Hartford HealthCare H3W Leadership Behavior: Episode 1 with Talent Development Consultant Rhonda Papallo

Many of us learned our H3W Leadership behaviors earlier in our careers. Considering the speed of Hartford HealthCare's growth these past few years, and how our roles might have changed as a result of circumstances and opportunities, we thought it would be helpful to capture some conversations with Hartford HealthCare colleagues about how we can best leverage these behaviors.

In this three-part series of More Life, hosted by Steve Coates and Hartford HealthCare’s Senior Vice President of Human Experience Gerry Lupacchino, we explore how our leadership behaviors, and our operating model, help us to continuously improve.

In episode one, Steve and Gerry chat with Talent Development Consultant Rhonda Papallo  about the “BEs” of our leadership behaviors:

• Be in the Moment
• Be Authentic & Humanistic
• Be Curious vs. Judgmental
• Be Accountable

They also discuss how self-awareness can turn a good leader into a great leader. 

Check this episode’s notes for links to the other episodes in this series. Hartford HealthCare employees can learn more on about H3W Leadership Behaviors on HHC Connect.

Listen to the other episodes  in this three-part series:
Episode 2 with Senior Vice President of HHC Community Network Eric Smullen
Episode 3 with Vice President of Health Equity for Hartford HealthCare Sarah Lewis

Transcript

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SPEAKER_03 0:04

I think everyone has leadership capabilities. You know, we have children who are leaders in their own little realms, right? So I think everyone has the capacity to bring their leadership skills forward. Sometimes it takes stepping out of your comfort zone, trying new things that can be kind of scary or uncomfortable, but that's kind of how we grow.

SPEAKER_02 0:24

Many of us learned our H3W leadership behaviors earlier in our careers. Considering the speed of our growth these past few years and how our roles might have changed as a result of circumstances and opportunities, we thought it would be helpful to capture some conversations with Hartford Healthcare colleagues about how to best leverage these behaviors. In this three-part series of More Life, hosted by Steve Coates and Hartford Healthcare's Senior Vice President of Human Experience, Jerry Lupuccino, we explore how our leadership behaviors and our operating model help us to continuously improve. In episode one, Steve and Jerry chat with talent development consultant Rhonda Popolo about the fees of our leadership behaviors. Be in the moment, be authentic and humanistic, be curious versus judgmental, and be accountable. And they talk about how self-awareness can turn a good leader into a great leader. Here's Stephen Jerry.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

I've been at Hartford Healthcare now for more than 10 years, and it's been fascinating to watch the evolution of H3W and how our leadership behaviors have really formed the culture we have at Hartford Healthcare. What is being a leader? What does it mean to be a leader? And just your definition of leadership.

SPEAKER_00 1:48

Yeah, I think it's a tough question to answer because it means different things to different people, right? So if you're an executive in the organization, a leader has a whole set of responsibilities that are unique to maybe that position or the authority that person has or the influence that person's supposed to have. But the leadership behaviors were always called leadership behaviors, even though they weren't taught to specifically leaders, people that were coming into the organization to not necessarily manage other people. So, you know, the reason why we have Rhonda Papolo, by the way, who's our talent development consultant on our podcast today, is to be able to talk about why are we calling them leadership behaviors when there were so many people that came into the organizations that were really individual contributors? And one of the reasons why we wanted to get together and have this conversation is because many of us came into the organization, even if we were coming in as managers or leaders, we came in as independent contributors at the very beginning, right? We didn't know what we were doing. We sit through our leadership behaviors training class. And now, years later, we're leaders in the organization and we're doing different jobs and roles, and the company's grown twice the size of what it was when I first got here six years ago. And I haven't gone back and done any new leadership behaviors. I'm still working off of the model that I learned when I first got here. So Rhonda and I were having conversations and with other leaders, and we said, what's it look like when leadership behaviors are really being used by executives and senior folks within an organization? Does it change? What are the responsibilities when you're looking at leadership behaviors through those lenses? And so to have the conversation, I thought, you know, why don't we start off with what the original intentions were for the leadership behaviors? And then one of the things that came out of some work that the LOD department did, the leadership and organizational development department did, was to say, although the leadership behaviors are supposed to be taught one through 10, right? And they build on each other, really they intersect and interact with each other in different ways. And so one of the things that we started talking about was there are like these be behaviors, right? All the behaviors that begin with the word be. So like be in the moment, be authentic and humanistic, be curious versus judgmental, and be accountable. So those sound like aspirational things that I should try to do if I'm new to Hartford Healthcare. To your point, Steve, it's intriguing, like to come into an organization and say, be in the moment, right? But when you're an executive, they have a different kind of intention, I think. And so when we're coaching executives, we say be in the moment is always be self-calibrating, always be in the moment. See yourself in the moment with the people around you, having the conversations you're having. If we're talking about being authentic and humanistic, we're saying know your audience, especially on the humanistic side. These are people that have, you know, expectations and specific needs that you can address in your interactions with them. Or we're saying be curious versus judgmental. It's because the more information you have, the better decisions you can make. If you leave with judgment, you can't make great decisions. And be accountable basically says no matter what the outcomes are of the work that you do, whether they're good or bad, they become part of your experience portfolio. So now, as an executive or a leader or a senior manager in the organization, the leadership behaviors that were really great, you know, when I first got here now have even more important meaning for me to be successful in the organization.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

We find ourselves occasionally in difficult times where I know it's it's hard to always live these leadership values, especially, you know, for instance, being in the moment, everybody's so busy. You talk about recalibrating, and I'll open this up to Rhonda too. What does that mean?

