Patti Cotton

Executive Coach & Career Strategist

Values

3 Essential Shifts Every Leader Must Make – Part 2

By Leave a Comment

3 Essential Shifts Every Leader Must Make Part 2: 360° Leadership Development
Image Credit: Shutterstock

Are you prepared to lead into the future?

Most leaders are not.

They experience increasing pressure as they attempt to cover all the bases and feel unsettled about what might be coming next.

If that is you, please stay with me on this, because the volatility and complexity of change in the business world is only growing.

If you want to make sure you are prepared to lead into the future, you must make three shifts right now to navigate effectively through change, and if you don’t take quick action on these, your leadership will soon be reaching its expiration date.

In a previous article, we talked about the first of three necessary shifts to do so: sharpening your emotional intelligence to increase your relational skills. If you missed this, catch up here.

Now, on to the second of the three necessary shifts you need to make: 360° leadership development.

There is a great buzz about the fact that to really grow in your leadership, you must work on both horizontal and vertical development to meet a complex world. And this is true.

Horizontal development refers to increasing in knowledge, skills and competencies. We can measure this through leadership assessments, 360° feedback processes, and similar means. Companies invest in tremendous amounts of money to assess, measure, and hold people accountable to these, and this is necessary.

But in the last few years, we recognized that was no longer enough. We discovered that leaders who possessed the knowledge, skills, and competencies required to conduct business, were now experiencing an inability to meet the changing demands.

The world was changing – and their leadership was not.

Albert Einstein once said, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

To expand on this truth, it has become clear that, “We can’t lead an organization of the future effectively by using the same kind of approaches we have used to lead the organization of today.” – Patti Cotton

To meet this problem, the leadership development world recognized the need for vertical development. Vertical development refers to the growth in a person’s thinking capability. It’s about how you think – how complex, strategic, interdependent, and systemic you are able to sift through challenges and make decisions. For more on this, read the white paper “Vertical Leadership Development-Part I” by Nick Petrie, Center for Creative Leadership.

“At last!” said the leadership development world. “We have now covered how to be more agile and complete in approaching change. We can rest easy!” Top executive coaches focused on the mindset shifts necessary to cultivate this, and we saw a lot of progress.

But a giant puzzle piece was missing and tragically continued to reveal itself in significant areas of the business world.

Here’s a small and partial list of contemporary business leaders who have run companies worth billions. They possess both horizontal and vertical development and, for quite a while, have been considered thought leaders ahead of the pack.

  • Elizabeth Holmes, former CEO, Theranos
  • Martin Winterkorn, former president of Volkswagen
  • Martin Shkreli, former CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals
  • Hisao Tinaka, former president of Toshiba

These people had the knowledge and competencies to run the organization. They developed the mindset shifts needed to develop their thinking capabilities so that they could meet change and future challenges. They were capable, high-performing, and they produced incredible results.

But the glaring piece that was missing in all cases – and the reason for their downfall – was that they were missing the third part of the 360° leadership equation: Character.

Character is a matter of trust.

And without trust, you won’t get far – at least, not for the long game.

If you are in this to win, you must not neglect your leadership character.

The people in the above list all showed a flawed or compromised character. The result has been that they have suffered personal leadership downfall, in some cases they are or have been under investigation with threatening jail time, and their respective organizations were either heavily fined, sold, or folded.

Now I am not suggesting that you should compare yourself to these people in any way – I’ve selected these people to make a point. However, I am proposing that you check to make sure that your own character is well-sharpened to support your leadership.

Can you deliver on the following traits consistently? Are they truly a part of you and the way you lead?

Five Key Leadership Character Traits:

  1. Integrity – Are you consistent and congruent in relating to others so that they know what they can expect from you, know that they can count on you?
  2. Respect – Do you respect yourself and others equally in your decisions and actions?
  3. Intent – Do you hold others in positive regard and with positive intent, so that your pre-assumptions and biases don’t curtail best thinking?
  4. Transparency – Are you authentic in your communications? Forthright in the way you confront conflict and resolve it? Candid in critical conversations so that you are tough on issues and tender on people?
  5. Connection – Do you genuinely desire to connect well with others – and are you able to do this successfully?

Without one of these, your leadership is headed toward its expiration date. Because character is the missing piece to the complete leadership picture; the 360° leadership equation.

In the short term, you and others may not notice the effects of a compromised or weak character. But in the long run, missing this will bring down not only your ability to lead, but is quite capable of bringing an entire organization to its knees, as we have seen.

What specific trait within your character needs attention? And if you don’t know, who among your trusted colleagues can help identify this? I look forward to your feedback.

