpoint and a hundred unexpected ones. It’s celebrating each checkpoint on the way to the top of the mountain, and then celebrating again on the way back down.

Lace Up Your Boots

On the feeling of starting something new, Steve Jobs once said, “The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything.” A new year and, in truth, the start of any new venture, gives us that opportunity to once again be a wide-eyed optimist, digging out our maps, lacing up our boots, and hitting the trail.

Grab your backpack, and let’s go!

Self-care is having a moment. According to one study, 97% of Americans believe it’s important to make time to care for themselves. That’s good, because more than half of those survey respondents felt burnt out in 2023.

 

When I’m having a really crappy day, I turn to YouTube and pull up a video of the outtakes from a sketch of John Oliver and Cookie Monster delivering the news. Or one of a flash mob performing a version of “Do Re Mi” at Central Station in Antwerp. Or one of the other 200 videos saved to my “Rainy Day” playlist. If the situation is dire, I camp out on my couch for a marathon of White Christmas, Noises Off, and Joe vs. the Volcano. And if I need the nuclear option, I hop in my car, brave the traffic on I-5, and make my way to the coast. There, I put my feet in the cold sand, breathe in the scent of the Pacific Ocean, and stand in awe of Haystack Rock, which never fails to remind me that I am but a speck of dust in the grand scheme of things.

If you would ask me what I do in terms of self-care, these are the things I would tell you. But I would be a very poor example.

You see, my modes of self-care are all reactionary. Notice how I started off with “When I’m having a really crappy day…” Not “To keep myself healthy…” or “To make sure I can show up as my best self for my team…”

Like me, so many people see self-care as the spa treatments, personal indulgences, and compulsive compensations that make up for the all-too-common ways we overextend ourselves. I’ve worked overtime every day for a week, so I’m getting a massage on Saturday. I’ve been so busy doing laundry and packing lunches and carting kids from one activity to another, and I need a break. I’m spending the weekend at a hotel with a pool and no cell service.

But is this really the best way to care for ourselves?

Defining Self-Care

Self-care is simply care—the care we often instinctively show others but deny ourselves. It’s checking in to see how you’re doing, making sure you’re getting enough rest, and offering yourself some compassion in the midst of a challenging time.

When done in a healthy way, self-care isn’t the reactive indulgence of the overworked and under-resourced. It’s not a quick reprieve or a temporary fix. Self-care is the proactive prioritization of intentional acts that ensure long-term well-being.

What Self-Care Might Look Like:

• • Getting enough sleep, whether you need five hours or nine
  • Using food as fuel
  • Moving around enough to keep your muscles limber and your blood flowing
  • Practicing gratitude
  • Saying “no” when needed
  • Spending time with friends and loved ones
  • Engaging in hobbies outside of work
  • Creating a meditation or mindfulness practice

Self-Care for Leaders

Self-care may look a little different in your role as a leader than it does in the rest of your life. In life, you may turn to true-crime podcasts and Mexican food, whereas in leadership, you may look to setting healthy boundaries and realistic expectations. That crunchy chicken taco may be delicious, but it’s not going to inspire confidence from your team unless you share. And even then, the inspiration won’t last very long.

For leaders, self-care is an investment in productivity, longevity, and effectiveness. It allows you to model the behavior you want from your team—i.e., healthy ways to cope with stress, increased emotional intelligence, and a high value placed on personal health and well-being. In short, your investment in self-care gives those in your sphere of influence permission to take care of themselves.

When you improve how you lead yourself, you’ll improve your ability to lead others. Self-care leads to self-compassion, which enables every leader to excel without the need to be perfect.

What Self-Care for Leaders Might Look Like:

• • Creating a workspace—at home, in the office, or on the road—that energizes you
  • Establishing daily routines to help you set the right mindset
  • Taking breaks
  • Finding a change of scenery
  • Delegating tasks that don’t require your direct involvement
  • Setting healthy boundaries

Self-Care Is Primary Care

It may be having a moment, but self-care is anything but a fleeting trend. For leaders, it’s a strategic advantage.

Once assumed by many, like me, to be merely an acceptable reaction to overwhelm, illness, or crisis, self-care is primary care in that it ought to come first. When we are proactive in practicing self-care, we can build capacity, increase productivity, and create happier, more fulfilled, and healthier lives.

