Welcome to Changemaker Stories from LOCAL - an ongoing series of personal interviews with leaders driving change across every industry and discipline. Because change shouldn’t mean going it alone.
This week we spent time with Dr. Prentice Ashford, a leadership development specialist working in healthcare. His passions for people, relationships, and growth have guided him throughout his career. We talked about the importance of character, how to engage “grumpy cats”, and the places in Nashville that energize him. Here are a few takeaways from our conversation with Dr. Ashford:
I love the business of helping people grow and develop. I wanted to be a marriage and family therapist at one point.
Companies and families have similarities. They’re all about relationships. One person may not see the world the same way another does. If they can overcome their differences and grow closer, the family relationship can improve or the company can deliver business outcomes. It's all the same thing.
A philosophy I like to follow in my work is, “Take care of your character, and your reputation will take care of itself.” Regardless of the change or the context, I'm focused on my character.
An important thing to do at the start of a change journey is to ask for context. Where are we? What got us here? Who can help us? When you understand the situation, you can use the right tools in your metaphorical toolbox.
Two good signals that change is working are growth and feedback. You start to see connections forming and people retaining information you’ve shared. This leads to direct business impacts. Engagement scores go up. Patients and team members report greater satisfaction.
A challenge that I often see is that people have different mentalities when it comes to change. Whenever I'm facilitating a session, I use a visual showing three different personalities. First you have your grumpy cats. These are the people who have no interest in anything you say. They’re just here. They don't really care.
After grumpy cats, you have your Homer Simpsons. I use the GIF of him retreating back into the bushes. These are the people who are present but may not choose to engage. I call them out of the metaphorical bushes and remind them that their insights and opinions are helpful to the team.
Last are the Chatty Cathy dolls. You pull the string on their back and they talk, talk, talk, and talk. These people are excited about the topic. They’ve already read a book or listened to a podcast about it, and they’re emotionally invested. I try to call out those three different personalities and invite everybody to recognize what space they're occupying so that we can move forward.
I focus on winning over the middle 60% of people - the group that just needs a little bit more information to accept the change. The lower 20%, the grumpy cats, have to decide if they’re going to hop on board or not, and if not, the train is leaving. For the top 20%, the Chatty Cathy’s, I don't really have to create buy-in. They’re ready to go. The majority of people are in that middle 60%. If we can sway them in the direction we want to go, that's when the train starts to move.
I’m excited to see all of the books, podcasts, and videos helping people enhance their leadership growth in some way. People aren't afraid to say, “I need help, I need growth, I need to be developed in some way. I need to find somebody who can help me rather than trying to do it on my own.”
Caring leadership affects the team. Employees may be passionate about their work in healthcare, education, tech, or any industry, but if they don’t have leaders looking out for their well-being, they get burnt out.
A quote I use a lot is “Hard things are hard.” Change and growth are hard. The world is hard. Let's stop complaining about it and figure out how to power through, whether it’s relying on yourself or relying on others to help you.
An author I’ve been learning from recently is William Vanderbloemen. He's an executive recruiter who offers some helpful nuggets in the talent acquisition space.
There are several places here in Nashville that give me energy and inspiration. One is Centennial Park. It has a beautiful replica of the Parthenon and big, wide-open fields where our kids can just run for days. Another is the public library downtown. I love how historic that area is. I’m also a big supporter of our local YMCA. You can go in and don't even have to work out. They have a nice room where you can chat and do work, and childcare is included with your membership!
My parting reminder is that relationships matter. It’s important for people to understand how our words, thoughts, and actions impact others. I always encourage people not to change who they are, but to be observant. If what you're doing or saying is having a negative impact on people, that might be a signal to you to observe that behavior or language. If it's having a positive impact, that should be a signal for you to ask yourself how you can put more fuel on that fire. People today are focused on autonomy and self-growth. We have to stay aware of how we affect our neighbors.
Are you a Changemaker? We want to hear from you. Let's talk.