Patti Cotton

Executive Coach & Career Strategist

Values

Making Your Leadership Vision Work

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Making Your Leadership Vision Work
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Your leadership vision must be bold, compelling, and achievable. These are the things that will inspire, motivate, and drive your team for excellent performance.

To lead your organization into the future, this is crucial.

Most of you reading this can affirm that your own leadership vision meets these criteria.

You articulate the vision relentlessly.

You’ve defined the organizational goals to support it.

Your team is fired up and ready to go.

What are you missing?

You are missing the one thing that you and your team need in order to achieve the business imperative.

The team culture shift.

The team culture shift answers the questions:

  • Together, who do we need to become in order to make this work?
  • What specific changes in behaviors and interactions, in ways we relate to one another, do we need to meet the business imperative?
  • What behavioral changes do I as leader need to make in order to support this team culture shift?

Begin your team evaluation by examining and discussing the following:

  1. Do we deliver acceptable outputs to the client (internal or external)?

If not, why not? Examples of behaviors that can interfere are:

    • Team complacency. This is especially prevalent where team members have been with the organization for several years. Signs this may be happening are a slowness to adopt new systems, or a poor ability to handle transitions.
    • Team victim mentality. As a group, your team may be suffering from a victim mentality, unable to look past assumptions and biases to see how things might work differently.
    • Myopic team lens. Is the team willing to step outside its comfort zone to reach new stretch goals, or does their messaging reflect an inability or reticence to grasp the “why” of the business imperative?

  1. Do we work together in a way that creates and fosters a cohesive team for the long term?

If not, why not? Examples of behaviors that can interfere are:

    • Power coalitions within your larger team that defer mostly to each other. These coalitions tend to stick to their small group without wider acknowledgement or connection with other team members.
    • Competing factions within your team. These are team members who are passionate about their own viewpoints, but slow to collaborate to reach agreement.
    • Conversations in all the wrong places. This dynamic can occur when one team member has a personal agenda that vies with the larger leadership agenda. It can also take place when members simply don’t feel like they have a voice in the collective or they fear not being valued in the group.

  1. Does each of us as an individual team member contribute to have positive impact on the other team members?

If not, why not? Examples of behaviors that can interfere are:

    • Collaboration sabotage. Do you have someone on the team who continues to silo in order to showcase his or her team’s own accomplishments above the rest? Do you have someone who throws people under the proverbial bus?
    • Lip service. Is there someone who provides a lot of affirmation, but is revealed later to have a different agenda? Or do you have a team member who promises a lot, but is poor in delivery?
    • Lack of organizational awareness. Do you have team members who demonstrate that they are unable to keep the larger picture in mind as they work? Signs of this may be an inability to work through inter-team conflict or to understand and consider the business impact their team results have on the other teams within the organization.

As you begin to identify together the team behaviors and interactions that need to shift in order to work more effectively, remember to evaluate what you as leader need to shift in order to support this change. Consider areas such as how you make decisions, delegate, empower, and hold others accountable.

And since we all have blind spots, ask your team for their feedback on this. What do you need to shift or change in order to support them best?

To your leadership vision success!

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© 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.

What’s Not Going to Change for Your Leadership

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What’s Not Going to Change for Your Leadership
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Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, once observed that he is frequently asked what would change in the next 10 years.

His answer has really influenced the way I approach my work with CEOs and their teams to make change.

Jeff said, “I almost never get the question: ‘What’s not going to change in the next 10 years?’ And I submit to you that that second question is actually the more important of the two — because you can build a business strategy around the things that are stable in time…

“In our retail business, we know that customers want low prices, and I know that’s going to be true 10 years from now. They want fast delivery; they want vast selection. It’s impossible to imagine a future 10 years from now where a customer comes up and says, ‘Jeff I love Amazon; I just wish the prices were a little higher,’ [or] ‘I love Amazon; I just wish you’d deliver a little more slowly.’ Impossible.

“And so the effort we put into those things, spinning those things up, we know the energy we put into it today will still be paying off dividends for our customers 10 years from now. When you have something that you know is true, even over the long term, you can afford to put a lot of energy into it.” (Source: Jeff Bezos at reInvent, November 2012)

How does this relate to leadership?

