CLIENT SPOTLIGHT | Debra A. Canales, CAO, Trinity Health - Part 1 of 2

Meet Debra (Deb) Canales, the Chief Administrative Officer at Trinity Health, the fourth largest Catholic health system in the US. Deb has been working with the Blue Mesa Group’s Micki McMillan for more than five years—first as a student in Naropa University’s executive coaching program, now as a client. Deb will be talking with us in a two-part series on leadership and coaching, this week and next.

1. Why did you first begin working with an executive coach?

Some executives think that because they’ve attained senior-level status that they no longer need to grow, but in fact, it’s quite the opposite. When I became an executive, I entered a highly dynamic environment, constantly facing new challenges while having a much greater impact on my organization. So the learning curve increased tenfold. I needed someone to help bring me balance—someone to enhance my vitality, perseverance, and resilience.


My success is clearly rooted in a platform of routine executive coaching that has yielded extraordinary results—both personal and professional. An executive coach acts as a capability accelerator, allowing me to contribute in a healthy, high-performing manner. The coach helps me to identify my gifts and opportunities in a systematic manner enabling course correction as part of my development plan.


It is lonely at the most senior levels and having a forum to practice conversations or test ideas/decisions is priceless!

2. Even after five years, how does your coaching relationship with Micki continue to add value to your life?

My relationship with Micki and the Blue Mesa Group has expanded over the years. Not only do I still benefit from executive coaching, as the CAO at Trinity Health, I’ve engaged Blue Mesa for myriad organizational coaching and consulting services. I now work with Micki, Pat Barlow and others on the Blue Mesa team. Trinity Health has benefited from Blue Mesa’s expertise in strategic human resources consulting, thought partnership, talent management, new leader assimilation, employee relations, mentoring programs, executive assessments, organizational design, change leadership, peer networking, summit planning and even meeting facilitation.

3. What kinds of leadership challenges (bad habits) did you overcome after you began working with Micki and Pat?

Perhaps the biggest challenge I had to overcome was learning to be succinct. I learned that anyone could have great ideas, but if you want to ever see these ideas implemented you have to present them well. In the past, I struggled to present my ideas in a way that would demonstrate my expertise and lead to buy-in. So, Pat and Micki taught me the value of BLUF: Bottom Line Up Front. And, they coached me to be brief, be brilliant and be gone.


I also wanted to build my executive presence using my own, authentic voice. I needed to exude confidence and more gravitas. Along the way, they guided me toward positioning myself at the most senior level in our organization: I’m the first head of HR and now the Chief Administrator to ever be at the table, and I’m also the most senior minority woman to occupy a chair.

4. What are the most significant insights you’ve gained on your leadership path?

• Do not trade wholeness for approval. In many organizations, there is a fear and hierarchy that limits demonstrating courage and being authentic. I say, rely on your intuition. Don’t be afraid to do what is right. To thrive in effectiveness and success is to be centered in wholeness—in other words, you must be able to be who you are without having to wear a mask. And, of course, the politics of your workplace culture and your own personal challenges will make this a journey. But, in my experience, it’s a journey well worth taking.

• Harness the power of coming from a learner versus knower mentality. I work with mentors like Micki and Pat who allow me to try on conversation skills, who hold up a mirror so I can learn and grow quickly, safely and effectively. With a learner mentality, I can be more open to feedback, and I’m able to model this behavior for others in my organization. The real power in adopting the learner vs. knower mentality is that I can establish a platform for people to take risks, even celebrate their failures, so that they can thrive in an environment where their creativity and innovation flourish.

• Build trusting relationships through reliability, sincerity and competence. Relationships are a cornerstone of who I am. All we do all day is have conversations. With these conversations, our intention is to enhance clarity, commitment and time frame as we increase robustness and grace. Often, our multiple intentions act as dichotomies; they get in the way of us having quality communication because we allow for sidebar conversations instead of really being direct and focused with one another.

• Learn how to advocate and inquire. People tell me they can’t believe what I “get away with” because I have the courage to ask questions. The thing is, I know how far I can push, and I listen. Listening and using inquiry is a key business and conversation accelerator. …Someone taught me once that “listen” and “silent” have the same letters in them; that was a great teaching moment.

5. How do you manage the multitude of operational tasks before you while you also fulfill your role as a strategic executive? Put another way, how do you effectively manage your work and your team so you don’t feel buried?

• I surround myself with people who infuse the same energy that I have.
• I trust in the intentions of a great team and let the team discover and learn through my delegation.
• I’m not afraid to delegate knowing that there may be errors and what gets done may not be perfect—I don’t let perfect get in the way of good.
• I believe in creating a learning environment that releases the potential in people wanting to do more. I’ve witnessed that here at Trinity, a real blossoming in the initiative of my staff. All the time, I’m hearing, “I want to do more.” My team is discovering skills that they never knew that they had.
• I also allow people to see how what they do will benefit the Unified Enterprise Ministry (UEM)—how it impacts our mission. We then reward team members who exhibit these characteristics by promoting them or giving them fun things to do.

6. What is the single most important element a leader needs to focus on when implementing change?

Consider your culture (your organization’s collective personality). Analyze it and really understand it for all its strengths and all its shortcomings.


Through a strategic planning process at Trinity Health, we discovered gaps in our culture were the pivotal factor we needed to focus on as we worked toward organizational change:

• Culture dramatically, tangibly, measurably influences the sustainability of our mission, and yet culture is comprised of intangible, unquantifiable elements like attitudes, beliefs, assumptions, behaviors and interpersonal relationships.
  
• We needed to create a healthier culture with values-based behaviors within our organization because transformational, sustainable change is led by people, through people and in service to people.
• To build on our strengths, we had to improve our culture in areas of trust, collaboration and the health and well being of our associates.

Transforming our culture was and is a journey in which we, as people and as an organization, focus on our associates being and becoming living models of our mission and core values. But I know for sure, our culture is the cornerstone of our organizational success.

Check back next week to hear more from Deb Canales of Trinity Health, the fourth largest health system in the United States. Deb answers questions about how to achieve work-life balance; how to keep employees fully engaged; how to coach colleagues to communicate at a higher, more productive level and how to grow from an operational producer into a strategic leader.