The Legacy Leadership model is based on solid theoretical suppositions—including the following:
- The relationships between the leader and others are based on openness and trust so there’s fairness and equality in leading their subordinates.
- The approach is to create an environment in which people are motivated because they know they are capable and that the expectation in the work environment is to develop both success and satisfaction.
- Leaders learn to have a transformational influence in which their people are highly motivated.
The Legacy Leadership practices embrace both vision and accountability for results, as well as methods for creating an environment for team success, strong and dependable relationships and maximizing the talents of diverse perspectives and strengths.
Given this brief introduction to Legacy Leadership, we are now ready to explore each of the five best practices, relate each of these practices to insights offered by McKenna and Pugno, and trace out implications of both leadership models for the contemporary physician leader.
Best Practice 1 – Holder of Vision and Values™
This practice concerns the ability to keep vision and values clear, sustain focus and clarity, develop and execute strategy, establish the measurables, and gain commitment to action. Great leaders are conscious guardians of both personal and organizational vision and values. They become an integral part of the leader and guide all the leader does. Being a Holder implies understanding the necessity of never allowing vision and values to slip out of focus or priority. Merely having vision, or having values is not enough. They must be intentionally held.
Critical Success Skills: Core Competencies
A Legacy Leader embraces and practices ten critical success strategies which serve to shift entire organizational cultures to realize goals and doing so also provides a solid leadership model for tomorrow’s leaders.
- Consistently reinforce organizational vision and values.
- Intentionally model guiding principles in everything, with everyone.
- Personally integrate organization’s vision in all responsibilities.
- Have a well-defined strategic plan for accomplishing the vision.
- Enable the team to translate organizational vision and align daily responsibilities with organizational goals.
- Establish measurable milestones congruent with vision.
- Ensure that organizational values are integrated into how the organization does business.
- Clearly identify your personal values; “walk the talk” in everything.
- Place importance on developing others.
- Effectively communicate, sustain processes to achieve vision and values.
