Patti Cotton

How Do You Sustain Necessary Change?

June 29, 2022 By Patti Cotton Leave a Comment

You’ve made the changes. You have your business imperative in hand to keep you focused. You’ve aligned and coordinated your executive team around this business imperative. You’ve had some tough conversations to clear the air (and the plates), and you’ve identified the leadership behaviors necessary to support your team in making this happen.

But your team is scared. Or worse, they are at a point where they don’t trust this will work.

Michael, a well-respected CEO, had just led his executive team through these same steps. He was sick and tired of being in the weeds, feeling as though the company wasn’t meeting its business potential.

But his team was scared.

Sandra, his VP of marketing, spoke up. “We’ve gone through the exercise one too many times, and the changes sound great. We start out strong, then fizzle out. The changes we try to make don’t stick. I can’t even muster up the courage to try, this time.”

“Frankly, I’m skeptical, too” said Max, the COO. “We’ve tried and died quite a bit.”

“Patti,” Michael turned to me, “I may as well pack it up. If the team won’t commit, we aren’t going to make any progress.”

“Team,” I said, “Hold tight. There’s a last critical step in the process that ensures that you stay on the path. Most companies miss this step – and it makes all the difference.”

“I’m all ears,” said Candace, the CFO. “Because if this doesn’t work, I’m not sure I can retrieve any muster to move forward. At all.”

The room was quiet for a moment.

“I understand,” I said. “Change is hard. And unless we approach it in a way that supports its success, the discouragement is overwhelming. But hang on, please. Your track record is about to change.”

What did we do?

We created a system of accountability to hold the changes firmly in place. Because a change, no matter how big or small, requires a supportive system to allow it to become the norm.

And here’s how we did it for Michael’s team.

“Team,” I said, “You have taken the first 4 of 5 steps to make this work. Michael has created the company’s business imperative to set the direction (see Article 1 in this series). He has worked with you all to create and align your own business imperatives to support the larger one (see Article 2 in this series). You’ve surfaced some critical conversations that needed to be addressed in order to move forward (see Article 3 in this series). And you have identified how you need to work as a team in order to reach these goals (see Article 4 in this series). Now, it’s time for step 5: putting a system in place to keep you all on the path as you move into greater excellence.”

“I’m all ears, Patti,” said Candace. The others nodded.

“We are going to ask ourselves five questions as we review your goals and the changes you have identified that you need to make,” I said. “This will help us to create a system to hold the process – and ourselves – accountable. It will help us stay on track.”

Question 1: What are we measuring?

We worked to identify what we needed to measure in order to know that we were on the right path and moving at the right pace. What would we look for that measured success? We broke it down by quarter, and then by month, so we could course-correct in a timely manner if something was not working.

Question 2: Who needs to know?

We then identified key stakeholders for each initiative. Even though the team knew who was in charge of what, they did not always communicate to others who might be affected by the work. The team also identified how and when the stakeholders would communicate with each other and built this into their regular meeting agendas. Michael would review each team member’s progress for their area during their 1:1 meetings.

Question 3: How do we check on progress?

Michael took charge of this and built into the executive team’s monthly agenda discussion time to review the team’s alignment and coordination as they worked on goals. What was working? What needed refining or redirecting? The team looked at other feedback loop opportunities to make sure they could tap into needed information at any time.

Question 4: How do we support upgraded leadership behaviors?

The team recognized that working together at a higher level required higher skill-building. They asked me to work with them individually to break through any roadblocks holding them back, and to help them step into more effective leadership behaviors.

Question 5: What are the conversations we need to have now?

We agreed that I would also meet once quarterly with the team to work with them on any trust issues, as well as critical conversations and needed relational skill-building. Without this fifth step, a team does well at best, but never reaches its peak performance.

I’m happy to report that Michael and his team made incredible progress company- and team-wise in that first 12 months. And so, we decided to repeat this for Year 2, knowing that things would only continue to reach new and exciting heights. It is Year 3 for them, and they have established themselves as a leader in their industry.

Where in the process I have described above do you and your team excel? Where do you need to put a system in place, or to strengthen this so that it works well for you?

© Patti Cotton and patticotton.com. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express written permission from the author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that attribution is made to Patti Cotton and patticotton.com, with links thereto.

Patti Cotton

Patti Cotton helps executives optimize their effectiveness in leading self, others, and the enterprise. Her areas of focus include confidence, leadership style, executive presence, effective communication, succession planning, and masterful execution. With over 25 years of leadership experience, both stateside and abroad, Patti works with individuals, teams, and organizations across industries, providing executive consulting, leadership development, succession planning, change management, and conflict resolution. She is also an experienced Fortune 500 speaker. For more information on how Patti Cotton can help you and your organization, click here.

