Recently, I was invited by the Southern California Chapter of the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association to speak on Respectful Leadership at their Fall 2014 meeting hosted by the giant pharmaceutical company Genentech.
The room was filled with executives, staff, physicians and even clinical researchers, who seemed very attentive and interested in the concepts within and practices of respectful leadership.
One of the last exercises we do is a small group discussion in which participants talk about the key respectful behaviors of a colleague or manager for whom they have a great deal of respect. I chart those up and then ask the participants if they are willing to commit – by signing their name on the chart paper – to engaging in the same kinds of respectful leadership behavior. Then we take a photo of the group for all to see.
