Leading with Head and Heart – Andrew Pateman, VP of People, Culture and Performance at Canadian Blood Services

In Episode 21 of the Lead the Future™ podcast, Dr. Vince Molinaro welcomes Andrew Pateman, VP of People, Culture and Performance at Canadian Blood Services to discuss leadership accountability, rebuilding workplace culture in a post pandemic environment, and supporting and identifying emerging leaders within his organization.

Andrew defines how Canadian Blood Services has codified leadership principles into the values of the organization. Andrew instills a “leading with head and heart” value system approach, allowing team members to lead with empathy while at the same time maintaining commitment to ambitious goals.

Canadian Blood Services has evolved and grown during the pandemic, leveraging existing capabilities to meet expanding healthcare needs. With hundreds of new employees coming on board remotely since the pandemic started, they found it challenging to create an optimal employee experience. For Andrew, it comes down to managing a degree of flexibility, creating attractive, modern office spaces to gather in person, and develop and keeping diversity, equity, and inclusion at the forefront.

How they chose a partner to work with

Canadian Blood Services is an early adopter of the Leadership Contract™ now referred to as their Leadership Commitments.

‘[At Canadian Blood Services] there are a lot of PhDs, a lot of physicians, scientists, so we have a high degree of precision around the work that we do. We’re evidence-based and data-driven. So, when we pick our partners, we pick our partners really using just two criteria. One is, are they academically legitimate? What is the intellectual underpinning of the work that they’re providing? We also very much have a bias toward leadership development experts who have themselves been leaders. Who’s done it? Who’s got the literature? Who’s got the thinking? That’s very much consistent with our culture, and why we worked with you.’ – Andrew Pateman

Key leadership insights to listen for

• How Canada Blood Services navigates the post-pandemic workplace, balancing flexibility, encouraging collaborative workspaces, and diversity, equity, and inclusion at work.
• Andrew’s “head and heart” leadership style, encouraging empathy and commitment to ambitious goals.
• The reinforcement of a sense of community within its leaders, making sure to have each other’s back, manifesting a culture of mutual accountability.
• Andrew’s views on leadership as a practice, something you keep learning and adjusting. With so many trends and literature it’s important to learn from those with experience.