Next week, we will explore the third of three shifts you need to make: Brain Trust.

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 Your Leadership Identity Can Keep You Stuck

By Leave a Comment

How Your Leadership Identity Can Keep You Stuck
Image Credit: Shutterstock

Who do you say you are?

The way you see yourself, your leadership identity, is the reference point you use in relating to others, making decisions and taking actions.

It’s important to knowing how to operate and in feeling confident as you go about it.

This means that when your identity is threatened, you’ll do just about anything to protect it.

But, sometimes, this self-protection can actually hurt you and your potential.

Maybe it’s time you rethink who you are.

We formulate our identity through life experiences, making sense of how we perceive ourselves and how others perceive us.

Let’s say I report to you. I will form my identity around questions such as, “Am I doing well?

What does my boss feel I’m doing well? Does my boss recognize my gifts and strengths? Does my boss think me worthy of promotion?”

These are just some of the questions around which I will form my identity, along with other feedback I receive from you, others, and the work I perform.

Conversely, if I’m your boss, I’ll be asking myself questions like, “Does my report see me as influential? Effective? Worthy of respect?” And other pertinent questions relating to the way I see myself – and want to see myself.

We will watch for feedback that tells us we are right about ourselves – our gifts, abilities, our potential – and our limitations. And we will then operate accordingly.

Of course, identity starts much younger than this, and we all bring this history with us to the present. What this means is that your identity has already been shaped and you will subconsciously seek to reinforce it by the way you approach life.

Sadly, the feedback we receive is anecdotal and can be faulty and limiting. It comes from many situations and sources over time, coupled with our own synthesizing of the information. It  takes into account what is perceived to be true at the moment, which is at best, partial and imperfect. And it does not take into account what is possible – our potential.

The struggle becomes apparent when we begin to ponder our potential. What’s possible for me? Using our leadership identity as a reference point becomes limiting. By checking against this perceived identity to see if something is possible, we limit ourselves to who we could be because we are referencing who we think we are.

This situation was nowhere more apparent than with a client of mine a few years ago. Danielle had been promoted from senior manager of a department to vice president in charge of multiple areas of responsibility.

Danielle had done extremely well as senior manager. Always the one to meet deadlines and keep things running, she prided herself on getting things done. When someone in the department had a personal issue, Danielle was the one to jump in and help complete the work. She enjoyed hands-on opportunities – this was gratifying and gave her the sense that she was doing something important.

All this came to a halt the day Danielle was promoted to vice president. The company felt she managed the department well and could now take on multiple areas of responsibility. Of course, Danielle was elated. She felt a sense of pride in the confidence the enterprise gave her, and the promotion reinforced her sense of self-worth.

However, Danielle was now faced with managing a different way. No longer could she jump in to complete someone else’s work. It was not possible to take on projects “hands on” as she had done in the past. The responsibilities were too vast, and this called for her to step up in leading others to get the work done. It required more influence than brawn, and a way of holding areas and managers accountable for actually doing the work.

And Danielle found herself in trouble.

Her own leader, John, allowed Danielle some time to “get her feet wet,” but began to notice a troublesome trend. Danielle began to work long hours and weekends when others were gone. She developed the poor habit of being late to meetings. She showed signs of great stress, and John decided she needed help. He called me.

When I met Danielle, she was frazzled, and frustrated that she had to take time to meet.

“I really don’t have time for this, although John thinks executive coaching will help. Is it possible to push this back a few months? I’m concerned that I won’t be able to get things done on time – and that’s a huge problem for the way my boss sees me.”

I realized she felt cornered and pushed to her limit.

“Danielle, if I could help make your job easier and help your boss and others to see you as competent, effective, and up to this new appointment, would you be willing to give me some time?”

“Well, if you put it that way…” she responded. “I’m just plain worn out.”

“I can see that,” I answered. “And I’m so sorry you are feeling worn out and overwhelmed. Let’s see if we can fix this.”

After some careful conversation together, it became apparent to me that Danielle was holding herself back from stepping fully into the new role – because of who she thought she was – her leadership identity.

Basically, Danielle had always received accolades and affirmation that she did a great job whenever she completed a task or project. From early on, grades and promotions came from successfully completing work, which told Danielle that she was seen as competent and effective as she met deadlines well with her hands-on results. In short, Danielle saw herself as an effective “do-er.” Do something, get rewarded. Complete a job and be seen as competent. That was Danielle.

This ability to get things done and do them well made Danielle an excellent individual contributor with some basic managerial skills. Individual contributors are called on to effectively manage their time and activities, competing demands, and multiple deadlines – all within a confined area of responsibility. They can make great team players and can take on a senior “helping role” when skilled at this.

