It was 2016 and I had just taken on my first above country HR leadership role, expanding my responsibility exponentially from my previous country ad-interim HR leadership role. The leader I had admired and that had hired me just announced she was leaving the company. 

She told me there was one case I needed to take good care of after she left – it was to facilitate the case management of an employee with stage 4 breast cancer on one of my 16 sites.

Her name was V. She had been working for the company for more than 10 years. She had been battling cancer for several of those. She was a research scientist working on life saving therapies. She was inspired by her work and her colleagues were like family to her. 

Bi-Weekly chemo had taken its toll on her and she would need a few days of rest after every round. Her health insurance company had started to put pressure on us to convince her to take disability leave and she greatly resisted the idea. I found myself sitting in one of the case management meetings with V in her headscarf, her line manager and the health insurance representative, suddenly in the position where I needed to make a call on the case and being the last instance.

Looking back, I realize this was a situation for authentic leadership. With no one jumping in to make the call for me, I had to rely on my own sage powers* of authentic leadership and partnership with her line leader to find a way forward. Here is how we handled it.

Empathy: V greatly wanted an identity outside of her terminal diagnosis and not BE her Cancer. Whilst the health insurance representative kept saying – lean back, take full time off for treatment, she insisted her inspiring work and her relationships with her colleagues were 2 of the main aspects of her life that gave her the strength to keep going. So we listened to her and trusted her resourcefuleness, not our assumption of what is good for her. 

Navigating the big picture: In a year looking back, how would we have wanted to handle her case? What impact would our handling of her case have on her family, her team & their engagement? What values  were we taking a stand for? Being responsible for 16 sites with double digit growth meant I was a busy person and this was just one of the 1000 people I was responsible for. However my intuition told me that this is one of those cases where it mattered to be on point, to put more time and effort in doing the right thing.

Curiosity: what assumptions were we making? We set aside how we would want to spend the last year of our lives and deeply listened to what she needed, which was to keep her foot in the door and spend time living and creating as much as she could. When we listened closer into the organization we found out that her colleagues gladly subbed for her when she was out for chemo and it was not an extra burden on the team. We kept observing the situation and had to make several changes as her cancer progressed, continuously reviewing our leadership decisions with V and the team.

Innovation: the solution on how to support V was not linear. It was not full work or full disability. In trusting partnership with V and her leader, we navigated that polarity together through a “yes, and” attitude, building on each other’s ideas. We found a working rhythm and contingencies in the team that met her values of connection and impact and our workforce needs to support our growing business.

Courageous action: we implemented the plan despite resistance from health insurance, productivity pressure from senior management. We consciously chose a path based on courage, inspiration and clear values, not driven by fear of disappointing or not pleasing people. Engagement increased in the team and our business kept growing.

A year later we got the news V’s health was declining and she was mostly in bed. Her team had kept in touch with her, despite being off work for several months. One day her manager visited her and let her know it’s ok if she needs the time for herself now, we will still be there for her. 

V died two weeks later. Her husband had written an email to us, thanking us for all we did for V. I like to think she had the peace of mind to let go, knowing she did all she could to leave her imprint on this world and on us. All her teammates came to her funeral. I still remember us walking out at the end of the ceremony to the song “The Scientist” from Coldplay. 

It doesn’t always take a life or death situation for us to call on our authentic leadership. Every day we face leadership challenges that are not linear and it can be very daunting. In the words of Coldplay “Nobody said it was easy.” When you consider your next opportunity for authentic leadership, take a step back. Ask if this were your last chance to do the right thing for those you lead, what would you do? What guides you?

*source: Positive Intelligence