Character.

In a world of variables, character is the foundation of excellent leadership. And this will never change.

Is your foundation firm?

If you are a regular reader, you receive regular leadership tips and tools on how to be effective.  I write about problem-solving, making change, confrontation and critical conversations (and more!) – all skills and competencies that you as leader must manage effectively.

But unless you possess the strength of character to put these tools to work, your results in these areas and all others will be compromised.

Why don’t leaders and their teams give greater focus to this? Well, character is hard to define. And measuring it also becomes a question.

This means that these decision-makers tend to shy away from it and turn to other aspects of development to their own detriment.

Ivey Business School’s professors Crossan, Gandz, and Seijts remind us, “When it comes to leadership, competencies determine what a person can do. Commitment determines what they want to do, and character determines what they will do.” (Crossan, Gandz, and Seijts, Developing Leadership Character, Ivey Business Journal, January/February 2012).

There are 10 leadership virtues, a key part of character, that Crossan, Gandz and Seijts have identified:

  • Humility is essential to learning and becoming a better leader.
  • Integrity is essential to building trust and encouraging others to collaborate.
  • Collaboration enables teamwork.
  • Justice yields decisions that are accepted as legitimate and reasonable by others.
  • Courage helps leaders make difficult decisions and challenge the decisions or actions of others.
  • Temperance ensures that leaders take reasonable risks.
  • Accountability ensures that leaders own and commit to the decisions they make and encourages the same in others.
  • Humanity builds empathy and understanding of others.
  • Transcendence equips the leader with a sense of optimism and purpose.
  • Judgment allows leaders to balance and integrate these virtues in ways that serve the needs of multiple stakeholders in and outside their organizations.

And now, let’s examine how they outline that these affect leadership:


(Source: Crossan, Gandz, and Seijts, Developing Leadership Character, Ivey Business Journal, January/February 2012)

You can see how these character traits undergird all that you undertake, and this will not change.

Which of these leadership character traits needs sharpening for you? Your team? Decide to give greater focus to this. Because taking your organization into the future will always begin – and end – with character.

HOW MUCH

DO OTHERS REALLY TRUST YOU?

​Learn the two vital parts to trust and how they can help you become a more highly effective leader.

GET THE INFOGRAPHIC

© 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.

Keeping Your Cool with Difficult Personalities

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Keeping Your Cool with Difficult Personalities
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I admit to having certain hot buttons that, when pushed, really test my ability to keep my cool.

How do you remain calm, focused, and even-handed when someone is triggering yours?

You need three things to stay cool when your buttons are pushed.

  1. Know your hot buttons.

Here is a comprehensive list of hot buttons and explanations that are part of the Conflict Dynamics Profile I use to coach team conflict.

    • Unreliable – those who are unreliable, miss deadlines, cannot be counted on
    • Overly-analytical – those who are perfectionists, over-analyze things. and focus too much on minor issues
    • Unappreciative – those who fail to give credit to others or seldom praise good performance
    • Aloof – those who isolate themselves, do not seek input from others, or are hard to approach
    • Micro-managing – those who constantly monitor and check up on the work of others
    • Self-centered – those who are self-centered or believe they are always correct
    • Abrasive – those who are arrogant, sarcastic, and abrasive
    • Untrustworthy – those who exploit others, take underserved credit, or cannot be trusted
    • Hostile – those who lose their tempers, become angry inappropriately, yell at others

Which of these are your hot buttons?

In order to tame them, you must recognize them first.

  1. Take a moment to ward off flooding.

Emotions rise when we are triggered, and we can experience what is called “flooding.” This is another term for overwhelm, during which the stress hormones adrenalin and cortisol flood the nervous system and put us in a state of fight or flight.

The problem with flooding is that it influences our thought patterns and the way we see others. Poor thinking and reactions ensue. Science tells us that it requires around 20 minutes or more for flooding to dissipate – and in some situations, you may not be able to afford such a pause.

How do you get in front of this? 

    • Sharpen your awareness around early trigger signs before it becomes a problem.

