EngageME

The new opportunity was an once-in-a-lifetime chance to expand my skills and test my theories on emotional connectivity and engagement. As the years rolled on, I built strong relationships with excellent performance results. Then, as always, I was approached to take on managing surgical services and apply for a vice president’s position. Now I have to tell you, I had significant reservations about taking on more responsibility, for several reasons. First, I’ve done this several times in my career with bad results. As you move up the ladder of leadership, you are more vulnerable in terms of keeping the job. Second, the hospital home had a horrible reputation, with challenging senior leadership, trust issues with the medical staff, and a terrible history with turning over senior leaders. I had a meeting with a senior leader about the opportunity. He convinced me to take on the new duties and interview for the job. I had a significant advantage because I would be in the trenches. He went so far as to say, “John, you’ll be driving the bus. Nobody else is driving the bus.” I decided to take on the challenge. Now, for those leaders who aspire to gain a promotion, it is never a good sign to have to go through an interview process for an internal job versus external candidates. If an organization really wants you in a position, it will promote you to an interim position. So I took on more work, with the same title, and went through an interview process of 7-9 interviews. It was narrowed down to an external candidate and me. The lead physician with whom I interviewed approached me and told me that the medical staff in surgery gave me support and told the senior leader they wanted me to have the job. My confidence was high and I was energized when I got the call from a senior administrator for a meeting. I walked in with high hopes and this is what I heard: “John, you interviewed real well and it was a tough decision, but we are going with someone from the outside. I know that’s not what you wanted to hear.” When you hear bad news, a calm response is necessary to go back to your job. Ultimately, I believe I was a victim of diversity, as they offered the job to an African-American. In fact, the new vice president signed a two-year agreement and never moved to Cleveland, Ohio from New York. Nevertheless, I will let his job performance be the record of choice. Interestingly, the conversation did not stop there: “But we really need a business development function for the organization. We would like you to put together a presentation on how you would put this department together.” Okay, I didn’t get the job, but they were showing their appreciation of my business development skills. I took that message and felt good and energized to put together a great department. This played out over several months, and I presented my plan to a senior leader and the gentleman that told me the original bad news. The plan had structure, process, and integration. It also had a sample of a new proposed organizational structure for the $1 billion company. After that meeting, everything went silent. This occurred because a new CEO was named to start in 30 days. Once the new CEO started, the communication channel dried up. I happened to be meeting with the bad news-giver about something else when he said: “John, I should tell you we are moving forward with a business development function, but we are going to hire it from the outside. You can still be involved if you want to.” I politely declined and went back to my office. The next day a company-wide email went out with a new organizational structure. It was the structure that was in my plan. Devastated is not a strong enough adjective to use for the way I felt. Several months later, I was ignored for a simple bonus based on high performance. Once again, history will prove my department had a better budget performance than another department for three years running. So what do you do? I was 43 years old, getting my doctorate in business administration, making decent money with great benefits. I’m usually a very energetic and engaged employee. The reason I joined the organization was to gain a full understanding of engagement. I was now the most disengaged leader in the organization. In fact, I secretly hoped for bad results, to stop big, fat bonuses going to unethical people. I found myself loving the people I work with but despising the people above. I found corruption, distrust, and greed. I saw people whom I wouldn’t hire as employees in my department in high-level positions that made no sense. There were senior-level leaders who did not meet minimum industry standard educational requirements. Engagement is important. I will go so far as to say it is vital for personal and professional goals. What are those ideals and strategies that influence whether you care or don’t care about meeting the goals of an organization? Can an employee be successful without caring? I never believed the phrase “good guys finish last.” I believed the record lives in the hearts of my coworkers and I would be viewed as a “good guy.” Will I finish last by the end of this book?