But moving from individual contributor to leader is a leap. Leading means influencing others and holding them accountable to complete the assigned work.

It was not that Danielle did not have the gifts and talents to lead – it was simply that the move required embracing this different role as valuable. And this was unsettling for Danielle.

Who was Danielle if she was not a do-er?

Was she a person of value?

Becoming the vice president meant getting the work done without putting a hand to it. It meant utilizing more influence with her reports and holding them accountable to get the work done. It meant dealing with relationships and complexities at a heightened level and making difficult decisions palatable. Bringing people along. Motivating them to perform at their best.

Danielle had what it took in the way of raw talent to do this – but the way she saw herself – her leadership identity – kept her from doing so.

She argued with herself. If she wasn’t “hands on” with projects, she did not see herself as equally as valuable. Who was she if she wasn’t actually completing assigned work as she had done in her previous job? How would they know she was competent and effective? Others might see her as superfluous, as not needed. Where was the value in her role?

In response to this internal argument, Danielle had held on to some work that should have been delegated. She inserted herself in meetings where her managers could have represented. She was reticent to mentor a couple of staff into greater responsibilities because they might shine too brightly.

And all this because of her leadership identity. Seeing herself as not valuable unless she was “doing” – unless she was contributing individually on projects – was keeping her stuck and hurting her reputation.

Once we worked through this, recognizing the value in her new role and leadership, and reshaping the way she showed up with her responsibilities, we were well on our way.

From there, we identified her growth opportunities including ways to sharpen her influence, how to mentor more effectively, and how to hold people accountable with confidence. I helped her to see how this impacted the organization so that she reinforced her own sense of self-worth.

We then worked on her vision for her areas of responsibility, the traits her senior team needed to adopt, and how this translated into the way they worked. Ultimately, she formed and honed her own team’s “identity” so that they became high-performing, engaged, and loved working for her.

How might your own current leadership identity be holding you back from your potential? What are the stories you tell yourself about what you can – and cannot do?

I challenge you to move beyond this. Begin by creating a vision for yourself and what you would like to ultimately accomplish.

What story about yourself will need reshaping?

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

How a Silent Marauder Might Be Threatening Your Business Future

By Leave a Comment

How a Silent Marauder Might Be Threatening Your Business Future
Image Credit: Shutterstock

Sandra was a first-generation business owner. She worked hard for more than 25 years to build a solid company that served customers well.

This was a business that would provide for her family financially, both now and in future.

Or so she thought.

But a business marauder suddenly appeared in the form of new technology that threatened to put Sandra’s company out of business.

Her hard work and her future could be wiped out in the next 36 months unless she took some quick and powerful action.

Sandra was frozen. Her ways of leading and doing were solid – but they were limited, confined to running the business the way she knew how, to what had worked up to this point.

Unless Sandra acquired agility in her leadership, she would not be able to move forward. She could become part of the 90% of executives who currently find themselves and their business obsolete.

If you are an executive or business owner, I can guarantee that technology and other marketplace changes will affect how you lead. You may have a shelf life of just up to approximately 36 months if you don’t have the agility required to work with change. This is about how long it takes before we experience the spiral that results from not shifting with change.

And this happens a lot with excellent leadership.

You are successful for a period of many years, and then suddenly, changes emerge that demand an agility from you and a way of operating that are foreign to your context. These changes and challenges leave you bewildered. You become frozen and overwhelmed, or you dig in your heels and insist on leading in the same way you always have.

You can’t tough this one out. Change is not going to go away.

Sandra had led well. Her company had been a solid contender in the marketplace.

But she was in trouble now. She called me because she couldn’t seem to move forward as she faced this new development.

Having shown herself smart, capable, and competent during her entire tenure, she agreed that the competition was real, but she couldn’t seem to muster the higher gear required to begin wrestling with new structures and processes. She hoped her company product would still be greatly loved by her loyal clients, and wondered if the business simply accelerated some tried-and-true strategies with more sales staff, if she could help the company remain viable.

She couldn’t. The changes Sandra would need to make in order to remain viable demanded a new approach – and an agility to make it happen.

When we met, Sandra pulled out a drawer and showed me several unused strategic plans. She admitted that she had never been able to take the time to figure out how to practically apply any of them. It seemed like there was never enough time, and fulfilling customer orders took precedent over all else. She said that this had served well enough in the past, but she now knew that she needed to take some sort of action fast, in order to save the business from crumbling.

Sandra exhibited what I see in a lot of seasoned leaders.

When one has led for many years, she can become accustomed to focusing on what is working well, and forget to check the horizon for what is coming ahead.