In the corner of my spare room, under the window and next to a small metal craft cart that holds Christmas wrapping paper and extra gift tags, stands a white goose on a small patch of green grass—a treasured, if somewhat ridiculous, gift I received more than 20 years ago. One which I happily carted across the country when I moved from Ohio to Washington state, and which has repeatedly escaped weekends of spring cleaning and boxes earmarked for donation.

First popular in the Midwest in the 1980s, the “porch goose” is a cement lawn ornament that saw a resurgence in the late ’90s and early aughts and is currently enjoying newfound popularity, thanks to TikTok.

I got mine not at an outdoor nursery or from the lawn care section of a hardware store, but backstage of the small theater of Our Lady of the Elms High School. I was directing three students in a one-act play called The Wild Goose, and my cast and crew presented me with the play’s namesake decorative waterfowl moments before curtain on opening night. They each signed the base and lured me backstage with a panicked (and, frankly, well-acted) ruse about one of my actresses injuring herself and being unable to go on.

It was silly and sweet. And it took me completely by surprise. I was utterly delighted, just as they knew I would be. In other words, it was the best possible way they could say “thank you.”

Being Grateful Is Good for Business

In addition to being a sign of good manners and general human decency, showing appreciation is an effective and useful business tactic. In a recent survey of 800 full-time U.S. employees by software firm Nectar, nearly 84% said that recognition affects their motivation to succeed at work. Similarly, Great Place To Work found, when analyzing more than a million employee survey responses, that workers tied recognition to several aspects of positive company culture, such as employees’ increased likelihood to drive innovation and bring new ideas forward and to believe that workplace promotions are fair.

What great leaders understand about recognition and appreciation is that it’s most effective when it’s specific. For some, that may mean a personal shoutout in the company’s Teams chat; for others, it’s a handwritten note or a cup of coffee and conversation. For others still, it’s a goofy keepsake with a good story. The point is that it’s personal, and the best way to make it personal is to know your people.

Make Your Appreciation Personal

We recently polled our nearly 150,000 LinkedIn followers on the most effective way to show your team your appreciation. Forty-three percent of respondents said public displays of recognition are the way to go; 30% voted for a pay increase or bonus; and 22% said a thank-you gift is the most effective way to make a colleague feel appreciated.

In the comments, consensus was clear: These may be solid options, but the best course of action is to make the effort to meet your people where they are. “It depends on how each team member is intrinsically motivated,” said Gina Lavery, MSOD. Sue Mann agreed. “Know your colleague well enough to know what is most meaningful to them,” Mann commented. “It’s about them, after all, not you.”

More of what our followers had to say:

“Recognition in both public and private, and also a heartfelt conversation that encourages them to think about their personal development.”
—Geetika Agarwal, PCC in training (ICF)

“Don’t wait, do it now!”
—Roberto Giannicola

“Definitely a personal appreciation of their strengths and attitude and the difference that they make… that they may not have realized.”
—Connie Howe

“It depends, different individuals have different needs at different times, so leaders have to know their people and think every time about what kind of appreciation works best this particular time with this concrete individual. One size fits all doesn’t work.”
—Antti Viljaste

“It’s like the five languages of love. You have to love someone with their love language, not yours. It’s the same with business. You have to show appreciation the way a person wants and needs to be appreciated.”
—Miriam Wexler

Small Gestures, Big Impact

Beyond being a feel-good practice, recognition is a strategic imperative for organizations trying to cultivate a culture of excellence and engagement. While formal recognition programs and traditional methods of celebrating achievement will always have a home in the workplace, the personal touch truly makes a difference. When you demonstrate as a leader that you know your people well enough to know how to thank them, they won’t just feel appreciated; they’ll feel seen.

Through our work with more than 26,000 teams from around the world, we’ve identified five significant factors that determine a team’s effectiveness. With help from the workplace proximity associates of the Pawnee Department of Parks and Recreation, we dig into the important role of a team’s psychological safety and cohesion.

 

 

I may not have read as many historical biographies as Leslie Knope; I may not have her passion for waffles or find Joe Biden as sexy as she does. But I have never identified more with a fictional character than when she talks about her prowess as a gift-giver. “Giving Christmas gifts is like a sport to me,” she says. “Finding or making the perfect something… It’s also like a sport to me because I always win.”