To Upgrade Your Leadership, Uplevel Your Leadership Behaviors

June 15, 2022 By Patti Cotton 1 Comment

How do you as CEO stay on top of your leadership game? Many think reading the latest books on this will keep things fresh. Others rely on bootcamps or CEO peer groups to stimulate their thinking about leading, and to work through business challenges.

Books can provide great insights. Bootcamps can certainly inform you of leadership trends and approaches you might want to consider. And peer groups can bring fresh ideas, community, and accountability.

But statistics show that none of these by themselves (or all together) yield the relevant changes that are most important. In other words, if you are spending significant amounts of money on your leadership in the ways we’ve just mentioned, you may be gaining some good value – but you are still leaving a lot of your leadership potential on the table.

How do you actually sharpen your leadership in the areas that matter most?

To strengthen your leadership, you need to know which areas of your leadership are ready for upleveling, and how to actually make these shifts in order to make lasting change.

Which of your leadership behaviors is ready for an upgrade?

You won’t really know what you need to change until you get good feedback.

As CEO, you may have a fair idea of those areas you need to sharpen. But as a human being, you also have your blind spots. And you can’t see your blind spots, because, well, they are blind spots.

Michael, our CEO in the last three articles, was given some feedback. As you will recall (see last week’s article “Confronting”), Michael was highly motivated to rise above the weeds once and for all, and to bring his team along with him. They had done some important work in establishing a company business imperative with top priorities over the next 12 months, and also identified what this meant for each executive team member’s focus and energy.

When it came time to identify what the team needed in order to accomplish these things, you may remember that the team members shared what they needed as to systems and processes, but also in behaviors – team behaviors together, and leader behaviors from Michael.

“I had no idea some of my behaviors were getting in the way of team effectiveness,” he confessed.

“The good news is, Michael, that you are well respected by your team. You received some good feedback, and we need to use it. Let’s talk about what you heard.”

“Well, I heard that I disempower people by allowing their employees to come directly to me – and I may counter what their supervisor has instructed them. And I also heard that I tend not to listen to the perspectives of the other executive team members when making decisions. Those are pretty big.”

“And I agree with you,” I responded. “Those are the two main behavioral shifts I heard, as well. Do you agree?”

“I agree. I’ll stop doing those things. Today.”

“Not so fast,” I countered. “That’s not the way it works. At least, if you want the change to be effective and to last.”

“Okay, I’m listening,” he said.

You need to identify upgrade behaviors for those you want to replace.

“Explain, please,” said Michael.

“You may know what you need to stop doing, but your brain needs a picture of what it needs to do, instead. For example, if you need to stop allowing employees to come in and work around their supervisors to get a better answer from you, what should you do instead?”

“Ah,” said Michael. “Okay. I need to redirect the employees back to their supervisors.”

“Now you have it!” I responded. “And what about being open to and listening to the perspectives of others?” I asked.

“Well, that one is harder,” Michael mused. “I thought I was open, but evidently I don’t appear to be so.”

“May I give you some feedback?” I asked. “I noticed in our team meeting that, when others gave a different opinion than yours, you acknowledged them, but then went right back to your own perspective. In other words, you didn’t ask them to tell you more, allowing them to share a different point of view, while listening carefully instead of waiting to jump back in.”

“Phew,” said Michael. “This may be tough.”

“True,” I said. “In fact, these kinds of behaviors take up to a year to shift so that they are lasting.”

“Well, how do I stay on track with that?” He asked. “I don’t have a lot of time to spend on this – but it’s key and I know it.”

“Fortunately, the third step is what keeps you on track,” I answered.

Track your progress regularly by getting feedback.

“Your team has given you great feedback. They can also provide you with info on your progress.”

“Like I said, I don’t have a lot of time,” he said.

“Oh, this is a one- to two-minute check-in about once monthly to see how you are doing. And of course, your regular coaching meeting with me to discuss how it’s going, what we need to do to break through roadblocks, keep moving forward, etc.”

“I see,” said Michael. “So, I’ll just be working as usual – only I’ll be integrating upgraded behaviors. That should not take more time – it’s just doing things differently.”

“You are getting it!” I said. “I’m happy to sit with you and put together a plan.”

Michael beamed. “I’m ready,” he said. “I think we are getting the formula for staying on top of the things we want most. If I can rise to the occasion with my leadership, I can bring the others along.”

What in your leadership needs upgrading? How do you know? Reaching the most important goals successfully starts here.

Patti Cotton

Confronting Elephants in the Room That Hold Your Executive Team Back

June 8, 2022 By Patti Cotton Leave a Comment

Aligning and coordinating your team in a strategic direction is paramount. However, as challenging as this might seem, it is easy compared to the conversations you and your team need to have around what will actually make the plan work.

Surprised?

So was our CEO, Michael.