Changing conditions in the marketplace, in the economy, in politics, and in disruptive technology (and more!) can dictate that a leader pay attention. Many, however, just dig their heels in to work harder at doing the same thing, rather than to evaluate strategies and approaches that will best support these changes. This can quickly result in trouble spotted too late.

Sandra was certainly in trouble, admitting that she might need to do differently, but that she didn’t know where to start. It was clear that she not only needed a quick medium-term plan to respond to the looming competition, but that she would also need to develop more behavioral agility in order to flex and adapt to needed transitions and change.

Sandra asked if I wanted to see the strategic plans stored in her office. The latest one was dated two years prior.

“That’s too old,” I said. “These days, you want to revisit and update your strategic plan every year. Changes are coming too rapidly for an older plan to support the future.”

We got busy and went through a quick strategic planning process to accommodate the next 36 months. This plan would need to be clear, concise, and it would need to be actionable. I didn’t want this one to sit in a drawer.

Once we had the 36-month plan in place, Sandra and I worked on a medium-term action plan designed to meet the impending competition.

We were on a tight timeline to stay out in front. With coaching, Sandra was able to develop the necessary agility to execute the plan well.

Those in charge find they operate best if they have someone to help them with this. Tackling a new plan requires not only focus and buy-in from all involved, it also often demands that we operate in new and novel ways to support the future.

This is agility – the one thing that will keep us current in our leadership.

Leadership agility is “the ability to take effective action in complex, rapidly changing conditions. Only 10% have mastered the level of agility needed for consistent effectiveness in our turbulent era of global competition.” (Joiner and Josephs, Leadership Agility: Five Levels of Mastery for Anticipating and Initiating Change).

It follows that agility is necessary in company teams and in the entire enterprise, as well.

Acquiring agility demands not only new or improved direction and actions, it also asks that we develop the necessary mental and emotional capacity to implement these actions.

This is why 90% of those in leadership fail. As rapid change and complexity continues to emerge, a lot of very fine business owners and other executives fold. It isn’t from a lack of desire – it’s from a lack of understanding how to meet change effectively and to make the personal leadership shifts necessary to do so.

Back to Sandra: I’m happy to report that after we rolled up our sleeves and quickly got going, she was feeling confident about her direction, her company’s future, and her ability to meet it successfully. We hit some bumps as she expanded her agility, but we laughed a lot and she grew exponentially, setting up the company to meet the future successfully.

Sandra noted that not only was the process rewarding and energizing, she also enjoyed less stress – a great bonus. She decided to invite me to help coach her team and other key players in agility, at that point, as part of her succession planning.

How strong is your leadership agility? Are you able to survey the landscape, identify potential threats and opportunities, come up with a strong plan of action, and effectuate this well?

Ten Character Indicators

By 1 Comment

Ten Character Indicators
Image Credit: Shutterstock

“How you do one thing is how you do everything.” ~ Madeline Albright

Thirty years ago, a business owner named Dave found himself in a critical position. A key employee had been found embezzling, and the company faced a $1 Mil shortfall. To Dave’s business, this was the difference between surviving and sinking.

After examining his options, he felt the only thing he could do was to sell the business or find a partner who would invest money to help stabilize the company. As luck would have it, he found a man named Ed who owned quite a few businesses similar to his, and who was willing to become a partner with Dave to save the enterprise’s future.

One day, as they were finalizing terms of the partnership, Dave and Ed went to lunch.

During the meal, something happened that should have tipped Dave off about Ed’s character. But he ignored it. He was desperate for funds and reasoned that the incident had nothing to do with how Ed would conduct himself in business. And because he chose to ignore this incident, it wound up quietly hurting Dave for the next 30 years.

What was the tip-off to Ed’s character during that fateful lunch?

When it was time to settle the $48 food bill, Ed offered to pay. The server brought change from Ed’s two $20 bills and the men left for their cars. As Dan and Ed stepped into the parking lot, Ed chuckled as he folded his money into his wallet.

“That gal needs to pay more attention,” Ed said. “Instead of giving me $2 change, she gave me a $1 bill and one of my $20 bills.”

“Ed – that’s obviously a mistake on her part! You’re going to return it, right?” asked Dan.

“Are you kidding?” said Ed. “If someone is going to be that careless, it’s money for me and a good lesson for them.”

Dave felt terrible. He went home and wrote an apology letter to the restaurant. Without disclosing who the offender was, he enclosed a $20 bill as repayment.

The next week, Dave and Ed signed partnership papers. Ed contributed the agreed-upon cash infusion to the business and thus saved it. He brought in a managing administrator to manage the company as agreed. Over the next 30 years, Dave enjoyed residual income from the business without having to manage it, and Ed’s appointed administrator operated as per Ed’s directives.

