Leadership Intagibles

Reflect on the significance of leadership intangibles in navigating the complex and turbulent environments of public health and healthcare. Considering the diverse intangibles discussed by various authors in the book, how do you believe leadership coaching and 360-degree feedback contribute to the development and refinement of these intangible skills? 
Further, discuss the role of academic programs in public health and healthcare leadership in fostering these essential traits. 
How can emerging leaders leverage these educational and feedback tools to enhance their effectiveness in leading change?
Leadership in Practice
Essentials for Public Health and Healthcare Leaders
Chapter 20: Leadership Intangibles
Susan C. Helm-Murtagh, DrPH, MM
Paul C. Erwin, MD, DrPH
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Chapter 20 Objectives
• By the end of this chapter, the reader will be able to:
• Explain the concept of leadership intangibles and why they are essential leadership attributes
• Identify several leadership intangibles
• Compare different perspectives on leadership intangibles
• Describe methods for building, acquiring, and maintaining leadership intangibles
• Analyze leadership intangibles through personal reflection
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Davis’ Leadership Intangibles
• Wisdom
• Will
• Executive maturity
• Integrity
• Social judgment
• Presence
• Self-insight
• Self-efficacy
• Fortitude
• Fallibility
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Our Authors’ Leadership Intangibles
• Mindfulness
• Self-restoration
• Courage and fallibility
• Compassion
• Humility
• Kindness and generosity
• Integrity and presence
• Self-actualization and fortitude
• Listening and pacing
• Respect and resiliency
• Gratitude and touch
• Humor and wisdom
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Mindfulness
• Both a trait and a mental state
• The quality of being conscious or aware of something
• Achieved by focusing on the present, while being aware of your thoughts, feelings, and environment
• Being present in the moment
• Useful in stressful situations
• Reminder of the “why”—the purpose
• Consciously living in the moment
• Consciously living in the moment, because this moment is the only one you can control—you cannot control
the past or future.
• This moment is the only one you can control—you cannot control the past or future.
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Self-Restoration
• Important for attaining and maintaining balance in mind and body—keeps you focused
• How to do it:
• Hobbies
• Outside interests
• Travel
• Lessons learned
• Contemplating risks
• Anticipating advantages
• Self-restoration must be intentional—setting aside time will not happen on its own
• Take breaks from the routine, do something gratifying, fun, and different
• Be willing to explore and exploit your talents
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Courage and Fallibility
• Separate, but interrelated intangibles that are a part of the work in crisis leadership
• Courage—trying things with unknown outcomes
• Fallibility—accepting failure while still rewarding those trying
• Courage must come with fallibility—learned through experience
• Understanding calculated courage and risk-taking
• Making decisions with “eyes wide open”
• Not falling victim to “paralysis of analysis”
• Must be willing to practice and embrace fallibility
• Learn, repeat, fail in a different way
• Through refining and learning we fail for different reasons
• Over time the failure rate diminishes to something acceptable
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Compassion
• Higher order attribute than empathy
• Compassion does not require you to be in someone else’s shoes to want good things for them
• One of three cardinal attributes of leadership (with hard work and sincerity-integrity)
• Leaders make decisions that impact many people
• Compassion requires them to make decisions in such a way that respects where people are
• Allows individuals to retain a sense of dignity, of meaning, of purpose in making a living
• Practicing compassion can be deeply rewarding
• Everyone afforded dignity and the opportunity to flourish
• However, some will respond antagonistically
• Compassion requires deliberate action, careful thought
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Humility
• Humility and cultural humility
• Acknowledge that you do not have all the answers
• Opens us up for novel approaches to solving common problems
• Open ears and heart gets to the core and the power of diversity
• Humility allows us to engage diverse voices
• Diversity equals excellence
• Path to improving our global collective health and well-being
• Practicing humility creates opportunities to learn and to be inspired
• Builds trust and camaraderie
• How to practice humility
• Listening more and talking less
• Committing to never stop learning
• Relaxing and letting go
• Accepting that in any given situation we may not have all the answers and there may be a better way
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Kindness
• Kindness
• Seek to listen and to understand
• As a leader, it is not your job to understand the behavior, but to manage it with kindness
