Patti Cotton

Executive Coach & Career Strategist

business leaders

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.

New Year, Same You, Celebrate!

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New Year, Same You, Celebrate!
Image Credit: Shutterstock

It’s that time of year, again, and the pressure is on to turn over a new leaf or achieve more. If you are like many of us, the process of identifying what we need to do more of, and visioning about what could be can be frustrating.

Indeed, the statistics on succeeding with New Year’s resolutions is grim. It is said that 80% fail by February. The reasons could fill a book (and they have!). But I’d like to propose a new approach for your new year that is more powerful.

Consider focusing on what is working for you and take that to a deeper level.

You see, we’ve fallen prey to thinking we must target imperfection and head for perfection. And perfection is something that is not humanly attainable. Even so, the world keeps telling us to get more, do more, and be more than we are – a dastardly setup. As we buy into this, it can create and feed the mindset of a hamster on a wheel – keep going, spin faster and faster. And we all know where that ends (if you don’t, the wheel only spins until the exhausted hamster stops).

What would it be like, instead, to capitalize on what is working for you and simply do more of that? To create a mindset of gratitude for the abilities you possess, and to use these to impact the world around you to a greater level?

Here’s a five-step process that can help you to be more of your best self, make bigger impact, and simplify your life at the same time:

1. Take an inventory to identify the top three gifts or abilities you bring to life’s table.

  • Are you someone who is able to influence others easily?
  • Do you have a special gift for making sure that things run smoothly? Note these.

2. Measure the impact you have been able to make by using these top three gifts.

  • In other words, because you have used these gifts, what outcomes have you been able to see for yourself?
  • For others?
  • How have these made a difference?

3. Do a mental scan.

  • Discover the opportunity you have to be even more effective through flexing these gifts.
  • Mentally scan the areas in life and work where you could use more of your top gifts to make greater impact. Let’s call these areas your “growth areas.”

4. Triage to streamline.

  • You may see a growth area where you can flex more influence, but in doing so, you won’t have as much time to spend doing other things.
  • Don’t make the mistake of stopping the exercise – this is part of the process. Instead, simply make a list of these other things.

5. Prioritize

  • Now, take the list of things you have identified that might interfere with flexing your gifts to a greater extent.
  • Are they things someone else can take over for you?
  • Or are they initiatives that are “nice” but not necessary – or which can be pushed back to a later time?
  • Be intentional in your prioritizing so that you create a picture for yourself that is congruent and effective.

You hold the key to the new year. You alone can choose how you want to spend your time, your focus, and whether you want to make significant impact.

I encourage you to step off the hamster wheel the world has created, and to claim a platform where you can truly make more of a difference.

3 Essential Shifts Every Leader Must Make

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3 Essential Shifts Every Leader Must Make
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Are you prepared to lead into the future?

Most leaders are not.

The world is increasing in complexity, and you as a leader must grow to support change effectively. The problem is that most in leadership have reached the top and stopped growing. They have given in to the false premise that, because they have the ability to meet today’s demands, they can certainly meet what the future brings.

Are you a leader who has reached the top – and stopped?

You may think you have what it takes. However, there are three shifts that, unless you make them, will quickly render you ineffective in the future.

What are these? And why should you pay attention when things are fine the way they are right now?

This week, we’ll talk about the first shift – why you need to make it and first steps to take.

Shift I: Relational Abilities Must Increase

Relational skills are now taking a front seat to all other leadership competencies. Your ability to relate well to others may work well today, but tomorrow’s leadership will need to call on more and to sharpen their emotional intelligence (“EQ”) on a consistent basis.

Why?

Emotional intelligence (“EQ”) is what helps you have high relational skills, and these are paramount to effective leadership.

Here are just some of the ways that EQ facilitates this:

  • EQ allows you to understand how your emotions and actions affect the people around you. This is necessary to regulating the way you interact with others so that you can create bonds and team.
  • EQ provides you with the ability to put yourself in the shoes of others, to understand how they feel, and to consider their perspectives. This ability to empathize can draw people to you and influence them. It can serve to power negotiations in tense times, and to promote compassion, which is a necessary component to embodying powerful servant leadership.
  • EQ promotes good communication. If you have forged bonds and trust with others, you tend to communicate better and more often, avoiding conflict and misunderstandings that poor communication fosters.
  • EQ provides you with the ability to mentor others and shape a healthy culture. Your ability to model high relational skills will serve as the prototype for your entire organization.

