Publications
Benfield Business-Health Leadership
Perspective
The Complete Leader: A Model for Effective Business-Health Leadership
by Chuck Reynolds
President, Employer Practice
The Benfield Group, LLC
I’ve long been an admirer of great leaders. As a kid, I remember being inspired by the leadership of heroes featured in old war movies. The books I remember most vividly were about historic leaders who answered the call in times of need, like Lincoln, Churchill, Kennedy, King and Lombardi…yes, in Wisconsin where I grew up, Vince Lombardi belongs on the list, just as sure as bratwurst is a food group unto its own.
I also remember admiring those rare adults—the teachers, coaches and parents—who were fully invested in what they were doing. They pushed and prodded and encouraged and inspired. When that wasn’t working, they invented new ways to try to reach us, teach us and help us grow. At the time, I didn’t have a framework to understand what set these adults apart, but I knew they were rare. And I knew I was blessed to be in their classroom, on their team or in their lives.
In the years since, I’ve continued to observe and admire great leadership. Over the past decade, Scott Thompson and I have deliberately focused much of our work at The Benfield Group on getting to know leaders and understanding leadership in the area of human capital health and productivity management. Through our research, observation and interaction, we’ve concluded:
- 1. Effective Leaders are Few and Far Between: One could argue that this is a self-fulfilling conclusion. If the objective is to identify standout leaders, then, of course, those leaders are going to be rare. We suspect, however, that the layer of effective leaders among the professions involved in human capital health and productivity management is thinner than in many other professions. Companies typically view human resources, benefits, safety, health and wellness as staff functions. Companies often seek to outsource as many of these ‘non-core’ responsibilities as possible and internal decision makers rely heavily on outside consultants for information and advice. This is a tough environment for leadership to thrive and, as such, leadership is rare.
- 2. Effective Business-Health Leadership Has Strategic Value: Organizations that have effective leaders strategically managing health and productivity-related benefits and programs have a competitive advantage. Strong leadership begets sound, value-driven strategy and effective execution, yielding lower costs, superior health and productivity outcomes and building momentum for a culture that promotes human capital asset growth. In other words, organizations that invest strategically in human capital health and productivity reap rewards that their non-strategic counterparts do not.
- 3. Effective Business-Health Leaders Share/Develop Common Capabilities and Attributes: Through repeated encounters with business-health leaders, we’ve identified the core capabilities and attributes that they share in common (Figure 1).
As one might expect, different leaders are naturally gifted with different capabilities, but they are not complacent about their situation. Rather, leaders continually invest in developing their strengths and finding ways to compensate for areas of weakness. The drive and ability to improve comes from the passion and humility common among leaders. They continually seek to improve what they’re doing, and they are not too proud to learn lessons from multiple sources—peers, other departments, other industries, vendor partners and others.
Leaders are courageous enough to break the conventional expectations that often come with their jobs. As described above, most companies view staff functions as tactical and administrative baggage to be minimized and outsourced. It takes courage to risk challenging convention and to drive a strategy that redefines health as part of a broader human capital investment strategy.
This e-journal is for leaders and those who aspire to leadership in managing the health and productivity of human capital. With each issue, we will build on the framework in Figure 1 as we endeavor to provide information, insights and examples to equip and inspire professionals striving to improve their leadership capabilities. We will challenge you to look at old problems from new perspectives and to consider different types of solutions. We will tap into the wisdom of recognized leaders like Jack Mahoney, who we interviewed for this issue. We’ll also rely on experts you’re not likely to encounter in the normal flow of benefits, health and productivity information.
These are turbulent times, and much about the future is uncertain. However, it’s a very good bet that in most industries, the winners on the other side of the economic trough will be the companies with the best and highest performing people. For now, organizations are being forced to rethink everything they do, including how they manage the health and productivity of their human capital. This is a time of need and organizations—perhaps even yours—need strong and effective leaders to answer the call.