If you recognize one of your hot buttons has just been pushed, take three deep breaths (literally!), relax your shoulders, and pause. Identify the physical sensations you are experiencing as a result of the trigger. Where do you feel tense or weight? Is your heart rate elevating? Name these as you piece them out as a way to separate them from you. Continue slow and easy breathing to calm these sensations down.

    • What emotions are you experiencing?

Remind yourself that these are separate from the actual issue at hand. If you are in a “hot state” and you can’t regulate this, you will continue to encourage the flooding process.

    • End the conversation if you recognize you are flooded.

Tell the other person you will need to take a break and come back a bit later to continue the conversation. Go for a walk, if possible, and as you piece out and calm down your emotions and physical sensations, refocus to the actual issue at hand. What conversation is needed to resolve the interaction? 

  1. Train yourself to redirect natural impulses to react.

In a calm and reflective state in which there is no triggering situation at hand, review your list of hot buttons.

For each, recall how you normally react when it has been activated. Now, imagine how you would like to respond to it in future. Rewrite 1-2 instances where this hot button has been pushed in the past. Now, in the place of the reaction you had to the situation, visualize yourself responding in the ideal way you have envisioned.

Run this through your mind several times to create a brain “memory.” As you do this over time, your brain will begin to recall this as an established pattern and move toward it in situations where you are triggered.

What is the stress from reacting to triggers costing you?

If you are like most, the list can include your ability to make good decisions, enjoy healthy and productive relationships, your ability to lead, and ultimately, your health. I challenge you to learn how manage yourself in a more effective way by mastering your hot buttons.

HOW MUCH

DO OTHERS REALLY TRUST YOU?

​Learn the two vital parts to trust and how they can help you become a more highly effective leader.

GET THE INFOGRAPHIC

© 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.

How High Is Your Connectivity Quotient?

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Your ability to influence and impact others requires that you build bonds and trust. To do this, you must be able to connect genuinely – and well.

How can you increase your connectivity in a world of urgency and speed?

This actually is a matter of life and death, if we are to extrapolate from MIT professor and researcher Sherry Turkle, who wrote the book Reclaiming Conversations. Turkle reveals that because of the increasing decline of empathy among the younger generations, we are now witnessing depression, anxiety, and stress climbing quickly. In fact, Turkle observes that we are seeing the most severe depression in teenagers today that we have ever noted in the entire written history of psychology.

The business world suffers from a lack of connection, as well.

In my leadership and culture work, one of my most sought-after management trainings is “Leading from the Heart,” where people learn how to reconnect and flex their empathy to create a more positive and productive work experience. I cannot tell you how many participants continue to stress that this learning has changed their world at work.

People are hungry for connection.

Superficial Connectedness

Turkle cites “superficial connectedness” as a chief culprit. This interferes with deeper, more meaningful exchanges and opportunities to reflect upon and synthesize information for greater critical thinking.

A chief factor is technology.

It facilitates an influx of information that increases daily, and it enables us to communicate at warp speed. This gift is often misused, and the sheer magnitude of incoming can create an imposed need to respond just as quickly.

There are other factors that impel us to respond to the tyranny of the urgent.

Jeff Bezos is quoted to have said, “Go fast and break things!”

Words and phrases like velocity and warp speed are touted as prized – and indeed, the global marketplace shifts constantly as the earth rotates.

However, must this become the new culture?

Because when it comes to connection, speed can be dangerous.

As speed pushes us forward, our personal resources to slow down and connect with others diminish. Along with this, empathy begins to wither.

How can you begin to make your way back to making meaningful connections in a business world that assuredly continues to gain speed?

Here are three ways that will help you get back on track to make connecting an intentional and rewarding experience:

  1. Place boundaries around your technology use.

A study by global tech protection and support company Asurion reveals that the average person struggles to move beyond 10 minutes without checking their phone. In fact, this study reveals that Americans check their phone on average once every 12 minutes, burying their faces in their phones 80 times a day.

Get creative with how you minimize your technology when you are meeting to connect with others.

    • Place the phone on “airplane mode.”