He thought that setting a clear direction (see the article Getting Your Leadership and Company Out of the Weeds) and aligning and coordinating his executive team’s energies around this (see the article How to Align and Coordinate Your Team) would get them to “hit the ground running.”

Not so. In fact, his efforts had only been the first two of five important steps to becoming a high-performing team to meet the goals that matter most.

Aligning and coordinating his team revealed some deep, dark secrets that turned out to be what actually held his team back.

As a reminder, Michael had set a business imperative for the year as a first step to getting out of the weeds. He then took this to his executive team and asked each of them to consider their respective areas of responsibility as they drew up their own business imperatives to support the larger one. Recognizing that this would require some time, they agreed to meet the following week.

As they reconvene seven days later, let’s sit in on their conversation…

“Max,” I asked the COO. “You had a great question just before we adjourned our last meeting. You asked if redirecting the team’s energy around the business imperative would not require that we reexamine the other initiatives currently on your plates.”

“That’s right,” Max responded.

Candace, the CFO interjected. “Patti, I’m more interested in the shifts in behaviors you mentioned we would have to discuss.”

“Great kick-off to this meeting,” I responded. “If you will recall, I mentioned that you are all part of a system, and that all parts of the system need to work together in an aligned and coordinated way. This means not only having the same focus and organizing your efforts, but also confronting those things that hold you back from getting this done.”

“We are going to talk about what will hold you back from achieving the goals you have set together. I call these the “elephants in the room.” These are things that interfere with moving forward. And we are all well aware of them. But we don’t address them for various reasons.”

Max spoke up. “Like the fact that we probably won’t effectively address what to do with the other initiatives we have on our plates, because we just hope that by ignoring them, they will get done, anyway.”

“Right!” I said.

Michael spoke up. “And how about things take away from our focus?” He glanced at Candace. “For instance, employee problems that keep happening because we don’t want to confront them.”

“Well, if you are going to talk about this, then let’s talk about it,” bristled Candace. “Because if we are really going to surface these elephants in the room, then let’s talk about that employee situation to which you are probably referring, which occurred again last week.”

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about,” said Michael.

“Well,” Candace took a deep breath, “Would it surprise you to know that I feel you are the cause of that problem?”

The entire room fell silent.

“Okay,” said Michael. “I’m listening.”

Candace resumed. “I actually spent another two hours in HR last week over those two employees, only to find out that I couldn’t take action. Apparently, one of them had gone straight to you and gotten permission to do exactly what I had told him not to do. This happens a lot! So how do we handle that, Michael?”

“Now, we are talking,” I said. “We’ve just begun to reveal and confront some of the important things that are holding you all back.”

Michael sat back in his chair. “It sounds like I may be a chief culprit in keeping us in the weeds.”

“Well, I guess I can stand with you,” said Candace. “I’ve been avoiding this conversation for months.”

“Take heart, team,” I said. “This happens to the best of companies. The good news is, we can turn this around. The heart of successful change lies in identifying these behaviors and actions that hold us back – and in having the courage to confront them together.”

We spent the next two hours identifying main areas where shifts needed to occur. The team was subdued as they adjourned.

“Just a minute, team,” Michael paused. “I want to say a couple of things. First, I want to apologize for what I now know has held us back. I’m going to work very hard on making these changes. I’m thankful that you listened to the shifts I need to see in the team – and I’m very proud of you for speaking up today; for having the courage to confront me on what I need to do to support these changes.”

“I want to second the motion,” I shared. “And believe it or not, when we confront what is holding us back, this is when great things begin to happen. Let’s meet next week to pull this forward. It’s not enough to reveal the elephants – we need to up-level these behaviors to move past them.”

What are the elephants you need to confront in your executive team room? Next week, we will talk about how to up-level the behaviors and actions that hold you back so that you, too, can move forward.

Patti Cotton

How to Align and Coordinate Your Team

June 1, 2022 By Patti Cotton Leave a Comment

Many a leader has overseen sound strategic planning, only to come to a grinding halt in just a few months.

“I find we get quickly into the weeds,” said Michael. “I really like how you and I just worked on focusing on what matters, and the plan is great (see the previous article on how Michael and I refocused to help him rise above the weeds.) But we’ve planned many times. I share the vision and set the goals, and we hit the ground running. But then, somehow, the team starts bumping heads on projects…Pretty soon, it’s back to business as we’ve always done it – good, but not great. How do I bring my team along in the process?”

“That’s our next step, Michael,” I responded. “And you are spot on. Unless you can align and coordinate your team in actionable and measurable ways, you won’t get far. Let’s roll up our sleeves.”

Michael and I met with his executive team the next week. During this time, he unveiled his business imperative – the top goals and priorities, as well as the quantifiable impact as shared in my last article.

“Team, it’s time we tighten up and get more focused,” he said. “And I admit, I am a chief culprit in keeping us from having done so until this point.”