One day, Ed fell terminally ill, and Dave was called in by a key executive to talk about the future of the company and the partnership interests. As Dave and the executive went over opportunities, it slowly came to light that the business was charging Dave a disproportionately higher amount for expenses in facilities, upkeep, and business development for 30 years. The amount of money that should come to him as profit was staggering. Dave felt physically sick. These funds could have made a great difference to him and his family over the 3 decades that had passed, but he was now a weary 87-year-old widower with little energy left to fight the battle.

It was then that he thought back to that first lunch with Ed and heard his words, “If someone is going to be that careless, it’s money for me and a good lesson for them.”

The fact is, character does matter. Madeline Albright’s quote “How you do one thing is how you do everything,” rings true.

Now, most of you reading here will quickly say that you would have given back the $20 on the spot. I am confident that you would have done so. But no matter how honest you are, might there be other areas in your personal conduct or ways of doing that need fine-tuning?

Character does matter.

Here is a list of 10 common character flaws that have significant repercussions in life and work.

  1. Are you punctual and thus respectful of others and your time together, or are you perpetually late, signaling to others that they are just “not that important”?
  2. Do you respect good boundaries with others, or do you tend to blur the lines to the point where you become entangled in problems that aren’t yours?
  3. Are you careful as you commit to others, or do you tend to overpromise and under-deliver or default?
  4. Do you seek always to understand first, or are you prone to snap judgments before you investigate fully?
  5. Are you respectfully honest when asked for feedback, or do you gloss over the truth as you seek to please others?
  6. Are you open to constructive criticism, or do you take a defensive stance as you find excuses for the behavior in question?
  7. Do you seek to reconcile or release undesirable stress in healthy ways, or do you tend to carry resentment around like a boulder, compromising your relationships (and your health)?
  8. Are you quick to support others when they are a topic of gossip, or do you jump on the injurious bandwagon with the crowd?
  9. Are you respectful of what’s yours and what is company property, or do you find yourself taking home a few pens or empty file folders for your own use, because you tell yourself “it really doesn’t matter.”
  10. Do you operate from a place of generosity, or do you race to get that proverbial front parking spot before the other person does?

Can you think of others? What is the one area that you would like to work on that will make a difference to your life and to those around you?

How to Instantly Influence Others and Make a Difference

By Leave a Comment

How to Instantly Influence Others and Make a Difference
Image Credit: Shutterstock

“Be the change you want to see in the world.” ~ Gandhi

Recently, I worked with a group of new managers to help them make change at their company. Eager to learn and grow, people of all ages and backgrounds filled the room.

It was heartwarming to be with them and witness lot of candor, laughter, and strengthening bonds as they shared. These people were committed.

Here is one thing I never heard: a disparaging remark. I didn’t hear about a lack of resources or time. I never heard things like, “Oh, those Millennials/Boomers/Leadership/Others – I don’t know how to work with them.”

What I heard, instead, was a desire to make change. “How can I be at my very best? How can I grow in my leadership so I can make a bigger difference?”

Now, that’s a room full of people that anyone would be privileged to work with!

Here are the three questions I asked them in return. I shared that the answers to these questions are what would make or break their ability to influence and make a difference.

How are you doing in these three areas?

  1. Are you walking your talk?

Are there places in your leadership where you are preaching, but not practicing?

Maybe you are asking others to go the extra mile, produce more without overtime pay, take better care of themselves, produce top quality work on time – fill in the blank!

But you yourself secretly lack being able to meet success in that area. This is not uncommon – the very thing we want to see in ourselves is what we ask others to do well. If this is you, you are responsible for course-correcting this so that you are the change you want to see.

  1. Are you modeling to others by taking the first step?

Are you great at delegating work to others, but not as good at jumping in to roll up your own sleeves in times of stress?

I remember delegating very well during a huge event, and walking around at a tense moment to see how things were progressing. I looked across the room to see the company president unloading boxes with one of my reports. That was a humbling moment that shifted my understanding of true leadership.

  1. Are you taking ownership of how you contribute?

When was the last time you sat down with a colleague or report and asked the question, “How am I doing?”

This should be a regular conversation. “What can I do more of or less of, in order to do a better job of working with you?”

My clients report that this conversation has brought forward valuable information they might never have uncovered otherwise. “It has shifted the way I am able to work with others,” said one business owner. “We are a team now – not just a group of people in a room.” That’s a change!

As you look at these three areas, which one speaks most to you? What is the one shift you are committing to make so that you can influence others to a larger extent and make a greater difference?