Denise Cyzman: Leadership Greater Topeka

TK: What is the most important characteristic that every leader should possess? Why? 

It is hard to choose just one; three come to mind – integrity, courage, and vulnerability.  If I have to choose, I would say integrity.  Integrity requires you to be authentic with yourself and with others.  It requires you to live and lead according to your values, always being honest and trustworthy.  If you do not do this, it is challenging to lead others and to achieve your vision.  All other leadership characteristics seem irrelevant without integrity. 

TK: What is your theme song? 

Roar by Katy Perry

TK: What do you hope your legacy will be? Why? 

Being a change agent, taking what is working well and making it better. Or, taking what is broken and fixing it. The status quo is not acceptable for many reasons. First, needs are always greater than solutions. We can never say, we’ve done enough.  Second, the world is ever-changing. What works today will not be the best for tomorrow.  Third, we must continually seek to learn and obtain input from many, diverse voices.  As we do so, we must consider how to use the new information in a way that is relevant and impactful.  Fourth, seeking and embracing change is fun – it speaks to my belief there is always hope.

TK: How has the current situation impacted your thoughts on leadership? 

I consider this the leadership challenge among all leadership challenges. I don’t know if I think about leadership differently, but it feels like adaptive leadership on steroids. The changes we have made in the way we work, the pace at which we work, and the impact of our work is elevated and accelerated. When I think about all of the leadership competencies, Manage Self and Energize Others seem most important. Inspiring toward a collective purpose is more important than ever. For our organization and the members we serve, it could literally be the difference between life and death. We are continually going back to that collective purpose through identifying mission moments, thanking our members (health care providers), and celebrating successes. Continually checking in why we do what we do has been critical as we are increasingly exhausted and our patience is running thin.  And, speaking of that, we must consider multiple ways to balance self-care while trying to help our members in as many ways possible. To do this, we give everyone one wellness day a pay period, we build in virtual comradery time (Zoom), and started to use Microsoft Teams to share encouraging words, jokes, etc. We also give people permission to temporarily check out if the pressure becomes too great. Even with the greatest of passion for our work, we are scared, overworked, juggling our jobs and children, and sometimes feel downright helpless. And, I need to remember to give myself grace during this difficult time, as well.

TK: What will you do differently after the pandemic?

The technical changes we have made – virtual meetings, online discussion forums, working remotely, etc. – will change the way we work forever. We had been moving toward operating in a virtual space anyhow. We were considering ways to have flexible schedules and offer working remotely.  We have begun to rely on more automated processes. The pandemic catapulted us forward, and I don’t see us going back.  On the adaptive side, I can see that we will serve our members in different ways. Helping them through the pandemic has required us to listen and seek to understand.  It has required us to prioritize and focus only on what is most impactful.  We are experimenting more, as some of what we are doing is 100% out of our wheelhouse (ordering PPE for example).  We are willing to do the really tough work.  In many ways, it feels like we are on the frontline with them, and we recognize their ability to serve is enhanced if we do our part.  Our partnership with our members has strengthened, and their trust with us has grown. I am confident we will continue to engage our members as we move forward to plan and execute services beyond COVID-19.  We are also going to prepare – with our members – for the next pandemic, as the lessons we have learned have been vast.