SPEAKER_03 5:16

You know, I think um there's power in the pause, right? Um, because we are incredibly busy, many of us. And when we are bouncing from thing to thing to thing, meeting to meeting or point to point or this to that, um, we're not giving ourselves that small moment of reflection. And that is really key. I mean, there's been research done on, you know, strong leaders who find those little moments of reflection. It doesn't have to be, you know, 20 minutes, it could be a five-minute. I'm gonna I'm gonna downshift for a moment and and reflect upon what just happened, what I just said, where I'm going next, who's my just as Jerry said, who's my audience? Um the key here is that we all have leadership skills within us. That's the basic premise, no matter what your title is, and that the importance of self-reflection and how do I build on that and bring that forward. So it's not just words on a on a on a poster or a piece of paper, but it's how am I putting that into action mindfully using use using reflective processes to do that daily.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

Hey, Rhonda, do you ever find so we were in a meeting a couple of weeks ago um with a university partner, right? And everybody was in the room and everybody's throwing ideas out, like concepts and things. And I looked over and you were you were just in the moment, you were listening. You know, it didn't look like you were waiting to talk. It looked like you were really just listening. Do you know the difference? Like the differences.

SPEAKER_03 6:45

I do. I do.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

So how do you is that a choice that you make? Is that a skill that you developed? How do you how did you get good at it?

SPEAKER_03 6:53

It takes practice, right? Because we all have those little voices in the head saying, Oh, I know what I want to say next. And it's we all do it, it's human nature. So it's really about recognizing when that happens. It's like a secondary loop going on and saying, you know, I can make myself a quick note if I want to make sure I get back to something. But if I'm not in the moment, then I'm really not listening to something, to somebody. And to me, there was a life-changing moment. It's gonna sound really silly. It's when I first learned these behaviors years ago, 10 years ago or whatever. And I was in my office typing, and someone came to the door and I said, Yeah, go ahead, tell me what you want. And I just kept typing on the computer. And then I, when I started learning more about the leadership behaviors and thinking about it, I thought, how rude. Oh my goodness. Plus, I missed a large part of what they said and had to go back to them and ask them what we talked about, you know. So it was ridiculous. And it re and I don't want to be that kind of person. I mean, that's my core. I don't want to be the kind of person that's rude or disrespectful to somebody else. And so in in my head, I'm always saying there's no one more important than the person right in front of me right now. Um, and if I do need to say hang on, then I can say hang on, I gotta, I have to attend to something. But the person in front of me is the most important person in that moment because it's just we started off talking about having that brand as a leader, like anybody that's in front of a leader that feels like they're the most important person, you sort of want to be that leader.

SPEAKER_00 8:23

And Steve, I think that was the question you said. What makes a good leader? And I think that Rhonda, one of the things that you said is what makes a good leader is that whenever I'm in front of you, I feel like I'm the only person like on your mind in the room.

SPEAKER_03 8:34

Um Yeah, that's very it's so important, right? Um, and you know, we talk about people um, you know, helping them feel like they have a sense of belonging within uh our departments and that, and how are we going to understand who they are and their separate reality if we're not in the moment and really listening to them? So it's really about putting making it top of mind and making it important in your life.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

One of the things I've noticed over the years is kind of that domino effect where if a leader who say someone you report to isn't following the leadership behaviors, and then we talk about being in the moment, it's hard to be in the moment when they're pressing issues coming from a leader who you report to, who may be not allowing you to be in the moment with the people that report to you. What is your advice to somebody who's in that position?

SPEAKER_03 9:25

Well, I think it takes that either curious conversation or courageous conversation, you know, however that feels for you. And it's really about not thinking about it as an adversarial thing, but that we need to work together better, right? So if Jerry's giving me, you know, project after project, he doesn't know my daily moment-to-moment life. It's important for me to say, Jerry, um, so this is what I have on my plate. Help me understand where things can go. You know, he has to, in order for him to make informed decisions, he has to know how his requests are impacting my life. So it's a mutuality. And I think sometimes people just keep taking it on more and more without letting their leaders know, um, hey, this is how it's affecting me. Can you help me figure this out? Let's figure it out together.