And in a world where constant change has become the norm, your ability to relate well to others is what will instill confidence in you and commitment to you on the part of those around you.

The problem is that we relate to others as we have been taught. This means that we bring with us a host of older experiences that color how well we are able to show up with and relate to others. Sharpening your EQ so that you up-level your ability to relate is more important than ever.

Are you already a pro in relating? Is your EQ high? You still need to make the shift to lead successfully into the future.

Here’s why: Emotional intelligence needs consistent exercise to remain effective. Your EQ is a “muscle” that needs flexing on a regular basis, or you will lose it. What’s more, just like working out at the gym, you can’t focus only on bicep curls and expect that the rest of your body will become fit by osmosis.

Use it – or lose it.

In fact, if you neglect your EQ for an extended period, you place yourself in danger of developing what we call Hubris Syndrome. If this is the case, you are now in imminent danger of losing your leadership position and perhaps your company.

How do you avoid this?

Here are 5 steps to systematically strengthen your EQ to support your relational skills.

1. Tap back into your own emotions. For example, how do you typically respond when someone delivers bad news to you? Criticizes you unfairly? Cuts you off on the freeway? By recognizing your emotions, you will be better able to regulate and control them so that you manage your relationships and interactions with others better. Tapping back into your emotions also allows you to recognize these emotions in others and to empathize with them. When you exhibit empathy, you build rapport, as others feel you care.

2. Ask others for their perspective. Leaders develop tunnel-vision when it comes to decision-making. After all, putting out fires all day long, dealing with the unexpected and the myriad of pieces that make up the organization requires fast thinking and acting. However, 60% of all decisions that leaders make are wrong, and this is primarily due to “either-or” problem-solving. “Either we do this, or we do that.” Asking others for their perspective on various issues that arise can give you added insight to expand your options. At the same time you widen your perspective-taking, you also allow others to feel they can contribute to the larger picture. And that’s a great relational skill.

3. Be curious instead of quick to judge. You think you can put yourself in someone else’s shoes, but can you really know how they feel? We bring our own experiences to the mix, and it is wise to ask questions rather than assume that you understand how they feel or what they want. Replace phrases such as, “I know just how you feel…” with ones like, “This feels devastating to me, but tell me how this affects you. I want to understand…”

4. Develop deep listening skills. There is perhaps no greater gift than that of being heard. Exercising deep listening skills is to hear beyond words, to ask questions instead of assuming, and to attune with another so they feel recognized and validated. Developing your skills in this area takes consistent practice, and it is well worth your time and effort. For more on this, see my article “How to Raise Your Influence in Less Than 5 Seconds.”

5. Decide to confront conflict courageously. There is perhaps nothing more damaging to our ability to relate than to allow unresolved conflict to fester. To feel a rupture in a relationship without repair is to foster stress, negative feelings, lost opportunities, and poor modeling for others. The cost of inaction – of allowing the rupture to fester – touches many, affecting the quality of your leadership and the lives of those around you. Want to fall in love with conflict so that you improve the quality of your relationships on a systematic basis? Read here.

I invite you to begin sharpening your emotional intelligence today so that you enjoy more influence, better decision-making, more productive and fulfilling relationships, and a healthier leadership future. How might having higher relational skills benefit you, your team, and your organization?

Next week, we will explore the second of three shifts you need to make: Vertical Development 2.0.

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.

The Perils of Living by Transactional Goals

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The Perils of Living by Transactional Goals
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Goals are powerful. Reaching these culminates not only in great reward, but also a sense of achievement, confidence, and moving ahead.

But goal-setting can also be perilous.

In my practice, I generally partner with the CEO or a member of the senior team to work through transitions of all kinds. If they approach me about doing organizational work, they generally seek success in helping the enterprise expand or realign to keep up with current and future demand. If I am brought in to help them or a member of their team on a personal level, they focus on goals such as higher productivity, better performance, or a greater ability to meet company objectives.

The challenges for which these leaders engage me are important. The world demands that we show up and keep up if we are to remain competitive and viable. But these goals are transactional.

And transactional goals can actually be harmful and counterproductive unless these are tied to a bigger transformation.

Before I explain why and how, it’s necessary to explain the difference between transactional and transformational goals.

First, the word transaction relates to the action of conducting business. It calls to mind those tasks and activities that are required to ensure smooth operations. The word transformation, on the other hand, connotes a metamorphosis or life change.