I chimed in. “What we want to do today is to review Michael’s business imperative for the company for the next 12 months.”

“No offense,” said Candace, the CFO. “But we’ve done this a few times before. And we don’t seem to get anywhere.”

“I understand,” I responded. “Strategic plans and business imperatives usually sound great, but few get far. One important reason is because the executive team isn’t invited to align and coordinate to support the plan.”

“Go on,” said Candace. “I’m listening.”

“Michael will share the business imperative for the company. This imperative identifies the key priorities for the next 12 months, supporting the company’s strategic plan. This imperative is measurable and actionable.”

“From here, however, each of you needs to ask yourself what this means for your own areas of responsibility – and develop your own business imperative. This should support Michael’s imperative. Your imperative should have the measurables and actions to support Michael’s. Make sense?”

“It does,” said Max, COO. “We’ve often listed out who owns what when it comes to the strategic plan, but we haven’t made it as actionable as you are talking about.”

“I can see a more workable plan in the making,” said Sandra, the Marketing Vice President.

“I’m glad you do,” I answered. “It does work.”

“Just a minute,” Max hesitated. “If we are all going to do this, what about all those other initiatives we are working on? What if they don’t fit into the plan?”

“Exactly, Max,” I answered. “Once you develop your business imperative, you will need to ask yourself what to do in order to remain focused. But that’s for our next step. For now, let’s have a good discussion on what Michael’s imperative means for you. And when we reconvene next week, bring your draft business imperatives and we will have some critical conversations. We will not only be talking about what to do with initiatives that don’t support the focus; we will also be talking about what shifts in culture and leadership behaviors you may need to make in order to succeed.”

“Culture shifts? Leadership behaviors?” asked Michael.

“Yes, Michael. You and your executive team are a system – all parts of a system need to work together in the same way. If not, you won’t get any traction.”

Next time, I’ll share details of the next meeting and the tough conversations Michael and his team had to have in order to break through chronic underperformance – and finally become a high-performing, aligned, and coordinated team.

Patti Cotton

Getting Your Leadership and Company Out of the Weeds

May 25, 2022 By Patti Cotton Leave a Comment

You are in the weeds, again.

And it feels defeating.

Leading is more complex than ever, and each time you think you are getting on top of things, the speed of business accelerates, again. What is it costing you? What is it costing your company?

You aren’t the only leader suffering from this quicksand. Don’t give up. There is a way out – and up.

Michael sighed and sat back in his chair.

“I’m finally on top of my emails – but the executive team isn’t. This means I’m not getting the responses I need for us to move forward. And then, we haven’t taken next steps in the Alchem Initiative, and we are now two quarters behind. I’m the hold-up there. Not enough time because we are playing catch up everywhere else.”

“Michael,” I leaned forward. “This sounds disorganized. You must be frustrated.”

“I am. I’m frustrated. Exhausted,” he replied. “Leading this company has a pretty low ROI to it these days.”

“Here’s what I’m noticing,” I said. “We’ve had this conversation before.”

“What are you saying?” he asked.

“I’m saying it’s time to get out of the weeds. For good.”

Step One: To Get Out of the Weeds, Bring Focus to What Matters

“Let’s begin by bringing focus to what matters most,” I said. “This is the first of five critical steps we need to take in order to get out of the weeds and stay out of the weeds!”

The first thing that Michael and I did was sit down together to review company goals and objectives, and to identify priorities for the ensuing 12 months. With some careful conversation, we crafted a vision for the year, and pinpointed the business impact this would have on the business.

“It feels good to recapture clarity around what’s important,” said Michael. “But I’m growing concerned. I realize that we are working on many things that don’t actually support the company in what matters. And if that’s the case, we are not only losing money by not doing what matters, we are also losing it by spending it on what doesn’t matter!”

Michael and I spend the rest of the morning defining the business impact. Quantifiably, if Michael and the team focused on what matters, this would put the company on a path to increase revenue and footprint significantly within two years.

“If we can do this, our competitors will stop running circles around us. That gives me great satisfaction. And on an equally serious note, my board will start placing more trust in me. I’ve lost a lot of ground there with not delivering on what I promise.”

“You are indeed at a critical juncture,” I responded. “It’s time to roll up our sleeves.”

“So, what’s next?” Michael asked.

“We’ve gained good clarity on what matters, but this is indeed just the first step. Now, we need to align and coordinate your executive team around this. This is where we will see what it really means to make this course-correction.”

“Although this sounds challenging,” answered Michael, “I can’t turn back, now. We’ve just uncovered millions of dollars and opportunity to be had.”

What is your own lack of focus costing you and your company?

Stay tuned, Reader, to learn how Michael took the next step to align and coordinate his team – and how it surfaced some pretty troubling culture and behavioral challenges.

Patti Cotton