If this idea makes you cringe, begin by giving your phone to your assistant and alerting him or her to let you know if certain urgent calls come in.

    • Turn your computer’s e-mail alerts off.

Studies show that each distraction makes you lose 20 minutes of focus – in other words, it will take you a full 20 minutes to get your head back into concentrating on what you were doing prior to the distraction.

    • Have an inviting seating area in your office or meeting place with no tech devices such as computers or iPads.

Better yet, ask if you can walk outside together as you talk. This is not only invigorating, but it removes all office distractions and allows for deeper conversations. Old-fashioned. Retro. Connective.

  1. Flex your empathy by reviving your deep listening skills.

Are you truly listening to connect, or are you just waiting for a pause so that you can jump in?

Check yourself to make sure you are giving full focus to the other person. Ask questions – and ask the “follow-up question” to go deeper. Listen to learn and not to fix. Ask to understand and not to get to the bottom of things. Observe to widen your perspective, and not to make a quick judgment.

  1. Invest in your connections.

In such a fast-paced world, your circles of influence are probably bursting. Identify the handful that you feel you need to play an active and meaningful part in your world, and plan connection with them. That’s breakfast, coffee, golf, or some face-to-face activity that gives you time to have different and more rewarding conversations.

Technology and the speed of change are here for good. Let’s make sure our ability to make and sustain meaningful connections rises to meet them.

HOW MUCH

DO OTHERS REALLY TRUST YOU?

​Learn the two vital parts to trust and how they can help you become a more highly effective leader.

GET THE INFOGRAPHIC

© 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.

Five Steps to Charter Team Values

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Five Steps to Charter Team Values
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Are you and your colleagues living up to your team’s core values?

Core values serve as a GPS to shape culture, drive better decisions, and sharpen best behaviors and attitudes.

Sadly, most don’t understand why they need core values at the team level, nor how to use these to move from average to high performance.

How do team core values differ from organizational core values? And how do you make your team’s values come alive?

I work primarily with leaders and their executive teams who are ready to either merge, realign, or grow. They know they need to improve the way they work together in order to tackle new vistas.

Part of the work I do is help the team create its own identity, establish a safe psychological space in which to work and play, and recognize its personal team power. These three factors are what go into creating a highly emotionally-intelligent team – one which outperforms others.

Without getting into the weeds in this article, part of the work we do together to accomplish this involves creating a team charter – a set of operating rules that the team creates together, and which are based on its core values. In other words, we define the attitudes, behaviors, and ways of doing that reflect the team’s values.

For example, if a team’s core values include honesty, the charter might define what honest conversation looks like, what honesty looks like in the face of conflict, etc.

Chartering your team’s core values in this way makes them come alive. It is powerful and serves as the foundation of your team culture.

What is important to remember as you develop active core values?

Here are five steps to keep in mind.

  1. Develop your values with full team participation.

Every person on the team needs to be involved in the process of defining your values. This creates buy-in and ownership. Do you have someone who is reticent to participate or to speak up? Make sure you include them and let them know their weigh-in is important.

  1. Hold a discussion with your team on what these values mean for you.

It is not enough to pick a word to represent each value – you collectively need to come up with a definition that reflects what you mean by that word choice. Craft together two or three sentences that expand on the value’s meaning until you feel it reflects clear definition to the team.

  1. Identify attitudes and behaviors that support these values.

Take some time to talk about how you should relate to each other (and other teams) in light of your values. If one of your values is integrity, what kinds of attitudes and behaviors reflect this? What needs to change in order for you to fully embody each value?

  1. Assess your systems, processes, and protocols to ensure these support your values.

Do a review of these to see if they support your values. What changes need to take place in order to have these align with your values? This is truly systematizing a team culture.

  1. Accountability as a way to fully integrate your values.

How will you hold yourself and others accountable for the way you embody your charter? I suggest you define this, and then do a spot check-in at least once monthly. Be candid in rating the team – and if you are courageous, ask an external stakeholder to review your values, their definitions, and to share with you any gaps or growth opportunities they see in the way your team lives these.

Are you and your colleagues living up to your team values? Where do you need to start?

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© 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.