Here are some examples for comparison:


The goals in both columns can be worthy. However, unless you set your transactional goals with the following in mind, you may get into trouble.

Ask yourself the following:

1. Does this goal align with my values?

Unless you begin with your values in mind, you may wind up setting goals that conflict with what you hold most important. For example, if a chief transformation you desire is to become a more attentive and devoted parent, but all of your transactional goals keep you from being with your family, this is a conflict. Before you set any goals, revisit your top values and use these as your compass.

2. Does this goal support my own priorities?

Transactional goals may be subconsciously chosen to please or impress others, instead of being in your own best interest. I have coached executives who seek to achieve more so that they meet an ideal that their deceased parents held dear. Living your life for someone else will eventually wind up as a life “un-lived.” Ask yourself why you have set a particular transactional goal and whether this is truly a priority for you, regardless of others.

3. What transformation does this goal support?

Your transactional goals should support a sought-after transformation. Quite often, we can become addicted to reaching transactional goals and treat these as the “end game,” or tie this to self-worth (“I achieve, therefore, I am worthy”). Either is a dangerous and misleading path. Make sure that your transactional goals are simply milestones toward a larger transformation you desire for yourself. A good example would be, “I will lose 10 pounds (transactional) because this is part my goal to adopt a healthier lifestyle (transformational).”

In addition to these cautions, be sure to respect the journey as you work toward your goals. This is where great growth and transformation – the process of becoming a better version of yourself occurs.

Note: With appreciation to a great friend, Dennis del Valle for inspiring this topic. Dennis is a well-known marriage and family therapist, thought leader and speaker. Part of his practice entails leading small groups of highly successful business leaders to achieve exponential personal and professional growth, and I am privileged to be a part of one of 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

Three Ways Adversity Shapes Extraordinary Leadership

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Three Ways Adversity Shapes Extraordinary Leadership
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No one consciously seeks adversity. Oddly, however, confronting fear and uncertainty is what shapes extraordinary leadership.

How can confronting the challenging and unpredictable cause leaders to go from good to great?

And why do some rise to make significant impact for the world around them, while others cause irreparable damage?

It is not the negative challenge that damages – it is the way you respond to it that can make or break your leadership and the impact you cause.

Here are three ways adversity can shape extraordinary leadership.

1. Adversity calls for the “whole leader” to face challenge.

Both your cognitive (competencies) and your emotional (character) skills are called to action as you try to make meaning of the situation and decide how you will respond to it.

Many a leader has fallen because either a character trait has compromised best actions, or a particular competency is not strong enough to execute what needs to be done. In which area do you need to strengthen your own leadership? To begin this self-examination, see How Much Do Others Trust You, which outlines key traits and skills required to build trust and meet challenges effectively.

2. Adversity demands that we bring our best to the front while under pressure.

This is easier said than done. The positive traits with which you regularly lead can quickly become exaggerated and damaging in adverse situations.

For example, under normal conditions, you may enjoy confidence in your opinions while remaining balanced and open to the perspectives of others. However, under pressure, this confidence may turn into a closed-minded dogmatism that does not allow you to consider other alternatives.

Understanding not only how to manage your strengths, but also your tendencies under pressure is important to bringing good responses to bad circumstances. If you are not sure where your own “pressure points” lie, ask a couple of trusted colleagues who have seen you work under pressure. The feedback you receive may make a great difference in your ability to meet the future most effectively.

3. Adversity requires that we learn to make meaning of the new and unexpected.

Our ability to meet difficult circumstances requires that we are able to make meaning of these, and to consider new approaches to solve them. “We cannot solve problems with the same thinking that created them,” quipped Albert Einstein.

This is reflected as we look at Nelson Mandela’s life after his imprisonment of 27 years. The great civil rights leader and former South African president could have incited the country to civil war after being released. However, he saw that reconciliation – not retribution – was what would bring hope and healing to a divided nation. To do this, he had to make meaning of the injustices previously committed, look at a larger and new picture to consider his response, and develop the mindset and approach to meet the challenge.

Warren Bennis, leadership expert and author of On Becoming a Leader once said, “Until you make your life your own, you’re walking in borrowed clothes. Leaders, whatever their field, are made up as much of their experiences as their skills, like everyone else. Unlike everyone else, they use their experiences rather than being used by them.”

Given this, and the potential for you to make even more significant impact through your leadership, how will you choose to meet adversity?

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