The insight comes at the end of the episode “Citizen Knope,” a holiday entry that sees Leslie on a two-week suspension from work and advised to quit her run for city council by her big-city campaign managers. She’s at a personal low, but true to her glass-half-full disposition, Leslie still manages to give all her co-workers and friends extremely thoughtful and personal gifts, including a leopard-print robe with pink feather cuffs and “You Can Get It” on the back in rhinestones for Donna and motorized office doors that close at the click of a button for Ron.

Leslie’s professional game may be suffering, but she is clearly winning at Christmas gift-giving.

It’s especially satisfying, then, when the team comes together to lift Leslie’s spirits and demonstrate what she means to them with a thoughtful gift of their own. Led by beautiful tropical fish Ann Perkins, the group builds Leslie a miniature replica of City Hall made of gingerbread. But that’s not all. After hearing that her campaign managers dropped her, the team rallies to give her a truly unexpected gift: volunteering to be her new campaign crew.

I’ve watched this episode (and, indeed, the whole of Parks and Recreation) approximately 900 times, and every time Leslie responds to their gesture with tears in her eyes and a hitch in her voice, saying, “I don’t know what to say, except… Let’s go win an election!” I get choked up right along with her. Why? Aside from being a saphead for wholesome Christmas storylines, I tear up because it’s a scene in which Leslie’s co-workers and friends come together to support her in the pursuit of her dreams. Even though we, in the audience, know that they are ill-equipped to do this and greatly anticipate the hilarious mishaps that will arise, in that moment, Leslie is safe to spread her wings, and that’s a feeling we all hope to experience.

Teams Work When They Work Together

The most effective teams create an environment where members feel safe to take personal risks and actively support one another. This is what’s happening when, as each member of the team outlines their new role in Leslie’s campaign, Donna offers rides in her Benz to special events, April offers to lead youth outreach and new media, and Ron simply offers, “Any other damn thing you might need.”

For teams to be productive and effective, members don’t need to be protected or shielded from the potential pain or discomfort of personal risk; they need to feel safe in spite of that potential pain, in spite of that risk. This is what we call psychological safety and cohesion.

Using Psychological Safety and Cohesion To Boost Team Effectiveness

Whether one of your team members is running for city council, giving a pitch to a potential new client, or tossing out a wild idea during a brainstorm session, they will be much more likely to share themselves authentically, to look for common ground, and to be resilient in the face of challenge or disappointment if they know the team has their back. If you’re looking to power up your team’s effectiveness, foster these generative factors to increase camaraderie and mitigate these disruptive factors to reduce siloed thinking:

Generative Factors

1. 1. Welcoming Participation Structure: Teams with explicit group norms and expectations increase active participation. Team members who aren’t sure whether all opinions will be welcome or received without repercussions are much less likely to share ideas or provide constructive criticism.
   2. Interconnectedness: When team members get along and genuinely enjoy spending time together, they enjoy better collaboration, manage conflict more successfully, and are more likely to remain optimistic in the face of setbacks.
   3. Team Emotional Intelligence: Teams with high team EQ can handle difficult conversations and will seek feedback about their performance to work more effectively together.

Disruptive Factors

1. 1. Distrust: When team members distrust the intentions or integrity of other members, they are less willing to be vulnerable or courageous in their interactions, resulting in decreased energy, poor processes, and lack of cohesion.
   2. Political/Pleasing Culture: A political or pleasing culture reduces the likelihood that team members will challenge ideas, even when there are issues or problems that need to be addressed.
   3. Destructive Dynamics: Team members who undermine the ideas of others or only interact with or support certain members feed into a “clique” or an “us vs. them” mentality, making it nearly impossible to achieve collective goals.

Camaraderie, Collaboration, and Resilience

In the world of Parks and Recreation, Leslie Knope is used to winning Christmas as the superior gift-giver in Pawnee. But, when her team steps up and makes it clear that she has their support, she concedes. “This year,” she says, “my friends won. In fact, I got my ass handed to me.”

Teams that prioritize establishing a welcoming and inviting culture, creating opportunities for connection, and building team EQ can achieve camaraderie, collaboration, and resilience—much like the crew of the Pawnee parks department. As you navigate your own team dynamics, remember that success often begins with the unwavering support and unity of your team members.