SPEAKER_00 10:12

So, Rhonda, one of the things that I remember being in one of your classes, and you talk about the fact that at Harvard Healthcare, and Steve, I think this is to your point, we have the permission to point that out to our colleague, to our supervisors, to our peers to be able to say, it's not the it's not the best time. Or by asking me to manage all of these priorities, you're probably not going to get my best work on any one of them, right? And and so there's nothing you can't be punished for saying that here. What you can be punished for is if someone says that to you when there's retribution, right? Like I treat you badly because you had the courage to say that to me. Has that changed at all over the last couple of years, do you think, since you've been doing this work?

SPEAKER_03 10:52

You know, I think we have gotten better. You know, culture shift takes years. I do, from what I'm hearing, I do think during COVID we've had a light a bit of sliding backwards. Um, you know, I think when we are in crisis mode, I think of it like NASO's hierarchy. We're just dealing with baseline safety, you know, and those kinds of things. And those those higher, loftier pieces tend to get lost. Yet that's when we need it the most. That's the kind of the paradox with it all, right? Um so I think some people work at it better than others, and it's like it's like any behavior. You have to keep working at it. You have to make it important for yourself that it's important enough that I'm gonna try again because we all mess up, but it's about okay, how do I come back to true north and try again?

SPEAKER_01 11:41

Being humanistic and authentic, a major part of our leadership behaviors. What exactly do you mean by that? Does that mean bringing more of yourself to the job? Is it about empathy? Describe that to us.

SPEAKER_03 11:55

Yeah, and it's really important that we've put them together too, Steve. You know, there because I can be authentic or real and be hurtful, right? Um, I can be humanistic but not be authentic, and you won't know what I'm trying to talk about because I'm kind of talking around it. So we put them together because we want people to be honest and open and forthright, uh, but also be caring and kind at the same time. Um, we're not here to tear each other down. We're not here to pull the rug out from people and have gotchas. It's really about having these conversations in a way that's caring and kind, even those tough conversations, so that we can work things out and hopefully build stronger relationships because of it.

SPEAKER_00 12:39

I've got a sort of follow-on question for you, Steve, the question you asked. Um, and it's it goes back to that card thing. There, we were in a meeting about a week and a half ago, and someone said, Well, it's about turning over the card. And there were probably 12 people in the meeting, and I would say half of them didn't know what I meant. So, so I mean, that was like a big thing for a while. Like, you know, if somebody wasn't paying attention to the details or something, or right, right. So thanks for holding up the card and reminding me. But so, in the new version of the leadership behaviors, because I know that there's been a couple of recent revisions, do you think people leave that training recognizing the phrase turn over the card and go forward knowing what that means in any given situation? What's your since you're the master of the content right now? Lucky you.

SPEAKER_03 13:34

Lucky me. So here's the thing, we're primarily doing live virtual since we regrouped after COVID. So in the per in the in-person classes, we handed these out to everybody, right? Um, and we can't do that right now. And that's really incumbent upon managers to order them. They can order them through our intranet and hand them out like candy. And I think I love when I go to HHCMG offices and see them hanging on monitors and things like that. Um, however, we do teach both sides of the card, so to speak, but we don't say the term turn over the card uh because there is no actual card on my virtual, but we do teach all the concepts in the back. And those questions relate to H3W leadership behavior number seven, look in the mirror first, be accountable, which as a little aside is my favorite one. That's the one I like to hold myself to.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

As we close this segment, I think of colleagues coming into Hartford Healthcare, and I think of the the terms, oh, he or she was born a leader. Is it possible, if you don't consider yourself to be a leader, to through these leadership behaviors, become a leader?

SPEAKER_03 14:43

I I look at it slightly differently. I think everyone has leadership capabilities with I think children, you know, we have children who are leaders in their own little realms, right? So I think everyone has the capacity to bring their leadership skills forward. Uh how they choose to do that is up to them. And and some and it sometimes it takes taking uh stepping out of your comfort zone, trying new things that can be kind of scary or uncomfortable. Um, but that's kind of how we grow. And I think when people are being true to themselves and working uh within their own values and uh really working these behaviors to the best of their ability, bringing them into life for themselves, interpreting them for what works for them. That's when they bring them forward, and it's true, people get it. They they're not being phony, they're just being their authentic selves. And that's leadership, you know, speaking up and bringing your your true authentic self forward.

SPEAKER_00 15:39

I I think there are two things, and and then I know we're we're out of time here, but in the future podcast, we're gonna talk about two components, Steve. One is the willingness and confidence that Rhonda's talking about, right? That I am confident and willing to bring forth the capabilities that I have and the desire I have to lead. But and and then in the next podcast, we're gonna talk about the responsibility of the organization to create an environment where making that choice is safe. Um, and I think we have a responsibility as leaders to manage both of those dynamics.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

Jerry, Rhonda, thank you both.

SPEAKER_02 16:11

Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Rhonda. Thank you, Steve, Jerry, and Rhonda. Check these episodes' notes for links to other episodes in this series. Hartford Healthcare employees can learn more about H3W leadership behaviors on HHC Connect. For Hartford Healthcare, I'm in Ronda Pierre. Thanks for listening.

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