• It is a kindness to tell the truth
• People remember how you made them feel, not what you said
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Generosity
• Generosity
• Generosity of time
• Generosity of spirit—kind, understanding, unselfish
• Generosity of thought and thoughtfulness
• Lead by example—one of the best ways to exude confidence
• Listen more than you talk—doing so will bring insight, allowing for real and meaningful change
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Integrity
• Integrity
• Surround oneself with fellow truth-seekers and challenge each other to be your most authentic self
• Alignment of values, vision, mission—at the individual as well as the organizational level
• Accountability for self and others
• Admit to mistakes when they happen
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Presence
• Presence
• Showing up, being attentive and engaged, managing your behavior and inviting the best of others
• Build time in your schedule that allows for full presence
• Put down the phone, close the laptop, truly and actively listen
• Asking questions invites people into the space
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Self-Actualization
• Self-Actualization
• Rarely attainable, but always a goal
• Importance of career to personal values, sense of self-worth and identity, and a source of meaning
• Focus on self-awareness, work ethic, and attitude
• Have a sense of humor about their own and others’ flaws
• Anti-perfectionist view that it is not our job to make everything perfect but to become more aware
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Fortitude
• Fortitude
• Staying power, stamina, and resiliency
• Pacing—becoming resilient does not happen overnight—develop sense of patience through rough times
• One gains fortitude through humility
• Being respectful, mindful, and humble allows us to build fortitude
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Listening
• Listening
• Begin with listening to yourself—do not fire off an angry email—let it rest on your desk until you can listen to
yourself
• Listen as a means to understand, not just knowing
• Listen with your eyes, look at nonverbal messages
• Prepare ahead of time through quiet reflection in order to listen better, not thinking about your own next
words
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Pacing
• Pacing
• Important for preventing burnout and adding to the stress of the team
• Pausing, taking a breath, taking time to reflect—a pause, not a stop
• Requires self-discipline and self-awareness
• Have a strong sense of awareness of work-life balance
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Respect
• Respect
• Capacity for civil conversation
• Without the capacity for civil conversation, we have no community dialogue, and thus no community
• Listen—even if you do not agree
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Resiliency
• Resiliency
• Allows you to maintain the level of energy you need to be your best self in leading daily
• Begins with attention to self
• Recharging is an important strategy for resiliency
• Slow down, practice gratitude and generosity, and be present
• Proactively and intentionally create opportunities to improve your physical, social, emotional, and spiritual life
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Gratitude
• Gratitude
• An action that allows leaders to stay grounded, be appreciative, and be humble
• Related to humility and generosity, but more “pay it forward”
• Focus on what one is grateful for to turn conversation from negative to hope
• Keep a daily gratitude journal
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Touch
• Touch
• The right touch enables a leader to create a culture that allows for innovation, creativity, individuality, and
growth
• Balance between effectiveness and efficiency
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Humor
• Humor
• Humor defines and redefines social groups, reinforces social ranks, clarifies status relationships
• Humor can remove tension and frustration and allow the group to address serious issues
• Can increase group cohesiveness, sense of belonging, and organizational culture
• Danger—know the distinction between making a joke of something versus someone
• Humor can be valuable, but first the leader must be trusted
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Wisdom
• Wisdom
• The culmination, the pinnacle of all the characteristics and facets of leadership
• Transportable across person, place, and time
• Decision pattern that is consistent, reliable, thoughtful
• Humbling, not arrogant or boastful—requires patience and reflection
• A melding of knowledge and understanding
• Know yourself first: self-awareness of your desires, attitudes, behaviors, boundaries, and limits
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Summary
• Leadership intangibles are essential traits and practices
• Equip public health and healthcare leaders to lead change through complexity and turbulence
• Approaches to honing these leadership intangibles
• Leadership coaching
• 360-degree feedback or evaluations
• Leadership training programs
• Public health academic programs
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