Originally published on April 24, 2025.
I recently sat down with a panel of healthcare professionals and talk about a range of topics. For someone like me who left the public healthcare system in 2012 (not necessarily by choice), I have been amazed and humbled in my continuing work with healthcare leaders since then. Let's remember some of the more significant events that have transpired since I left healthcare in 2012: the COVID pandemic and a complete dismantling of Alberta's healthcare system as we have known it since 2008.
Despite these significant challenges - and the accompanying loss of leaders (for both good and bad reasons) and a generational change in the workforce - our healthcare system has still been there, serving our needs, to the best of its ability. I would argue (vehemently) that if not for the dedication of our healthcare workforce, from housekeepers, nurses, lab techs, EMS personnel, to senior leaders, our healthcare system would have collapsed from the combination of the assaults it has faced.
It was with this reality in mind that I asked my colleagues what had kept them invested in the healthcare sector. What gave them the strength, determination, and optimism to keep going? As might be expected, there was certainly a focus around serving patients, clients, and residents. There was also a strong commitment to staff and colleagues. But one of the more intriguing answers given was a belief that from trials, tribulation, and adversity came new opportunities - and maybe even the best opportunities - for positive change!
From adversity to possibility! Sounds great. As I pondered this statement over the last few days, I also realized there is certainly no guarantee in this trajectory. In fact, I would suggest that there has to be a progression along a path which roughly goes as follows: Adversity to Awareness (or discomfort) to Realization (and learning) to Action to (realized) Possibility. We all experience adversity - personal and professional - but that certainly doesn't mean that we see or achieve possibility as a natural result or consequence. Too many of us too often choose to give in to despair, defeat and deflection.
First of all, to achieve something positive from adversity we have to see it in the right light. What lessons can adversity give us? What are we prepared to learn? What could actually strengthen us? If I go back to my very first leadership role, I would certainly call it a baptism by fire. I was fresh out of university, taking on a leadership role at the age of 21, supervising a team of healthcare professionals that were easily 10 years my senior. Looking back now I would have absolutely fired myself at several points in time. Worse yet, as I completed four years in that role, I had come away with some very cynical and jaded views on leadership - and people. In summary, I felt that an effective leader had to be a hard ass, expecting that only command and control, coupled with cold detachment and logic, would lead to success (or leadership survival). Thankfully, as I went to take a master's level program in healthcare administration, I was exposed to other leadership styles and realities that helped me make a sharp u-turn and helped me to subsequently lead in a way that more comfortably resonated with me.
Adversity absolutely challenges us. It makes us uncomfortable. However, as I hope my brief example illustrates, adversity is no guarantee that we learn the right lessons. In my own case, I could have easily blamed the challenges I experienced as a rookie leader on those I led. And I have seen this approach in a variety of circumstances that I have experienced since then - individuals or leaders looking to blame external realities for their dissatisfaction, their frustrations and their failures. The list of EXTERNAL reasons for adversity - and blame - are myriad. But blaming outcomes on external forces, while potentially providing some form of (temporary?) relief never leads to learning and greater possibility. I might feel absolved of responsibility for my situation. I might rationalize away my role in where I am or where I could be. But that won't help me grow.
Don't get me wrong. Bad things happen to good people. Bad things also happen to good people because of bad people. But even in these malignant circumstances there are lessons to be learned that can take us to the next best and better thing. For myself, I have learned the hard way that my core strengths of being supportive, loyal, and persevering are also my greatest weaknesses. Failing to be appropriately selfish (as I now often coach others on) and set boundaries has led me to being destructively self-sacrificing, gullible, and masochistically preserving. Just because I lead with my values (integrity, collaboration, creativity, courage) doesn't mean that others lead or live as I do, despite what they say. I continue to have to learn the lesson of paying attention to the actions of others versus their words.
Adversity must then be embraced. For most of us, this might feel like embracing a roll of barbed wire or a cactus, but it is essential to moving forward. We must embrace the challenge if we are to learn. Adversity, if we are to move in a positive direction, must lead to a higher level of Awareness about ourselves and our environments and relationships. Only then can we start to grow, Realize what is possible, what insights, skills and values we have to develop or recover and nurture for ourselves. With these lessons learned we have to then move into Action. The lessons learned through Adversity are only going to be of value if we put that learning into action. Moreover, it is only through experimentation in the real world will we know whether we have indeed learned the right lessons and can also subsequently modify them to reach our next level of Possibility.
Adversity CAN lead to Possibility, but only if we have the courage to learn and change. We can live in defeat, despair, and deflection, or we can build something greater than we ever imagined possible. What if? Why not?
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Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
President & Founder, BreakPoint Solutions
gregh@breakpoint.solutions
www.breakpoint.solutions
780-918-0009