Let your ‘transformation statement’ be your pathway to calm assurance and top performance.
“Almost every leader in every sector is now dealing with angry stakeholders.” This is the powerful phrase that opens the recent Harvard Business Review article, “Managing in the Age of Outrage.”
We’re hearing stories right now about team members who are so politically polarized that they’re afraid to talk with one another, consumers posting angry comments about their company to social media and board members in turmoil due to a director gone rogue. Can you relate?
Given that context, how can you as a healthcare leader display calm assurance and deliver top performance in even the most challenging situations? The answer lies in developing a transformation statement that serves as your North Star. Consider it, along with authentic personal branding that creates it, a secret weapon to ensure that you are solidly grounded to play at the top of your game.
Although we may not be able to prevent conflicts before they arise, we can prepare ourselves to handle any circumstance in a way that speaks volumes about our leadership style and personal brands. Having a transformation statement to remind us why we do what we do is an important first step to managing tricky situations in business, experts suggest. The best time to repair the roof,” as the saying goes, “is when the sun is shining.” It is good advice to develop norms and procedures and tools for navigating conflict at work before a crisis emerges.
At Revealing Genius, we help leaders look within themselves and develop their North Star using the Excavate–Tell–Affirm™ authentic personal branding process. As part of the process, we co-create a “transformation statement” that defines what we are uniquely poised to do in our world. This reflective work helps us stay grounded and poised—and deliver top leadership performance—in both good and difficult situations.
Let’s dig into what exactly is a transformation statement, then look at an “age of outrage” scenario in which having gone through the process of developing a transformation statement is helpful to a healthcare leader.
The Transformation Statement
First, let’s clarify what we mean by a “transformation statement.” Also called an “elevator pitch” or 30-second commercial or positioning sentence, a transformation statement encapsulates the unwavering essence of what we do and why. It’s created by telling our unique brand stories.
Most of us are modest about the life stories that stand out —but it turns out that telling them out loud to someone who’s actively listening can clarify a great deal about our unique reason to serve. That’s why telling brand stories is what we highly recommended during the Revealing Genius newly released online course, live 7-Day Summit and in our 1:1 executive coaching sessions.
Telling brand stories typically leads to an all-but-perfect transformation statement as this simple but effective formula gets filled in:
I <action word> <my beloved avatar> how to <do what they want to accomplish> so that they can <have the result/transformation>.
The transformation statement isn’t done, though, until you have had time to try it on, saying it first to your trusted inner circle of family, friends and colleagues and later testing and refining it in professional settings until it clicks. When the try-on process is complete, you’ll know your executive personal brand deeply.
Applying Authentic Personal Branding to Diffusing Political Conversations at Work
There’s no doubt that political discussions and other polarizing behavior in healthcare workplaces over the last few years have created challenges for leaders. Having conviction about your unique genius as revealed by going through the Excavate–Tell–Affirm executive personal branding process will help you stay grounded as you navigate situations of all kinds in this “age of outrage.”
Meet “John,” a fictional healthcare leader we’ve created based on our experience working with many executives in the field. John’s work leverages research and policy to produce better outcomes for adults with serious mental illness. He went through the Excavate Your Brand Genius online course to develop and refine his transformation statement.
Recently he’s gotten to the point of “trying on” the most recent draft of his statement, written based on the formula: “I teach state and federal policymakers whose decisions impact vulnerable populations how to effectively evaluate new healthcare initiatives so they can implement the best solutions for mental health patients.”
A key part of developing the transformation statement for John was clarifying who he most wants to serve—his “beloved avatar.” For John, that’s state and federal policymakers with the political clout necessary to change the game for adults with serious mental illness. This clarity is helpful when John is faced with colleagues are misaligned at work. His first response when the political discussion at hand doesn’t impact the people he works hardest to serve is to step aside.
When the discussion is closely aligned with his purpose, John draws on his unique ability to teach others about how to best evaluate mental health initiatives with the patient in mind. He goes forward with calm assurance and continues to deliver top performance, even in emotionally charged situations, because he knows in his bones what he stands for.
Authentic Personal Branding Can Help You Lead More Effectively
Learn more about the Excavate–Tell–Affirm executive personal branding process from Revealing Genius and how it can help you lead in the age of outrage by signing up for our complimentary Excavate Your Brand webinar or invest in the newly released online course or our 7-Day Summit. If you need to accelerate the process, we provide 1:1 executive coaching options too.
